Yesterday, I took the transformed Trans Am (from factory automatic to manual as if it had been built that way at the factory) out for its first drive. We took a few shaky videos about which I apologize preemptively; when you first drive a vehicle that has had major surgery, your mind is focused on the vehicle – and whether everything’s working as it should – so (again) apologies for the not-so-great video clips. I will have a proper one up soon!
But – in the meantime – these will hopefully convey something of the experience.
It brought me back in time 30 years – to the last time I owned a Trans Am with a Super T10 manual transmission. My old ’76 – totaled back in the mid-1990s – is long gone, but its sound and feels have echoed in my brain all the years since. They were brought back to the now yesterday afternoon as I eased out the clutch and backed the TA off the lift ramps and out onto the pad in front of the garage.
All systems green, I moved the chrome Hurst shifter into neutral and then first and – gently – let the clutch out. The engagement felt good. Solid. None of that soupy disconnectedness you get with an automatic. Even though I didn’t get on it – as the saying goes – the car felt much more aggressive pulling out onto the road. Clutch in, second – release. That sound! It is probably difficult for you to hear it in the videos because there is still an open hole in the floor where the shifter rises up into the passenger compartment – but it’s the same sound I remember because who could ever forget? Then third – and fourth. All nice and snickety. Each gear chosen by me and not engaged until I choose to engage.
This is the appeal. Well, part of the appeal. The directness. The connectedness. You and the machine working in syncopation. No automatic can conjure this experience. It takes more work but it is much more rewarding.
We got to the main road, where the speed limit is 55 and traffic is generally running 60-something. It was quickly obvious I’m going to have to do something about the 3.90 gears in the rear axle. Once I got up to speed – about 55, I guessed (because the speedo is way off because I haven’t yet installed the correct gear to work with the new combo) – I looked at the tach and saw the engine was turning about 2,700 RPM. With the 2004R automatic – which had a deep .67 overdrive – at the same road speed the engine speed was closer to 2,000 RPM.
It reminded me of how it was, back in the day – when muscle cars with aggressive rear axle ratios and non-overdrive transmissions were quick – but not very fast. The 3.90 gearset worked great with the OD automatic. It works great with the four speed T10, too – unless you want to cruise on the highway at highway speeds. You can do it, but the engine will be working hard doing it.
It’s not a big deal for me because I mostly just knock around the backroads in my rural county but I think that, at some point, I am going to go down to 3.08s in the rear to give me the right balance. If the car had been a four speed (manual) factory car, it would have come with a 3.23 set. This was fine with a 455 that made 200 horsepower from the factory and about 345 ft.-lbs. of torque. My TA’s 455 makes considerably more horsepower and torque – probably enough of the latter to be plenty quick even with the much less aggressive 3.08 gears.
That, however, will be a project for later.
For now, the project is pretty is pretty much done. I still need to button up the interior. It needs the rubber boot and such for the shifter, plus a new (manual) center console. These are not cheap, though – so for now they will have to wait.
But that is unimportant because what matters is that it’s operational and just in time for spring!
. . .
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Great to see it running free, the way a proper General Motors would have intended!
Thanks, Bill!
It’s a night and day improvement. Expect a proper test drive video soon. I’m supposed to get the boot/retainer ring, etc. today – which will let me “button up” the shifter and close off that hole in the floor, which will reduce the other sounds that make it harder to hear the T10.
To make such a change and get the desired result is what it means to be human and to control the environment for your advantage.
It’s a feeling like none other.
Congratulations.
Congrats!
Thanks, Rich!
I did the last adjustments yesterday (clutch pedal travel) and the car runs and drives fantastically. It is so much better than it was. I will have a proper video up soon!
I would love to see that video, Eric. Before you worked on converting the automatic transmission on your 1976 Trans Am to a manual, I didn’t even know it was possible to do so. However, I seriously doubt anyone could do the same with a vehicle made within the past 10-15 years or so given all the computers and technological gadgets they’re equipped with.
Thanks, John!
It’s possible to convert a modern (computer controlled vehicle) from automatic to manual – just a lot more involved and a lot more expensive. My TA is mechanical – and analog. The engine does not care whether there is an automatic or a manual bolted to it. So long as it bolts up. But a modern. computer controlled car’s drivetrain is an integrated unit. The computer that controls both is set up for the way it left the factory. You’d at the very least need to swap in a manual computer (and all the peripheral sensors, etc.) for the result to work properly. Probably the “easiest” wat to do it would be swap in the entire drivetrain – and computer – from a manual car. That, of course, gets into big money.
There might be someone out there who has that kind of money who’d want to convert a newer vehicle with an automatic to a manual transmission, particularly if the vehicle has one of those continuously variable transmissions I’ve heard so many negative things about.
As for your 1976 Pontiac Trans Am, I’ve never driven one myself, let alone a sports car or even a Pontiac, but I once drove a 1976 Chevrolet Nova that I effectively inherited from my late great grandfather. It was a 4 door sedan instead of a 2 door, so it may have been regarded as an old person’s car, but I actually found it fun to drive even though it had an automatic transmission and a radio that only picked up AM stations.
Hi John!
You may already know this, but: The ’76 Nova is closely related to the ’70-81 Firebird (and Camaro). I think the front subframes are nearly identical and many mechanical parts are the same or similar and can be swapped back and forth. I miss the days when cars were like that.
No Eric, I didn’t know that. That’s awesome. Unfortunately though I sold the Nova I once drove over 20 years ago, as I started having more and more problems with it. It’s hard to believe that much time has passed since I drove a hand me down car that I would have liked to have restored if I only had the money to do so as a tribute to my great grandfather.
Hi John,
Yup. So many of us know all about that. The cars we once thought of as just old cars and often just sold or gave away for next-to-nothing and wish we could have back now. For example, my ’74 Super Beetle. I gave it away – to charity, for the slight tax credit I got – back in the mid-90s. It was in sound mechanical condition – just a little rough cosmetically. Today, a decent-running Beetle costs about $4k last time I looked. I suppose that’s “cheap” relative to the cost of other vehicles – but I paid $700 for the ’74 back in the early ’90s, just after college, when I needed a cheap car to drive to work in.
Hi Eric,
The vehicle that I bought after I sold my Nova was a 1993 GMC Sonoma. It was a good little truck but I sold that years later as well. It had that clear coat paint that was coming off, making it look ugly in spots. I actually saw it for sale on the Internet just a few months ago, so it’s still running for a 33 year old truck, though it appeared more of the clear coat paint had peeled off.
Wind in my hair
Shifting and drifting
Adrenaline surge!
Enjoy the ride!