ws6transam's Vehicle Feed
Vehicle Soundclip
Dyno run of the Minirammed 385 to 6400 RPM on the Mustang Dyno
Basic Specifications
Vehicle Color: midnight sand-grey metallicEngine Type: 8 Cylinder
Transmission: Manual
Est. Horsepower: 400 HP
Est. Curb Weight: 3,460 lbs.
Mileage: 141,000 miles
At the Track
Best 60': 1.89Best R/T: .043
Best 1/8 Mile ET:
Best 1/8 Mile MPH:
Best 1/4 Mile ET: 12.4ish
Best 1/4 Mile MPH: 114
On the Dyno
Max Power: 396 RHWPMax Torque: 383 Ft.lb
Showing Off
Awards Won: 2005 NCMA car show: Tremec "Trick Stick" award for best engineered T56 retrofit.2007 12th annual Michigan All-GM event: Chris Jackson Memorial Award for most outstanding F-body
2008: National Fbody Motorsports Event: Third place, Best Third-gen
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Get your forum exposure. Click here and join for FREE!ws6transam's 1984 Pontiac Trans Am
We Build Excitement! Certified 400+ RWHP and over 1g of skidpad prowess!
About this Current Vehicle:
Excitement has been with me longer than my wife. I bought it when George Bush Sr. was still president, and before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I've drag raced it, autocrossed it, open-lapped it on a road course, showed it, strapped baby seats into it, driven it on the Daytona Beach sand while still in the military, and even skated down highways covered in black ice in it. Excitement has been torn apart each winter for the last nine years for modifications. Although still sporting the original color scheme, it was completely disassembled and repainted in 2005. Reproduction graphics were professionally installed. I designed the car to be the quintessential hauler, with a nice, reliable fuel injected powertrain that has demonstrated over 400 RWHP in the three separate dyno sessionss I've done. The suspension is completely custom. So are the brakes. Actually, there isnt much left of the original powertrain, except perhaps for the original WS6 power steering box That's about it!
Vehicle Journal:
Jul 01
Windy City BMW driving school results
I finished the BMW event last week, and wow, what a ride! It was two days of high-speed driving, followed by classroom instruction, followed by more hard driving to practice the techniques learned in the school. We flogged the car for two whole days and burned $100 worth of fuel on the track. The sessions were thirty minutes long apiece, and we got in six sessions, plus two more sessions as passengers in our instructor's car. Gingerman is an eleven turn, 2.2 mile track that has two 1400-foot straightaways, hairpin turns, reduced radius turns, and a series of wide sweepers. I found the limit of adhesion in the sweepers, and had that section of the track nailed. What I discovered at the track is that the car has much, much more handling and braking ability than I thought. Dave, my instructor showed me that we could accelerate longer, brake less, and hit the turns harder if we only extended the apex out a little farther into each corner. The first time we hit turn 2 at high speed, I nearly thought we were going to spin into the weeds, but the car held the turn and rocketed us into the right-hander of turn 3, nearly on the bumper of the BMW in front of us. After we got the hang of braking later and turning sooner, it became evident that with 400+ RWHP, excellent handling, and good brakes, we could reel in pretty much any car in our session, with exception to the Porche or the Lotus, who were very, very good... It was the Porsche CS3 who could pass me whenever he wanted! (Something about $160K and 550 RWHP can do that)
So, for ninety laps (that's 990 turns), I was hammering the throttle, holding it to 6400 RPM, then either shifting to fourth, or else just leaving it in third and coasting. As the day wore on, it was evident that I had much more engine than brake. Even the 1LE braking package was stressed out, though it only faded out once or twice during the two days. Since I wasn't there to break track records, I eventually quit shooting for the speed record inthe straightaway: Once I got to 100 MPH, I just coasted the last half of the straight before braking for the turn. I was there to learn how to brake and steer, not how to press the gas pedal. My track time was around 1 minute, 45 seconds. The instructors were typically running 1 minute, 38 seconds. An American Iron road race car will typically cover the course in 1:32.
I did have three hiccups at the event though:
1) massive wheelhop on braking. It happened when the clutch was out, on the brakes hard, and when we'd hit a bump on the pavement. We soon learned to adapt by either braking early, push in the clutch, or avoid the bump. I still need to adjust the shocks and inspect the suspension before the next track event.
2) Fuel starvation in the corners. It happens when I run less than 1/4 tank of fuel. The car needs better baffling in the fuel tank.
