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My Omega

1998

This is what my Omega looked like when I bought it. It came from S. Carolina to Michigan with 71,000 mi. and sat for 3 years before I put down my $500. and made it mine. After an extensive cleaning and replacing most of the cooling and brake systems, she was ready to roll.

New wheels
newwheels99.jpg
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Interior
interior99.jpg
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2000

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T/A before and after
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Rearend change
rearendchange.jpg
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The other big thing in 2001 was on August 18th. Deborah and I got Married at a Church 1/4 mile off Woodward in Royal Oak. After the wedding we hit the 2001 Woodward Dream Cruise* in full wedding style.

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Click for official WDC site

*Billed as the largest one day automotive event in the world with an estimated 1.5 million people and 30,000 Hot Rods, Classics and Muscle Cars attending the 7th annual Woodward Dream Cruise, it was a crowded 16 mi. stretch.

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I decided to replace the stock 350 and auto trans with a built '72 Pontiac 400 (Edelbrock Performer cam/intake, Holley 750, roller rockers,etc) and Muncie 4 spd from the Trans Am...and do a little clean up and paint while I'm at it.

With the front clip removed, I took the motor and trans out together, stripped and cleaned the firewall and gave it a fresh coat of primer and G.M. bright red paint.

I then dropped the 400 and 4spd. into position to take measurements. To use the newer style (clamshell) motor mounts, I had to make frame mounts to position them correctly and weld them in. The subframe was removed,  painted and then the motor and trans were installed into the subframe. Headers for a '67-'69 Firebird were installed at this time (Pontiac guys know why) and the subframe was rolled back under the car and bolted in with Energy Suspension urethane bushings (in red).

In an attempt to shave as much weight as possible, I removed the heater/air cond. assembly (since I don't drive it in the winter) and made this .060 aluminum block off plate, removed a lot of metal from the radiator support and brackets, and left the inner fenders off and moved the battery to the trunk.

The original brake booster hit the valve covers. Lucky for me I kept the one from the T/A. It's smaller diameter made it a perfect fit with minor mods to the rod.
I buttoned up the job with a set of  2.5" pipes and 50 series Flowmasters.

Driving that 4 speed is kick ass! The way a Muscle car should be!
I haven't done much to the car since 2003 but drive it.

My Omega when I got it
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Not much changed thru ' 98.

1999

 Spring of ' 99 came the addition of a set of tires and rims, Futura Super Sport GLH's- 235/60/15's on front and 265/50/15's on the rear on 15x8 American Racing "Tailgunners" and hood pins.
Next I changed the vinyl top and interior color from white to black, replaced the bench seat with buckets, installed a B&M Megashifter and tach and made an aluminum console and gauge pod to house full mechanical gauges.

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Over the summer of 2000, I molded a cowl induction scoop on the hood, installed a rear spoiler, painted black racing stripes on the hood and trunk and painted the grills and taillight panel black.

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2001

A couple of major things happened in 2001. I bought a '79 Trans Am from my buddy. It was stored winters since new (he was the 2nd owner. his Uncle was the 1st.) and was real clean until an old man ran a red light and center punched him. Picked it up for $500 + I get 40% of all part sales...not bad! I got it for the disc brake rear end w/3:73's and an Auburn posi. When I swapped the rearend, I also swapped tires/rims to late 60's vintage Cragar SS - 15x3.5 with 205/75/15's up front, 15x8 (4.75" back spacing) with 275/60's out back.

The Cragars
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wedding2.jpg
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Stopping for T-shirts and a leg stretch
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How cool is this. we stopped to get a Dream Cruise T-shirt for Derrick and the girls at the booth gave us THREE T-shirts FREE as a wedding gift!

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2002

Start of motor swap
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Clean up and set up
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reassembly
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Finished!
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Future plans include moving the rear frame rails inboard for more tire clearance. I'd like to run 15x10 Weld Racing wheels with 6.5" backspacing and 295/50/15's in back and 15x5 with 165/15's (Euro) up front or 17x9 Cragars w/5.5 " backspacing and 245/45/17's and 14x6 with 185/75/14's up front, a new vinyl top and paint..The only change I'd like to make to the motor is a set of Edelbrock aluminum heads to replace the '73 4X heads. Other than that I'm very pleased with the results.