Some more from the original thread:
I enjoyed the car in the as bought condition for a little over a year, using it as a weekend and occasional weekday fun car. The interior was clean, but with typical Arizona sun damage like a cracked dash and some door panel damage, but overall pretty nice. It even had the original AM/FM stereo. Since the AC compressor was missing, the car didn’t get much attention during the hot Arizona summer months. One day while beating on it a bit with a high speed freeway blast (speed not given to protect the innocent
) one of the freeze plugs had corroded through and started spurting coolant out of the side of the block. Rather than simply replace the freeze plug, I was ready for a real build up of the engine, as its performance seemed a bit lacking to me.
I tore the engine down with my brother and found a number of issues with the block. Keep in mind, this was a budget build-up, since I was a struggling college student at the time. First it had a crack down low in one of the cylinder bores that had been stop drilled. Also, one of the pistons was cracked between one of the ring grooves. So much for the “remanufactured” engine replacement. I had the block cleaned and checked, and upon the advice of the machine shop, reused the block even with the stop drilled crack. I replaced the one damaged piston, traded my small valve heads at a local cylinder head rebuild shop for some ’71 cast number D-port 96 heads with 2.11” intake and 1.77” exhaust valves with screw in studs, bought a basic rebuild kit, bought a Holley 800cfm spreadbore carb and added some headers. To my amazement the original 068 cam was still in the block. Granted, it might not have been the original one from the car, but a correct part numbered 068 cam resided in this particular block. I reused it after having it micced by the machine shop too. All of the bottom end pieces checked out ok, and they were also reused. When we got everything back together, the car ran fantastic. It felt like it had gained 100 or more hp. I was ready to hit the drag strip.
I had only driven down a ¼ mile race track once before in my life. That was with my ’68 superbee and it was an untimed run on a closed track. My first pass with the TA was a bit disappointing running a mid 15 second run, after having spun the tires all the way through 1st gear. I found I couldn’t get into the secondaries of the carb in 1st gear without the tires going up in smoke. With some practice and a little more tuning, I was able to get her down to the low 14’s at over 100mph. Traction was still a major issue. I never ran the car with drag radials or slicks, but have no doubt it would have been deep in the 13’s with better traction. Granted these weren’t spectacular times, but then again this was the 80’s and my 14.19 had me running faster than the vast majority of street cars at the track.
After one of these track trips, I was driving home and just happened upon something that seemed like it was right out of the movies. As I approached a light on a relatively empty road, there was an ‘86ish vette in one lane and a 911 Turbo in the other. The road was 2 lanes wide in each direction, widening to 3 lanes at the next light. I thought to myself, this is going to be interesting. At first I resisted the urge to play on the street, but come on, how often does one find themselves in a situation like this. I decided I would take my cue from the other two drivers. Sure enough, the 911 and the vette pull away from the light fast. I track right behind the 911 and keep pace with him as we both put a little distance between us and the vette. After about a 75+mph blast we all three slow down for the next light and I moved into the middle lane. I really wish I had a video camera with me back then. There I was representing the pinnacle of American muscle next to a Euro supercar and the best modern American performance car of the time (ok so the GN was a bit faster in the 1/4 :p). All three of us left on the green, with the 911 and me pulling away from the vette fairly fast. I actually got a fairly good launch but avoided hitting the secondaries until I was nearing the top of 1st gear. I slammed 2nd (B&M Mega shifter installed) and got a bit loose on the 1-2 shift, but didn’t lose distance between me and the 911. The 911 was even with my front fender, with the vette falling at least 2-3 carlengths back. I kept 2nd gear a bit too long as I revved the engine into the red shifting into 3rd at about 6000+RPM. It’s a stock bottom end 455, and really shouldn’t have been up in this range, but she was still pulling and I didn’t want the 911 to get the W. As I hit 3rd, I started to put distance on the 911, slowly but steadily. Of course by this time we were getting well into the triple digit speeds and I decided it was time to let off. When I did the 911’s front fender was about even with my rear ¼ panel. I have no doubt he would have closed the gap at the top end and probably kept on going by me, but as far as a ¼ mile run, the big 455 took the W!
Now the bad part. My victory had come at a cost. At the next light, the three of us gave each other thumbs up. But by now I realized I had damaged my beloved Trans Am. The oil pressure was dropping on the gauge down to about 20psi or less with the engine revving. I was starting to panic. I didn’t want to be stranded, as I was still about 15 miles from home. So I nursed her back home, cautiously listening for any engine noises and keeping an eagle eye on the oil pressure gauge to see if it fell further. I had no clue what had happened, but initially suspected a spun bearing. I removed the engine and again tore her down once more. What I found confused the heck out of me. There were no spun bearings, no scored bearings, no scored cam, no evidence whatsoever of damage from lack of oil. I was happy but confused. (BTW, I immediately hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge when I first got home to confirm it wasn’t simply the electrical gauge or sending unit). It turned out to be a piece of cleaning brush bristles had somehow been left in the engine by the machine shop. This became lodged in the oil pressure bypass valve where the oil filter mounts, causing it to stick open. I guess even though the pressure dropped, there was still enough volume to keep the engine well lubed.
