with dark barely usable gauges... yeah its time for the change...

So I white Faced them for the cheap 30 bucks or whatever...

Helped considerably...

Until I tried Red Led lights then it was no better than the black face with a white light...

yea they looked cool except the two main center ones that were still bright white...

again Fail...

You can find some shops who redid them and charge you an arm and leg may as well contact a shop and ask how much to recover yours...

If your mechanical functions are all there great...

If you need to replace things start changing for ya to a degree...

First now you need to find out the exact measurements of your set up now...

You also need to see if you can remove and reuse anything like is there an angle cage built under your seat or is your seat a unimold kinda thing... only fits your car...  I made that word up to get my main point across...

Ok

So I would remove the front seats and the rears why the hell not... then Search for replacement seats and you can see a great number pop up with adapter kits for cages to mount any seat to to thin shitty ones to Im not driving grand prixx style ones...for two arms and a leg special...

Then you get into other things like do you think your going to flip over and go  under water?

why is that important...

Here are a few facts:

I could bore you for hours...

But to cut to the chase...

You have a couple options..

Stay Factory always Legal 100% and factory preserved value...

You could also DIE... using Factory over some of the improvements on accident prevention and protection...

Or you could Die using one for the wrong reason...

All different set ups require different circumstances to provide the proper and correct protection for you...

Ill cover a list of some of the most common ways to get protection the right way...

Oh and by all means feel free to research and discover what you want to believe and do, its all up to you and in your hands...

1) Factory seat Belts and options...

So you decided to stay factory... thats fine its a weekend rider thing classic and your cruising hell a lap belt is probably more than you would ever need then your fine this car is good for you and other than some freak accident you should be perfectly fine with the factory installed equipment...

Make sure its all in good service condition and not frayed or showing signs of wear that would make it possible to fail rather than protecting you... the aut lock feature works on shoulder strap yada yada yada...

2) Harness seats and Bars....

This one we see done a lot and its fine as long as you understand the mechanics of an accident...

(You do remember the crash test Dummies and all the commercials we see of smashing a car head on into another vehicle...)

Well all that data is why we know what we do and continue to make improvements moving forward...

Ask Dale Earnhart

So The biggest part to understand is bto too tricky at all as your body is flipping over inside with the vehicle your in your head and neck are angled the opposite direction... so if your car is about to flip over to the right your head is actually behind you a bit to the left so if the car were to land on its roof your head isnt directly under it where the main impact would be...its to the left of that spot...

If you were secured in a racing seat Four five or six point harness then your head would be in that exact same place as not the brint of the force of the flipping car is now going to land...

But just before it does you have a split second that you realize your about to roll over and the roof is going to take the direct blow...to wonder... Did I built the roll bar strong enough... if you did you dont end up with a broken neck...

If you didnt then you may die or worse survive and a vegetable...

What the number 1 mistake people who install racing seats with four way and five way harnesses they make your body so rigid and centered in a fixed position that unless you have re enforced steel cage around you your odds of getting injured or killed are actually increased...over if you simply left factory alone...

Now...

With that said... its up to you the decision is all yours to define and make and follow through with...

also a simple bolt in cage with bolts and screws isnt the same I dont care what anybody tells you...

Ask them for crush proof evidence and see what they say...

Can it be done sure... do they come like that now...NOPE...

Now here are a few other things to consider...

Submarine is to squish down in the seat by the force of the safety belt to a degree which it can cause a spinal injury...this usually is a result of 4 way harness that will permit your body to semi fold as it slides down towards the floor without restraint...

a 5 way harness has a strap up in between your legs that prevents this from occurring.... its also the type of impact that this can happen with... that matters... where you could basically come out of the harness vie where your legs are at ....

Also do some research in the type of quick release your buying some have been known to fail...in race cars for example there are a couple of brands that if your inverted upside down they dont release with dead weight on them with that force...

So if you thought you may end up inverted upside down and in a lake would you be concerned?

Things like those make a difference...now we all know if your riding in a jeep in racing four way harness seats and you dont have a cage bar directly over your head you are taking a risk where a normal seat belt may save your life over a pro seat that puts your head right in the path...

I opted for 4 way seat harnesses for my Trans Am I have not opted for them in my jeep...

I figure in my jeep the odds of me landing on the roof are greatly increased over the TA...

I also bought race quip harnesses and rear race cars run the same gear.

the rest Ill show ya know...for my particular set up I designed a different Harness bar and set of connections for the following reasons...

My seat belts were shit frayed old faded and looked like shit...

I decided I was getting new seats harness bar and belts...but not a cage...

I also figure I will ride slightly loosened but not where I can come out or anything...

Just not where I cant reach the dash like the first times when you harness up...lol

So Here we go factory seat belts...

Hell you can see a fray tear there now... you also can see the crease over time basically they arent safe...Im not stopping the run to the store until new ones come in but im hoping and planning my life doesnt depend on it either...

So now the harness bar...

So I paid like 152 for it somewhere. and everywhere I saw them mounted was on the back floorboard with the strap through the seat then straight down and I thought of submarine stuff. and I keep looking up thinking why not where my regular seat belts go... but how?

