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CAR OF THE MONTH: APRIL 2012
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Al, aka JekyllandHyde
Picture by Stan Wan
1991 Pontiac SLP GTA
My car was given to me as a graduation gift from my mother when I was
18. It had 37,500 miles on it and was bone stock except for a Flowmaster
American Thunder catback. She came optioned with the 5.7L L98 and
the 700R4 automatic transmission. She also had the distinction of being
1 of 98 gunmetal grey GTAs built in 1991 and one of only 50 cars ordered
with the U1A CD player. Over time, I sought to make it into an SLP GTA,
optioned with SLP Runners, cold air intake, catback exhaust and
headers. in 2011, she underwent a major overhaul and received
Trickflow 195 heads with 2.02 and 1.60 intake/exhaust valves, a TPIS
ZZ409 camshaft, and the final SLP T-RAM sold by Summit Racing. The
-RAM also came with a stock GM throttle body bored out by SLP from
48mm to 52mm. The motor is fed by South Bay 36lb injectors and a
Walbro 255 fuel pump with a Racetronix "hotwire" system that has the
fuel pump feed power directly from the alternator. The valvetrain was built
with Comp Cams "beehive" valve springs, and Comp Ultra Pro Magnum
steel 1.6 roller rockers that pump the valve lift to .555 intake/exhaust. A
performance transmission with a 2600rpm stall converter was built for
the car and blew after 200 miles, so in went a T56 6-speed manual
transmission with a Ram billet aluminum flywheel and a Spec Stage 3
clutch. The T56 is also optioned with a Hurst short throw billet shifter and
a Lou's short stick handle, making shifts very short and precise. Other
misc. items were also replaced, such as the brake hard lines, and
shocks and struts with Koni pieces. The stock torque arm was chucked
in favor of a Spohn Chromoly transmission x-member mounted torque
arm. In the next few months, she will also receive a second set of Spohn
subframe connectors that will be used in conjunction with the Alsoton
SFC. All in all, the car is an absolute blast to drive and is easily twice as
powerful as it was in stock configuration. I sought out to build a Firehawk
killer and I think I've got it. I want to thank Manny and George for helping
me with this build.
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