- 1979 Trans Am -

This is the story of my 1979 Trans Am

2004 Engine Rebuild

This spring 2004 we decided it was time to rebuild the engine. It had been burning oil pretty rapidly and we really had no idea what if any mods were made to the engine. So began our adventure into the 400ci Pontiac engine.


Taking the headers off the engine so we could get it out of the car.


We sure made a mess.


In the process of this engine rebuild we found a lot of "interesting" things. The first being this little access "door" cut into the inner fender well. Presumably to access the heater core. We just took the whole fender well off. We'll be welding this back into one piece before it goes back on.


The engine out of the car.


Note the big gouges out of the rocker arms and the missing hats on top of some of the springs. Parts of the hats were floating around in the engine.


You could see where the oil had been leaking through the rings.


Large chunks of metal were floating around in the oil pan from the broken windage tray.


The cam was really easy to wiggle back and forth in the engine, we realized why when we saw this washer all bent in. So overall it was a wise decision to rebuild my engine.


I sent my headers up to New Image Coatings to be ceramic coated.


And we sent the engine to a shop to be cleaned up. Unfortunatly they didn't do their jobs so we spent that whole long weekend grinding and finishing what they didn't.


Of course when we were done it looked a lot better.


I cleaned all the carbon off the pistons and was covered in black by the end of that job.


Finally it was clean and ready to paint. We choose to paint the engine GM Corporate Blue which should be the stock engine color for Pontiac in '79.

Update - 6/23/2004 This weekend we plan to put the engine back together, assuming we have all the parts ready, in hopes to have it ready for the Car Craft Summer Nationals 2004 in St. Paul, MN

List of new parts:

Comp Cam and Lifters
Rings, Bearings, Gaskets, Freeze Plugs
ARP Stainless bolt set
High Volume Oil Pump
Aluminum Water Pump
Roller Rocker Arms
Mallory Distributor
Heater Core

And we're taking the cutouts off the exhaust so I also have reducers and copper gaskets for the exhaust system. And last but not least, a stainless steel battery tray - ooo.

Update - 6/28/2004 We attempted once again to finish the engine this past weekend but we are still missing some parts. We got the new heater core put back in but I am debating getting a new motor for the fan just to make sure. We have to put that in before we put the inner fender well back.


We hung up a bunch of the parts and painted them black.


And we degreased, powerwashed, scraped, ground, and put acid on the rusty parts in the engine compartment. We plan to touch up the inside with some black paint before putting the engine back in. If we had the time or energy it would be nice to take the frame off and sandblast and paint.

Update 7/2/2004 - Jeff went home Thursday evening to get working on the car. After this weekend we only have one weekend until Car Craft. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! We spent this week scouring the internet for a windage tray and a fuel pump eccentric. Finally found a windage tray on ebay, actually for a GTO but I was just updated this morning, that it fit perfectly. The eccentric was listed in the Year One catalog I have but it was from 2001 and I guess they don't have access to that part any longer. Oddly it's not like it's a strange optional part, it's pretty essential. Checkers thought we were nuts and the dealers didn't have anything. On his way up to Aitkin this week Jeff stopped at a junk yard on a whim. They had an old GTO in the trees that had just the part we needed. And the guy on ebay with the windage tray is also sending an eccentric he had. So hopefully we're all set. The shop has ordered up a Mallory pointless distrubtor for me and that should arrive today or tomorrow. I have yet to decide if I'll drive out to the farm Saturday night. I'd like to be there when they fire up the car but I have a feeling that if they get that far they won't be waiting for me! Since most of the engine was assembled I don't think I am missing out on too much right now, just the contortions and swearing to get the engine back in the car! Keep your fingers crossed, we may just make it yet.

Update 12/4/2004 - So I haven't kept very up to date, let's see if I can fill in the gaps. The engine finally went back into the car along with a brand new MSD distributor and wires.

We then were able to drive the car down to Eilers Performance Corner to get the timing set and work on the exhaust.

The cutouts came off ...

... and new pipes were put in their place. She's louder than ever! After bending a pushrod while setting the rocker arms we were finally back on the road around 11pm on Sunday night. We had a 3 hour drive back to the cities, luckily every thing went well and we made it safe and sound, and in time for 2004 Car Craft Summer Nationals.