1978 Trans AM

Lap3Forever

Lap3Forever

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 8, 2002
Messages
11,460
Points
518
Location
Murray, Kentucky
Yesterday i bought a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am off my cousin. I decoaded the vin, but pretty much knew what all it told me. It just told me the plant. (Van Nuys, CA) The body is fair, but the inside is shot. I need to look at the floor pan. If it looks good i am thinking about fixing it to a street car to drive. But if there is alot of rust in the floor pan and in the trunk and what not it may be a racecar.

Does any know of a good place to look for after market parts? I dont want to spend a ton of money, but i know its going to take quite a bit of money to get running.

It has the 400 Pontiac in it. I know a rod is out of the motor. I think the car stared out red. The car looks to have been spray painted black, but when i opened the door there was faded red.
 
Save it Lappy, there the last of the breed in my book. Let me check with my GM buddies where to get parts. If it was a Ford I could tell you all kinds of places.

Remember......... Don't Crush Them, Restore Them...............
 
78 TA is a rare and classic bird to still be around. I vote make a resto-rod out of it.

I'd say look at classic industries and/or Long Motor Company (LMC) first.
 
Check your door tag, that should have all the info. Also check under the front and rear seats and see if the build sheet is still there. Pick up a Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine, they have all kinds of adds for resto products. You should be able to get a complete floor pan for it and there not all that expensive. I vote go ORIGINAL, it will be worth way more money when your done, BUT, a rest-mod is way more fun.
 
It depends on what you want to do. If it was me, number one: I'd loose the 400 and put a 455 in it. You can build one for not much more the cost of what it'll probly be to rebuild the 400 (if it's got rod problems I would severely recommend it) and you'll have a better motor in the long run.

For parts? Like I said, it depends. And it depends where you go. Year One and The Paddock have high-quality products like period correct resto parts. I got a lot of stuff from them because I want it to look...well correct. Slowly but surely I'm doing a '69 Road Runner (the one in my avatar). Some of it pretty pricey, some of it not. Some of the stuff is as close as your local auto parts store and better priced. I built an entire front suspension kit from NAPA for about two thirds the price if I'd bought all the stuff from Year One. Same with engine parts. Brake parts too. Shop around a little. '78 T/A's a cool car too, I love 'em.

ETA: I'll show you my engine when I get more than 15 posts :nyanya:
 
I guess i could put my 350 hp Quad 4 HO in there. :D

The Body itself id like to leave close to stock, but the Interior id update more. It has a set of almost new custom Utral wheels on it.

I found a few parts sites. I can get some stuff from Napa since they are one of my sponsors. I got two or three body and paint guys.

Im going to look at the floor pan and truck pans today.
 
be9ak7ts16 said:
Check your door tag, that should have all the info. Also check under the front and rear seats and see if the build sheet is still there. Pick up a Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine, they have all kinds of adds for resto products. You should be able to get a complete floor pan for it and there not all that expensive. I vote go ORIGINAL, it will be worth way more money when your done, BUT, a rest-mod is way more fun.
Click to expand...

I looked today and the door tags have been painted over. The car has been a few colors. But i now think it started as silver. And i will not paint it back silver. I have a felling as bad as she looks on the inside the build sheet may not be readable. I took some pics, will up load when i get done putting a cage in the cutlass.
 
I would agree in putting a 455 in it, Turbo 400 (if that isn't what's already there..may have the TH350) (check in/out splines). Hurst floor shifter, fron buckets with console, and have fun.
 
I wish i could find another 78 T/A and use the body off this one. The floor and trunk are REALLY bad. Iv never re done a car for the street so i dont know much about cutting out the floor pans and what not. The dash may be the only thing on the inside that i can reuse. All seats, panels, molding, windows, everything has water damage.

Today me and dad were talking about putting a Pontiac 455 in there. And keeping the Auto tranny but put a shift kit in it. If it is a 12 bolt rear end it more then likly stays, but if its a 10, i will swap it out for an 12 bolt or a 9in Ford. Drag type racing seats with 5 point harness in front and some kind of "stock" seat in the back.

