[2manyT/A'S]

Time to do a little reasearch here.

If you own a relatively low mile or very original Firebird or T/A and have GOOD REASON to believe the spare tire (inflatable) is the original (factory supplied),can you let us know what the size is,who made it & tell us what is stencilled on the tread (in white ink).

(pictures are GOOD)

I believe that all 81's came with the do-nut style.

[Skip Fix]

I have the original for my 78 in the garage with the original air tank for it. I'l;l check the lettering for you

[PonchoV8]

Tires are produced with a code that contains a date in them. It should be easy to determine if it's an original tire, because there is a DOT number molded into the tire. I have one that I believe came from an original Y88 TA and here's the DOT number. The last digit is the year. The three numbers in front of it are the julian date. A date of 0179 is the 17th day of 1979. Or it could be a date of 1989 or 1999. The thing is to determine that it's a correct setup and then look to see of the date coincides with the build date.
the white lettering on the exterior of my tire is mostly gone. There is some left in between the treads, but it looks like it has been run a little in the past.
This tire was built the 9th day of 1978 and the car was built March of 1978. It's a BFG tire. There is only two digits before the 8 because it was built in January I assume. Look at tires on any car and the date can be determined by the DOT #.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by PonchoV8

Tires are produced with a code that contains a date in them. It should be easy to determine if it's an original tire, because there is a DOT number molded into the tire. I have one that I believe came from an original Y88 TA and here's the DOT number. The last digit is the year. The three numbers in front of it are the julian date. A date of 0179 is the 17th day of 1979. Or it could be a date of 1989 or 1999. The thing is to determine that it's a correct setup and then look to see of the date coincides with the build date.
the white lettering on the exterior of my tire is mostly gone. There is some left in between the treads, but it looks like it has been run a little in the past.
This tire was built the 9th day of 1978 and the car was built March of 1978. It's a BFG tire. There is only two digits before the 8 because it was built in January I assume. Look at tires on any car and the date can be determined by the DOT #.

Thanks for your INPUT!

Does your say "TEMPORARY USE ONLY" on the sidewall (collapsed) or BELTED in smaller letters?

[GT182]

I've still got the spare from my 79 Formula and the inflator bottle too. Neither has ever been used. The inflator bottle isn't in good shape, as the trunk, when the car was new, was never sealed properly and filled with water while driving in the rain. The dealer couldn't find where the leak was and that p*ssed me off to no end. By the time I got it fixed it was too late for the bottle.

The spare is the inflatable space saver and says: Goodyear G-78 15 CUSTOM - MINI SPACE 244610-G66-1MZ Made In USA. It's mounted on a 7" wide steel rim. There is no white lettering on either side of this spare tire.

[CoolBird]

Ok...I'll play.
Here is a pic from my 77 Y81 Survivor. According to the original owner, this spare has never been touched or even Armor-
Alled. Still has the white chalky residue on it. I have had three original 77 TA's and all 3 spares looked just like this one.

This car was obviously special ordered being a Y81 and the inflater bottel is red. The other two 77 cars were not special ordered and they had the smaller blue bottle. Is that the way they came?

[PonchoV8]

I'll have to peal at it tomorrow. I already put it back in. Take note of the rim in my pics to see if they're front of back side pics.
I have a blue bottle somewhere, but the rest of the pics look like this:

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by CoolBird

Ok...I'll play.
Here is a pic from my 77 Y81 Survivor. According to the original owner, this spare has never been touched or even Armor-
Alled. Still has the white chalky residue on it. I have had three original 77 TA's and all 3 spares looked just like this one.

This car was obviously special ordered being a Y81 and the inflater bottel is red. The other two 77 cars were not special ordered and they had the smaller blue bottle. Is that the way they came?

Now THAT is a "crispy" SPARE!

I'm guessing it's a F78 x 14? BF GOODRICH?

I believe that ALL 77 & prior inflatable spares (back to 73?) came with the RED can (which was considered non refillable) & the ones that were in your OTHER 77's were LIKELY over the parts counter GM replacements.

I had to use MY 78 inflator (skinny white/blue label) in the summer of 78 & the dealer wouldn't refill it. They had the equipment,but hadn't used it yet . I actually took it to a fire extinguisher service center to get it recharged.(it's done by weight,NOT pressure)

[GT182]

Finally found the DOT Code: MPVV CU0 069

Forgot to add that this Formula had the WS6 package. And the inflator bottle was the skinny white one with the blue GM logo and lettering.



