PartingShot

With the Sun Setting on GM's Ponycars, One Adherent Unlimbers a 500-Horse Salute.

Now that the fourth-generation F-body has finally aimed its protuberant schnoz toward that great trailer-court parking lot in the sky, devotees of the line are left to find meaning in an automotive landscape inhabited by 14-second Altimas, 390-horsepower Mustangs, and marketing executives capable of employing words like "brawny" and "Volkswagen" in the same sentence without collapsing in paroxysms of laughter. Yes, all is woe in autodom.

Perhaps the pangs of loss surrounding the cars' exit would be fractionally less acute had GM done what many expected and developed a proper high-performance package to send these grizzled veterans of the musclecar wars out in style. Instead, in what we can only assume was an attempt to fulfill some long-standing covenant with the commemorative-dash-plaque industry, the company opted to mark the cars' passing with a pair of "special edition" models that, aside from their tumid price tags and eye-watering cosmetic spiffs, simply weren't all that, well, special. For you metaphor enthusiasts, imagine dressing your comatose uncle up in a Big Bird costume just before yanking the plug on his respirator. (Please direct all vituperative comments directly to the author--Ed.)

For a more fitting tribute, one must look to the cars' famously dedicated fan base, where an abiding passion for performance--and not corporate realpolitik--is the fuel that drives the engine of creativity. Having taken stock of the very latest in late-model F-body hardware, we submit for your approval Cory Morgan's 2002 WS6 Trans Am. Finished in a symbolically apposite and regionally correct shade of Sunset Orange Metallic (Texan Morgan is a UT Austin alum), this 500-horse road rocket is a rolling homage to the incorruptible cult of F.

Displaying the utter lack of forbearance that is perhaps the most debilitating symptom of chronic high-performance intoxication (others include drooling, fiscal insolvency, and an inability to maintain a mutually gratifying relationship with someone other than the Snap-On guy), Morgan ripped into the T/A's underpinnings mere days after driving the car off the lot. This initial set of modifications included the addition of Eibach Pro-Kit springs to starch up the WS6 suspension and a set of custom chrome-moly control arms from Dallas-area tuner AMS (that's Arlington Motorsports, in case you were wondering) to abet straight-line traction.

While most casual enthusiasts will instantly recognize the concept of modularity as it applies to Ford's 4.6-, 5.4-liter, and 6.8-liter overhead-cam engines (indeed, the company has gone so far as to refer to this lineup as the "MOD" engine family, an appellation that suggests, at least to the uninitiated, that the practice of designing powerplants with interchangeable components is unique to Ford), far fewer appreciate the performance benefits to be realized through the judicious mixing of parts from GM's "Gen III" engine line. For example, by mating a set of lightly ported Vortec 4800 cylinder heads (unmodified versions of which are normally found on GM's full-sized trucks and SUVs) to the stock LS1 engine block in Morgan's T/A, Keith Moore at AMS was able to effect a slight but nevertheless beneficial increase in compression at a minimal cost.

A measure of creative engineering is also evident in the car's exhaust system, which comprises a set of Hooker long-tube headers feeding a custom AMS X-pipe and dual 3-inch intermediate pipes. In a marked departure from late-model F-car orthodoxy, the system terminates in a pair of Dynomax Bullet mufflers, making it the kind of "true dual" system many Camaro and Firebird owners seem to covet but few ever actually install.

Other than the aforementioned head swap and the addition of a matching custom-grind cam, modifications to the engine's hard parts are few--particularly impressive when one considers that the package recently spat out 428 rear-wheel horsepower (just over 500 at the flywheel) on the AMS dynamometer. Tell your bud with the new GT you just out-dyno'd a Viper with a cam and a set of truck heads and he is apt to reenact the explosive denouement from David Cronenberg's Scanners.

Although Morgan hasn't had a chance to measure the T/A's acceleration on a drag strip, a similarly modified F-body owned by another AMS customer recently recorded an 11.20-second quarter-mile at an almost indecent 121 mph. Not surprisingly, the AMS top-end package has become quite popular with Dallas-area LS1 enthusiasts, with the shop currently averaging around two installations a week.

Increasing an engine's output by more than 50 percent naturally tends to highlight inadequacies in the factory-issue driveline. In the case of Morgan's T/A, the stock Z06-style clutch was the first casualty. Viewing the clutch's premature demise as a harbinger of things to come, Morgan replaced it with a heavy-duty Ram unit, then excised the car's aluminum driveshaft and 7.5-inch rear end in favor of an AMS chrome-moly shaft and a Moser 12-bolt diff loaded with 4.11 gears.

