1979 Trans AM - Vortec V6 retrofit
 

I ran into this forum recently and i figured I can share what I am working on to get some fuel economy out of a 1979 Trans Am.

The car originally had an Oldsmobile 403 carburated, with a 3 speed automatic.

So far I have fixed the rust, and swapped out the engine and trans for a V6 Chevy Vortec with an electronic overdrive transmission. Both came out of an 1998 Chevy S10 pickup.

I created an album to document my work, I will add the link as soon as this Forum allows me to.

Yup, this is a good place to show your project.

We want more information - Car weight, RPM at 60 MPH, gas mileage with each engine, problems that you solved, driving techniques, etc.

I will work on the specs. I am running a Howell Engineering Fuel Injection harness and reflashed computer. I am thinking that I will paint the car black and put some of the graphics back on.

pictures
 

this is a picture of the engine sitting in the engine bay. Tons of room in this car

more pictures
 

i upgraded the fuel lines to braided AN lines.

the car as it sits
 

painted the body in Black Primer

Album of pictures 1979 Trans AM with a fuel injected V6
 

I have all sorts of pictures on this project.




Documentation of the 1979 Trans Am | Facebook

79transam -

Cool project! I love drivetrain transplants.

CarloSW2

Defiantly have updates. Car is painted, interior is being put back together. I will upload pics soon.

Very cool!

I had a similar idea for a while, swapping late-90s S10 four cylinder and 5 speed manual into a 1990s Camaro (either body style).

Quickly realized the weight of the Camaro being pushed around by an engine with the displacement of a soda bottle probably wouldn't be very fun.

But the Vortec, that sounds like a good balance of economy and oomph.

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb5841adf.jpg

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps21fa0d4d.jpg

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa5f7ee17.jpg

early 80's gm decided it was a good idea to put the pontiac 151ci(2.5l) in the firebird base model

Looks neat,will be watching.

Did you junk the 403?

Nice! I had an uncle with a '78, gold with the "firebird" decal on the hood. Some kinda brushed metal dashboard trim. Took me for a ride one Christmas in the early 1980s sometime that I guess I'll never forget. He still has that car.

Ha. That was my dream car when I was in HS (I graduated in '79). That decal was called "the screaming chicken"!

Nice project OP. I'll be watching this thread for updates.

Unless you turbocharge it :D


And is still quite easy to do some tuning due to its similarities to the well-beloved 350cu.in. small-block V8.

So far, I retrofitted the engine, trans, BMW leather seats, replaced all the rust, and pulled the interior out. I am learning how to sew up the leather on some of the trim

I got it on the road this summer. The 4.3 Vortec has good torque. I sold off the trans and engine as rebuildable cores.

I will figure out how to do video uploads.

http://static.photobucket.com/player.../VIDEO0014.mp4

http://static.photobucket.com/player.../VIDEO0018.mp4

Both links worked for me. Body looks quite good, paint too. How much power will the new engine have relative to the OEM one? Pounds per horse power and such.

I think hp is roughly the same. But the old 6.6L had a lot more torque.

I will publish the specs later. Drive train was out of a 98 S10 pickup.

How difficult was swapping S10 components into a Firebird/Camaro? Is it truly bolt-on swaps? How much fabrication, cutting, welding, etc was required?

Not bad. Avoid lt1, Vortec engines with the gm vats anti theft.

Howell and painless wiring make nice harnesses for these engines. Sensors are cheap. And any mechanic can trouble shoot codes.

After all, the lower torque probably won't be an issue in this case. The newer transmission seems to be more efficient, and the entire driveline lighter at all already helps. Unless you're gonna street-race it :D

But it's still better than leaving it rot away in a random junkyard.

Sounds a lot meaner than my 4.3 for sure. Although by the leaves blowing out from under the car, I'm guessing that was with open headers? What are you running behind it, 4L60?

At that point, I had open headders. Trans is a 4L60E.

Once I get the car running right I might add paddle shifters.

Anxious to see how this project continues...

I am considering doing something like this with my camaro, putting a FWD engine in rear wheel drive configuration on an RWD transmission. Something like a 3500 V6 out of a mid 2000s car, about the same horsepower and torque as the old carbed 5.0L LG4 motor but about 300 pounds lighter.

That sounds like a good plan. BTW what's the current transmission on your Camaro?

TH700R4 and its slipping real bad, needs to be replaced.

You could occasionally even mod a transverse FWD 6-speed transmission already bolted to the High-Value V6 to work at the longitudinal RWD layout instead of messing with aftermarket transmission controllers for a 4-speed longitudinal one...

I have to use an auto trans.
The auto transmission will allow room for the starter on the left and right sides.
The FWD block and RWD standard transmissions are not compatable, if you desire the use of a starter (guess you could always roll start it).

Or I could put the FWD 3500 top end on a 3400 RWD block. I am partial to the fwd3500/3400rwd setup so I wouldn't have to fab motor mount brackets and get the drive line right.
(A plain RWD3400 swap would down grade me from about 200hp/220Tq I have with the 5.0L to about 160hp/160Tq with the V6, so I dont really want to do that)

Also OBDII would be nice.
My current diagnostic tools are a vacuum gauge, timing light with tachometer duct taped to it and wide band O2 meter.

In the process of buying an industrial sewing machine do leather interior work.

if it was me doing an engine/transmission swap i'd use a gm high feature 3.6 v6 and it's transmission with all the wiring.

Bump

I have lots of new pics.

Upholstery starting soon. Got my industrial sewing machine.

Documentation of the 1979 Trans Am | Facebook

Keep an eye on your DexCool.

I love the torque on that (my) engine.

Not recommended!
 

The Iron Duke was never intended to be more than a large compact economy engine. You could boost it, but don't expect the ride to last long. I don't think a stock Duke is good for more than 120-140 horsepower.

Back in the day Pontiac made available a so-called Super Duty Four block, which duplicated Duke geometry but in much heavier hardware. Other geometries were shared with other Pontiac Super Duty engines, so there could be some entertaining shopping done at the Pontiac parts counter. Done right you could build a Duke stroker past 200 cubes, 300 horsepower and one hell of a shock to anybody lifting the hood after you smoked him at the lights. It looks like a Duke but goes like stink.

You can still get an SD4 engine from Kansas Racing Products. Crack the wallet wiiiide open, they ain't cheap.

NOTE: I apologize handsomely for stepping way far away from the ecomodder paradigm. I just like the Duke, and I lurves the SD4.

shame you couldnt do a vw tdi......!!!!!! :cool:

New pictures
 

I have updated pictures. Paint is mostly done. Working on trim and upholstery. Some work is also going into new weatherstripping. Can't have the t-tops leak.

One word for my feeling after viewing: humbling.