Topic: 78 Trans Am

[pointman]

Congrats on your purchase and upcoming project! Sharp car, half the fun of owning one is working on it, get's me through the winter!

[y88rick]

I will back 4speed on this . My ford expedition has been beyond more reliable that my former gm brand suv's and trucks. my old dodge even was my current dodge though you would think was a gm with the list of repairs needed. however she still starts and goes down the road fine. even my chevy cargo van needed a trans at 98k I told my boss as less roomy as the ford is the next van I get will be a ford again. I have had to be towed in with my chev van 4 times in the past 1.5 years thats 4 times too many in my line of work. I have had 3 fords in auto glass and none of them ever needed to be towed in not even at 256k when they were retired.

[4SPEED]

the 7.3 has 236k and runs like new.  I did add 4" no cat or mufflers to it. air bags on the rear and a bully dog. and a list of others. about 500hp

[RestoRob]

The engine has been picked at and the valve covers are gone so the inside of the heads are all rusted out so the first project is an engine build, the cheapest heads Ive been abe to find were Edelbrock performer Rpms and they were still $995 EACH I've looked everywhere and my best friends dad owns one of the best shops in town and he cant even find any, does anyone know where i can find some good CAST performance heads that won't put my wallet in a wheelchair. 

You may already have them. See if those original heads can be salvaged. BTW, if you're towing toad style, did you remove the driveshaft first?

[ta78w72]

Check these out.  These guys know Pontiac's.

http://www.tinindianperformance.com/KRE%20aluminum%20d%20port%20pontiac%20head.htm

[y88rick]

hmmm anyone got about $3000.00 they'd like to donate for a set of heads on my 71?

[Jnic69]

I'm going to have the original heads sandblasted and probably have them machined like someone said earlier in the convorsation and swap to roller rockers, the heads are 6x heads im not sure if they are 6x-4 or 6x-8 i havent had time to check ive been so busy I've only had about 1hr to work on the car since i got it . but its sitting at my buddies dads shop and he is a big muscle car guy and he thinks they can be saved and out do the edelbrocks with a little work so im going to take his advice considering he has been ASE certified longer than ive been alive lol but resto rob no we didnt pull the drive shaft cause it only got towed about a 1/4 mile and i plan on that being the only time it has to be towed we just put er in neutral.

[Frode_skj]

My 79 Instruction manual says the car can be towed up to 50 miles (or something like that) in neutral as long as you don't exceed 40 mph.

[Jnic69]

Yeah mine only went about a 1/4 mile you could see the place where it was sold from where it is right now, it was about 5 miles from my house and 1/4 mile from my buddies shop

[Jnic69]

Update on the car. I got some time to work on the motor  it looked like it was a total loss but dont judge a book by its cover and when i got the valley pan off i found that the cam had never roatated so i pulled a spark plug and they were still chrome this got me excited and immediately started taking the heads off and about 30 mins later what do i find the engine has been completely proffesionally rebuilt bored .030 over and never fired before.. and my 6x-8 heads have been ported and polished with brand new valves etc etc. it just needs a good sand blasting and a good freshening up some paint the accesory drives and valve covers intake manifold and carb and some little odds and ends. here is some eye candy tell me what you guys think... im pulling the motor next weekend to take a look at the bottom end im hoping to find a stroker crank 

[kjkjkcjkcj]

thats great news. though i would def replace those push rods.  if one of those things broke your motor will be trashed.

[Jnic69]

Yeah they are deffinately getting replaced thats one of the things i was refering to when i said odds and ends lol i just cant believe my luck on the motor the guy that sold it to me bought it from the original owners family and he though it was blown and never even took the time take it apart and see for his self... my buddies dad who owns the shop where my car is at said it looked like there was more $ in motor work than I actually paid for the car.. actually that guy had no idea what he had it was probably worth twice what i paid i just wish it would have had valve covers on so the heads werent so rough... cause the springs and valves and rockers were all new too but the valves were only thing that we could save but im not going to be picky though but i cant even describe how happy i was when i look under the heads as i was lifting them off and saw the shiny aluminum dish pistons the cam just needs to be cleaned up but i need lifters but thats no big deal 

[kjkjkcjkcj]

yeah not at all. rebuilding motors are very expensive i paid about 4 grand when everything was all said and done.

[Comrick317]

That looks great, one of my favorite Trans Ams!

[y88rick]

great news you lucky dog you.