Joseph one of the hosts from the popular Canadian Automotive Youtube channel, Roads Untraveled is presenting his pride and joy; a 1999 Pontiac Trans Am WS6. This isn’t the fastest Trans Am we have ever featured. It doesn’t make monster power or perform 9 second quarter-mile times, but it’s a fun car that a young man in his early 20’s is using as an effective daily driver. He purchased it for $3,600 in 2011 and went to work with a few light modifications.
A custom suspension was installed consisting of Bilstein HD shocks and struts, Eibach Springs and Corvette C5 Z06 brakes. A nice aesthetic touch were the custom 18 inch Z06 wheels with the Trans Am Phoenix emblem in the center wrapped in 275 wide tires. This suspension and tire set up not only improves handling on the road course, but also on the wet and curvy roads of Vancouver. Joseph says it even kept up with a 400 hp Evo during a high speed chase on curvy roads.
The All Aluminum LS1 engine breathes out through Kooks long tube headers, a custom 4-inch Y-Pipe which runs to a B&B high-flow muffler. The muffler gives the Trans Am a killer sound which is nice to hear every time the T-56 trans bangs into gear. Stock the Trans Am produces 305 horses after the exhaust upgrades its puts out about 366 to 380bhp depending on the gas and the air of that day.
The other host of the Video, argues that this Trans Am wouldn’t make a good daily driver due to the T-56’s “heavy clutch” installed from Monster Transmission and the fact that its in too nice condition he’s afraid to ruin it. He originally wasn’t a fan of the 4th Gen F-bodies but after seeing one up close and getting behind the wheel he fell in love.
However, Joe summed up the Trans Am nicely in the video “Hear an American muscle car and you think it’s fast in straight line, it’s bad on gas, it can’t handle. This Trans Am doesn’t do that, it handles pretty great, pretty quick in a straight line and it’s really good on gas.”