Street Lethal
01-11-2007, 07:30 AM
My cousin was a die hard GM fan, although he still is... he's not much into the racing scene anymore. Not too long ago, he picked up a 1999 Trans Am (less engine) for pretty cheap, and decided to build something for himself. I remember searching, searching, and searching every single junkyard for "some" type of LSX engine with him, but to no avail though.
Anyway, we were in this one junkyard in particular, and he came across something a little different. A 1966 425 Oldsmoblie engine.... which he nabbed for practically nothing. The next thing I knew, he hauled both the engine, along with a Turbo 400 that he also picked up.... and myself, back home. I remember him dropping me off, and told me we'd begin installing everything the next day (of course, I'm scratching my head when he says this)....
But.... he's just like me (along with everyone reading this), and when I arrived the next day, the engine, tranny, driveshaft were somehow all already linked to the rear of the car (he kept the stock posi rear, despite it being very weak). He had a little trouble getting the motor mounted, and out of frustration he wound up just cutting pieces off, and welding the stock motor mounts in. After measuring a few things, he had a Y-Pipe fabricated to mate between the exhaust manifolds, and the now 'gutted' converter. The car already had a decent catback system, so that went untouched.
Now, I honestly wasn't their for the tuning.... but I can honestly say this, out of all the years that I've been involved in racing, I've never been in a more powerful (naturally aspirated) car in my entire life. I don't know what he did (as all mechanics have their secrets), but this car was incredibly fast!
He always tinkered with it, and everytime I'd come by... something new would be in there. Whether it was rims, tires, ignition etc... something always found it's way onto this little project of his. After a few days, he had the car dialed in to perfection. I remember him having to change a few things, as the stock suspension just wasn't cutting it anymore.
He finally had it the way he wanted, and the car looked completely stock. For those who might have come across it in New York during that time, yes, it was the Triple Black Trans Am, with the words "Super Duty" painted in Silver metallic (script) on each fender. Getting into details though, I don't remember how much stall, nor gearing, but I will tell you that he modified the gearing in the tranny, and retained the stock rear cogs....
Onto the story. A few of us got together one night, and went clubbing in Long Island (Hempstead Turnpike area). It was a great night, as all the girls were acting pretty cool.... no fights that night, and everybody was mellow (which can be pretty rare in New York).
I don't know 'how' the heck we wound up over on Rockaway beach, but I do remember a lot of people driving out there in their own cars, screaming at each other on the highway through the windows. Everyone had their own 'worked' cars of course, but nobody really raced each other that night. We were just out having some fun....
It was now around 2:00 in the morning and everyone was getting the crave, and wanting to go to White Castles. We all got in our cars (I was with my cousin of course <grin>), and took off from the beach. On the way back home, we got to the toll booth.... and some rich putz in a Yellow Lambo pulled up about two lanes away.
One of my friends sarcasticly yelled out from another car, "Nice Fiero, I mean Lambo" (implying it was some type of kit car).... with the owner now immediately starting to rev it up. The freaking thing sounded awesome, and from the futuristic exhaust note alone, I thought we were ALL going to have our asses handed to us. I'm telling you, this thing sounded awesome, and the owner wanted to play! My cousin looked at me laughing to himself, to this day....I will NEVER forget that look. He held the brake, then gave the Trans Am a little 'shot' to get the tires all nice and sticky.
Now, at this point, I've yet to see what my cousin's car can really do.... as other than a couple of revs, and maybe hitting it half throttle, he never really embellished on the engine's true power yet.
The Lambo's clutch engaged, and he took off pretty nice (he didn't hammer it though), and made his way to the red light not too far from the toll, with my cousin now pulling up directly side by side of him. All of our friends are behind us, as the street only had two lanes.... and I can still hear all of them SCREAMING for my cousin to, "Take him.... take him, DESTROY HIM!!!!". To say that my heart was pounding outside of my chest would be an absolute understatement.
The Lambo's owner was histerical in his seat, as he looked at the stock appearing Trans Am like, "Give me a break". This only made my cousin even more anxious, and he started revving the car so hard that I got goosebumps all over my body from watching the freaking front of the car going up and down....
It was on, now the Lambo started to rev it up. The light was seconds from changing, and after my cousin said, "Hold on", I immediately braced myself securely in the seat. I looked at my cousin in awe, of how his eyes were locked onto that street light, with nothing being able to deter him from it.
The light suddenly turned green, and my cousin hammered it..... the Trans Am's nose went up, and I almost went flying into the back seat. I was pinned, and I couldn't move my head. All I could hear was the F-Body's thundering exhaust, with my cousin looking in the rearview mirror screaming out loud, "Whaddya Got, whaddya goooooottttt".
Before I knew it, the car reached 140MPH, but this is where the Lambo shined, and after catching up, he blew right passed us. It didn't matter though, as the point was made, and the Lambo was raped. We got to White Castles, and after waiting a few minutes or so, our friends finally got there. They too were in absolute awe, and one of them even commented that he thought he seen fire issuing from out of my cousin's exhaust pipes. All of them were speechless, as was I....
