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#1
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79 Trans Am SE build
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!
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
#2
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Congrats on acquiring a great car!
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Steve F. |
#3
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looks like a nice set of Y88 wheels on the ta.
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#4
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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.
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1966 GTO 1969 Lemans Convertible- F.A.S.T. legal family cruiser. 12.59 on G70-14 Polyglas tires. 1.78 60' 1969 Bonneville Safari- cross country family cruiser. . 1979 Trans Am 400, 4-speed, 4 wheel disc. View from the drivers seat racing down Atco Raceway- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYDMdOEC7A Ride along in the other lane-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIzgpLtF_uw |
#5
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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!
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National Last edited by 72projectbird; 04-26-2017 at 11:06 AM. |
#6
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going bandit-Reynolds style |
#7
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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.
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1979 Firebird Trans Am 301/4spd (Now 428) 1977 Firebird Formula 400/Auto 2007 Grand Prix GXP 5.3L Last edited by 74Grandville; 04-27-2017 at 01:05 AM. |
#8
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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.
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1979 Firebird Trans Am 301/4spd (Now 428) 1977 Firebird Formula 400/Auto 2007 Grand Prix GXP 5.3L |
#9
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72projectbird, it is your car but you are probably going to be hounded by Pontiac purists who are going to point out every chance they get that those 15x8 rims are the wrong ones for that year of TA.
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going bandit-Reynolds style |
#10
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I patched the hole in the passenger rear quarter where the aftermarket antenna was mounted. It's been pouring for almost 3 days, so not much has been happening. I removed all the weather stripping and trim, and I'm prepping all the jambs for epoxy.
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
#11
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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.
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1979 Firebird Trans Am 301/4spd (Now 428) 1977 Firebird Formula 400/Auto 2007 Grand Prix GXP 5.3L |
#12
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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.
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
#13
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The wheels are definitely 78 one year only. They are WS6 not necessarily SE, they came on T/A's and Formulas. Owning a 78 T/A since new I've never seen those wheels in any other color but gold, not saying they didn't come grey, just never seen them in real life.
As to the T tops, actually hatches, the exterior metal portion was anodized black. I have seen them fade to a silvery color in extreme cases and of course everything in between. It's funny, people always say, "The car has T Tops. Well technically the car has only one top. My factory paperwork says, "Removable hatch roof". Just conversation... Oh! by the way, nice project and what a great car to start with. Not that its any of my business, but I'm not sad that 403 is gone!!! A 455 is just what that car needs. That's just my opinion.
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1978 Black & Gold T/A [complete 70 Ram Air III (carb to pan) PQ and 12 bolt], fully loaded, deluxe, WS6, T-Top car - 1972 Formula 455HO Ram Air numbers matching Julep Green - 1971 T/A 455, 320 CFM Eheads, RP cam, Doug's headers, Fuel injection, TKX 5 Spd. 12 Bolt 3.73, 4 wheel disc. All A/C cars |
#14
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Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using Tapatalk
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1979 Firebird Trans Am 301/4spd (Now 428) 1977 Firebird Formula 400/Auto 2007 Grand Prix GXP 5.3L |
#15
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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.
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"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
#16
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Wow! You're not wasting any time!
Damn, that body looks good!
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1966 GTO 1969 Lemans Convertible- F.A.S.T. legal family cruiser. 12.59 on G70-14 Polyglas tires. 1.78 60' 1969 Bonneville Safari- cross country family cruiser. . 1979 Trans Am 400, 4-speed, 4 wheel disc. View from the drivers seat racing down Atco Raceway- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYDMdOEC7A Ride along in the other lane-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIzgpLtF_uw |
#17
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Gotta take full advantage of the weekend!
I'll be ordering the epoxy primer this weekend, and hopefully shooting the car next weekend.
__________________
"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
#18
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Nice metal!
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1976 LeMans B09 Freeway Enforcer, 455/M40 Smokey 1977 Trans Am, 400/M21 Black/Gold Bandit. 44K actual miles 2017 Sierra SLT 1500 Z71 4X4 2019 Canyon SLT Crew 4X4 |
#19
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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.
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#20
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Picked up a new driver side fender, as the original had a few decent sized dents. The new one is in immaculate condition!
__________________
"Those poor souls have made the fatal mistake of surrounding us. Now we can fire in any direction" 1970 Trans Am RAIII 4 speed 1971 Trans Am 5.3 LM7 1977 Trans Am W72 Y82 1987 Grand National |
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