Found a 79 Trans Am today that I'm gonna buy.

[Jeffro]

I've been looking for a Bandit SE for a while now and was going to settle on a Nocturne Blue 79 that I found in Houston. I just happened to remember that a customer of mine that has about 30 cars in his back yard that he's "planning on restoring" had a 2nd gen TA. I call him and ask if he'll sell it and to my surprise he says yes!

I go to take a look at the car and it's in pretty decent shape. The original 403 has a thrown rod but he has another 403 that goes with the car. It has a small dent on the right rear but that's about all that's wrong with the body. It has no rust.

It appears to be a Y84 SE. Has the stripes and wheels and gold wheel and dash. I didn't get to look at the cowl tag because I forgot. :sillyme: I'm gonna call PHS and get all the info on the car though. The car does have a 78 front end on it/ I think I'll leave that because I like them better. I should pick up the car next week and start the engine swap.

This guy has so many nice Pontiacs rotting in his backyard. He has a 67 GTO, 68 GTO vert, 68 Lemans HT, 68 Lemans Vert that is almost complete, 2 69 Camaros, 67 Firebird 400/4 spd in great shape minus motor, 67 Firebird vert. and various others.. He also has some early 70's El Caminos. I need to get him to show me all of his stuff.

I'll post pics later next week.

[BLURR]

COOL FINE :cool:

I wanta see pics of it and all the other stuff. :D

Dont count on the cowl tag to tell you if its an original Y84 SE

When I was restoring my 78 SE it didnt have it on the cowl tag either.

I did some research and found out that not all of them got the code stamped in the cowl tag and not all of them had it printed on the build sheet. I guess lazy GM people just didnt feel like putting it on some of them. But if it looks like all original markings and gold then its most likely really one.

Ill trade you ;)

[Jeffro]

I think your find is in much better shape than mine. Both doors sag pretty badly and don't fit well because of it. I guess they need new pins and bushings. I'm pretty excited about the car though. My Dad wants to try and get the 2 69 Camaros and the 67 Firebird as a package deal with this car. He's not a firebird man so maybe I'll get a nice 67 to go with the 79. :thumbup:

[BLURR]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool:

[408Ashman]

Very cool! we def need pics!!!

[YELLERR]

Congratulations. Sounds like a little work there. But, nice find.

[JCS30TH]

:worship: Bandit SE
:worship: Nocturn Blue T/A

Dude in my neighborhood has a Nocturn blue one. Fucker is mint. Get rid of that pos 403 though.....

[Jeffro]

Yeah I hear ya. I'm thinking 455. :cool:

[BLURR]

if he is gonna do it original then i say 403 but if he is gonna make it look original but run better then i say 455:D

[Jeffro]

Not a big fan of that 403 so I may try to coax him him out of the 455 he has. We'll see.

I've found a black 78 TA that was in my hometown. It was sold by the local dealer in the town I grew up in. I work with the guy that owned the dealership back then and he's the one that sold the car. It even has the original dealer emblem on it still.

It's been sitting behind this guys shop for about 6-8 years. Has about 120k on it. Interior is near perfect except for a faded drivers seat and the rear shelf is a little rough behind the rear seat. Exterior is super straight. No dents, or door dings. It just needs paint. The original paint is faded and the hood bird looks mega nasty.

I'm going to check it out tomorrow for rust. It's a non t-top car so I'm hoping the floors are still solid. He told me he wanted $2750 for it the other day. I'm gonna offer him $1500 for it and see if he bites.

[BLURR]

SWEEET I want the Drivers grill if its good. :D

[Jeffro]

Actually I think the driver side grill is the good one. :D

[BLURR]

I WANT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

[21K69Cutlass]

a 403 doesnt get the respect it deserves....still a good motor....i like t/a's but i just hate how the interior rots apart because of GM's genius of making it biodegradable and adding corn starch to the plastic parts.....real smarts there boys :D

[BLURR]

I know what you mean. My inner lower rear 1/4 panels are brital and broken due to that. You know how hard it is to find a good pair of red ones. :mad:

[Chief Pontiac]

Originally posted by BLURR
if he is gonna do it original then i say 403 but if he is gonna make it look original but run better then i say 455:D What would be better would be a W72 from a 1977-79 T/A or Formula.That block would be correct for that year also.

[Hoodshaker]

Originally posted by 21K69Cutlass
a 403 doesnt get the respect it deserves....still a good motor....

True. A relatively light weight 403 cubic inch small block that put out 320 lb/ft of torque @2200 rpm which was enough to shred the tires even with factory 2.41 gears all while have a 7.7 compression ratio and a cam with an anemic .400 dual pattern lift. Many complain about the windowed mainwebs but that only seems to be a problem at extremely high RPMs. Stock or fairly modified they are pretty damn bulletproof. On a site like this where many of us (myself included) change heads and cams like underwear, it shouldn't be tough to see the performance potential of this engine. I love Pontiac muscle like the next guy but it puzzles me why people dislike this engine. If I were going max effort 11 to 1, 7000 rpm then I would look elswhere. Anything short of that and I'd keep the ORIGINAL engine in the car whenever possible. Just a personal preference. Yes, it was factory rated at 185hp for the reasons above. Quick trivia question- What was the hp rating for the 1978 non W72 400 PONTIAC engine?

[Jeffro]

L78 was 180 hp with the same tq. as the 403 I believe. Turns out that my 78 that I just bought has the L78 and not the W72. I got the invoice from PHS to confirm it. I was a little dissapointed but it's all numbers matching so it's no big deal that it's not a W72.

[Chief Pontiac]

The W72 was seriously under rated at 200 net but it was closer to 260-290 bhp.The engine used molly filled rings and slotted spring pin mains unlike the L78.It used the 6X head from the Pontiac 2bbl 350 to give it 8.1 comp(the L78 had 7.6 to 1)The carb was a special 800 cfm Q-jet with special metering rods.Also has a harmonic balencer instead of the rubber floated weights.The 77 depending on transmission choice had two different cams,one for each option.The THM 350 had a special governor,modualtor,oil control valve body,smaller 11.75 inch torque converter and shift points from 4800-4900( the L78 had 4200 shift points).The manual was a Borg Warner Super T-10,with final drive ratios was 3.23 to 1 for 77,3.42 to 1 for the 78 and 3.23 to 1 for 79.The exhaust used 2.5 inch single pipe to the single cat to the single crossflow to 2.55 tail pipes.Finally it had a grounded cam that was installed retarted.While not having any good low end torque,the W72 was better mid rpms.Car And Driver ran a 79 4-speed at a 132 mph at 5400 rpm.Hot Rod ran a 79 at 14.61 in the 1/4.