I said there was no white lettering on the tread, I was wrong. It's very faint and hard to make out the letters. One is a W, not sure of the rest.

[2manyT/A'S]

Anybody else out there with a 15" (Goodyear OR Goodrich?)

Perhaps in 79 the WS6 cars got a bigger (15") spare?

How about all you guys with the Lo/No mile 10ths out there.

What's in YOUR trunks?

[Cammer-6]

[QUOTE=2manyT/A'S]Now THAT is a "crispy" SPARE!

I'm guessing it's a F78 x 14? BF GOODRICH?

I believe that ALL 77 & prior inflatable spares (back to 73?) came with the RED can (which was considered non refillable) & the ones that were in your OTHER 77's were LIKELY over the parts counter GM replacements.

I had to use MY 78 inflator (skinny white/blue label) in the summer of 78 & the dealer wouldn't refill it. They had the equipment,but hadn't used it yet . I actually took it to a fire extinguisher service center to get it recharged.(it's done by weight,NOT pressure)



Too Many,if possible can you email me some close ups of the inflator and sleeve? Ive got a good collection of them going and always looking for more info on them.


Ive got the unused spare from my 78 Seville with blue bottle and a spare/spare.I think the tire was same but the rim differed
(5x5 vs 5x4.75)

[W72-Bandit]

I just sent a PM to a friend of mine who is member here. He is very knowledgable about spare tire on late second gens. I recall him telling me about a problem with production of spares in early 79 model run. He had it isolated to dates/VIN#'s. I honestly do not recall what the issue was, but it did effect my 10-78 build SE.
Hopefully he can chime in and clear it up. As for mine, I'll ck them both when I get home.
2Many, what are you trying to figure out with respect to the spares?

[Mr W72]

Some additional info, It appears all 1977 Trans Am/Formula space saver spares were stamped with L7CU. All 1978 Norwood OH produced cars space saver spares should have L9CU stampewd on them while Van Nuys cars should have L9C4 stamped on them. For 1979, I show Norwood OH cars with VVCU stamped on the spare and on Van Nuys cars again VVCU.

A dealer information bulletin dated 4/77 references a change in the inflation canisters from the non-refill red DOT-39 to refillable blue DOT E 7413-1800.

[Mr W72]

In addition my original space saver spare is a Good Year F78-14 (sill has an oily residue from the factory on it). I know many of you have commented not seeing this type of tread pattern. Part of the reasoning maybe the fact Good Year space saver spares may have been used on cars originally equipped with Good Year tires. Our car came from the factory with Good Year WL GR70-15 tires (still on the car). I have photos of an original 700 mile 1977 Trans Am with the same Good Year style spare as ours. It too originally came with Good Year WL GR70-15 tires.

Also back in the day when these cars were new I seen very few originally from the factory with Good Year tires and even fewer with BF Goodrich. Most had Uniroyal.

[Father&Son73T/A]

From our 20k mile 79 W72,I dont think it's ever been removed,at least not by me.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by Father&Son73T/A

From our 20k mile 79 W72,I dont think it's ever been removed,at least not by me.

Can you tell us: Norwood or Van Nuys build?
Approx. build date?
Tire size - F78 - or G78?
14" or 15" ?
THANKS!

[Father&Son73T/A]

Van Nuys,I'll get he rest tommorow.

[W72-Bandit]

First three are my VN built 10-78 SE






This one is from my VN 2-79 built Formula



There both Goodyears. The P/N masking taped to the inside of the SE wheel is part of a recall where the cars were shipped with the wrong spares and were returned to the dealer to get the correct one, which this one is.
My friend has the documents and recall notice that supports this. Effected some early 79 built cars.

[2manyT/A'S]

GREAT SHOTS!

Are they 14's OR 15's?

Perhaps that was part of the recall?

Can you get your friend to share the recall notice with us?

I will check my Service Bulletins for that info.

[Mr W72]

The 1979 Firebird space saver spare recall was under campaign # 79-C-4. serial numbers effected were Norwood OH VIN breakpoints SOP to 9N119299 and Van Nuys CA VIN# breakpoints SOP to 9L122603. I do not have the particuliars of the recall