Pontiac began an aggressive advertising campaign in 1997 to showcase the redesigned Firebird and all of its iterations. Those of us in the GM scene back then will remember the WS6 Trans Am commercials where the ferocious Firebird snacks on exotic cars and whips would-be challengers at red-light encounters. Mottos such s "The Musclecar Still Lives" could be found written below a black WS6 in just about every automotive magazine. Jason Pfitzner of Springfield, MO, remembers them well, as they were enough to get him to plunk down his cold hard cash for this killer Trans Am you see gracing our pages. That was back in December of 1997, and Jason's love for this car hasn't faded a bit in the last 10 years.
This is arguably the best view of this Trans Am. With twin 64mm turbos and dual blow-off valves set out front, as well as the carb-style intake manifold, it appears this engine means business. No, your eyes aren't fooling you, that is the complete A/C system still intact too!------>
Jason and his 1998 Trans Am have gone through all of the popular LS1 modification eras, a bonus for being one of the first to jump into the LS1 scene. First came the typical bolt-on mods in the early years. Sometime around the year 2000, nitrous systems became all the rage for the LS1 world, no doubt from the lack of serious modifications that were available at the time. Jason jumped on the dry nitrous bandwagon, eventually stepping it up with a wet kit later on. That bottled-up throttle setup put him in the 10s at the local dragstrip. This combo worked well for about five years, but Jason eventually got tired of refilling nitrous bottles to get his dose of adrenaline.
In order to satisfy the speed bug, gearheads do some crazy stuff. Some guys gut their cars into what appears to be a theft recovery. Others stuff huge cubes under the hood, with loud exhausts and bucking-bronco cam lopes that are borderline driveable. Jason didn't want any of that mess, so he decided on going with the forced induction trend. While several guys were playing with superchargers and custom single-turbo systems, he wanted something more exotic- without sacrificing the street manners or comfort features of the car.
Look Ma, no keyholes! By filling the keyholes, removing the door-ding strip from the doors, and filling in the side marker lights, this car has a very sleek profile. Check out that killer stance on the drag wheels. It's perfect!------>
The decision was made to go with a twin-turbo system, but also to retain such things as air conditioning and power steering. The custom turbo setup was designed and fabricated by 417 Motorsports (Springfield, MO) to meet these criteria. It utilizes two T3- flanged 64mm turbos, a single 50mm TiAL blow-off valve, and twin 38mm TiAL wastegates. The custom header manifolds were built using 1.75-inch tubing and merge into 3-inch collectors.The exhaust system consists of dual 3-inch downpipes into a 3-inchY-pipe, and expel through a bullet muffler. That is all the muffler that is needed, thanks to the twin turbos for working as the best 'mufflers' available. Another trick setup is the horizontal front-mounted intercooler that sweeps its airflow up from the ground. This was done in order to preserve the function of the fog lights, and to avoid any holes in the nose of the car. The current engine is mostly stock, save for an Edelbrock carb-style intake manifold and a mild 224/224 hydraulic cam. Until the upcoming LSX ironblock engine addition is completed in the spring of 2008, the stock engine only sees 8.5 psi of boost in order to keep the kaboom away. This combo puts down a safe 571 hp and 563 lb-ft at the rear wheels, enough to propel this car to a current best quarter-mile of 10.92 seconds at 126 mph. Not bad for a 3,700-pound daily driver with a mostly stock engine!