1979 Pontiac Trans Am Jay Leno's Garage

[zila1]

[zila1]

I had one just like this. Fully loaded complete with factory installed CB Radio. I blew the engine on it within the first 30 days of ownership. Hadn't made the first payment yet.
It was replaced under warranty. I got lucky on that one. 
Then my big brother took it for a ride and didn't like the engine. Said it was choked by all the crap emissions. He took it with him one night and I didn't see it again for over a month. When I did see it again it had the warranty voided 
My brother took the factory engine out and put in a built 400 cubic inch. No emissions. He beefed up the suspension for me and some other custom mods. He gave the car back to me and told me "I dare you to break this one!" My brother turned a wrench for a living and was a performance engine builder. He gave me back the car on my birthday. For a while I was actually afraid of it. 

My brother had to teach me how to handle that car and how to properly shift that manual trans. After he got thru with me I was kicking ass in that thing. Nothing like a brothers love. I miss that car. 

Edit: I went thru A LOT of tires. 

I don't really remember all the specs cause it's been a long time but what stuck in my mind is that with accounting for A/C, power steering all the accessories going it had 400 horse power at the rear wheels. Not bad for it's time. You should have seen her on the dyno back then. I don't know how that would compare today as those dynos may not have been as accurate as todays setups. But it was impressive to me. 

[Mr.Scott]

I had a '78. Just like this one.
400 Pontiac motor.

[ShrimpBrime]

Mom had a 78 Grand prix. 350 small block. Fun car. My old man put 3 transmissions in it. Guess mom had a lead foot like Eddie XD.

[MetalRacer]

That's a nice ride, never had the pleasure of owning one but knew several people that did. I did own a 1979 z28 and it was a fun ride but made for a terrible family car so it had to go.

Still have my 1971 Z/28 so I'm not too upset about letting the 79 go.

[zila1]

I had a thing for Pontiacs. Had a '72 Boat tail Riviera. Loved that car. '72 Pontiac Catalina. Powerful beast with her Pontiac 400/400 trans. But that T/A with the manual trans really moved out. First gear up to about 65MPH then pop that clutch and drop it into second......burning rubber all the way up to 100MPH, then pop it into third and again tires burning. She would throw you back into your seat with every shift. You had to have respect for her and be ready cause she could get quite squirly when taking a gear. She loved drifting thru turns and then she would straighten out and ask for more. Engine screaming all the while and that massive exhaust note coming thru the duals my brother installed. Damn I miss that car. There is no replacement for displacement.

I remember one time I was going fast down Lake Shore Drive.  A cop came after me and I didn't feel like getting stopped. So I got off at Addison Road and did a burnout. I made so much smoke that the cop couldn't see anything at all  . I could see him trying to find me in that cloud of smoke, he had his spot lights on and he was stopped in the middle of the cloud cause he didn't know which way was up.  . While he was trying to figure out where he was and where in that cloud I was at........I got the hell out of there. I was gone. I loved that car.   

Needless to say......I was hard on cars. I really don't think todays cars would have been able to take what I was doing back then. Todays cars are too soft and cheap. 

[Bones]

Had a shot at getting a silver 79 or 80 model like that with the 403 in it.
In the end things didn't work out and was probrably for the best it didn't.

[zila1]

My brother really did a nice job on that engine and he did tell me at the time what all was done to it but honestly I was 21 years old and it all went in one ear and out there other. All I can say is that he was right, I could not break that engine and trans. that he built. The factory setup yes. I scattered that factory engine. I floated the valves on it. When he found out what I did, he looked at me with that big brother look and just said sternly "You should be ashamed of yourself".

I wasn't. That was the whole problem with me back then.

Edit: He really didn't do much to the trans other than to beef up the clutch. That was a stiff clutch after he worked on it. I liked it. 

[Mr.Scott]

Dec 14, 2020 22:51:22 GMT -5 zila1 said:

I had a thing for Pontiacs.

I did too. They were my brand of choice. I had a bunch of 'em.
'67 Bird ragtop with a 455 in it. Flew to Denver and bought that car for 800 bucks and drove it home. Originally had a 326 in it, soon as I pulled it in the driveway, 326 out, 455 in. Should have never sold that car.
'70 GTO Judge, with a Ram Air motor in it. Bought that local for 1800 bucks with 68K miles on it. Interior was trashed. I put all brand new in it. Fresh paint job too. Should have never sold that one either. Traded it for 3800 bucks and a motorcycle.
'78 Trans am, showed you that already. Got rid of that because I was sick of getting wet in the rain. T-tops leaked like a sieve no matter what I did to them.
'78 Sun Chicken Formula with a Chevy 305 and a 5 speed in it. Changed that out to a 355 Chevy. Awesome burnouts. Rear end was the weak link. Needed to be tubbed and a 9 inch.

I could go on forever about all the cars I owned. Mom hated me because the driveway was full of my shit and she had to park on the street. lol

[zila1]

Those '67 Firebird were just gorgeous. And yes the t-tops leaked on those T/As. And no matter what you did body flex would loosen up the tops and they would leak. My brother stiffened the frame on my T/A and it did help but the tops sucked. I never should have bought it with the t-tops. But I loved the car.

I had a 1978 Pontiac Phoenix SE LJ. Special package car. It was a real road hugger. Nice ride and quick for what it was. 305 4 barrel/dual exhaust with a 4 spd. manual tranny. I removed all the emissions from it including that super heavy restricting catalytic convertor. Gosh that thing all by itself weighed a ton.


It was like this one only mine was a sharper looking model. Fast car. 

Edit: another car my brother worked on a little bit for me. He rebuilt and re-jetted the carb. They came from the factory with lean burn sealed carbs. F that, he bored out the needles and re-jetted it. You should have heard it after he tuned it. Man. And he worked on the heads for me too. Nice little beast it was. 

Because I was so rough on cars and I was breaking motor mounts and trans mounts on this car he had to chain it down for me. I was replacing mounts once a month. Red lining that bitch out of first all of the time. ROFLMAO

[zila1]

I had a State Trooper stop me once on the Eisenhower Expressway here just to ask me what I had under there cause he said it was really moving out. He was a gear head. LOL

[Mr.Scott]

'67 bird was just like this Eddie. Red with red guts and a black top. Side pipes, wheels and tires too. I miss that car. 455, 3.55 gears and a Powerglide.
Simple, yet awesome. 455 used to twist the frame so bad. Get on it hard, the drivers front tire would come off the ground 4 or 5 inches.
Used to bust my header bolts off all the time.

[zila1]

Oh yeah, shweet ride. That mutha would have had some nasty torque steer. Love it.
I had a '72 Monte Carlo with a built 454. Twisted the frame off the line one Saturday night and cracked the windshield from the drivers side all the way to the passenger side. Surprised it didn't let go completely. Sounded like a giant cracker breaking. Small shards on the padded dash. I twisted the axle tubes on that fucker too. She stood up on one tire off the line. That's all the rear end had to give that night. ROFLMAO.

That '67 Bird of yours was fun to drive. The stance on those things. Just beautiful. 

[zila1]

This went quickly


classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars/1967/pontiac/firebird/101353219