x99ChevyCamarox

I am 17 years old and I own a 1997 Trans am that is all stock except for full exhaust, pro 5.0 shifter, centerforce clutch and cold air intake. Im looking into building up a larger motor like a 427 or 454 bbc and droping that into my car. I was wondering how you guys got the money to do stuff to your cars when you were younger. I have a job but only make around $4000-$5000 a year. What ideas do you guys have for me or advice from personal experience. New ideas are also welcome just keep it constructive. By the way I take auto class in school, I learn from some of my older friends that have been building up their cars and I am online reading and learning new things all the time so I know a hell of a lot for 17 years old. Thanks Guys

O-townLS1

Im not much older than you, but while I was in high school I would do odds-and-ends jobs for extra cash or sell stuff. If I had something laying around in my room or in the garage I that I didnt need/use, I would sell it. If you cant sell stuff then try trading some stuff. Trade stuff for tools or something even if you dont need it as long as it can bring you some cash. Then, either sell it or trade it again for something better. I started with an old snapper lawn mower and a crappy 12ga shotgun. Traded it for a 1976 ALAcraft trihull ski boat with a 50hp motor that ran. Turned around and traded it for a 1990 skeeter 1550 pro bass boat the next week. Then traded it for my jet ski. You can trade things and work your way up and might even get a 427 or 454 (could possibly be blown but who cares just rebuild it) and technically it wouldnt cost you a dime. Thats just a few things to think about. If you have a pressure washer, you could go to some businesses and ask if they need their sidewalks/parking spaces pressure washed. I did that a few times and got around $100 per job for about 20 minutes worth of work.

Goodluck!
-Kody

Black01M6SS

iTrader: (3)

I'm 23 years old. I got my car when I was 17. If I were you I wouldn't worry about modding the car to much at your age. I worked every minute I could from 15-18 trying to save for this car and buy parts for it. Honestly I regret spending my high school years working for such little money. It is much easier to mod the car when you are making 30-40k a year. I would wait till you have a good job then pick a better car to put the money into. There is NOTHING wrong with a 1997 Trans Am. It is a very cool car for your age and it seems like you already have some decent mods. It just isn't worth the time or money to put another engine into it. If I were you I would throw a big cam in it and be done with it. It will have that old school muscle car sound and run good. That would be a much more reasonable goal for someone with a high school budget. The LT1 in your car is a pretty good engine to mod. A cam and some gears should wake that sucker up pretty good.

kierstyn

iTrader: (5)

When you say full exhaust do you have long tube headers? If not I would save for them and maybe do a gear. Rocker arms would be a good investment that would work with a later setup! Try to look around on here and think about your long term goal with your car so that you dont waste money buying things that later you wont need! I wouldnt do the gear if you think you would buy an aftermarket rearend soon as the gear swap would run you $300-$500 depending on install! Also try looking at some of the guys setups that have bolton only cars these guys cars run real good for what they have!

LT1 TRANSAM

Just take the motor you have and make it a 383 stroker motor.I wouldnt even try to put a big block in that car because there is no room as it is just my 2 cents.

Fastbird93

iTrader: (10)

Fitting a big-block under the hood is doable, seen it before, but it requires a slew of supporting modifications and is a costly endeavour. Take LT1 TRANSAM's advice, and just drop a stroker in there. You won't have any suspension or clearance headache's, and will still make plenty of power/tq.

As for affording things, it's all in how bad you want it. How well can you save, how much extra are you willing to work to get what you want? Do NOT by any means even think about financing or putting mods on credit.....gets you nowhere.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

Honestly if I had the car I have now when I was your age I would be dead.
Trying to start with a major change like this is dead wrong.
I think you fail to understand just how good a platform you want to throw away. The LT1 is pretty easy to get bib block power out of.
A friend has a GM 502 crate motor in a '68 Camaro and after he drove my car he has put a lot of thought into pulling out the bigblock fora more modern injected smallblock, be lighter, more powerful, drive better and actually get something that can be called fuel economy.

Now you want to go say 550+ HPflywheel naturally aspirated and MAYBE at that point a big block starts making sense but it will also cost you three to four times what you make in a year easily.

To put that in perspespective the numbers my car puts down are with a stock shortblock and the absolutely most concervative lowball estimate of my flywheel HP is 470, people who like to use more generous calculations say as high as 520, the truth probably lay inbetween there. At any rate my Caprice with a 350 is faster and feels faster than a 450hp 502ci crate motor in a '68 Camaro and still has better drivability, economy and reliaility even.

Start with boltons, then think heads and cam, lot cheaper and will make the car a lot faster than you expect.

If your potential mentors are old school carb, "big block or nothing" sorts of guys, they are going to cause you a LOT of problems working with this car. Guys accustomed to older suff have a hard time adapting to all the "rules" we get to break with the LT1.

