'02 Trans Am Rebuild
01-02-2015, 09:04 PM
#1
'02 Trans Am Rebuild Finished up building my '02 Camaro z28, (https://ls1tech.com/forums/chevrolet...ld-thread.html) so I began looking for another build to occupy my time 
I found a '02 Trans Am 6 speed car with 83k on it with a hydrolocked motor not too far from me, so we went to pick it up.
She was bone stock down to the original exhaust and everything. Originally had planned to just drop another LS1 I had previously built into it, but the body was a little rough. So, here's what happened
After deciding I wanted to fully repaint the car myself, I was always a fan of SOM, but I wanted something different than what came factory on the fbodies, so I went with Atomic Orange Metallic off of the C6 corvettes. Got to work and pulled the LS1 out and heres what I found:
Started pulling everything out of the engine bay and stripping it down to get sandblasted to get rid of all the rust
It got sandblasted, bare metal got etch primered, then epoxy primered and finally 2 layers of 2k build primer.
I wanted a cleaner look in the engine bay and wanted to protect against future rust, so I seam sealed all the openings I could on the car.
/user/austin_g95/media/20140603_193041_zps619bf347.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I found a '02 Trans Am 6 speed car with 83k on it with a hydrolocked motor not too far from me, so we went to pick it up.
She was bone stock down to the original exhaust and everything. Originally had planned to just drop another LS1 I had previously built into it, but the body was a little rough. So, here's what happened
After deciding I wanted to fully repaint the car myself, I was always a fan of SOM, but I wanted something different than what came factory on the fbodies, so I went with Atomic Orange Metallic off of the C6 corvettes. Got to work and pulled the LS1 out and heres what I found:
Started pulling everything out of the engine bay and stripping it down to get sandblasted to get rid of all the rust
It got sandblasted, bare metal got etch primered, then epoxy primered and finally 2 layers of 2k build primer.
I wanted a cleaner look in the engine bay and wanted to protect against future rust, so I seam sealed all the openings I could on the car.
/user/austin_g95/media/20140603_193041_zps619bf347.jpg.html][/URL] Last edited by Austin95; 01-02-2015 at 09:16 PM.
01-03-2015, 02:08 AM
#3
Scuffed everythings smooth with a grey scotchbrite and shot the base and clear!
Base Coat:
Clear:
Started the body work on the rest of the car:
[IMG]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/austin_g95/02%20Trans%20Am%
20Build/20140528_143153_zps3c408a42.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/austin_g95/20140727_145106_zps2c433436.jpg[/IMG]
Spraying all the undersides, jambs and other misc parts.
Close up to see the metallic in the paint!
Preparing to swap a 93-97 t top sail panel to fix the 99-02 bubbling problem
On to the good stuff!! I wanted to rebuild my first shortblock, so we had a motor laying around from another Trans Am that spun a rod bearing and needed a fully rebuild....but I can never leave anything stock! So I wanted a nice, relatively mild combo that would make 400rwhp and be daily driveable. I used the stock '98 pistons and rods with new LS6 rod bolts to cure the old rod bolt weakness plus, clevite main and rod bearings. Picked up a set of 243s that were milled .035 to pick up some power and bump compression up and had a valve job done and I installed Brian Tooley.660 Dual Platinum Springs. I went with a milder cam, Brian Tooley Racing Stage 2 camshaft (227/234 .598 .614 on 113) along with his Rocker Arm Trunion kit and LS7 lifters with 7.375 Chromeoly Pushrods. Also picked up a melling high pressure oil pump, cloyets Adjustable LS2 timing chain and a Powerbond 25% underdrive pulley. Topped of with a Fast 92mm intake, and 42lb injectors and Nick Williams 90mm throttle body.
Painting the block Chevrolet Orange
Finished Product:
Put in the newly polished crankshaft and checked main and rods clearances. Crankshaft Torqued:
Checked crank runout, endplay and reluctor wheel runout:
Wiped the cylinder walls down real well with ATF to break up and honing residue and then wiped em down good with oil. Next, I checked the wring gaps in all the cylinders and put the rest of the bottom end together.
Camshaft cleaned up and pre lubed
\
Base Coat:
Clear:
Started the body work on the rest of the car:
[IMG]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/austin_g95/02%20Trans%20Am%20Build/20140528_143153_zps3c408a42.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/austin_g95/20140727_145106_zps2c433436.jpg[/IMG]
Spraying all the undersides, jambs and other misc parts.
Close up to see the metallic in the paint!
Preparing to swap a 93-97 t top sail panel to fix the 99-02 bubbling problem
On to the good stuff!! I wanted to rebuild my first shortblock, so we had a motor laying around from another Trans Am that spun a rod bearing and needed a fully rebuild....but I can never leave anything stock! So I wanted a nice, relatively mild combo that would make 400rwhp and be daily driveable. I used the stock '98 pistons and rods with new LS6 rod bolts to cure the old rod bolt weakness plus, clevite main and rod bearings. Picked up a set of 243s that were milled .035 to pick up some power and bump compression up and had a valve job done and I installed Brian Tooley.660 Dual Platinum Springs. I went with a milder cam, Brian Tooley Racing Stage 2 camshaft (227/234 .598 .614 on 113) along with his Rocker Arm Trunion kit and LS7 lifters with 7.375 Chromeoly Pushrods. Also picked up a melling high pressure oil pump, cloyets Adjustable LS2 timing chain and a Powerbond 25% underdrive pulley. Topped of with a Fast 92mm intake, and 42lb injectors and Nick Williams 90mm throttle body.
Painting the block Chevrolet Orange
Finished Product:
Put in the newly polished crankshaft and checked main and rods clearances. Crankshaft Torqued:
Checked crank runout, endplay and reluctor wheel runout:
Wiped the cylinder walls down real well with ATF to break up and honing residue and then wiped em down good with oil. Next, I checked the wring gaps in all the cylinders and put the rest of the bottom end together.
Camshaft cleaned up and pre lubed
\
Last edited by Austin95; 01-03-2015 at 02:49 AM.
01-03-2015, 04:00 PM
#6
[URL=http://s29.photobucket.com/user/austin_g95/media/02%20Trans%20Am%20Build/20140309_222054_zps97801667.jpg.html][IMG]
Also learned a valuable lesson, to wear mechanics gloves while trying to torque things with a machined surface!
Gotta love all the new parts rolling in
Sandblasted, painted and clear coated all of my engine covers and oil pan
Checking how far the piston is out of the hole
Heads back from being milled and having a valve job done
CC'ing my heads to check the compression ratio
Checking piston to valve clearance
Also learned a valuable lesson, to wear mechanics gloves while trying to torque things with a machined surface!
Gotta love all the new parts rolling in
Sandblasted, painted and clear coated all of my engine covers and oil pan
Checking how far the piston is out of the hole
Heads back from being milled and having a valve job done
CC'ing my heads to check the compression ratio
Checking piston to valve clearance
