'07 Vic w/5-speed swap

Just like the caption says, I bought a 5-speed swapped Vic. Although I broke my tradition of buying $600 cars with this one, I am happy with the purchase.

It's a 2007 Westerville (OH) cruiser and has the scuffs to prove it. The previous owner, a member here, installed the following goodies:
-TR3650
-10.5" clutch
-Pier's pedals
-Modular Head Shop stage 2 cams
-Kook's LT headers

This combo allegedly makes 270WHP and 299TQ on a 93 octane tune. I will likely have this re-tuned in the next month (more on this later in the post) or so and see what they left on the table.

Annnnyway, I brought it home yesterday and introduced it to the Marauder...


And the Marquis...


Today, I replaced a burnt-out taillight bulb and spent an hour getting the interior to a livable level...



Mechanically, there are some issues. I feel confident in some of them; not all of them:
-tackle the grinding sound/feel in the right front wheel when I'm turning (wheel bearing?)
-brakes all the way around - hoping for just pads - they squeal...bad.
-(this is the big one) re-tune the car, have MIL eliminators installed, turn the rear O2s back on in the tune, and HOPE TO GOD this thing passes Ohio's E-check. (they won't even test it with a P1000 code, which currently surfaces any time the car is started)

On the interior, the list is much shorter:
-clean clean clean
-fix the floor, shift boot, bezel, etc. It's...not right.

Cosmetically:
-who cares? It's a P71.

All of that being said, this is a very solid car. Rowing your own is fun, but third gear pulls are downright intoxicating.

Haters...hit me with your best shot.

I'm jealous. Really jealous.

I like it, but my god does that thing need carpet, I hate the rubber floors. Otherwise most good.

And that does really need a tune. Manual swaps on these result in the computer freaking the hell out.

I am still surprised you stooped to our level with the P71. your monicle may have cracked

let us know how the 5 speed does my son is thinking about the swap.

Looks nice for what it is. I'd swap out the rubber floor mat for some proper carpet and do something about those bucket seats. They look weird.

Maybe you could rework the shifter into a console and just get some Panther buckets or redo some bench seats to fit.

I like the shifter coming straight out of the floor. I don't plan to change that. I may price out carpet and put some in.

The buckets...I like them. I don't love them, but I don't love the stock Panther seats either.

None of this will be addressed until I get the wheel bearing or whatever fixed. And probably E-check and a legal license.

Once you get it legalized (Like what my car is currently going through) I'd go carpet and some center console.

Otherwise it's perfect.

Rotors are so cheap for this car, just do a full brake job, I'm sure with the level of maintenance the previous owner clearly put into this car, the rotors are below minimum thickness as it is. Make sure you do a full bleed to, just in case its still factory fluid.


MIL eliminators + a retune should work fine, Vince passed for years in NJ with no cats and MIL eliminators.

I had cats...they were hollow but I had them

Looks like a great little project Adam, keep the updates coming and good luck with it.

Nice looking P71 Adam. I second the need for carpet and a console. A Sport console shouldn't be too hard to find cheap at a junkyard. Swap that in kinda like JustBob has done with his manual Marauder.

I drove it around a bit here and there yesterday. My god, does this thing need rear control arms - I've never axle-hopped a Panther in wet weather before. I have the old ones off the Marauder laying around, so I might try my hand at boxing a set instead of plunking down four bills for Heinous/Metco pieces.

The wheel bearing is job #1. Since I got called in to work early, so I decided to spend my coffee hour researching the job. It should be in my skill-set, as long as there's no other issues in there. I've got a bearing on order; now I just need to order some motivation and nice weather.

I might. But I did find a box of brand-new front pads in the garage...no idea where they came from, so...yeah. Gonna have the rotors turned (there's a ton of rotor left) and go that route first.

That's what I'm hoping for. I want to get this car safe to roll down the road before I start in on emissions-related BS.

To the people crying for a Sport/Marauder center console, let me repeat myself:

Didn't the Bandit Trans Am have a center console?

This is no Bandit T/A!

My point is, what's good enough for Bo Darville, is good enough for you, so you should get a console.

And it makes it look less like the interior of a early 70s farm truck.

Did the Snowman have a center console in his rig?

I rest my case.

Of course he did, how do you think Fred got on the dash of the truck? And no one really cares about Snowmans semi truck, it was all about the Trans Am which had center consoles and carpet.

Eh, whatever. If anything, this car is closer to Buford T's ride, which did not have a center console.

Nor a driver door or roof at some point

I know of some bikers who might disagree with you...

That shifter sticking out of the floor is sooooo old skool cool, it HAS to stay that way! Digging that car big time!!! Eventually the Fairmont will get a T5 swap and when it does, NO CONSOLE! Just a cool shifter sticking out of the floor .

