The Orange Barchetta – my 1976 Pontiac Trans Am – now has most of the brackets/rods and levers in place to actuate the clutch that will soon be bolted to the flywheel that’s supposed to arrive this week sometime!
It’s been mostly easy so far. GM very thoughtfully drilled the front subframes of all 1976 Firebirds (and Camaros, I’m pretty sure) in the places where the brackets go for the manual hardware, even if the car left the factory with an automatic, so it’s just a matter of tapping threads into the pre-drilled holes and then you can bolt the brackets – for the Z-bar and return spring – right up.
No worrying about drilling holes in exactly the right place, so that the geometry of the hardware is correct.
All Pontiac V8 engine blocks – including the 455 that’s in my Trans-Am – also have the mounting boss for the stud the Z-bar rides in (on the engine side, of course) drilled and tapped from the factory. So all that needs doing to mount the Z-bar is to install the ball stud on the engine, the bracket on the frame rail and drop the Z-bar in. The rods that actuate the clutch fork – when you press down on the clutch pedal – slip onto their respective holes in the Z-bar’s levers – and it is done, other than the final adjustment of the clutch fork/rod-to-the-pedal adjustment. That has to wait until the clutch (and pressure plate and bellhousing) as well as the pedals are installed.
But it’s all coming together!
One of the things that’s fun about doing this swap is remembering how easy it used to be to do such swaps. It was – and still is, if you’re playing with a car from the pre-computer era – because you don’t have to “pair” anything, except mechanically. If the parts bolt together, they will likely work together. It was – and is, if you’re playing with a pre-computer-era vehicle like mine – easy to mix and match components it could have had from the factory but didn’t, because each car was designed to have anything that it could have had from the factory. 
My car, for instance, was originally equipped with the 400 V8 and a three speed automatic transmission. Replacing the 400 with the 455 it could have been ordered with was as easy as removing the 400 and dropping the 455 in its place. The car didn’t know or care that there was a 455 rather than a 400 under the hood because it lacks a computer that might notice the difference and refuse to let the 455 run. Carburetors don’t need electronic permission slips. Nothing needs to be “paired” or “flashed.” Just install the 455 and hook up the fuel, ignition and exhaust.
It was the same when I replaced the factory TH350 three speed automatic with a four speed (overdrive) automatic. No computer compatibility issues. The TH2004R bolted right up and it served me well. It just didn’t let me shift for myself.
I decided I needed to be able to shift for myself again. Hence the Trans-Am’s transition!
. . .
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Eric
I remember you saying you could not find right oil found grate oil for classic car Valvoline vr1 20-50 for classic car fairly cheap on Amazon or Walmart sometimes has it
Hi Angelo,
Yes, thanks! The oil is still available; you just have to look harder. I suppose it ought to be expected. The TA just turned 50!
Eric, are you putting in an overdrive manual or going with the 4-speed T-10?
My 79 Firebird has the 4-speed T-10, along with highway gears in the rear (2.76, I think) and it does great on the highway.
Also, sad news on the Pontiac front. I’ve decided to sell my 79 Firebird and use the proceeds to improve upon my 71 Charger. I can’t justify having 2 classics anymore.
I’m planning to rebuild the 440 in the Charger. It’s old and tired. I’ll build it up with some speed parts. The goal is to make it as fun to drive and as good sounding as that Pontiac.
Hi Philo!
This is sad news, indeed! The only advice I have is that if there’s any way you can rebuild the Charger without selling the Firebird, I’d keep the Firebird. These cars are becoming hard to find in any kind of decent condition. I hugely regret selling the ’80 Z28 I used to have. I wish I could have figured out a way to hold onto it. I hope you can.
Ha! “I know – and don’t care.” Love it.
I spun a rod bearing on an early 1970’s soft top Corvette on my way to pilot training. I was an engineer at Wright Patterson and got accepted to training in Texass, I was on top of the world at that time, and I was also cruising down the Will Roger’s turnpike in Oklahoma doing 100 mph without a fear in the world. At midnight a patrol car started chasing me so I turned off the headlights (under the full moon) and floored it, got it up to around 130, and lost the cop. Not long after the oil pressure dropped to zero and the engine had a severe large knocking so I turned the engine off and coasted off the next exit – saw a GM dealership and restarted and drove it just enough to dump the car in the parking lot. I walked a couple of blocks and found a motel, next morning I went the dealer and they just happened to have a crate 350 on the floor, and being pro-military they made me a priority and had me out of there later that day. Just one okie mechanic swapped that V-8 out in a few hours. Those were the days of simplicity alright.
