Topic: 1978 in the front 1979 in the back restoration 7 yr project

[qcksilver79]

Ive been working on building my own bird for about 7 years now. I also just figured out how to use photobucket so I thought I would share now.
 The car was originally a 1979 formula that needed almost everything. I also bought another parts car that was seriously rotten and wrecked and it happened to be a 78 400 4 speed.
 In my dreams my car has always been a 400 4 speed trans am so I decided to use the straighter body and frame of the 79 formula to build a frankenstein car and turn it into what I wanted.
I pulled the drive train out of both cars and gutted the formula and sold what i didn't need on craigs list and ebay to start up some funds. I rebuilt the 400 ( Bored .60 shaved heads and intake, mild cam ) the Borg warner 4 speed and the posi rear end.
Installed floor pans, all poly urethane bushings, Tach from 78 parts car, new dash, heater core, coating under car, new steering component, gas tank, lines, all the manual clutch pedal and hard ware out of the 78 parts car.... the list goes on.
I then installed the drive train and broke in the motor and it ran great!   I got on the freeway and realized that 4 gears was not going to cut it. (342 rear end BTW) so i yanked out the 4 speed and bought  the TKO 500 tremec 5 speed transmission and that 5th gear is total heven BTW.
It took about 5 years to get to this point and now i was ready for body and paint. I had a choice to make. TRANS AM OR FORMULA? I DECIDED TRANS AM. Now since i am as far from numbers matching as we cat get here i also decided to ditch the 79 thru 81 nose that i wasn't fond of and go 1978 in the front.
 After purchasing all new body panels (quarter panels, front T/A fenders, T/A hood, shaker, front and rear bumpers and trunk lid) i dropped it off to my body guy and told him what color i wanted it.
I get it back almost two years later and now all i have left is interior work. still trying to decide on some of that stuff. Anyways here are some pictures of what it went thru. Sorry about the quality of the first few pics, the're old. 

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m534/qcksilver79/th_007.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m534/qcksilver79/th_2011-02-26115652.jpg


















http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m534/qcksilver79/th_imagejpeg_1%203.jpg

[tata]

Wow. I wish I could do all that. Looks awesome.

[smelly$cat]

Love it!!!

[Driver79]

Now you can work on that other project car that you have in the garage 

[Rickard0]

Hell of a job, awesome.

[qcksilver79]

Thanks guys....this site and and the knowledge of some of the members here was a big help!

[redsil]

Hi,
I'm buying a 1979 T/A that I love except the front end. What parts did you have to buy to convert it to a '78? Front cap, braces, foam, grilles. It looks like the headlights are the same size. is the front spoiler different? Are the fenders the same? Any help appreciated. Your job looks great!
Don K.   dondiredsil@tampabay.rr.com

[qcksilver79]

You have listed your needed parts correctly and yes the fenders are the same but the front fender spoilers and valance is different. sorry for the late reply.

[redsil]

Thanks. I think most of what I need is available from Classic and Ames. You have given me the ambition to go ahead. After all, what could possibly happen?