79 you have seen before

Sweet Seventy9 wrote:Backspacing supposedly is 4.5" on my GTA Trans Am wheels but the 245's rub on the frame rail during hard cornering.

It's funny though..... the 15x10 Wheel Vintiques wheels with 5" backspacing and 295s didn't rub at all.

I bet it has to so with the positive offset that BOTH the GTA and Camaro wheels have.


I'm sorry Bro, but those tiny tires look ridiculous, lol!  Almost as bad as the 245/50s in the pic.




Sing it with me -
♪♫♪ Low rider drives a little slower.
Low rider is a real goer


                             Take a little trip, take a little trip
                             Take a little trip with me.  ♪♫♫♪

Those GTA wheels are quite tricky.  I recently put a set on my 89 Firebird.  They are 16x8. The Fronts (deeper dish) are 4.5 back spacing with +0 offset.  The rears are 5 1/8" backspacing with +16mm offset (roughly 5/8").  The wheels are stamped "Front Only" and "Rear Only" on the backs of them.  If you look closely in the photo, the front dish is deeper than the rear.  This was to give the GTA Trans Am a narrower rear track.  They also make my Firebird not only look cooler, but handle worlds better than the 15x7s.  However, they make rotating tires a pain!

Wow that is odd , was that only on the Firebird they did that with those rims?

They look good though that style of rim has always been good looking I think.

I had an 84' Transam but that had aftermarket chromes when I got it not sure what the 84' had.

what years are those rims on I thought I remember those on the late 80s right like 87 88 and 89 or no ?


Also these are the spacers I am ordering from Newegg

Myloth wrote:Wow that is odd , was that only on the Firebird they did that with those rims?

They look good though that style of rim has always been good looking I think.

I had an 84' Transam but that had aftermarket chromes when I got it not sure what the 84' had.

what years are those rims on I thought I remember those on the late 80s right like 87 88 and 89 or no ?

That style of rim was found on 87-92 Trans Am GTA and some regular Trans Ams had them as well.  The Formula from 88-92 also had a similar wheel offset/size, just totally different look.  Your 84 Trans Am most likely had the rims pictured below.  The Formula wheels are below that and they are similar in appearance.  I've always liked the GTA wheels the best and of course the "knight rider" wheels. Also, I've debated on putting GTA wheels on my Caprice since they are now being reproduced in a 17x9 wheel which was never available from the factory, but they are expensive!! However, for a pro-touring look, I think they might work well for me.

84 Trans Am:


89 Forumla:

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16s on the front with 2" spacers these again are 215/70/16 they may look like grandma's tires but I'll tell you they

ride much smoother than any 15s I've tried on this (Three sets with diff size tires). That goes for cornering , overall ride and response.

I don't have the rears on yet I am securing another set of 225/70/16 for the back instead of the 215s.

This way I'll have spares for all of them and the place i bought the wheels from used old valves so the other two leaked lol.

On another note reading some old HRs , PHRs and CC I read few articles on hp loss from accessories.

No wonder Mechanical fans throw so much air they use anywhere from 20-45hp!

For some reason I always thought is quite a bit less than that,

on a mild motor that is a bit of hp to lose. I can say since the switch to electric my

mid to high rpm power seems a bit snappier and mpg went up a few.

That also explains all the low net hp ratings on motors of the 1970s , they all used mech fans lol.

And the oem fans are the biggest hogs using from 30-45hp the flex being the lowest roughly 20hp.

215/70/16 up front for now with 225/60/16 in the rear

I really like they way these 4th gen Camaro rims look , they may not be everyone's cup of tea but I like them.







The only snafu in all this was the rear pair were mounted by the place I obtained the rims from and they did bad job

they leaked from the valves . All's is good now local shop put new valves in for me. (Lesson in this best to check used

tire\rims for leaks before leaving.)

Also I didn't clean these up yet I just did the centers quick( the Camaro decals didn't really work for me) I still need to polish the wheels eventually.

For those interested on these wheels specifically they come from a 1993 Camaro 16x8 with center caps that say Camaro (Why I painted mine) also

they are some of the lightest factory mags I have ever come across. I literally was using one as a basketball for a minute that's how light they are.

I'd guess about 40-45% lighter than similar 15x8 steel.(Major unsprung weight reduction there)

This weekend I had a bit of mishap my Advance Silver Battery blew up and destroyed my battery tray and nearly the inner fender.