Plus I dont loose the use of the back seat and it also adds some strength to the T top section which I did pop one in the past for twisting up and the body went a little too far also...

So I did...

Then I said man these seat suck and are broken...

So I decided to fix that problem...

Look at all the cars then imagine them with tinted Limo windows...

They all even that shitty one on blocks will look better so the value is increased...

Makes sense to me...

Mirrors looks cool if you do them right they can add a touch of class or if half ass done they can look hideous and way overboard and outta place...

First Try to have something worth reflecting...

We dont lounge in front of big glass windows looking at ourselves do we...

So think even a really clean stock engine when maintained is a nice reflection...

And while we are at it Ill cover a couple things all kinda related to engine pulling your hood is off you may as well take the nose off and do headlights or whatever you feel the need to get done while everything else is out of your way...

Also adding Driving Aux lights Underglows or rock lights...

Sand Blast the engine bay and paint again with like 12 cans of rattle Black gloss...

lol

Dont forget to re install the rubber section for the nose support Like I did once...

Ever wanted to get better Burn from your fuel and more efficiency from your engine?

Me to thats why I support Holley 850s and up... 🙂

Ok seriously...

Dont ever wrap a set of headers yourself (Unless you work for NASA and have access to an EVA Suit because that shit gets everywhere...

I itched for five days...

Got kicked out of bed twice and had to change and do laundry twice...

So dont even wrap your own to gain what you get from the added insulation for detonation precision...

because well its not worth it... 🙂

Also headers...No more just run manifolds I watched as race car drivers were running manifolds and I was running Headers and I said how come you guys dont run headers they all laughed and said what a useless waste of time and energy for nothing...

You may not even be able to tell it at all... Im thinking at 7000 rpms everything matters to a big block...

🙂 anyhow so I did it never to do again...

And bolt up of the two headers takes me about 3 hrs... 🙂

and installed some alumn brushed pullys...

Added the mirrored hood...

and stuff like that...

4 x 1" Brushed Alum Dimond plate like 40 bucks...

And I could hear a grinding in the bottom end...

I figured it was only a matter of time now before the bearings seized up or spun...I figured better to fix it not broken than blow it...and do more damage so I went and bought this...I know your gonna say damn...

In PA when you buy an engine at a junk yard... you pay for CI so a 350 is 350 a 455 is 455 bucks I know sounds weird so anyhow here is my 400 - 400 Pontiac... why not an olds when they turn up quicker?

Because CI to CI a Pontiac produces more Engine Torque than other engines Hand down...:) thats why...

So a reminder thats the first engine I got before I did anything except dress it up then started hearing a rattle just before it shifted into the next gear...

Went from drum to Disk set up...Bought the kit and installed the kit...

Meanwhile changed from factory 3:73 Gears stupid way to high down to 2:73 much better for top end use... 🙂

Added Pumpkin cover Chrome difference of day and night...lol

Zero Shims Also... 🙂

2~4" Quartz Cubes...

Everyone said dont cut the Honeycomb out at the bottom... I was like watch this hold my beer...they wont look right round floods with squares up top Oh yea... say that again?

Then I figured I may as well wire in the new headlights LEDs and all...

I also reverse the High beam and low beams so the low beams are inside close to the center of the nose and the high beams when turned on are the outer bulbs and lenses... for this unique look more like a vette in the dark than a TA...

So anyhow I used to do this with tape then I bough them cut the way I liked I think you will agree...

I was doing this since the 80s by the way... 🙂

My Idea First...

This one... 🙂

Personally I never liked them back in the day that much and one day Ill replace the ones I got with some really bad ass Mags...

For now I couldnt bare it any longer and was forced to spend an hour to an hour and a half on each wheel meticulously cleaning them for a touch up and repaint by rattle can...

Just hang on for now until I show you... 🙂

Ok original wheels i got...

Ill explain later...

Anyhow so I dressed what I had up and noticed things like wire brush marks on the chrome valve covers and thought what an idiot...

But wait there is so much more...

I will drive this TA for months to work daily... Love it...:)

I also drove Lucille for 4 yrs as I built her up to where she is currently...

You will notice things like underglows I removed later but you will see them...

You also will see the rock lights on Lucille and hood vents lit in red and see that on the TA where I did it many yrs ago first...

You will notice I always take out the dash and radios and improve them drastically in all the vehicles I drive to date the only one I havent touched yet is my JL and its great stock they have come leaps and bounds from the days of am radio on a single dash speaker... that would always dry rot from sun and sound like shit...

anyhow enjoy the transformation...

79 original was 403 Olds they replaced with 400 pontiac that was shit...

They also hacked the Air filter bowl and were bypassing the breather completely, idiots trashed a Pontiac motor...

and much so much more...

Anyway this is step one of what and how I did what I do...

Hobby #1 My love for 79-81 Trans ams Big Block 455 bored out to max permitted 469 CI... instead of 6.6 liter its now a 7.7 but for this day...

It was square one...

First thing that needs to go are the tires... 🙂