Bandit's Trans Am was an auto so F all that.

By console, I mean something to rest your arm on. Not a full marauder/sport console

I've driven cars with no center console armrest...it sucks

Oh. Yeah, I might get one of those. No cup holders sucked this morning.

the 5 speed swap is the BEST mod ever

I bought an SCT off of BlueFusion this morning, so that'll be the first step in having the tune ironed out.

Of course, yesterday, the gauges stopped working so I've got to yank the cluster and diagnose that. One step forward, one step back.

Gonna try to do the wheel bearing today if it warms up.

Buford T's ride also didn't have a manual tranny.

But it was a four door.

It was also a pontiac that lost it's roof and door.

I will do this in the future.

Have you echecked it yet?

HAHA...
No, really:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...



Haven't done much on it. This past week has been really busy with birthday plans and crap like that. I also noticed a leaking output shaft seal and traced down a little more of the driveline vibration, so I'm waiting for lift time at my buddy's shop to tackle all of this.

After I get that ironed out (mostly), I plan to address the tune and attempt E-check.

Well, I put it on the lift at my buddy's shop for the first time since buying it and got a good look underneath. Found some things I didn't like, but we'll start with the good stuff:
-output shaft seal replaced
-all new trans fluid added through the top (F trying to get it in the fill plug)
-shift boot removed (was F'd up)
-shifter readjusted and falls into a comfortable place
-confirmed U-joints are good

I found a few things I didn't like and added to my list:
-PS line leak
-oil cooler line leak
-super WTF wiring on the NSS and backup switch
-does this thing require a F'n clutch return spring?! Doubtful, and this one can't be doing much the way it's installed!

Also confirmed what I suspected prior to purchase:
-throwout bearing is noisy
-input shaft seal is noisy

The new fluid definitely made the transmission shift smoother and operate quieter. Since the trans has to come out anyway later this year, I'm leaving the WTF wiring in place since it still functions as designed. It'll be easier to rewire when I've got more room to work.

I think my plan of attack is to fix the leaking lines and move forward with an emissions-friendly tune. After all, if I can't get it through emissions, the car is useless to me.

maybe a Town Car jump seat? I like mine a lot more than I thought I would.

that is what I have been using for years and it works great

03+ have an integrated cup holder that still lets you shift gears

That's a plus. I got coffee on the way into work this morning and remembered that gearjammin' without cupholders sucks!

Wow, I just went and checked mine. Today I learned my center console has cup holders. Neato.

Love the manual...I'd ask if your gas mileage was any better with the combo, but saw that you had cams, so figured mileage got completely thrown out the window...awesome nonetheless!

If I keep my foot out of the gas pedal, the mileage is good all around. I got 24hwy while driving the car from Columbus to Cleveland, OH. That's in line with what stock civilian Panthers usually get.

Unfortunately, I can't keep my foot out of the gas pedal.

Congrats on the buy.



I think it would look much nicer if it looked more like a 70's farm truck. A full bench(no split) would be awesome. Not being sarcastic, just my honest weirdness.

I plan to swap out these buckets. They're not comfortable for longer than 30 minutes and even less so since I'm a fatty fatty 2x4. I may go to a civvy CV/GM bench, or maybe CVPI buckets. Haven't decided yet.

deigh bowh-bowh

Oh god. That would look hilaridumb in a whale Panther! I like it.

with a benchseat, make sure there is room for the shifter handle not to interfere with the seat..2nd, gear, 4 th,reverse? Know what I mean?

Oh yeah. I'll have to do some measurements and stuff.

Hey, for a cam'd car, that ain't bad at all! Especially for our boats

I got it plated!

ah !
glad for you

Starting to save up money for a new trans now

What's wrong with this trans?

Input shaft makes a ton of noise. It was a stocker and has about 20-25k on it since the swap; time to rebuild.

This is why we can't have nice things, they always break. Lol

Pretty sure trans was alredy shot before going in, I never had to rebuilt one after a swap and god knows how much my trans took a beating with the 4.6 and 5,4 .

It's possible.
Shifts pretty normally aside from that clunky and grindy input shaft.

found a place yet for your trans ?

I haven't decided on a course of action yet.

I don't plan on building the motor much so I am probably not in need of ALL the upgrades, but I think I want the 26-spline input shaft at least. If I can get a 26-spline shaft shipped to the house, I'll likely have the transmission rebuilt locally at the place that did the transfer case on my Magnum and the 4R70W + J-mod on my very first GMQ.

Otherwise, it's coming out and getting pallet-shipped to ProForce.