1976 Pontiac Trans Am - Shaken, Not Stirred

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This '76 Trans Am Might Share A Garage With An Aston Martin, But It's Not The Brit That Oozes Class And Sophistication.
From the September, 2010 issue of Popular Hot Rodding
By Stephen Kim
Photography by Stephen Kim

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Don't let the cowboy hat and pointy-toe boots fool you. Steve Wayne's John Wayne-meets-Billy Bob attire belies an inner gentleman in tune with far more sophisticated proclivities. Never mind that he kept restocking his left hand with a steady supply of Bud Light in the 20-minute intervals during our photo shoot. Steve's daily driver is an Aston Martin DB9. He's turned hundreds of road course laps in Vipers and Ferraris. Outside his daily duties as a structural engineer, Steve gets his kicks building high-end street rods and Corvettes out of his house, then pawning them off on dudes too rich and sophisticated for their own good at Barrett-Jackson. It seems quite peculiar, then, that someone with such distinguished tastes should lust over a '76 Trans Am, complete with an obligatory screaming chicken emblazoned on the hood. That's because, like its owner, this Poncho packs more grace and elegance than its outward appearance lets on.

OK, maybe using words like grace and elegance to describe a mid-'70s Trans Am pushes the envelope of tasteful hyperbole a bit too far. Nonetheless, the subtle flair and thorough engineering infused into this machine makes the typical Pro Touring '69 Camaro look rather mundane. The scoot comes from a 500hp Pontiac 466 mated to a Tremec five-speed stick. The underpinnings consist of Hotchkis tubular links and QA1 adjustable shocks. Six-piston Baer clamps transform forward progress into thermal energy, and the car rides on 18-inch American Racing Cobra wheels wrapped in R-compound Nitto rubber. So far, there's nothing out of the norm that throws the g-Machine equilibrium off kilter, but all that changes once you dig a little deeper. The spindles have been moved inward 2 inches for increased brake caliper clearance. Brake cooling ducts now reside where the front parking lights used to be. Underhood, a custom linkage connects the carb's primaries to the hoodscoop's butterfly blades to ensure that both open and close in harmony. Inside, sumptuous buck hide leather covers the custom seats, headliner, and door panels. A pair of toggle switches mounted on the dash might look racy, but they actually operate the rear window defroster and stereo. Steve thought that a modern head unit would look too anachronistic and out of place, so it's tucked away in the trunk.

The list of subtleties goes on and on, and understanding Steve's approach to building cars and his fascination with '76 Trans Ams requires taking a trip way back to his formative years. During the pinnacle of the muscle car era, Steve was still in elementary school. By the time he turned 16, the year was 1976, and the days of high compression and steel bumpers were numbered. Steve says to anyone in high school at the time, the '76 Trans Am was the big cheese. "Muscle cars died five years earlier, but people were still clinging to them as best as they could. I wanted to buy a '73 Trans Am at first, but my dad talked me into buying a newer car, and I've never once regretted that decision," he says. "I think the '76 Trans Am was the last real muscle car, and at that time it was the coolest car you could get. It had a big spoiler, crazy graphics, and scoops, and even though it was a low-compression dog, '76 was the last year of the 455. After they started putting Oldsmobile and Chevy motors into Firebirds, the car just wasn't the same."

With just 88,000 original miles on the odometer, this Trans Am is a true survivor car. All the body panels, trim, and paint are factory original. The Pontiac has never had so much as a patch panel welded to its skin. It was rarely driven during Steve's college days and didn't see many street miles throughout the '80s and '90s. Through the years that the Trans Am sat idle, Steve kept his hot rodding skills sharp by building everything from Chevy IIs to Corvettes, to VW Beetles and street rods. He made a habit out of churning out a high-dollar street machine every year. Over time, folks around town became aware of Steve's mechanical abilities, and he started building complete cars for other people out of his own garage just for fun. "The more you learn about cars, the more interesting they get," he says. "To me, nothing's more gratifying than building a car at my house with my buddies. I've never been someone who takes a car to a hot rod shop, and that's taught me how to spend money wisely."

When he wasn't engineering buildings or turning wrenches, Steve kept busy road racing Vipers and Ferraris. The experience got him hooked on the fine art of corner burning, but he still felt a sense of emptiness that even a fleet of exotics couldn't fill. "Exotic cars are fun, but the problem is you can't actually work on them. I knew I'd come back to my Trans Am someday, and I started getting serious about it five years ago," he says. "I wanted to build a car in the spirit of Trans Am racing like an AAR 'Cuda or a Z/28, but with a Pontiac. It needed to be able to turn laps on a road course, but with an old-school muscle car flavor mixed in with some European sports car flair. Retaining the old-school vibe was very important, so I didn't want to go over the top and make the car look too modern."

The first order of business was stiffening up the suspension, so Steve installed a set of Hotchkis lowering springs, QA1 shocks, and Global West control arms and sway bars. He turned his attention to the cockpit next, and fitted it with a rollbar, custom bucket seats, and Classic Instruments gauges. Drawing inspiration from Ferrari 360s and 430s, Steve screwed custom billet aluminum plates to the floorboard and pedals. In keeping with the not-too-modern motif, a 5-channel amp and subwoofer are hidden behind the rear seats; an iPod hookup is inside the center armrest, and nine speakers inconspicuously surround the cabin.

