During September, I finalized fitting the 89 Trans-Am rearend to the frame, but unfortunately don't have pics. I also got my block back from the machine shop - they bored the block .030" over, and filled/reground/nitrided the camshaft, as number 7 cylinder cam lobes, both intake and exhaust, were flat. I checked the oil pump measures OK, but had to disassemble, wash/burn/blast the gunk away from the screen. I haven't assembled the short block yet, as I'm getting wild thoughts about it - I'll probably weld some additional meat on the piston tops to boost compression...Then I have been doing a lot of machine work, which I really love. I think I have found the true nature of hot rodding - fabricating your own parts, parts that are not available anywhere, mating some old and some modern, and doing it in style and good taste.
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| I decided to let the original brakes go, and machined caliper brackets out of chunks of tooling aluminum .I'm using the 79-88 G-body discs and the metric calipers. These are the only GM discs that allow the bracket to be mounted in front of the Buick spindle (I measured them all). The 80's C-10 12" discs would have the same size bearings (A5 inner), but would not fit otherwise. Note the mirror image of the caliper showing from the polished bracket. |
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| I had to resize the spindle to accept the A6 inner bearings. I left enough original diameter, and used the old bearing inner race as a surface for the seal. I just ground off the taper area. Here the remainder is secured on the spindle with loctite. The required A3 outer bearing matches the size of the spindle, but you must turn off some material to allow the bearing deeper on the shaft. And because of it, there's not enough threads for the nut, and you must use a thick shim there. Why not make more threads? Are you nuts - finding a die for an imperial size left hand thread, in Finland! |
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| I swapped a SB Chevy (short water pump) crank pulley in place of the original. They are the same diameter, but now I have 2 grooves instead of one, and can run modern devices like an alternator. Since you must maintain at least 3:1 drive ratio for an alternator, you just can't make an alternator pulley small enough if using the OE wide belt. I will use a SBC long water pump fan pulley, respectively. Now this is not as easy as it looks like. The pulley ID must be turned to fit snug on the damper snout, and drill new bolt holes, plus some other steps not visible here. I trued the seal surface while at it. Removing the original pulley, riveted on the damper, may give you a hard time. The rivets also act as spacers, and you must fabricate spacers (from tube stock) that fit over your new bolts. |