Slideshow: Brad Riekkoff's Supercharged LS3 Trans Am

Where it all started

Brad Riekkoff bought his 1980 Trans Am way back at the age of 16 as his first car. His heart was first stolen while at a Wisconsin car show in 1991 where Brad and his stepfather went to find a good first car for commuting back and forth to high school. Sitting on a trailer in the swap meet was the car you see above with a price for $2,500 written across the windshield. 

“It was from Oklahoma,” recalls Riekkoff, “and had a very solid body. The engine seemed to run pretty good, but had a very bad exhaust leak, so it was noisy. We bought it, with my stepfather and I splitting the cost.”

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And here we go...

Like any person with a brand new toy, Brad started to work on the Trans Am as soon as he got home. The first item to get fixed was the header exhaust, which went smoothly but then another far more serious problem made itself known. “The obnoxious exhaust leak was covering up a bad rod knock, and this is where it all started!” The "all" in that last sentence refers to the journey that the Trans Am has gone down in the name of completing this build... including several engines. 

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Out of sight but not out of mind

Along with all those engines that Brad and his stepfather built for the Trans Am was replacing the Turbo 400, installed 4:11:1 gears, and bolted on a nitrous kit. By the time that Brad graduated high school he also owned a 1979 Blazer that he drove to work every day. He couldn't afford to have both, so he sold his half of the Trans Am to his stepfather who put the car into storage. In the years that followed, Brad got married, started a family, and opened his own business. Nevertheless, the Trans Am was gone but not forgotten. 

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Now what's wrong?!

“I had recently purchased a chassis dyno and started a part-time speed shop called West Bend Dyno Tuning out of my garage. The local 4th of July parade was coming up and we decided to put a few cars and a float in the parade to represent the business. I had a thought and asked my stepfather if we could take my old Trans Am. The car still had the parking sticker in the rear window required at my high school back in 1993, and some of my personal belongings were still in the glove box! The fluids were changed and a few miscellaneous items were addressed and I took her out for a drive. The car was running great! I felt like I was 16 again and forgot that the old Pontiac did not like to be revved up past 5,500 rpm. Well a few burn outs later and the old bird had enough- it developed another rod knock!”

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Upgrading the performance

Wegner Motorsport built a stroked and supercharged LS3 that produces 932 horsepower and 935-lb-ft of torque on E85. Wegner used a Callies Dragonslayer to support all of the power and Ultra rods fitted to Mahle pistons. Fully ported LS9 cylinder heads were assembled with Inconel stainless valves and PSI springs. Casey from Wegner built a great front drive to work with the 3.3-liter Lysholm supercharger that includes a choice of four different upper pulleys that yielded four different levels of boost. Aeromotive came with a fuel system capable of feeding that new and very hungry LS engine. Included was an Aeromotive speed controller and Eliminator pump custom mounted in the stock tank. Fuel Injector Connection was tapped for 127-pound injectors. The squeezed intake charge is lit up by an uber reliable MSD system and waste gases are routed out by way of Stainless Works long tube headers, custom-bent three-inch pipes, and Borla mufflers. Lubrication is aided by a Daily Engineering dry sump system, that uses Roots-style scavenge rotors and spur gear pressure sections for better efficiency. Everything is kept cool due to a large Afco aluminum radiator and twin electric fans. 

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Stop and go

Some serious driveline upgrades were essential with all of 900 horsepowers at the beck and call of the throttle. A twin-disk Centerforce clutch and Centerforce flywheel inside a QuickTime bellhousing channels the engine’s twist to a strengthened, Hurst-shifted T56 six-speed transmission. The gearbox, in turn, spins a Mark Williams Chromoly driveshaft bolted to a 9-inch Ford aluminum Strange Engineering center section and, full-floating 35-spline Moser axles carry it to the wheels. Big Wilwood six-piston calipers squeeze 14-inch slotted steel rotors in the front, while four-piston Wilwood’s are paired with 13-inch slotted rotors in the back. Pressure comes from a 1 1/8-inch Wilwood master cylinder and a Wilwood proportioning valve. 

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Better suspension for a better ride

For better handling, West bend threw in a Heidts Pro-G front subframe with Heidt suspension arms and spindles, and a Mustang II rack and pinion steering system. A Heidts four-link suspension setup with modified mounting points to increase shock stroke replaced the stock Pontiac suspension in the rear. At each of the corners, AFCO double adjustable coilover shocks complement the Heidts suspension system. 

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His first love

The exterior of the car received carbon fiber doors, front fenders, and front inner fenders from Albert Melchoir of Carbon Kustoms. The hood was enlarged in order to accommodate the large Lysholm supercharger. Jeff Miller of Boyd Classics handled the bodywork and applied the paint. 

“We worked hand in hand with Jeff,” recalls Brad, “to come up with the paint scheme for the outside of the car and the engine bay. We used a 10th-anniversary paint scheme with a touch of carbon fiber on the hood, wheels and in the engine bay. The two-tone stripe along the bottom of the windows on the doors offered a perfect spot to list all of our supporting manufacturer's logos that were printed by Randy Gremminger of Trend Setters.”

“We’ve had respectable showings at many pro-touring events,” he tells us, “including the Optima Street Car Challenge and the Heidts Performance Challenge held at the Autobahn in Joliet, where we took an overall win. We continue to improve the performance of the bird as our shop test car, testing the products that we sell for pro touring type applications.”

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