1mean96ss

I would start by perfecting the little stuff, then start with modding the suspension everyone seems to forget about that. Its realtively cheap and does wonders. I got my SS when i turned 18 and have sacraficed every christmas and birthday present for a go fast part for my car. Granted i dont need much cause im in school for becoming a mechanic. Im 21 now and have full exhaust, rear suspension, stall, bolt-ons, and gears. Im in the process of completeing the whole suspension as far as tubular k-member, and lower a-arms, along with coil-overs which should be done this winter. The main thing is do your research and take your time also do what you want to the car.

383lt1impala

iTrader: (33)

like capricemgr said stick with the lt1 and mod it little by little. if you try to do everything at once it will never work your going to feel like throwing the car away. and also do your research before you buy something this way you get something thats not ****. and i am 17 also i know how it feels. and i get money from working for my dad. then i get on the forsale threads i buy something then i sell it for more. i make money here and there. not a bad deal.

azmarkus

First off, recognize that as a young man you have more car than many, many other kids have had or will have. I understand that when you read about others spending money on their car to make it faster it makes you want to do the same, but you have to recognize that many (most, if not all) of those people are older, are set in their career, and have money set aside for 'fun'. In other words, they are not just working to mod their car; there is more to life than their car/project, something that you will recognize eventually also. Do yourself a favor, don't blind yourself on dumping all your income on a car, no matter how much you like it. You're at a point where you need to do some soul searching and research to decide on what you're going to do for a career. Focus, take the necessary steps (college, trade school, apprenticeship, etc.) to ensure that you are in a position where you will be gainfully employed and well compensated so you will be able to enjoy a good life along with whatever you do for fun (i.e. modding your car). Think big picture, in other words, not what you're going to do to your car for the next year or 2, but how you wish to live the bulk of your working years.

96capricemgr

iTrader: (1)

Good points.
I don't have a lot but the wife drives a car we bought new and we have a house a small fishing boat and I have a daily driver.

LT1FirebirdSLP

iTrader: (2)

Keep chugging away bro. Start small and work big. I got my t/a at 18. I am 21 and just started the motor build. I started off with free mods. Then I did CAI, full exhust, suspension, clutch. Maybe you can tune it, gears are good. shifter is cool. put some money in to fuel/spark.. youll need it if you really take off with a big block motor. bigger motor bigger fuel bigger air bigger spark.... the way the world works i guess

sdm1234

iTrader: (8)

at your age, don't worry about building up the motor just yet. you have your whole life to do that. a lot of other teens have very generous parents/grandparents and supply them with excess spending-money. IMHO, stick with your exhaust and intimidate the competition. that's all i do. as my father says, "nobody knows what you're running under the hood with the help of a loud exhaust."

formulajunky

Good luck with your project, its going to be more to it than you might think at first. and not making that much money may take alot more time than you might be thinking. Either way good luck and keep us posted and make a build thread if you do.

Kmaroman

iTrader: (1)

did everone here get there camaro at 17

whitew01ws6

iTrader: (12)

i got my y2k TA at 17 lol its in the junk yard at the moment, NOT MY FAULT, beleive it or not lol, but i would wait for a lil while buy a forged ls1 with a nasty cam, throw ur money into partying and gettin laid

u have the car to get the puss it doesent need to pop a wheelei to do that, goi out have fun get drunk get laid stay up all night be a bad *** cus if u dont u will regret it when u are older.


and o yeah





dont drink and drive that **** is no good

dankl

iTrader: (1)

1st thing is 1st: Job=Money

Don't waste your time on this right now. You'll regret it. Plus, with the situation you are in, you'll end up spending every cent you own on the modding bug. Keep in mind also, with modding comes extra expenses as other parts begin to go. It never goes as smoothly as you'd want. You'll run into something here and there that will cost more $$$. And if you don't have another car to fall back on, you'll be stuck with no ride until you can figure out how to save up enough $$$ to fix the next issue in line. And the line becomes never ending.

Wait until your in a better place in your life, then have fun. Just my 2 cents.

goldmecham

iTrader: (1)

no i started with a 89tta when i was almost 16, that i bought with a blown motor and fixed then i sold for a 94 25th ta. that got totaled by a drunk driver then i used the insurance money to buy another 25th that i still have and then i bought my 98 gold convertable ta when i was 17. 24 now and i have the 94 the 98 and i have a 79 ta as well.

StealthFormula

iTrader: (35)

I got my first LT1 when I was 16 and just did boltons until I graduated H.S. Im glad that I didnt have the money to do more because I honestly shouldn't be alive right now. It wasn't till I was about 19 that I had enough money and worked full time in the summer that I could do internals. Last year I commuted to college and worked during the week and again full time throughout this past summer so the money was there. I don't have much money at all right now because its all in the car but it takes time took me 3 years until I touched anything internally and I've always done my own work which really helps on saving some money.

sdm1234

iTrader: (8)

sounds like me haha. i started with a '78 TA WS6 SCCA, then got my '97 WS6 and now have an 86 Fiero GT. then i went the other direction and got an '04 R6 haha