My g/f told me that i could fit it and sell it on barret-jackson one day, and i said. "if i was smart id go ahead and buy a car there."

We figger it will cost at least $20,000 to get it going.
 
Don't do it fast. Make it a long term project, say 5 years. Floor pans and trunks aren't that tough a fix. Hows the front end where the struts are? Here's what I'm working on now. Luckily I bought a virtually rust free car that needed paint and cosmetics. I was going tochange the color but the car was too good to change. I stripped 3 coats of that God-Awful color.

gttorinocar.jpg



Here's the link to the rest.

http://themustangstable.com/jimmazur.htm
 
Lap3Forever said:
I wish i could find another 78 T/A and use the body off this one. The floor and trunk are REALLY bad. Iv never re done a car for the street so i dont know much about cutting out the floor pans and what not. The dash may be the only thing on the inside that i can reuse. All seats, panels, molding, windows, everything has water damage.

Today me and dad were talking about putting a Pontiac 455 in there. And keeping the Auto tranny but put a shift kit in it. If it is a 12 bolt rear end it more then likly stays, but if its a 10, i will swap it out for an 12 bolt or a 9in Ford. Drag type racing seats with 5 point harness in front and some kind of "stock" seat in the back.

My g/f told me that i could fit it and sell it on barret-jackson one day, and i said. "if i was smart id go ahead and buy a car there."

We figger it will cost at least $20,000 to get it going.
Click to expand...
You'd be amazed what can be transferred in. If you have a welder, a drill, and a ratchet set, I bet you can get a pair of bucket seats in good shape from just about any camaro or firebird (depending on age- power seats!), just make sure to take the seat bracket with the seat and figure a way to attach it to the existing floor pan, back seat might be a bit of a pain to source.

Windows I would try to re-use, as those may not be the easiest things in the world to find. We were lucky to locate the driver window for our 87 camaro.

Some of the classic car places have pre-molded floor pans that you weld in. Cheaper alternative is to get your die grinder with cut off wheel out, cut out the bad sections, and weld in sheet metal in it's place, molded properly. This is the easiest in the flat areas like the kick panels, foot boxes, and trunk. Saves alot of money if it doesnt take a lot of shaping for the filler panels. The hood you can probably find a fiberglass one if stock is in bad condition.

If I was any bit handy with fiberglass, I'd be thinking about a custom dash if the stock one was that bad. And use 5" tach and speed guages, 2.5" accessory guages. Nothing wrong with A pillar guages either if they have them for 78 TA's.
 
be9ak7ts16 said:
Don't do it fast. Make it a long term project, say 5 years. Floor pans and trunks aren't that tough a fix. Hows the front end where the struts are? Here's what I'm working on now. Luckily I bought a virtually rust free car that needed paint and cosmetics. I was going tochange the color but the car was too good to change. I stripped 3 coats of that God-Awful color.

gttorinocar.jpg



Here's the link to the rest.

http://themustangstable.com/jimmazur.htm
Click to expand...
VERY Nice!

Alot of people don't like that color green. But for some reason, the black stripes and the body lines make it seem in place to me.
 
Iv just took three pics of it so far. Iv been bust putting a cage in the new racecar, iv not had time to mess with the Screamin' Chicken.

Iv thought about driving the car over to the dumpster and tossing all the loose door pannels and carpet in it. Because there is nothing in the Interior i can reuse.

n210604371_32803335_1874.jpg


n210604371_32803334_1537.jpg


n210604371_32803336_2241.jpg
 
see if you can clean the glass first. It may be re-usable if there's no serious build up on them. Maybe windex (or other cleaner with ammonia) then maybe CLR for what windex doesn't remove?
 
That's a nice Torino.

Lap3, I'd say you have a good candidate for a build right there. I wouldn't kick that one out of bed for eating crackers, it's Strait! What Magnet says is true, bottom pans are not that costly. Glass doesn't get water damage either (I live in Washington State, I should know), a good scrubbing should do. You have a good dash already and doing an interior would cost less money and time than cutting 2 cars together. Plus you're doing a resto-mod so you'll have freedom as to what you want for the interior.
 
