I have a 1979 Trans Am with a olds 403 small block. The car has not ran in 10 years. My goal is to put a 454 big block, racing automatic transmission, new dirveshaft, and rear end in. I have no clue what I need to do. If I buy a turn key engine what else will I need to get the car running? Where can I buy budget turn key racing engines at? What about the trans an rest of drive train? Also their are dents of all sizes all over the car, some are bigger then my fist. How do I take them out? I am good at painting, but i don't know any thing about taking dents out. Eventually I want to car restored and I am going to airbrush the bird over the hood with flames every where.

 

Dents need to be pulled and filled. Um, might be easier to go with a Olds motor, as you already have everything else... but a 454 will require a new transmission as well. (or an adapter I think... not sure if they make one).

 

GM installed both Pontiac 400 and Olds 403 engines in Trans Ams of that vintage. A 455 Olds is a tall-deck version of that 403 motor and will cause problems getting things to fit right under the hood (mainly becuase they never installed any version of a tall-deck Olds in a 2nd gen). A 455 Pontiac is a different story- it's the same external dimensions as the Pontiac 400 they put in them back then so everything makde for a 400 T/A would bolt right on like headers, intakes, etc. Obviously, you'd need to swap parts like motor mounts, accessories, etc. from a Pontiac-motored donor car before you drop a 455 Pontiac motor into it.