When this 1981 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am rolled out of the factory it was sporting a 301 ci (4.9 L) turbocharged V8. Schwartz Performance has since turned it into a pro-touring machine along with increasing the displacement and adding another turbo.
Schwartz started by upgrading the foundation with one of their G-Machine bolt-in full length frame. This gave them the ability to easily upgrade just about every other component such as the Ridetech triple-adjustable coilovers and Baer Extreme-Plus six-piston brakes in both front and rear.
Under the hood you will find a LS9 with Wiseco forged internals, ported heads, Eagle LS7 crank and LS7 dry sump system. Combine that with two 70 mm turbos and you get 1,041 horsepower and 858 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels.
Connected to the engine is a Bowler Performance 4L85E automatic transmission, custom length driveshaft, Winters 9″ aluminum housing with Moser 9″ aluminum center section. Capping this off is a Wavetrac differential with 3.70 gears and Moser full-floating hubs and axles.
Source: Schwartz Performance (project page) via Speed Society FB post
Cool car. Only thing I’m not sure about is the color. It would look better in black, imho. Also I wonder about that 301 turbo V8, if for example convert it to EFI and add a bigger turbo how much power it would make. That’s a thing which interested me in these engines.
I am a fan of white cars so it works for me. I am sure the factory engine could be built to make big power but I doubt it would be as friendly to drive as a modern engine.
I was meant that engine in general, not for this car. LS9 is fine by me. I never heard about someone building up 301 turbo V8, so that’s why I asked. Since 200 hp those produce stock are quite pathetic for turbo engine.
I haven’t heard of anyone building one. But that is not saying much 🙂