A few months later every friday I would race the locals in downtown Enid, and that new engine won it every time. BTW that corvette paint and trim was horrible, all the plastic cracked, etc. Another thing, going to work after an ice storm you’d be doing 360s down the middle of the road. Eventually I got into front wheel drive cars and loved the stability and fuel economy and never went back to muscle cars. EFI sealed the deal, the injected car always started even in horrible weather – unlike those Ford Pintos I worked on high school.
Great memories, Jack – I have some of those also!
Back in ‘73 I worked for the rental car division of the Buick dealer. Also involved taking the Novas and Chevelles in for service at a local Chevy dealer. On the floor of the service dept were several crate motors, one was a pre smog 427, boy was I drooling over that. “That would wake up Mom’s 64 Impala!”
‘pre-drilled and tapped’
They don’t do that anymore, of course.
At least our new Ford Transit van doesn’t.
We got the ‘cargo’ van version obviously for cargo (not passengers), and there are lots of ‘holes’ to mount the myriad of cargo device options.
But if you didn’t pre-order the cargo device options they are not tapped.
What a Pita.
I couldn’t believe it. But I guess in today’s robot world, the robot knows ya didn’t order X and it skips the tapping part.
More importantly, some bean counting cork soaker figured out that each tapped hole cost an extra 3 cents, and they decided that was important enough to squeeze out of the customer.
Ahh the days of “normal” R&R for cars. A radiator replacement usually meant more time rounding up a few tools than actually pulling the radiator. My 2018 Grand Cherokee has about used up radiator #2, first was under warranty. I looked at the video for replacement proceedure, wow what a cluster.
I’m convinced the V6 very long upper hose is the problem, no support in the middle so that hose, heavy with coolant, bounces along mile after mile, stressing the upper radiator corner to failure. There is a metal line above the hose middle, I’m going to look at adding a hose cradle hooked to that line.
In the bicentennial year of 1976, mechanically-inclined persons could earn their chops doing the kind of work Eric describes — work that would be inconceivable on today’s vehicles.
You’d need a degree in Computer Science and a six-figure bank account to start. But even that wouldn’t suffice, when confronted with proprietary, black-box code that can’t be hacked.
CANbus is the root of all evil:
‘Development of the CAN bus started in 1983 at Robert Bosch GmbH. The protocol was officially released in 1986 at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conference in Detroit. The first CAN controller chips were introduced by Intel in 1987. Released in 1991, the Mercedes-Benz W140 was the first production vehicle to feature a CAN-based multiplex wiring system.’ — Wikipedia
You’re right, Jim –
I have the skills and tools to open up a shop and could do that; the problem is I lack the skills and tools to work on computer-controlled vehicles – so my shop could only cater to people who own cars made before the early ’80s. This sucks all around. It is nigh impossible for a young guy to just open a wrenching operation so he has to go to work for a dealer – and thus be owned by the dealer. Pretty much everyone else has to go to a dealer to get their vehicle fixed because fixing it is beyond the skills and tools of even mechanically inclined people. Hell, I have two professional mechanic friends who can’t afford to equipment and subscriptions they need to be able to work on some makes/models.
In rural areas the mechanic shops are overflowing with older cars – enough to keep a whole team busy forever. Dealers charge 2-3x what the job is worth. Everyone is going to need a clutch some day. Anyways you are way to smart to do that daily grind, you are probably heading toward a glorious political career IMO. Hell, I would vote for you over anyone else, and I don’t vote. What you don’t know Eric is that your real skill is your brain and articulation, I have never heard anyone on the radio who is speaks as clearly as you. Of course, if you a Libertarian, you probably hate politicians like I do, who the hell wants to work around the worst scum on the planet, like you know, Congressman.
Thanks, Jack!
Plus, I’m getting too old to wrench as a daily thing. I like being able to work on the TA with no time pressure to finish the job. I can get to it tomorrow, etc.
You realize that you have to remove the throttle “kickdown” linkage and change a few settings on that Rochester “Queer Jet” carb, right? Even if you’ve run it with, say, a Holley 4150, those sorts of changes are needed.
