[rockys1970]

My 1978 Trans Am, that I have owned for 20 years, is finally painted. It is Cameo White with Carmine (dark red) interior.

I purchased a complete decal kit from Phoenix Graphics and had the body shop install the large hood decal.

I will be installing the rest of the decals myself including the fender, rear spoiler and shaker. There is also a smaller "Trans Am" decal that I believe is for the left front bumper cover above the headlights and a very small "Pontiac" decal that is for the rear spoiler.

Does anyone have the correct 1978 locating dimension for these decals? Can you post the diagrams?

Thank You.

[78w72]

pretty sure 78 didnt use the front nose decal, some guys install them since they come with the kit. the small pontiac decal for the spoiler was part of the rear spoiler name in my PG kit, not separate.

this 79-81 diagram should work for most the small name decals.

[rockys1970]

78W72,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I did some digging in my library and found the attached diagram in the 1978 Pontiac Service Manual. It shows all the proper dimensions for all the body decals except the shaker decal. You will note that it clearly shows the small front "Trans Am" on the upper left of the bumper cover above the headlights. So I will probably install that one too.
So I guess I answered my own question.

[78w72]

thanks for posting the 78 diagram, the 79-81 i posted shows the shaker decal location.

i wasnt 100% sure on the small nose decal, thought i recall reading it wasnt used on 78 but was used on 77's. on most 78's ive seen, including very low mile original owner cars, they didnt have the nose decals. your choice on using one.

[Trevor78]

Being a 78 model, the shaker decal is subject to change also, regardless of diagrams, they were a guideline only.

[Skip Fix]

My 78 did not have a front bumper decal. And the 180 HP motor did not have a Shaker decal.
Shop manual has the locations like the above pictures I'll check and see if there are any different ones in mine.

[rockys1970]

Thanks to all that replied. Since my car is a July 1978 build I will not install the front decal. I realized the 1978 Pontiac Service Manual was probably printed in 1977. And the front decal could have been deleated during the 1978 model year. My car never had one.

Also, thanks for mentioning that the base 180HP engine, which my car was, did not get a T/A 6.6 shaker decal. I always wondered why since the car was never painted.
It now sports a 455 engine so I will use "455" decals for the shaker.

[Skip Fix]

Here is a picture of mine about 1980.

[mzbk2l]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

My 78 did not have a front bumper decal. And the 180 HP motor did not have a Shaker decal.
Shop manual has the locations like the above pictures I'll check and see if there are any different ones in mine.

Was that a 1978 change? (As opposed to 1977 showing 6.6 litre on the 180 hp motor and T/A 6.6 on the 200 hp?)

[78w72]

78 was also a mid-late year change for the font style on all the name or shaker decals. after the change they used the block style letters for 79-81 cars. prior to that was the early 73-77 font. a july build may use the later style.

[Trevor78]

Plus the diagrams were often copied year after year and reissued, the finer details didn't always match or be an indication of how it ended up being.

[burd]

PG sucks, they sent me the wrong kit after an hour on the phone with the owner of the company, I had to buy 5 decals to make their kit rite, so double check their decals.

[78w72]

in my experiences PG is great, have bought 4 kits from them for my cars & almost as many for friends cars. when one kit had some very small defects in the bird all i had to do was call them to report it, they asked for a couple pics & sent a new bird decal for free without any questions.

another issues was on a set of pacecar pre molded stripes, great quality but the rear spoiler end piece stripes were the wrong shape for 80/81 pace cars, they were using earlier SE car stripes that the bottom ends are wrong, called them to point that out & the owner had me send a hand made template of the decal off my original spoiler, they made new correct decals & sent them for free.. not just the 2 decals in question, the entire pre molded stripe kit! great customer service & quality.

[Skip Fix]

Originally Posted by 78w72

78 was also a mid-late year change for the font style on all the name or shaker decals. after the change they used the block style letters for 79-81 cars. prior to that was the early 73-77 font. a july build may use the later style.

yep changed fonts

I'll check what month my build was. Ordered in April/May-too late for the W72 engine and an auto.

[rockys1970]

I found an old photo of my July 1978 build Cameo White Trans Am. It clearly shows the charcoal/red fender and hood decals. Also, since it's a 180 HP base engine, it lacks the shaker decal.

So my question is about the "font" on the fender decal. is this the '70-early '78 or the '79-'81 as mentioned by the previous poster.

[mzbk2l]

Originally Posted by rockys1970

I found an old photo of my July 1978 build Cameo White Trans Am. It clearly shows the charcoal/red fender and hood decals. Also, since it's a 180 HP base engine, it lacks the shaker decal.

So my question is about the "font" on the fender decal. is this the '70-early '78 or the '79-'81 as mentioned by the previous poster.

Looks like late to me. Here's a pic of the decal on my first rustbucket '77 back in the late 80s.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by rockys1970

I found an old photo of my July 1978 build Cameo White Trans Am. It clearly shows the charcoal/red fender and hood decals. Also, since it's a 180 HP base engine, it lacks the shaker decal.

So my question is about the "font" on the fender decal. is this the '70-early '78 or the '79-'81 as mentioned by the previous poster.

that is the later block style font. the early ones looked like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/35288922371...yABEgJ2yfD_BwE

[Skip Fix]

Can't tell on build sheet what the date was. PHS of invoice Shows a 6-01-78 expiration of transit time

[Trevor78]

July is a late-build, and photo shows the 79 style.

[Brock1030]

Similiar experience with PG - very well intention staff and helpful, but product is unfortunately rather inconsistent.

Looking for a new option, I tried and had very consistent quality and product with Stencils and Stripes in IL (https://www.stencilsandstripes.com/). They actually do a great job of matching the oem color of the stripes and are consistent as well in color between production lots. Would recommend them highly for consideration.