[72projectbird]

I picked up a 79 Trans Am and Firebird from a member here (74grandville). Super nice guy! They were located in CT, 160 miles from me one way, and with both cars it took two trips over the weekend to get them home. 640 miles later, they're home! It was a hell of a trip!

The 79 Trans Am is a Y84 403 car. It's in really good shape, but it's original drivetrain is long gone. This isn't too big of a deal, because the T/A came a 79 Firebird that has a 455/TH400 setup, which will be going into the SE.

So far the interior has been stripped out, getting ready to install a new heater core. The engine bay has been power washed and painted, and the doors have been switched with the Firebird.

Stay tuned for more updates!

[Grand73Am]

Congrats on acquiring a great car!

[muscle_collector]

looks like a nice set of Y88 wheels on the ta.

[goatless]

Congrats on the new purchase! That was a great deal- I was soooooo tempted myself, despite having no time or space for another project, to two.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by goatless

Congrats on the new purchase! That was a great deal- I was soooooo tempted myself, despite having no time or space for another project, to two.

Thank you! It's going to be a nice project.

It's been raining hard up here the last few days, and with work getting in the way progress has slowed down. Hopefully this weekend the 455 can be pulled, cleaned up and painted.

I have a couple of questions regarding certain features:

1. Muscle Collector mentioned Y88 wheels. I thought those were on the 78's, so I assumed they were wrong for this car. Looking at the original sticker in the door jamb and the PHS, the car was built in January. Could these wheels have been installed from the factory? I thought the 79's got fully machined wheels?

2. The car has a gold dash bezel, a gold bird in the shift knob, and a gold nose emblem. I've seen them with both black steering wheels, and gold ones. This one has a black wheel, and as far as I can tell, it original. What determined if it got a gold or black wheel?

3. The trim around the T tops is chrome, which I always thought was supposed to be black. Looking at them, they have the original striping still on them, without any real sign of black paint/anodizing. Should these be black or chrome?


Thanks guys!

[ta6point6]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

Thank you! It's going to be a nice project.

It's been raining hard up here the last few days, and with work getting in the way progress has slowed down. Hopefully this weekend the 455 can be pulled, cleaned up and painted.

I have a couple of questions regarding certain features:

1. Muscle Collector mentioned Y88 wheels. I thought those were on the 78's, so I assumed they were wrong for this car. Looking at the original sticker in the door jamb and the PHS, the car was built in January. Could these wheels have been installed from the factory? I thought the 79's got fully machined wheels?

Those wheels are 78 WS6 wheels, so they could have been on any SE car not just the Y88. You can tell by the hard line on the outside of rim lip and smaller webbing on snowflake pattern. The later 79-81 up had a more rounded outside lip and thicker webbing on spokes. Is it possible they could have come from factory maybe but highly unlikely.

2. The car has a gold dash bezel, a gold bird in the shift knob, and a gold nose emblem. I've seen them with both black steering wheels, and gold ones. This one has a black wheel, and as far as I can tell, it original. What determined if it got a gold or black wheel?

A 79 car should have a gold steering wheel and 80-81 had black steering wheel even on a SE Trans Am.
3. The trim around the T tops is chrome, which I always thought was supposed to be black. Looking at them, they have the original striping still on them, without any real sign of black paint/anodizing. Should these be black or chrome?

[B]A lot of T-tops were painted flat black and chipped off or faded and so you would get gold anodized look or silver but everything I have read is they are supposed to be flat black. I think some Camaros did come with silver fisher T-tops. The only special edition T-tops are the Gold tinted Y-88 and the Silver tinted T-tops 80-81 Y-85.[/B]


Thanks guys!

Looks like a real nice car good luck with project, help my info will help

[74Grandville]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

looks like a nice set of Y88 wheels on the ta.

not sure i agree with this. this car was pretty untouched when i got it less engine. I know most say these are 78 only, and others say they are WS6.

I feel they are original to the car, but who knows.

[74Grandville]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

2. The car has a gold dash bezel, a gold bird in the shift knob, and a gold nose emblem. I've seen them with both black steering wheels, and gold ones. This one has a black wheel, and as far as I can tell, it original. What determined if it got a gold or black wheel?

