1970 1/2 Trans Am - Runnin' Down a Dream

"I bought this T/A because it's my dream car. For years I searched for the perfect Pontiac and tried to substitute others for the '70 1/2 Trans Am but they just never did it for me," Arthur Philipp Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania, explained. "This particular Bird caught my eye one night while searching the Web. I called and left the owner a message and then I continued calling until I got to speak with someone to make the deal. Owning my dream car was finally going to become a reality. But first, I had to get a truck to drive out to Kansas and pick up the Pontiac because it was just a shell with extra parts--kind of like a model kit, a car in a box, but not as easy to put together. Despite the condition, it was still a Lucerne Blue '70 1/2 T/A with blue interior and I was going for it come hell or high water." How many of us have shared those sentiments regarding our Pontiacs?

Once back home and unloaded, after a harrowing journey that Art shared with his father-in-law, which included multiple breakdowns of a mechanical nature and nearly one of the mental variety, the fun began. A complete restoration and modification from the ground up ensued. Being a busy collision repair shop manager of Philipp's Collision in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Art may have had an abundance of skill, but sadly, he was very short on time and shop space. He worked on the body planning with Brian Soden, who offered the use of his shop to rebuild the T/A. After a chemical stripping bath, the F-body was brought to Art's shop, put on the rotisserie and primed and painted inside. Once the bodywork was done on the shell, it was back to Brian's shop for assembly.

Since building a Pontiac is no fun alone, buddies were summoned to help the cause. Lester Grusecki was in charge of quality control, Mike Pallo became "the fuel injection guy," and the aforementioned Brian Soden was officially titled "the assembly enforcement officer." Brian tore down, checked, cleaned and reassembled the short-block and Les and Art put the rest of the engine together. Although Philipp did most of the overall work, his friends kept him focused to get the project completed. "If it were not for these guys, who knows what stage the T/A would be in today," Art related.

The details and background of the 455's short-block are shrouded in mystery. Art had come across the rebuilt '70 455 bottom-end. Even though the project was going over budget, he bought it. Would you turn down a completely rebuilt, align-honed, 4-bolt main, 455 short-block bored .030 over with a polished stock crank and resized rods, TRW cast pistons, ready to install for 1,000 bucks?

Down under a Melling oil pump, Milodon street oil pan, and an Indian Adventures mini starter were installed. In between the cylinder banks went a Comp Cams 230/236-degree duration at .050 hydraulic roller cam with .510/.525 lift and 110-degree centerline. Comp also provided the roller lifters and pushrods. A Warrior Racing geardrive unit was installed and is reported to not be as loud as one would expect. Hooker Super Comp ceramic-coated headers were procured as well. Indian Adventures sent a pair of 87cc Edelbrock aluminum heads, which the company mildly ported and gasket matched the intake ports to a set of Fel-Pros. A set of 2.11/1.66 Ferrea valves, Comp springs, and titanium retainers and locks were installed. Harland Sharp 1.5:1 aluminum roller rockers top off the valvetrain. Indian Adventures' aluminum valley cover was modified with baffles to keep oil from splashing on the PCV and being sucked into the intake.

Engine externals consist of an SFI-approved harmonic balancer from IA, Russel fittings, and March pulleys. The custom aluminum radiator was fitted with a fabricated aluminum shroud and an electric fan--Art didn't want to put a fan on the front of the engine as it would take away from the gorgeous polished pulleys.

Induction is handled by a Holley fuel injection unit. Obviously, a change to the fuel lines and the addition of Holley's higher-pressure (14 pounds) fuel pump were required to assist with the increased fuel pressure requirements. Initially, a Holley 4DI Pro Fuel Injection system failed due to a bad computer. So after a call to Holley's tech support, Art picked up a Commander 950 upgrade kit, which included a new computer, software and harness. He also chose the older Pro Fuel throttle body because it had a 1:1 primary/secondary throttle ratio whereas the new Commander 950 unit uses a progressive linkage similar to a factory 4-barrel Q-Jet.

Now the learning curve got drastically steeper. Although the Commander 950 has the ability to control the ignition timing, it is only pre-programmed for Chevy or Ford engines. Determined to incorporate this feature on his 455 Poncho motor, Art did some research and tore an '89 Caddy 4.9 HEI distributor apart to learn how to set up his ignition. (This particular distributor was used as a test unit because of its built-in reverse rotation pick up coil, fuel injection 4-wire connector and 7-pin module wiring harness.) After a successful trial run, the Pontiac (Not the Caddy's) distributor was modified with similar ACCEL components and an advance lockout kit. Taylor 8mm spark plug wires and Autolite 3924 plugs complete the ignition system.

The first fuel injection test runs resulted in backfires and black smoke pouring out the exhaust. After a few calls to the tech line, changes were made to the Chevy 350 parameter fuel maps. And after many hours of tuning, the injection was dialed in.

Torq Tech 3-inch exhaust and Flowmaster mufflers were installed aft of the Hooker Super Comps. However, the tail pipes were cut and a pair of stainless-steel tips from Summit were added for a better look.

The 5-speed manual transmission is a Richmond 4+1 non-overdrive unit with an ultra steep first gear and a Hurst shifter. A Centerforce II Dual-Friction 10.5-inch clutch adheres to a Hays steel flywheel. A driveshaft safety loop from Indian Adventures is prepared to catch the shaft should the fuelie beast be too much for the stock unit. Bringing up the rear is the factory 12-bolt Posi now fitted with 2.76:1 gears instead of 3.73s to make better use of the transmission gearing.

Continuing on the theme of musclecar looks with modern upgrades, the blue Bird was treated to an H-O Racing Specialties 1 3/8 inch front stabilizer bar and Global West Del-la-lum bushings. GW performance springs and Carrera shocks reside at the 4 corners and GW's tubular subframe connectors were welded in. Unfortunately the budget, already grossly exceeded, had to stop with keeping the stock 10.9-inch disc/9.5-inch drum brakes for now. Philipp did however, upgrade the stock brake hoses with braided pieces.

Stuffing the wheel wells in front are massive American Racing Torq Thrust 17x8 wheels shod with 255/40ZR17 Firestone Firehawk SZs, and in the rear are 17 x 9.5 AREs with 275/40ZR17 Goodyear Eagle F1 tires.

Once the drivetrain and most of the body were back together, the T/A was brought back to Art's shop for final prep and code #26 Lucerne Blue paint. Art applied the PPG basecoat/clearcoat, then wet sanded and removed imperfections before having the custom stripe painted on. Yet another friend, Jeff Esmel, made the trick clear taillights and made a stencil of the factory stripes. The incredible custom striping was done by a friend simply known as "Pooch," whom Art regards as an outstanding artist who aided in making the final decision on the style of the stripe and lettering. Pooch painted and airbrushed the T/A stripe and lettering and Art followed with 2 more coats of PPG high solids clear.

When pressed regarding what exactly it was about this '70 1/2 Lucerne Blue T/A that made him just had to have it, Art simply says, "The light blue interior has always been my favorite color and the low-back buckets seats have a more serious musclecar look and feel." What makes Art stand out as even more of a great car guy is his love of the Pontiac and the hobby. "I will be more than happy to build one of these little monsters for anyone who wants one. It's already something I do on the side, which may turn full-time someday." Art Philipp has certainly caught up with this dream car and it's a lot faster and handles much better than most.