Hi everyone, My continuing restoration of a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am is continuing - I changed the water pump over the winter and that stopped the antifreeze leak, changed all the belts and hoses, and replaced all the brakes and linings including master cylinder. I had two more questions I was hoping someone could answer: 1. This car has headers (not sure which type - hooker?) on it's original 403 Olds engine. What I'm concerned about is the amount of heat these things generate. I've never had a car with headers before but as I will primarily be driving this car in the summer - is this a concern? Also, is there a type of wrap to put on the headers or spray on coating that would help reduce the temp a bit in the engine bay? I've seen guys selling the original cast iron manifolds for this same car with the same engine - I'm assuming this would be another option to cool down the engine bay (although with a loss of power?) 2. The transmission pan is leaking a bit - I purchased the filter replacement kit - is this an easy job or should I expect something else? Thanks in advance for any answers! Chris
Headers will certainly increase underhood temps, one way to cool them down in to have them bead blasted and ceramic coated ($$$) however you should never use wrapped headers on the street--on a race car fine but not on a car that is going to be driven for any length of time. As far as the trans leak, if you're sure that the fluid is leaking from around the edges of the pan then yeah just get a new gasket and filter (they come as a set) drop the pan and drain the fluid, replace the filter and use the new gasket for the pan--make sure that you torque the bolts the recommended amount on both the filter and pan bolts otherwise the leak will probably reappear. If you're not entirely sure where the fluid is coming from check around the speedo cable input and the rear seal (where the driveshaft enters the trans) because both of these are often the cause of leaks as well. Good luck
