1975 Grand AM 455 the pissed off GrandMA

[Mater]

as some of you know was was looking at getting a 79 3 speed elco it was a pretty rare beast being a manual and no power options at all manual steering AM radio. just rally gauges and sport mirrors well the guy backed out at the last minute after i even gave a down payment to hold the car. i was pissed.... ok really pissed. not form the fact that it sold but that he said he would hold the car for me. but any way on to happier things!


i was talking to a friend about this we have traded cars back and forth for a wile his dad is a really big pontiac fan he basically has a Pontiac junk yard as his front back and side yard. he even had a 1979 regal drag car powered by a 455 poncho that ran 11's back int he early 90's. back in november he listed a bunch of cars for sale (including the regal and the grand am) at the time didnt have the funds to facilitate another project and just thought it was a 350 lemans.


i am not that bright of a man thinking this was a lemans

i mean really




fast forward to the elco fiasco friend reminds me his dad still had the car for sale. this is when he informed me it was a Grand Am. what a grand am? you mean the shitty GM FWD? actually no to my amazement the grand am was actually a respectable car. then he hit me

factory 455 car with factory 3.42 posi (the best rear gear that was offered) well then

then he said moonroof.


what?




yes




but factory 455 surely that must be gone by now replaced with a chevy



oh well then





so i made an offer and now i am the proud owner 455 powered grand am. actually it;s kind of need original color of the car was a dark green with a white landua top with 2 tone black white interior. bakck dash carpet center console every thing else white.....


except some one in the past had the bright idea to "paint" the interior soooo now it;s back and "oh dear god by ass is black now"








driver seat might give you a disease if you stare to long...

does have a nifty blue door and the nifty door has a blue panel


the rest of the exterior is not that bad




the majority of the car is there just..... some assembly is required

even has spares,. extra tail lights









good news is rear window is leak free!!!!

same with the moon roof





now the pecs on the 455 is 9.25:1 compretion 68 intake manifold, ram air exhaust manifolds, 6X heads (these good? i do not know pontiac i am an olds guy) and a cran cams 270H and topped with a 850 Q-jet. has a 2400 stall converter and THM400



main goal is to get it running and driving then i will worry about the pretty.



now if the grand prix would just sell so i can get it to my house

[Huskinhano]

On the 6X heads. The 6X are probably the best regular factory heads. I believe they came out in 75. Pontiac used the same head for 350, 400 & 455 but machined the chamber for 7.5;1 CR on each engine. At one point Pontiac put the 350 6X heads on the 400 for the 78-79 Trans Am to give about 8:1. But if you put the 6X 350 heads on the 455, it's good for about 9.5:1

[Mater]

sweet i am going off of 9.25 compression as that is what the builder of the engine told me. so this car should move pretty well with this set up. the guy guessed it;s around 380 crank hp and 490ft-lbs

[SuperBuickGuy]

neato

I'm sure Remy is going to come hunt you down, but it's all good... he's not a quiet man.

[Mater]

i will pacify him by handing him a wrench and beer and hope his natural instincts will kick in and i will end up with a running car

[tardis454]

You never struck me as much of a smEl Camino guy anyway.. Hope the guy gave you your money back...

I always liked Grand Ams. A local shop restored a black 455 4spd car, it was really nice. It looks like you have a fair amount of work ahead of you.
You should be able to get most of the interior stuff fairly easily. The seats are early Firebird/T.A., Olds Gutless pieces should be compatible too.
And that steering wheel, love them 70's Poncho bumper car steering wheels... Those cars look great with Firebird/T.A. honeycombs too..

[Mater]

yeah i need to do an inventory of the parts when i get it to the house

wile the interior is out i am going to dynamat (or other sound deadener) and POR-15 the floor.

needs a driver door though the bottom is pretty far gone on the inside (original door)


and thanks on the heads up for the seat

[tardis454]

needs a driver door though the bottom is pretty far gone on the inside (original door)

That might be a little harder to find. The doors fit 73-77 Lemans only. I did a search and found a few manual doors on car-part.com in warm states..

[Shelty]

Badass!

is that a Michigan car? looks surprisingly clean for being from the rust belt.

[ratpatrol66]

Sweet Grand Am! Probably not many sunroof/moonroof/skylight cars made. The 455s were weezers rated at 200net HP. You will be able to get way more out of it, good luck.

[Mater]

actually no idea. where it originally is from. we suspect Indiana

the under side is nice. frame was sanded down though so it;s just bare metal




just noticed it has a rear sway bar so it also has the sport handling option package WINNING! need to measure the front sway bar

floors are patched in a few areas not perfect and need some more holes filled but not bad



car has no weather stripping that is how water is getting in


here is the door

[G-Motive]

Production numbers are looking pretty low for 75. Adds to the cool factor and helps with the motivation.

[silver_bullet]

Tin Indians Rule! nice find!

[BangShift McT]

i will pacify him by handing him a wrench and beer and hope his natural instincts will kick in and i will end up with a running car

Handing me a beer does nothing...can't stand the stuff. Besides, I've got my own junk to get running! I'll admit that I'm having flashbacks to my '73 Chevelle, but just like that car, I can look past a LOT of bad and see the good here!

[DanStokes]

Let's hope Todd chimes in - he's Da Man on Pontiacs.

Have Fun!

Dan