Next to go farpatshket was the factory T-56 transmission, which packed it in during a session of, ahem, "spirited" driving with friends on the highways around Dallas. To minimize the possibility of a repeat performance, Morgan had the six-speed rebuilt with heavy-duty cast-iron shift forks similar to those found in the Viper-issue T-56. (F-body units use considerably less durable aluminum pieces.)Still more mechanical trauma accrued to the car's brakes, a somewhat surprising development given that the system had previously been fortified with a set of cross-drilled KVR rotors. With the entire project now resembling a perverse form of automotive Grand Guignol, Morgan upgraded to a set of Baer Eradispeed rotors, which utilize a directional, curved-vane design and lightweight aluminum center hat to reduce weight and maximize heat absorption. "If these don't hold up," says Morgan, "I'll upgrade to one of Baer's big systems, [with] larger rotors, calipers, etc."

In an attempt to properly harness the LS1's 480-plus pound-feet of torque, Morgan exchanged the factory WS6 wheels for a set of 17x9.5-inch Fikse FM-5s encased in glutinous Nitto rubber. An extravagance on lesser cars, the immodestly sized 315mm rear drag radials seem downright pragmatic on a vehicle with the Trans Am's accelerative potential. As Morgan puts it, "With all that power and the 4.11 gears, I need all the tire I can get."

An international accounting manager with Pioneer Natural Resources, Morgan recently decamped for the firm's South Africa office, where he will spend 18 months before returning stateside. "Many of my friends think I'm nuts for doing all this to a car just to store it, but what the hell? It's a kick-ass ride."And a fine salute to the end of an era.

Aside from a set of Hooker long-tube headers, there's little here to indicate the ferocious performance potential of the stock-block LS1. The slightly odd-looking air-filter assembly is a carbon-fiber "Generation 2" FIPK from K&N. "I wanted something a little more unique than the typical aftermarket lid setup," explains Morgan.

Dallas-area street racers would do well to familiarize themselves with this view. Nitto 315/40R17 Extreme Drags face the not-inconsiderable challenge of channeling more than 428 rear-wheel horsepower to the hot Texas macadam.

The theme of tasteful understatement carries over the car's cockpit, where a short-handled B&M Ripper shifter is among the few visible alterations. To avoid running afoul of local strip techs, Morgan plans to add a roll cage in the near future.

With more than 500 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, Cory Morgan's 2002 WS6 T/A should be capable of low 11s at over 120 mph.

Big, fat Fikse carries big, fat price tag. The cross-drilled KVR rotors have since been replaced with beefier Baer Eradispeeds.

Car:2002 Pontiac
Trans Am WS6
Owner:Cory Morgan
Engine:stock, 346 cid
Cylinder Heads:GM Vortec 4800
(LR4), ported by AMS
Valve sizes (intake/exhaust):2.00-/1.56-inch
Cam:AMS custom grind
(.590"/.590" lift,
226*/226* duration @
050", 112* lobe separation)
Rocker Arms:stock
Compression Ratio:10.8:1
Intake Manifold: stock
Throttle Body: ported, stock
Fuel Injectors:stock
Fuel Pump:stock
Ignition:stock
Engine Management:stock ECU, LS1 Edit tuning
by Chris Marsh
Headers:Hooker long-tube
Exhaust System:custom AMS dual 3"
with X-pipe, Dynomax
Bullet mufflers
Transmission:rebuilt T-56 with upgraded,
cast iron shift forks
Clutch:Ram
Driveshaft:AMS custom chromemoly
Differential:Moser 12-bolt with
33-spline axles
Gear Ratio:4.11, Eaton HD posi
Front Suspension:stock, Eibach Pro-Kit springs
Rear Suspension:stock, Eibach Pro-Kit springs,
AMS tubular chromemoly
control arms and panhard rod
Brakes:Baer Eradispeed
Wheels:Fikse FM-5, 17x9.5" (front and rear)
Tires:Nitto NT-555, 275/40-17 (front);
Nitto NT-555R Extreme Drag,
315/40-17 (rear)
Weight:3625 lbs. with driver
Rear-Wheel Horsepower/Torque:428 hp/410 lb.-ft.