tell me about trans am's

A very good mate of mine runs a 6.6 Ltr one, fook me the thing is mental. Nice motors as parts are very easy to source too.

If you get one make sure it has turbo boost

I love these, not surprised they are increasing in value though...

Gotta be black though....red doesnt suit it IMHO

i love these shape ones:


hnnnnnngh!

The "screaming chicken" goes on the Trans Am.

The 2nd gen models suffer badly from rust, especially in the boot floor area and lower rear quarters, rear arches, backs of sills, rear spring hangers, etc. This is due to a perpetually leaky rear window usually brought on by the screen surround area rusting through under the stainless trim.

Front end is dual wishbone, rear end is live axle on leaf springs. All are unibody.

The Chevy Camaro models come with a straingt six, small block 307, 350 or big block up to 454. In the mid 70s the 307 is replaced by the 305. The 307 is not the same as the Oldsmobile 307. The Pontiac models have a bewildering aray of model names and start with a 3.8 V6 a 301 V8 350 V8 (not the same as the Chevy V8) 400, 403 (Oldsmobile sourced) and 455. The Firebird is the base model, the Firebird Esprit is an economy model most usuallyfound with a V6, the "Formula 400" was a stripped out version of the base Firebird but with the Trans Am suspension and goodies and a 400 cube V8 (early Trans AMs had a 455) and later on there is a generic "Formula" model which little more than a sticker and trim package. Then there is the Trans Am and in the early and some mid year cars you could get a Super Duty which was the top of the tree performance wise.

Both F-Body lines come in three general series. Early mid and late. Early cars are bullnose (pontiac) and shark nose (Camaro). They then go to "shovel fronts" across the both in the mid and late models althought he style of the "shovel" was upgraded several times for each brand, more noiciably on the Pontiac. The intro of the shovel fronts is also about the same time the big blocks get dropped due to CAFE regs.

The Olds 403 replaced the 400 Pontiac due to emission reasons about 1977 in some markets and universally by about 1979.

There was a Turbo Trans Am with a non-intercooled 301 V8 to try beat the CAFE regs. It was a moderate success but poor maintenance and understanding of what a turbo car is, how to live with it and how to tune it gave them a largely unwarrented rep for unreliability.

The Gen 3 as pictured in this thread is a different car, much less rust prone and all have the same mechanical stuff regardless of brand. V6 3.8 (Buick) V8 305 (Chevy) and 350 V8 (Chevy) moving to the LT4 engine towards the end of production. ABout the same time they chanced the V6s to 2.8 and 3.1 Chevy. There is a Pontiac Only "TTA" which ran the same Garat blown 3.8 V6 used in the Buick Grand National and these are quite a firecracker and have huge tuning potential if your wallet is deep enough.

Also note that the gen 3 cars are called "T/A" as Pontiac lisenced the "Trans Am" name from the SCCA and there was a legal wrangle which went on many years during the 80s and possibly early 90s whch meant Pontiac could no longer use the Trans Am name.

Some Trans Ams and Formula cars came with a handling package - they also got a plate on the dash which says "Radial Tuned". Nice to know but the stoick stuff will be worn to death now and the aftermarket has better options available.

From 1973/1974 on the perfomrnace really starts to suffer due to emission regs. A fully smogged up California spec 301 makes like 120 BHP. Get that pipework off there and liberate some power! Or better yet drop a 400 in it.

Almost all V8s will be Autos, but the straight 6 Chevy was popular with a manual box for economy, seen plenty of those about and the Pontiacs and big block Chevys came with optional manual boxes until about 1974 or 1975 when they were dropped due to emissions / insurance requirements. Use a staright 6 Cmaaro as a donor for the pedalbox and tunnel hump for a manual conversion or buy a kit from Kinsler if your pockets are deep enough.

All F bodies use the same auto trans (TH350 and TH400) but the bellhousing is different between Chevy and Pontiac. The rear axles are also sometimes different between the two makes.