[turbo]

I am restoring a 1977 special editon trans am. Could someone tell me if the hex centercaps are correct with the red centers or the round center caps with the red centers. I don't believe gold centers were used in 1977. can someone clarify theis for me.Thanks.

[cressy]

I believe the round stainless caps with the red and black bird insert is correct.
The hex chromed plastic cap was not used until 1979 on the turbo wheel and 1980-81 snowflake wheels.

[TransAm525]

Cressy it correct. The hex cap wasn't introduced until the Turbo wheel was made in 1979, however the hex cap does look much better on the snoflakes than the round cap. As far as the bird logo, it should be gold. Special Edition and Bandit Edition cars received the following:

- Gold dash and shifter inserts
- Gold nose emblem (the arrow)
- Gold painted grills (only the area between the chrome and the back)
- Gold steering wheel, shifter, door crank, and wheel center cap emblems
- Bird decals on the sail panels instead of metal emblems
- Gold exterior decals (in German-style lettering)
- Gold painted snowflake wheels
- And in most cases, gold pinstripes

[turbo]

Are you sure about a 77 special editon trans am. I have seen originals with a red arrowhead and red inserts for 77. The shifter on the 77 is also plain black. My trans am is all original with 64,000 miles on it and came with the red arrowhead. I know someone changed the centercaps because when I got the car, the centercaps were gold and black hex caps. I like the hex caps better but I am trying to stay original. My 81 SE turbo trans am has the gold and black hex caps on gold turbo wheels. The car has 19,000 original miles on it.

[TransAm525]

The black hex caps are not correct for any 2nd Generation Firebird. They started using the black caps on the 3rd generation Firebirds. As far as the gold parts, I am almost 100% sure they should be gold. There might have been a changeover point during 1977, but I know for sure 1978 and on had gold parts in place of the red on all Special Edition and Bandit cars. The easiest way to tell, is to watch Smoke and the Bandit 1 and see what color the parts are on the original car.

[bodisnatcher]

77 SE's should have stainless caps and red birds. The caps are p/n 527077 and the emblems are p/n 527087. These are still available from GM.

Dewayne

[pippintook]

I just checked on http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/ It looks like the caps are $34 (plus approx. $9 shpping fee). Total per cap $43 approx. The emblems were $12 plus $2.50 shipping fee, total per emblem $14.50. This was for 4 caps and 4 emblems....not sure if shipping fee is different for one cap/emblem. The caps are also available from our sponsor PYears for $53.

[meyousikmann]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TransAm525:
The black hex caps are not correct for any 2nd Generation Firebird. They started using the black caps on the 3rd generation Firebirds. As far as the gold parts, I am almost 100% sure they should be gold. There might have been a changeover point during 1977, but I know for sure 1978 and on had gold parts in place of the red on all Special Edition and Bandit cars. The easiest way to tell, is to watch Smoke and the Bandit 1 and see what color the parts are on the original car. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not exactly correct on the arrowhead and wheel emblems. Go here for a quick blurb about SE markings http://www.firebirdtransamparts.com/...details.htm#q8. If you watch Smokey and the Bandit, it clearly shows a red arrowhead on the front of that '77. Also, '78 was a transition year for many things (Hurst tops changed to Fisher sometime mid-year it would appear; Red emblems changed to gold; etc...) so it is hard to tell what is exactly correct on a '78 if the car is not completely original. Even the build sheets do not always help. I have a '78 with all gold except the arrowhead....which is red.....and I believe the car is an unrestored original (although I can't be 100% positive about that).

[TransAm525]

If you have a gold 1978 Trans Am with all the gold parts and a red arrow emblem, then the emblem was replaced with a red replacement type. All Special Edition 1978 Trans Ams, in gold, received gold parts in place of the red parts.

Check out this site for more info. 78TA.com

[turbo]

Well I just bought the correct round caps from performance years. Man these things are expensive and looking at the hex center caps I have with the red inserts I kind of like them better. I got the round centers and the red and black inserts. I guess you have to glue on the inserts. Is that correct or is there some kind of trick to this. If anyone needs a new set of hex centercaps with the red and black inserts, let me know. Thanks.

[pippintook]

On my 78 TA, I used 3M weatherstripping adhesive (yellow type) to glue my centers to the steel caps. Though, after about 6 months the centers started to get a bit loose and I took them off. I am not quite sure why...I spray the wheels with high pressure water when cleaning and I think the water was getting behind the centers and making them a bit loose?? I am not sure what is the best adhesive to use.

[johnv]

Does anyone know the part # for the gold emblems?