I will NEVER forget that damn car....!
Anyway, we were in this one junkyard in particular, and he came across something a little different. A 1966 425 Oldsmoblie engine.... which he nabbed for practically nothing. The next thing I knew, he hauled both the engine, along with a Turbo 400 that he also picked up.... and myself, back home. I remember him dropping me off, and told me we'd begin installing everything the next day (of course, I'm scratching my head when he says this)....
But.... he's just like me (along with everyone reading this), and when I arrived the next day, the engine, tranny, driveshaft were somehow all already linked to the rear of the car (he kept the stock posi rear, despite it being very weak). He had a little trouble getting the motor mounted, and out of frustration he wound up just cutting pieces off, and welding the stock motor mounts in. After measuring a few things, he had a Y-Pipe fabricated to mate between the exhaust manifolds, and the now 'gutted' converter. The car already had a decent catback system, so that went untouched.
Now, I honestly wasn't their for the tuning.... but I can honestly say this, out of all the years that I've been involved in racing, I've never been in a more powerful (naturally aspirated) car in my entire life. I don't know what he did (as all mechanics have their secrets), but this car was incredibly fast!
He always tinkered with it, and everytime I'd come by... something new would be in there. Whether it was rims, tires, ignition etc... something always found it's way onto this little project of his. After a few days, he had the car dialed in to perfection. I remember him having to change a few things, as the stock suspension just wasn't cutting it anymore.
He finally had it the way he wanted, and the car looked completely stock. For those who might have come across it in New York during that time, yes, it was the Triple Black Trans Am, with the words "Super Duty" painted in Silver metallic (script) on each fender. Getting into details though, I don't remember how much stall, nor gearing, but I will tell you that he modified the gearing in the tranny, and retained the stock rear cogs....
Onto the story. A few of us got together one night, and went clubbing in Long Island (Hempstead Turnpike area). It was a great night, as all the girls were acting pretty cool.... no fights that night, and everybody was mellow (which can be pretty rare in New York).
I don't know 'how' the heck we wound up over on Rockaway beach, but I do remember a lot of people driving out there in their own cars, screaming at each other on the highway through the windows. Everyone had their own 'worked' cars of course, but nobody really raced each other that night. We were just out having some fun....
It was now around 2:00 in the morning and everyone was getting the crave, and wanting to go to White Castles. We all got in our cars (I was with my cousin of course <grin>), and took off from the beach. On the way back home, we got to the toll booth.... and some rich putz in a Yellow Lambo pulled up about two lanes away.
One of my friends sarcasticly yelled out from another car, "Nice Fiero, I mean Lambo" (implying it was some type of kit car).... with the owner now immediately starting to rev it up. The freaking thing sounded awesome, and from the futuristic exhaust note alone, I thought we were ALL going to have our asses handed to us. I'm telling you, this thing sounded awesome, and the owner wanted to play! My cousin looked at me laughing to himself, to this day....I will NEVER forget that look. He held the brake, then gave the Trans Am a little 'shot' to get the tires all nice and sticky.
Now, at this point, I've yet to see what my cousin's car can really do.... as other than a couple of revs, and maybe hitting it half throttle, he never really embellished on the engine's true power yet.
The Lambo's clutch engaged, and he took off pretty nice (he didn't hammer it though), and made his way to the red light not too far from the toll, with my cousin now pulling up directly side by side of him. All of our friends are behind us, as the street only had two lanes.... and I can still hear all of them SCREAMING for my cousin to, "Take him.... take him, DESTROY HIM!!!!". To say that my heart was pounding outside of my chest would be an absolute understatement.
The Lambo's owner was histerical in his seat, as he looked at the stock appearing Trans Am like, "Give me a break". This only made my cousin even more anxious, and he started revving the car so hard that I got goosebumps all over my body from watching the freaking front of the car going up and down....
It was on, now the Lambo started to rev it up. The light was seconds from changing, and after my cousin said, "Hold on", I immediately braced myself securely in the seat. I looked at my cousin in awe, of how his eyes were locked onto that street light, with nothing being able to deter him from it.
The light suddenly turned green, and my cousin hammered it..... the Trans Am's nose went up, and I almost went flying into the back seat. I was pinned, and I couldn't move my head. All I could hear was the F-Body's thundering exhaust, with my cousin looking in the rearview mirror screaming out loud, "Whaddya Got, whaddya goooooottttt".
Before I knew it, the car reached 140MPH, but this is where the Lambo shined, and after catching up, he blew right passed us. It didn't matter though, as the point was made, and the Lambo was raped. We got to White Castles, and after waiting a few minutes or so, our friends finally got there. They too were in absolute awe, and one of them even commented that he thought he seen fire issuing from out of my cousin's exhaust pipes. All of them were speechless, as was I....
I will NEVER forget that damn car....!