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#1
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Where to begin?
I just purchased a 78 TransAM. It is a first week october 77 cowl tag. The car appears to be WS6 equipped. It is a first style Hurst Hatch car with automatic W72 engine.
The carb is missing and stock manifold is gone also. I have no idea what cam is in the motor so i am looking for advice for cam, intake, carb combination. It will be a street driven car. It was purchased as a designated powertour car so streetability with some mild upgrades are what im looking for. I have holly stuff kicking around that i would not use if i had the oe rochester but since i dont what are you all thinking would be the best setup? Thank you |
#2
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find a stock intake & 76-79 qjet built to match the engine specs. easiest way to retain the factory fuel line, linkage & shaker.
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#3
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Nice save, I have a numbers 78 auto w72 carb, all done, ready to put on. Comes w/ SS EGR plate.
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🧩 Burds Parts, Finding those Hard to Find PCs, no Fisher Price Toys Here Just Say No To 8” Flakes F ire B irds 🇮🇱 |
#4
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Are you saying you have one for sale? Im just trying to prioritize spending and a budget. I would be interested potentially. I have lots of holly stuff as im a chevy guy. Im a total green horn on the pontiac stuff. Ive always wanted a lemans or gto from the 60’s. And i have been a fan of the 77-78 TransAM since they came out. Heck, i had them as hot wheels as a kid.
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#5
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This is the long term plan unless i find something reasonable first.
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#6
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How easy is this to obtain. How much should i spend. The air cleaner base is also missing.
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#7
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Where are you located? I have a intake you can have but shipping would be high.
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66 GTO Nostalgia Super Stock/Street Legal Car 421 CID, stock block, Wenzler Intake, 2- Carter 750 AFB's, 3.90 Gears, Full Factory Interior, Full Exhaust, Stock Suspension 3750LBS 9.77@136.99 Multiple NSCA/NMCA World Champion 66 GTO 389 3x2, 4 speed, 4.33 gear, Montero Red 33K original Miles 67 GTO 2dr Post, 428, Tri Power, 3.55 Gears 80 Trans Am Black SE Y84 W72 WS6 |
The Following User Says Thank You to Mike Davis For This Useful Post: | ||
#8
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the carb might be a little harder to find #'s correct 78 W72 but cores are out there usually for $100-200 & you can rebuild them with a good kit from cliff. no need to pay outrageous prices though as any 76-79 pontiac v8 carb will work when rebuilt & calibrated right which cliff can help you with once you know a little more about the cam & engine specs. the air cleaner base will be a little harder to find & they are usually quite expensive, W72 or the earlier style 76 400/455 bases sell for $400+, but you can use a standard L78 400 base too that will be a little cheaper around $250. but if youre ok using holly stuff it doesnt sound like you care too much about #'s matching parts so should be easier to get any factory Q-jet & a base model air cleaner of this era to fit & work right. |
The Following User Says Thank You to 78w72 For This Useful Post: | ||
#9
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The engine is completely un known. It appears the car was being prepped to drag race. The stock manifold, carb and aircleaner are gone and a rpm performer, edelbrock carb and electronic fuel pump were installed and never finished getting put together. I have a hunch there is a new cam and there is a hurst vmatic version 2 partially installed. This all looks to have been done 15 years ago. My plan is to do a compressing test. Inspect the cam and lifters. Assembly lube it and re assemble with stock intake and carb and go through cam break in procedures. Depending on what’s in there I may just use it in less he put in a sir lopesalot cam to go with the rpm intake. In that case I would look for a mild street upgrade from stock. It does have the 6x4 heads that look stock on oe numbers matching block. It isa x7 stamped block and the stock trans appears to be in place. This is an October 77 car so I’m of the belief it has the factory shift kit. I will also be going back to the stock shifter and console. 😀 |
#10
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sounds like a good plan, im sure you can locate some stock stuff to use. i was going to tell you about the qjet for sale here but looks like you commented on it already.
a suggestion on the cam.. since you dont know what it is & unless you can confirm what it is with part numbers, consider just starting fresh with a good cam/lifters for what you want, that way there are no questions & the install & break in process will be basically the same as what you plan to do now. shoot they might have tried to run it already & there could be an issue with the cam/lifters etc. just a suggestion so youre only doing it once, would suck to do all that work & find out its a "sir lopesalot" (LOL) cam & have to do it all over again! |
The Following User Says Thank You to 78w72 For This Useful Post: | ||
#11
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Based on my comments is the stock cam a good choice or would you step it up a notch? I have a engine break in stand so a cam swap can happen before it goes in the car. The engine will be fully tuned and broken in before install. The engine currently has a bit too much rtv on the gaskets and the rockers have break in Molly paste from 15 years ago still present. I’m looking at the melling spc-7 cam? It will have the stock automatic trans and stock gearing but I don’t want it to be a turd. My corvette is a solid lifter m-20 4 sp with 4:11’s and it wants to bee driven like it’s stolen. This is going to be a cruiser that will see some spirited use occasionally. Finally how do I post pictures? Do I have to use a photo hosting site?
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78 Cameo White W72, WS6, tilt, a/c, cruise, pw, ps, pl, automatic, Hurst Hatch version 1 |
#12
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posting pics is easy, dont need to use a hosting site, when you make a post there is a tab called "manage attachments" right below the comment box, click it & it will let you select where to upload your image from, once you select the image click upload & then post the reply. |
The Following User Says Thank You to 78w72 For This Useful Post: | ||
#13
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I'd be doing some research into what you actually have before guessing a cam to suit. You think it may have been set up as a drag car? He was wasting his time with just bolt ons, maybe already has cam etc.
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#14
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Msd igniter box Two hurst shifters-Hurst v matic 2 installed Electric fuel pump holley not installed Edelbrock rpm intake installed Edelbrock carb new sitting in place not installed Steel bars installed to connect front frame to rear All work done was pre 2007 My intended use for the car is power tour, cross country road trip car drag week car. It needs to be able to do 500 or so a day for a week straight then Friday night cruise with the wife and kids to Dairy Queen. My understanding so far is for the shaker and stock air cleaner it’s the performer or the stock manifold but not many choices...check So working backwards 3.23 rear stays, factory 3 speed auto stays, engine stays, rpm manifold gets sacrificed in favor or air cleaner and shaker hood. I’m in favor of an oe 800 cfm Rochester to retain factory look, linkage and reliability so I’ll keep the edelbrock carb just in case till I’m dialed in with stock intake and linkage possibly reinstall the cruise control. This is what I’m shooting for visually:
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78 Cameo White W72, WS6, tilt, a/c, cruise, pw, ps, pl, automatic, Hurst Hatch version 1 |
#15
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Hopefully the motor wasn’t built with cheap pistons featuring all the valve reliefs. You’ll want to bump the compression up to wake up one of these smog motors.
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#16
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Anything is possible. There are signs of bubba everywhere. It will get pulled apart and most re checked then broken in on a stand before install. I think he was in way over his head and gave up long ago. My hunch is cam, lifters intake carb. Spraypaint.
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78 Cameo White W72, WS6, tilt, a/c, cruise, pw, ps, pl, automatic, Hurst Hatch version 1 |
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