I'd like my body to look like this one day. I love that blue and the Screamin' Chicken.

78ta2.jpg


I made a list of some stuff i found and thought i posted it lastnight, but i guess it did not post.
 
Ya'll seen the good, now i guess its time for the ugly...

n210604371_32806144_2534.jpg


Looks like fun huh? lol

n210604371_32806146_1339.jpg


You can see where it is busted in the lower right side of the pic.

n210604371_32806145_1095.jpg


Pontiac 400. The compresser was also not locked up! Dont come across that everyday.
 
Windshield/installation should go for just under $300. One place I quoted listed it for $258 but that may be minus tax. There's a place called Legendary Auto which I believe does interior restorations and may be able to repair your dash pad. Don't know how much, I checked their web site but it's under construction. Kinda ironic, huh? :lol2:

Does look like your car is pretty complete, even the shaker is there. Those are usually one of the first things pilfered. Also, if you do a 455 you my need a conversion kit to make the shaker line up properly. Year One has them
 
dash pad isn't cracked, at least that I can see. That's a big plus- Sometimes you can paint those back to close to the factory color if you use a flat color (flat red in your case).

Judging by the inner fenders, my guess is origionally red.

I would say just go ahead and gut the interior. I would agree, little looks reusable. And those seats...ICK!

Pull the seats, carpet, and door panels is my vote first. Just to size up what you're dealing with.
 
I'm ready to start on it but i wont be able to start tell we can add on to the shop! lol

The door panles are silver and the back of the car and trunk is silver where the trans am sticker is. Its got me to believe that the car was Silver, Red, and then Black.

The dash pad is cracked. But it maybe able to be repadded and reused.

I do need a new nose peice.

Here is a list of sites i have been looking at so far:
http://www.fbodywarehouse.com/fbw/home.php?cat=5
http://www.body-panel.com/results.asp?year=1978&make=Pontiac&model=Firebird
www.parts123.com (Thanks mag)

I'll send the motor and heads to Terry Tucker (Tucker Automotive) He has built a 355 and a 383 for us, and built my 2.3 Quad 4. He's really good.
The paint will more then likly go to my friends cousin who is a really good painter.
Interior may go to a guy out of Hardin, KY. Cars are not his normal thing but her has done some good looking hot rods.

I'd like to get as much of the stuff as i can in my area and keep the money "at home"
 
Matt43 said:
I don't mean to sound argumentative but I see two big cracks.
Click to expand...
my bad. I wasn't looking at the main console area :p

Yea i cant say it's be 100% reusable. Looks to me like too much missing material to put back together and look origional.
 
LMAO, ooohhh that nose! Just kidding, how's your grills and headlight assemblies etc.? Will save you some dough if you can re-use them.

Are you planing on putting the wheel flares and front spoiler back?
 
Matt43 said:
LMAO, ooohhh that nose! Just kidding, how's your grills and headlight assemblies etc.? Will save you some dough if you can re-use them.

Are you planing on putting the wheel flares and front spoiler back?
Click to expand...

I'll put the flares and spoiler i'll put them on it.

The logo is missing and faded really bad on the driver side grill. And the finish and paint looks pretty bad on them.

Time has been bad to the chicken. I dont know if anyone has really taken care of it. The title shows it new, but was printed in 1983. And looks to have had a lean or something from a bank in Nashville. I'd love to know more of the history of the car but I have no paper work besides the title and it does not really tell me anything. Someone spray painted over the tags and stickers on the driver door! Its just red. grrr

The car has one of them little bolt on traller hitch! leave it to me to get the red neck trans am! haha

This is the 1st time i will be fixing a car for the street. So I dont really know what im getting in to.

I found some cool looking LED tail lights for it
 
Lap3Forever said:
The car has one of them little bolt on traller hitch! leave it to me to get the red neck trans am!
Click to expand...

Probly what killed the 400.

I re-did my own front grill and headlight bezels. All that black inlay was a ***** to mask for but it was better than paying someone else to do it and I got pretty good results. I used 3 coats of Color-Match flat black and it turned out better than I ever thought it would. You're doing mods anyway, sand the grills as good as possible and paint them semi-flat black, total black-out, it'll look badass
 
Matt43 said:
Probly what killed the 400.

