1977 Trans Am Restoration update

I'm no expert at car restoration, but shouldn't that have all been done before the bodywork?

Guess I'm use to watching my wife get "restored" in the morning. The last thing that goes on is the powder and paint.
As she always says; "Powder and paint makes you just what you ain't"

I think I've already said how much it makes me cringe to see modern style wheels on a classic car.

Friend of mine has the newer style "Merto" rolling stock on his "Classic" mini.
He has all round disk brakes behind those wheels.
The classic mini had Drum brakes....
Akin to chucking an anchor out the back when at speed?..

I am all for the classic car being kept running... but when it comes to upgrades that make them "safer"?.. I will never argue against.
Case in point, another friend has a classic that was not ever supplied with seat-belts.
He has had retrofitted "Clip on" seat belts that attach by Climbing rope type Caribena's to suitable rings into the bodywork at very secure locations...
If the car was ever to be put in a show, the seatbelts may be removed.
But on the road, you bloody well use them or dont get in the car.
Some of the "It aint genuine" crowd of restorers have complained, he has beaten them down with a large stick, in that if they wish to drive unsafe, then go ahead and be a [pillock... but he used stronger words there].
However, he will have safety belts and if they dont like it, [again stronger words than allowed here] off...

I agree.
There is classic and there is Safety.
I bring to mind someone who restored a classic British motorcar, spent 10 yrs doing that, and on the way to his first event by the car club that did that vehicle, had it written off by some ijurt taking the wrong change.
Thankfully he had [resto-mod] hidden some side impact supports inside the doors... they prevent his being more seriously injured than he was?..

I have restored a classic mini, I went for the bigger wheels and suspension upgrades to take them, all round discs, I upgraded the seat belts, and did some other safety resto-mods to help it stay alive on modern roads.
I dont see it as sacrilege to do so.

But then again, I live in the real world, not some dream state where roads had 1/10th of the traffic we do now, and not in a dream world where accidents only happen to someone else.
Dont care how good a driver you are, what about the other ijurts?.

And then, who are you restoring the car for?.. yourself, or someone at a show who will pedantically state you should have used slots instead of Philips screws in that woodwork?..

My friend with the classic British Sports car, will attend the show, but wont go in for the "Concourse" thing, because he hates that part of the crowd for their pedantics.
Its HIS car, he wanted it, he has it as a daily driver, the seat belt thing is for if it ever gets sold, but thats as far as it goes.
It looks the part, but what is hidden under the bodywork is far from "All genuine", its modern equivalent of what they would have used if they could have.
Gas filled shocks for better road handling, better suspension, and a fully fuel injected no carburettor engine with twice the power, but "Similar" exhausts, so it just sounds like a well tuned original... until he hits the loud pedal.
Its wolf in sheeps...
No.
Its more the full Dragon hidden in the wolf that ate the sheep for breakfast.

a 1968 camaro is supposed to ride on these:


not these.

Note on larger wheel size but shallow tyres.
Are you on a racing track?.. do you need to play with "Unsprung weight"?.. do you have a rock-hard suspension where you can tell if you ran over a coin was it heads or tails?.
Larger wheels may look good, but, low profile tyres hurt like hell after a few miles, they are bloody uncomfortable on normal roads, you need flat ironed out surfaces without pot holes to make the best use of them.
If your local roads settle a box of cornflakes to half what it was in the shops, sod low profile, your going to spend a lot of time getting punctures fixed and having your rims flattened back out to circle shape.
Not so easy if you go for Mag-Alloy either.

I mention this in case it helps anyone with wheel and tyre choice either now or in the future.
Sod looks if comfort is your thing. Go bigger tyres and white-wall them if you need the bling.

And again, if getting that corner is your thing, handling decreases in certain cases.

I've never really seen the benefit of having limited ground clearance, either.

very nice. yes, that's the style my brother's first wife had on hers.

Dem's Pretty wheels you got there, and look just about right.

I have questions...
Is this a true restoration or Resto-Mod?...
How much is being "Updated".
I know for sure coil-over are better than leaf springs, I know that double-A-Frame suspension gives one hell of a better handling than other types, but I dont know what is true under the original Trans-Am enough to know from what you are picturing what you got there, and what you may have changed...
Are you doing some updates, better brakes for instance?..

I note that you have leaf springs to rear, I think, from that last picture, have they been "restored" or replaced?..

I am just interested is all.

I just watched someone do a complete frame re-build on a "classic" 30/40's truck, the thing was trash underneath, so all they kept was the body, the body looks good, but underneath is all new 2017 technology, it goes like stink, and is a perfect "Sleeper", I know you aint doing that, but that kind of stuff fascinates me.
Its also better for me to be watching that than some other junk you get on TV these days?..