But yes, you don’t need any permission from “Big Brother” or “Generous Mother” to make your ’76 Trans what you WANT it to be!
Hi Douglas,
Already done! The TV/downshift cable and bracketry are gone. I have the correct manual linkages installed. Flywheel came yesterday; should have that in the car before the end of the week. If I’m lucky and someone buys the 2004R, I’ll be able to buy the clutch/pressure plate and bellhousing soon! Then it’s just the T10 buy and install…
Note to Big Block Chevy swappers: Later 454 and 502 crate motors do not have this.
All Pontiac V8 engine blocks – including the 455 that’s in my Trans-Am – also have the mounting boss for the stud the Z-bar rides in (on the engine side, of course) drilled and tapped from the factory.
Sweet. It’s nice to work on stuff that is mechanically simple… and not rusted to shit.
Bravo, Eric. It’s this kind of thing that keeps you young. As far as lifting the trans into place, this little guy is great. It’s a Harbor Freight unit I’ve use for years doing Miata work with only jackstands.
https://shorturl.at/mCmyd
May you and your T-10 have many happy years together.
Thanks, Landru!
I’m doing this piecemeal – as funds permit. The big lift is going to be the T10 itself. The other components are relatively inexpensive. But it’s going to cost around $2k for that T10 and since I’m not getting any checks from “Netanyahu,” it’ll be a while before I can pull the trigger on that! But I should have the flywheel, clutch/pressure plate and bellhousing all in by earlly Feb. if not sooner, plus the pedals and all the linkages hooked up.
Morning Eric.
The M20 I put into my Camaro by some weird fluke is within the margin of error by it’s date code for the car. Back when I bought it used it only cost me around $325.00, unfortunately no one thought to remove the fill/ level check plug when it was out of the car. It was way over tightened and broke into pieces. Needless to say the tranny had to be pulled, plug drilled out, remove the remains of the plug, flush tranny several times then reinstall. Fun times to be sure.
Ever consider a Tremec 6-speed? Like Quantum Torpedo versus Photon torpedoes. Costs quite a bit more, but as Quark pointed out to LTG Demmings, US Army Air Force, at Roswell AFB in early July 1947 (just prior to the creation of the USAF), WORTH it!
Morning, Douglas!
Nope. Not even a little. I have nothing against the Tremec; it’s a fine transmission. But I am not wanting a “resto mod.” I am wanting the stock experience. I know the revs will be high at highway speeds. I don’t care. I drive the car around my rural county on back roads. I want to hear the whine of the Super T10 and time-travel back to a time when the TA and others like it were new – to help me forget what new cars have become!
Made the comments before you’d already responded to “why not a Tremec”. Methinks you’ll find that the “genuine experience” will be rather LIMITING, but it will be more or less what Generous Mother offered in 1975-1976. My impression also is that you’ve made the decision based on budgetary reasons, and that’s quite alright, it is YOUR ride.
Another way, should that 455 “wind out” to an annoying level, is to simply change out the rear axle gear set. Likely with that old a ‘Bird, you’d want a spare set on hand anyway, and doing the swap isn’t all that difficult. With the 455 having that 4.21″ stroke and therefore being slightly undersquare (so were the Buick and Olds 455s, IIRC), it’s one torquey “Em-Effer” anyway, and if you have a decent “low end” cam, even with, say, 2.56 gears, that ‘Bird will even go up those Piedmont hills effortlessly. That, again, is what’s nice about the “Classic” era, like “Gozer the Gazerian”, your ride can be what you WANT it to be!
Question, are you putting in a year correct 4-speed or a aftermarket 5-speed manual?
Morning, Allen!
I am going with a year-correct Borg Warner Super T-10 four speed. No overdrive. I want to replicate how the car would have been had it been ordered with a factory four speed. Some have tried to persuade me to go with a five (or even six) speed manual because these have overdrive gearing. I know – and don’t care. I’m not going to be driving the TA on long road trips. I drive it on the country roads around me. So, there’s that. I also just want to hear the gear whine sounds that a Super T10 – makes. The modern manuals lack the sound. Finally – and this is just a perk – the T10 costs much less than a five or six speed Tremec. I’m not rich, so I can’t afford to spend $4k-plus on a Tremec!
Im super enthusiastic about reading this series! I hope you document it via video. Good luck, have fun and remember that bloody knuckles is part of the fun!