3) Failed alternator. The RPMs were too much for my old CS alternator, so I had to run off to Autozone between sessions and get one of their lifetime replacements. That reminds me, I better put that receipt inthe glovebox for next year's event! It was neat, however, to amaze the Porche owners who watched me change the alternator in less than eight minutes flat. They thought that was kind of cool.
Next year, I hope to have some better shocks in the rear, some bigger brakes, and some better tires. I was running on my Bridgestone Potenza RE730's, and although a great hooking tire, I think we'll try some road course specific tires next time.
Jun 01
Next event: Windy City BMW driving school at Gingerman Raceway
I've just sent in the entry money for the two-day driving scholl at Gingerman Raceway. I still havent' completely mastered the technique called "heel & Toe" braking, so I will take a couple days to learn it. The BMW club has the track for two days and since the car is holding together so well after 1600 miles and about 160 miles of road course flogging, I figure that it's time to learn the intricacies of how to drive it better.
Besides... It might be kind of fun to pick on a few BMW's.... However I hold no illusions of doing anything impressive, as Excitement is currently twice the car as I am driver...
Jun 01
NFME was totally cool!
I got home last week from three days of racing in Memphis, TN at the National Fbody Motorsports Event. It was totally cool! On Wednesday I drove 750 miles to get to Millington, just north of Memphis and the Trans Am ageraged 23 miles per gallon, which was better than my original 305 H.O. (Thank you Tremec corporation for such a well-designed transmission!) Then on Thursday, it was a rainy day in which we got to drive the road course in the rain. We had to be cautious but even so, a little wet weather road course work is a great way to learn the track with the speeds held down: The smoothness translates into quickness once the track dries out....
That night, we all went to the Pig & Whistle for some beer and ribs, and it was perfect! There were supposed to be about twenty of us but word got out and 47 of us showed up to swamp the otherwise sleepy restaurant.
Friday started out clear and dry, and it was perfect weather for going fast. I helped Dean set up the autocross course and then we spent the day doing autocross. There were some new folks so Dean wrangled me into doing a little teaching. Alcorn Russel was our special project student: He kept DNF'ing but got progressively better as the day went on. I ended up missing out on the drag racing but that was okay, especially with some fast 45-second times around the course. The car was handling the autocross well, though you really had to soft-pedal it in second gear because the power liked to light up the tires at any RPM: All you had to do was push.
Later in the day we converted the track for road race duty, and I went in as an intermediate. The first session was really hooking well and I was seeing high 120's at the top end o the straight, right before the carosel. Then Shanta's engine let go and they red-flagged the rest of that session.
Sessions two and three were particularly fun, and at fifteen minutes each, I was creeping up on 130 MPH before braking for the sweeper. Momentum was carrying me through the "M&M's" really nice, and my tires were just tapping the apex on each of the striped curbs.
Session four saw Jeff Creech of Carolina Automasters ask if I could take a passenger, and I said "Sure!" Ben climded in and we cranked it up after making sure Ben was properly belted into the harness. I started the session with a few passes, then began cranking up the intensity to see how she'd do. I came into Grant's Tomb in second gear, hit the straightaway and slid across the track at WOT, then banged through third, then fourth, and into fifth gear. We saw 135+ before hitting the brakes. Ben and I were in the groove so to speak, and on lap five I told him to hang on, this was going to be the last and fastest one. When I got out of Grant's Tomb, I matted the throttle and squirted onto the straightaway with some serious entry speed. GOing through the gears, I held into the gas past the triple-cone braking pointer and saw 140 MPH. Then I jumped onto the brakes and hauled it down to whatever, and tossed it into the sweeper. The tires were making noise all the way through the carousel, and into the first bend of the M's, which is in reality just an extension of the sweeper. At the next braking point, I hammered the brakes and turned it in, but the pedal went halfway to the floor with brake fade. I entered the Esses way too fast, and the abused tires chose that time to join the brakes by going greasy on us. So I slid sloppily through the Esses with too much speed, and couldn't keep it together by the last curve. We hit the red&white striped curb with a bang, but jumped the car back onto the track with minimal grass. The brakes were nearly completely gone at this point, so I backed out of it and told Ben that we were heading in. Ben seemed genuinely impressed with the E-ticket ride, and commented that he didn't know that third-gens could be so fast! His buddy supposedly got the runs on video, but I haven't gotten any footage.