Although the exterior didn't need any bodywork, Steve couldn't leave good enough alone. "I originally wanted to buy a '73 Trans Am, so I installed the front clip off of a '73 onto my car. I've always liked the bird-nose front end of those cars, since they remind me of the '70-72 GTO," he says. Since the car was built as a driver, Steve painted the engine bay flat black to hide dirt and eliminate the need to clean it all the time. Deciding what to put in that cavity proved to be more difficult. "I flirted with the idea of putting a modern LS3 or an LS6 in the car, but there's definitely some dignity in keeping a Pontiac motor in a Pontiac, especially since '76 was the last year of the 455. The 455 was so badly detuned that year, I knew I'd be able to pick up a ton of power just by making a few simple changes."

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Steve tried running long-tube headers, but had ground clearance issues since Pontiac motors sit very low in Firebird chassis. His solution was installing factory exhaust manifolds off of a Ram Air IV car. He says the loss in power is negligible, and ground clearance problems are a thing of the past.[/align]

The primary objective with the engine build was to keep things simple, reliable, and maintenance free while maintaining pump gas compatibility. To that end, the 455 block was opened up a tad to 4.181 inches, and combined with a 4.250-inch RPM forged crank for a slight increase in stroke. Rounding out the rotating assembly are RPM billet big-block Chevy rods, and Diamond 10.58:1 pistons. To feed the 466ci short-block, Steve opted for an all-Edelbrock top end featuring Performer aluminum heads, a dual-plane intake, and an 800-cfm carb. Managing the valve events is a Bullet 245/253-at-.050 hydraulic flat-tappet cam and Harland Sharp 1.5:1 rocker arms. On the engine dyno, the big Indian kicks out a respectable 498 hp and a staggering 570 lb-ft of torque. Since the stock four-speed trans was a gear short of offering relaxed freeway cruising, Steve matched the 466 up with a Tremec five-speed, a Hays aluminum flywheel, and a Centerforce clutch.

In retrospect, examining the journeys of both Steve and his Trans Am over the years helps explain why man and machine share so much in common. Like its owner, the Trans Am hides its class and grandeur behind a scruffy cloak that's been run through the dryer without any fabric softener. Steve has been able to successfully transform a car that's so garish and flamboyant into something worthy of sharing garage space with Aston Martins and Ferraris, and he attributes his inspiration for doing so to his profession. "As a structural engineer, I design the exterior skins of commercial buildings. The exterior walls of a building are the first thing people see, so not only do they have to be functional, they have to present well visually," he says. "It doesn't matter how well engineered a building is, because if it doesn't look nice, no one's going to want to buy it or rent space in it. I took that same approach to building my Trans Am. How nice something looks is just as important as how well it works."

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The pleasing color palette underhood mixes light gold and anodized black with just a sprinkling of shiny billet bits mixed in. Steve resisted the urge to smooth out the firewall because he thought it would look too modern. The stock valve covers have been powdercoated black, and a lack of chrome keeps things maintenance free. The carb feed line is hidden behind the accessory drive, and all the A/C lines are concealed inside the fenders


Not happy with the poor visibility offered by the stock side mirrors, Steve lengthened the stock mirror arms. They stick out half an inch higher, and half an inch farther outward than stock.



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1976 Pontiac Trans Am - Shaken, Not Stirred
By The Numbers

'76 PONTIAC TRANS AM
Steve Wayne, 50 • Arlington, TX

ENGINE
Type:   Pontiac 466
Block:   factory block, bored to 4.181 inches
Oiling:   Melling oil pump, Canton 6-quart pan
Rotating assembly:   RPM 4.250-inch forged steel crank and billet big-block Chevy rods; Diamond 10.58:1 pistons
Cylinder heads: Edelbrock Performer aluminum castings with 215cc ports and 2.11-/1.66-inch valves
Camshaft:   Bullet 245/253-at-.050 hydraulic flat-tappet, .453-/.453-inch lift, 109-degree LSA
Valvetrain:   COMP High Energy lifters, Harland Sharp 1.5:1 rockers
Induction:   Edelbrock Performer dual-plane intake manifold and 800-cfm carb
Ignition:   Pertronix billet distributor and coil; Taylor plug wires
Fuel system: stock tank, GM high-flow mechanical pump
Exhaust:   factory Ram Air IV exhaust manifolds, custom X-pipe, dual 3-inch Thrush mufflers
Cooling:   Edelbrock water pump, Rodney Red aluminum radiator, dual electric fans with custom shroud
Output:   498 hp and 570 lb-ft of torque


DRIVETRAIN
Transmission:   Tremec TKO 500 five-speed trans, Hays aluminum flywheel, Centerforce dual-friction clutch, Hurst shifter
Rear axle:   GM 8.5-inch 10-bolt rearend with 3.73:1 gears
Built by:   Wayne Calvert


CHASSIS
Front Suspension: Global West control arms, QA1 shocks, Hotchkis springs and sway bar
Rear Suspension: Hotchkis leaf springs, QA1 shocks
Brakes: Baer 14-inch discs with six-piston calipers, front; Baer 12-inch discs with single-piston calipers, rear


WHEELS & TIRES
Wheels: American Racing Vintage 427
Shelby Cobra 18x8, front (4.5-inch backspacing);
18x10, rear (5.5-inch backspacing)
Tires: Nitto 245/45R18 NT01, front; 275/40R18, rear