Thanks guys!

I questioned this as well when I owned it, but I figured the car came from the factory this way. it was pretty unmolested when I got it, except for all the damage. The more I dug into the car, the more I felt it was a low mile car so I figured it came this way.

it still had the pellet converter and dual exhaust that came on the some of these cars. the tailpipes were rusty so I replaced them. they are the ones on the firebird now. I also replaced the pellet converter as I figured it was restrictive. this was when I had it on the road for the 3 months. It was Less then 25 yrs old so i had to go through emissions.... lol. I never did pass with the pontiac 350 in it, but I feel that was more of a tuning issue.

[74Grandville]

Here is a Pic of the TA when I first brought it home in 2003.

[74Grandville]

One goof I made you may be able to fix. I replaced the windshield in the TA in 2003 with a non-antenna windshield. That was a mistake; I didn’t even know you could buy them both ways when I purchased it.
I replaced the windshield in the Firebird about 2 months ago as I got hit with a rock when I started driving it every day this year. I bought one with an antenna in it as it was the same price as with out.
Not sure you want to go through the trouble, but I figured I’d let you know. Both windshields should be in good shape.

[muscle_collector]

Originally Posted by ta6point6

Looks like a real nice car good luck with project, help my info will help

to be technical about the wheels, they were actually put on 78 ws6 cars not just se versions. they also were made in grey color.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by 74Grandville

One goof I made you may be able to fix. I replaced the windshield in the TA in 2003 with a non-antenna windshield. That was a mistake; I didn’t even know you could buy them both ways when I purchased it.
I replaced the windshield in the Firebird about 2 months ago as I got hit with a rock when I started driving it every day this year. I bought one with an antenna in it as it was the same price as with out.
Not sure you want to go through the trouble, but I figured I’d let you know. Both windshields should be in good shape.

I noticed that the other day. I plan on removing the antenna on the rear quarter, so I might attempt to switch windshields so I can have the antenna in the glass.

I don't know what to make of the wheels. I've seen on the earlier cars where parts would carry over to the next model year, even if they weren't supposed to. Whatever the case might be, I like them and they'll be staying on the car!

I figured the tops should have black trim. They look faded, but they faded so uniformly it was hard to tell. I've seen SE cars that had chrome trimmed tops, and they didn't look right.

I thought the wheel was supposed to be gold, but I've seen them both ways. I didn't realize that 80-81 cars got only a black wheel. I guess if I can find a nice gold wheel I'll switch it around. The black one in the car is really nice, so it'll stay for now.

[72projectbird]

Got both quarters, driver door, trunk lid and the roof stripped. I used a combo of aircraft stripper and 80grit on the DA. It's amazing how solid the car is! There was a funky little dent under the rear spoiler, so I'll have to work that out. There was also some prior bodywork on the driver door, but whoever did it got the dent out pretty good.

[goatless]

Wow! You're not wasting any time!
Damn, that body looks good!

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by goatless

Wow! You're not wasting any time!
Damn, that body looks good!

Gotta take full advantage of the weekend!

I'll be ordering the epoxy primer this weekend, and hopefully shooting the car next weekend.

[77 Canamman]

Nice metal!

[Aus78Formula]

You bought it in 2003? When you said you thought some things were original I thought you'd bought it in 79 or 80. That's 20 yrs worth of owners, car yards and mechanics changing parts for whatever reason. I don't assume anything is original unless documented from day 1, even then you find out the dealer added something or swapped an option to get a sale and happy customer.

[72projectbird]

Picked up a new driver side fender, as the original had a few decent sized dents. The new one is in immaculate condition!

[74Grandville]

Looks real good, keep up the good work!


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[68ragtop]

Holy crap man, all this in 5 days?? Do you sleep?

As far as the wheels go, I have never seen the 78's used in 79 but anything is possible. Easy way to tell them apart is the sharp machined edge where the gold on the lip meets the outer aluminum edge. Like Muscle collector said above, All 1978 WS6 cars with gold wheels got that paint scheme. the gray wheels where completely machined like the 79 style but still had the sharp edge like the gold ones. 78 was the only year with those sharp edges, 79's where rounded off. I have some close ups of those somewhere.