Deal or No Deal - 1979 Pontiac Trans Am

[BUTCH1]

Originally Posted by Pacfanweb

If it's nicely done, it's well worth it.

400 was available in 79, but only with a manual trans. 403 Olds motor was what came with the automatics. That was it for the larger engines.

The Pontiac 455 will directly bolt into place of a 400. (or a 428, 350, 389, for that matter)

You can make loads of power and torque from one. Great street engines.

Yes, you could find a used Mustang for that price....but then you'd have a Mustang.

The last Trans Am made with the 455 was 1976.

And yes, it's the best-looking car of all time, to me.

The body lines and styling are great, the screaming chicken on the hood would have to go though, a nice metallic blue w/silver pin-striping would be perfect.

[Pacfanweb]

Originally Posted by KeithP

If I am reading the VIN code correctly, it was originally a 301 engine.

-KeithP

Which is a Pontiac V-8, and that means that any Pontiac V-8 will bolt in place of it.

Honestly, replacing a Pontiac engine with an Olds, or vice-versa, isn't hard at all. The transmissions are the same. You just get the correct motor mounts and exhaust, and bolt it in. Might need to fiddle with radiator hoses and fuel lines, but pretty much it's a very easy swap.

I prefer the Pontiac engines, though. Just more of an aftermarket available.

I believe there was also a Chevy 305 available, too, and it could be ordered with a manual. That's a sweet combo, because obviously any Chevy engine, small OR Big block, will bolt right in.

The Pontiac 400's they used in 79 were actually leftovers, produced in 78. That's when they stopped making them. Why they only used them for the stick cars, I don't know.

80-81 T/A's were also awesome, looked basically the same, (other than the turbo cars, which had a different hood) and still used the Pontiac 301's and Chevy 305's, which makes swapping in more cubes easy.

[PottedMeat]

should be at the white house

[ElFenix]

Originally Posted by Arkaign

'04-'06 5.0 GT Mustang would also be a mod/hack job 5.0 was MIA for many many years. I think they killed it in 94 or 95, and didn't bring it back until '11.

1996 actually. same year they went from horizontal striped taillights to vertical.




a friend of mine had a 79 trans am with an olds in it (auto). despite taking it back to the mechanic again and again, the work on that car was never done quite right (lots of oil leaks). it eventually caught on fire while he was driving it. no harm to him but he lost the car.

[SuperSix]

For 14k you could buy a nice GN or very nice Turbo Buick Regal.

[RedRooster]

If I was stinky rich I'd get one of those YearOne Bandit TAs, I agree with the people here who say that era was a really nice looking car!

[Throckmorton]

Originally Posted by SuperSix

For 14k you could buy a nice GN or very nice Turbo Buick Regal.

Except those are ugly mediocre cars from the dark ages of American cars. The Firebird is beautiful

Jim Rockford's

[Pacfanweb]

Originally Posted by SuperSix

For 14k you could buy a nice GN or very nice Turbo Buick Regal.

Yeah, but just like with a Mustang, then you wouldn't have a Trans Am.