I spent a whole day repainting and fabbing a new battery tray and brace. I also went to Advance and with the old battery a type 78

that I bough with 2yr warranty 2yr and 11 days before. Well I have to say they did right by me in replacing it, they didn't have a type 78 silver

so they gave me a larger capacity Gold battery and even tossed in a $10 merchandise card for my trouble.

Here's my new battery and tray. I have never had a maintenance free spew acid everywhere before though that was first for me.

My front inner fender had small oxidation holes after the acid bath I had craters so I had to install a large tray to cover the whole mess.

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I have been dealing with a cooling issue (overheating or close to it) and health issues so I haven't posted in a bit.

My cooling problem it seems is the 1"ish aluminum/plastic radiators that many

parts retailers sell as a replacement for what was at least 2" copper / brass. No I am not knocking aluminum radiators but a 1" or 1.25"

core even at 28x 17 does not provide adequate cooling. even for a very mild 305 with a trans cooler no less. I based this on after installing

the electric fan the weather was hot. As soon as I sat in traffic I hit 220 quick. So I put the shroud and mechanical fan on and still was getting

210-215 at 82 F. The only way I can get it to stay at 190 is with a Auxillary fan (10" electric as a pusher) with mech fan! I have flushed radiator

and replaced it with same size and checked pump etc etc even checked for cavitation to no avail. Nope those 1-1.25" radiators are prob good

for a 231 v6 (non turbo lol)and that's about. I noticed it running hot since I've had it in the summer but up here it doesn't stay hot for long so I

ignored it for a bit.(run the heat lol). Not a big rant here I just feel those radiators they push as factory replacement are not very good.

I will be purchasing a much larger radiator before winter. I have seen some nice looking fabbed style radiators for cheap though,

Anyway hope everyone has been doing some nice cruising this summer.

For the past month I noticed this strange banging tapping. I knew my rearend didn't seal right so I redid the gasket today

and while checking things I found the culprit finally. It seems I forgot to take my Visegrips off the E brake cable after I tightened it

up ! A testament to Visegrips for sure, it had been hanging there all this time!

I cleaned up my recovery tank just to see how it would look not too bad . And I can still tell the level without much trouble.

You want this before I get rid of the car?

PM sent

Picked up a 5.3l lm7  today  for a rebuild planning on boring into LS1 specs . These LS motors are a snap to Disassemble.

Granted I had two Impacts and speed wrenches handy but from complete motor with injection and accessories I went down to

the short block in less than 2hrs. Even with all the crazy covers and brackets it's not bad. I bought this motor though for under $200.

That's not bad since cores around here are 350 and up . It's a little crusty but the cylinders and heads look great so far.

I am also surprised how light the aluminum heads on these are they almost seem fake they are so light . The iron block is

heavier though than a 350 I believe it's just everything else is so much lighter . Anyway I post few details as it progresses no rush

for me though lol. Had fun though taking one of these apart, not so much fun unloading from pickup to engine stand but it made it

in one piece.


Edit: Lol I was so tired yesterday I didn't notice flat top pistons the guy lied it's a 4.8. Well that works for me I wanted a 327 equivalent

anyway and the 4.8s make power and rev freely at high rpm  plus a little overbore should give a 310-315 cube 7500rpm screamer.

I seen one dyno session where the only difference between the 4.8 and 5.3 with heads and cam was 35 ft\lbs torque otherwise they both

made 430hp except the 4.8 made it at 7000rpm vs the 6300rpm for 5.3 . So the 4.8 really is a close match for a modern day 327. I still

owe the guy I got this from a few bucks, I am man of my word but I will pay him in Canadian pennies for lying !!


PS  Wow GM doesn't play with the Crank bolt on these I guess it's torqued to 250# but they use a sealer so after lube, torch,Impact

it finally cracked with my 3/4" 3ft long Mac breaker Bar. (If you never invested in a 3/4" breaker bar do it it does not flex unless two people

are standing on it! That helps a lot with bolts like this.)

I picked up an 02' Chrysler Sebring fan from a yard for $20 and man it blows!

It will cool my motor from 190 to 160 in 6 seconds! It fits across a stock GM 31"

radiator perfectly there is a 3" gap at the base but doesn't make much difference.

Yards are full of these and new ones are well under a 100 dollars.

It's essentially a 31"x14" dual 12" electric fan it also beat out a single 16"

aftermarket 2000+cfm fan by a huge margin. Get em while you can!

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Nothing like fixing your ride when there's snow on the ground and it's -1 I say! (Broken Tranny mount)