That pretty much ended my race day. Nothing appeared to be bent though there was scraping on the header collector. The brake fluid was black in the passenger caliper, so I guess I mustv'e boiled it. Fun yes, but I guess I shouldn't be doing 140 MPH on street tires then hauling it down to make corners like that, especially for that many laps with a passenger!
Factory Options:
T-tops, rare turbo-finned aluminum wheels (similar to the Mecham design), functional cold-air induction hood, WS6 performance suspension, L69 305 H.O. powertrain with factory 3.73 Eaton "Guv-lock" limited slip differential.
Exterior Modifications:
Ramair II SMC plastic hood (21 lb. savings), 1991 Formula body-color side moldings, 1989 turbo Trans Am rear spoiler, stock WS6 springs cut 1/2 coil, ROH ZS racing wheels in 17 x 9.5", painted door handles and locks, Phoenix Graphics reproduction graphics in 3M vinyl.
Interior Modifications:
1994 Formula seats, S&W Racecar's 6-point Chromoly roll bar, Perimeter welded floorpan, 1 x 1 square tubing gussets in floor to accomodate relocated suspension pickup points, Teamtech 5-point Racepack safety harnesses, custom 6-speed shift bezel to accomodate the Tremec T56, electronic speedometer, new head liner
Performance:
1969 "388" chevy 4-bolt main high-nickel block wiht Eagle 4340 forged reciprocating assembly with internally balanced 3.75" steel crank and +.040" Lunati race pistons with ceramic thermal barrier coating. Competition ported AFR195 cylinder heads with 7/16 studs and 1.6 ratio Comp pro Magnum rockers. Comp Cams pro magnum roller retrofit valvetrain with custom cam, similar to the now popular 230/236 112 lsa profile. TPIS Miniram intake system with FAST XFI wide-band equipped fuel injection controller. Hooker long tube headers with hand-fabricated Y-pipe, all ceramic coated. Too much to list here, sorry. Oh, I nearly forgot about that dry nitrous kit that I'm installing this winter with integrated controller/bottle opener. 
Without the nitrous, the car runs low 12's at 114 MPH. I'm not sure how it'll do with the bottle. I'm rather traction limited except when I mount the Hoosier slicks, which are mounted on 15 x 10 wheels. It sticks nicely with those tires but I haven't had the car on them but once or twice.
Suspension/Chassis:
A blend of the original WS6 suspension with the 1991 1LE suspension and braking package. Koni struts and shocks throughout. Out back, Unbalanced Engineering's decoupled torque arm assembly for fourth-gen F-body has been extensively modified and retrofitted into the third-gen chassis. It enables the setup to dynamically slide the instant center fore/aft along the longitudinal axis to maximize both acceleration and braking forces with very little wheelhop. Subframe connectors, QA1 rod ends, and polyurethane mounts hold it together in the corners at the race course. The car has certified handling data from August 1999 that shows over 1.2 g of cornering force when running at Gingerman Raceway.
Drivetrain:
A 1994 T56 transmission with a Skulte Performance crossmember enables for clean shifts at the track, yet still enables 3.5 inches of ground clearance for the Hooker long-tube headers. SPEC stage 3 clutch gets the power to the driveshaft. The chrome moly steel driveshaft is rated to 10,000 RPM, and it is loaded with heavy-duty Spicer U-joints. The driveshaft is connected to a Moser 12-bolt axle assembly with 33 spline axles, 3.73 gears, and a Detroit TrueTrac differential. Tires...Well, that depends on whether I'm heading to the dragstrip, autocross, or the car show. I've got three different sets that depend on the application of the day.
Electronics:
FAST XFI fuel injection system, Kenwood stereo with dual 140 Watt RMS amps and eight-inch sub. Transmission tailshaft encoder assembly, and retrofitted electronic analog speedometer. Innovate Motorsports LM1 wide-band logger, integral 1/3" super-HAD color CCD in-car camera system, and a custom nitrous controller to handle bottle opening, heating, and purge functions.
To-Do List:
Finish off the nitrous controller, rewire the EFI harness, update the safety harnesses to be legal, get an SFI-certified blow-up proof bell housing for the transmission, and buy some new road race tires for Memphis.
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2 Comments on ws6transam's Trans Am
ya that would b cool. its my baby... i was lucky to find it! =]
NIce!! very nice....looks like the love we have for our cars is shown by how long we have owned them.....checkout my car...