I re-did my own front grill and headlight bezels. All that black inlay was a ***** to mask for but it was better than paying someone else to do it and I got pretty good results. I used 3 coats of Color-Match flat black and it turned out better than I ever thought it would. You're doing mods anyway, sand the grills as good as possible and paint them semi-flat black, total black-out, it'll look badass
Click to expand...

I'm trying to get ya 15 post! lol What kind of cars have you redone?

What do ya think about LED head and taillights.
 
Lap3Forever said:
I'm trying to get ya 15 post! lol What kind of cars have you redone?

What do ya think about LED head and taillights.
Click to expand...
LED headlights do not exist nor are legal.

LED tailights, especially 3rd lights, are proven to be faster, safer, and last alot longer.

Also, a trick: Use a 40 amp relay on the headlights in plce of the stock wiring. Where the lead from the dimmer switch comes from, put a relay on it. So the relay turns the lights on, not the dimmer switch. Ditto for the high beams. Letting the power flow through 5 feet of 14 guage solid copper is much more efficient and brighter than 20-25 feet of 20 or 18 guage stranded.
 
Lap3Forever said:
I'm trying to get ya 15 post! lol What kind of cars have you redone?

What do ya think about LED head and taillights.
Click to expand...

I read an article on LED taillights a while back and I like the idea. They serve better visibility because they're brighter.

I'm just doing the Road Runner, I really don't have the room for anything else. I don't do it for a living, this is a home project. The car's been in my family since it was new and was given to me about 1990....after it was wrecked (rear-ended a Buick). I found a donor '69 Satellite and took the nose off that and everything bolted right up so there wasn't any structural damage :beerbang:

I rebuilt the engine myself with some advice from a good friend. The only things I sent out were the block to get bored 30 over and the heads to be rebuilt, everything else was done and installed right in my garage.
 
Matt43 said:
I read an article on LED taillights a while back and I like the idea. They serve better visibility because they're brighter.

I'm just doing the Road Runner, I really don't have the room for anything else. I don't do it for a living, this is a home project. The car's been in my family since it was new and was given to me about 1990....after it was wrecked (rear-ended a Buick). I found a donor '69 Satellite and took the nose off that and everything bolted right up so there wasn't any structural damage :beerbang:

I rebuilt the engine myself with some advice from a good friend. The only things I sent out were the block to get bored 30 over and the heads to be rebuilt, everything else was done and installed right in my garage.
Click to expand...
sounds pretty neat, cars like that, when you have the whole car's history, go good at shows.
 
Magnethead said:
LED headlights do not exist nor are legal.

LED tailights, especially 3rd lights, are proven to be faster, safer, and last alot longer.

Also, a trick: Use a 40 amp relay on the headlights in plce of the stock wiring. Where the lead from the dimmer switch comes from, put a relay on it. So the relay turns the lights on, not the dimmer switch. Ditto for the high beams. Letting the power flow through 5 feet of 14 guage solid copper is much more efficient and brighter than 20-25 feet of 20 or 18 guage stranded.
Click to expand...

My bad on the headlights. I ment something like this.

306.jpg


http://www.yearone.com/yodnn/Gallery/tabid/75/Default.aspx
 
Magnethead said:
sounds pretty neat, cars like that, when you have the whole car's history, go good at shows.
Click to expand...

It does help to know the car but this one was well taken care of and maintained (was 'sept for the crash) but it wasn't babied, it was broken in right and driven like they were ment to be. The engine had 250k on it when it was silenced (It still ran after the wreck, but what's the point). I couldn't believe it when I pulled it apart, very minimal ring ridge, I could catch a fingernail on it, nothing more. Nothing was really changed through the years, no aftermarket chrome valve covers and air cleaner crap so I didn't have to go around parts hunting. I did do some upgrades to the engine but it still looks stock. Mom cried when we fired it up after 8 years in the garage.

oooOOOooo, 2 more posts LOL~
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom