Saving a 79 Formula

[FormTA]

I had started this thread years ago before the last site crash. Now that my son wants the car for his first car, I will working on it again.  I had lost motivation to work on it because I built my 79 LS swapped Trans am. So, I'll try to go back and find and post pictures of all the work I did back then and bring it up to date.

In short, I replaced the T top roof, both quarters and trunk drop offs, many parts of the floor, one door and skinned the other and hand made the rear tail pan. The car is a high optioned car with th 301 4 barrel auto. It still runs well but the valve guides leak and it smokes on start up. I acquired a nice engine with less that 10k miles on it from a fellow forum member and I sourced a ST10 4 speed and parts to swap it to a manual.

Stay tuned for pictures and updates.

Here is a picture from the 80s of it the owner before gave me.





The day I bought it back in 2009.







Here is how it sits today.

[FormTA]

I think I started pulling it apart in 2012. It was dangerously rusted.

I pulled one seat belt right out of the floor.



I should have just replaced the whole floor but I did it in sections.



Both quarters and the roof were not able to be saved.









I'll have to dig for more pictures but the torque box/spring perch were gone and i made my own as either they weren't avaliable or I couldn't find them back then. I also put a nice passage door on and skinned another door i had for the drivers side.

 I'll be collecting parts for it but i have to get the 49 ford truck somewhat together so I can free up some space in my shop. Currently the truck is taking up 3 bays.

[roadking77]

Cant wait to see the progress with this. There have been times within the past 3 years that I have wanted to start my next project while the TATA was stalled, but even with a 40' shop I am very limited for space. 3/4 of it is settup for my business needs. Although I know I will be doing a lot of welding and patch work the next go round which could have been more than finished by now. I had contemplated adding on to the end of the shop but I am afraid if I did so, I would have to add a bedroom as well!!

[b_hill_86]

Lol you guys and your big shops running out of room makes me laugh. I work in a 20x21 garage and would kill for more space. I plan to extend my garage someday but that will have to wait. Didn’t Tom with the 81 do his in a single car garage? That’s nuts!

Anyway, I know you have a hord of your own parts Luke but I just picked up a stash of mostly 79 parts if you think you need anything. Once I can go through things better I’m going to start listing them little by little.

[5th T/A]

I am especially excited to see this one in motion and completed!

[FormTA]

Brian, I always welcome parts. Let me know what you have and condition before you list.

Larry, I will hopefully move relatively quickly on this one as I really only have 18 months before he can drive and I want to have it on the road by then. As this is for a teenager, I will hopefully be leass picky as that is what slows me down.

[FormTA]

So, a friend of mine picked up a 77 400 4 speed car a couple years ago and is pretty deep into the restoration of it. He was recently in a motorcycle accident and his left leg has pins and screws in it now so he can no longer use a clutch. He had the ST10 rebuilt and purchased a bunch of new parts including a Hurst comp plus shifter, clutch, billet flywheel and push rod, pivot balls and firewall seals. He asked if I knew anyone looking for one and I decided to get it for this Formula project. Only downside is he thought it would be a great idea to paint it black for some reason... but I got it for $1700. The clutch and flywheel were $700, the shifter was around $300 and the rebuild cost him $800 plus all of the other new parts a, original drive shaft nd the bellhousing. I feel it was a good deal.







Now, singe this is going behind a 301, i can't use the clutch or flywheel. I will have to sell those off to fund the custom made flywheel needed for the 301. The 301 is an externally balanced engine which uses the harmonic balancer and flywheel to ballance the engine.

[roadking77]

Luke, how much of the linkage do you have? I think I need most of that stuff. Unfortunately I just got my clutch stuff.

As for shops, yes a big shop is nice, but its like closet space, the bigger the shop the more stuff (junk in my case).
In my case the 30 x 40 is supposed to be my dedicated woodworking shop as that is my day job (and pays for my TA stuff). I do have one area set aside for car stuff but not the whole thing. My previous wood shop was 16x32 and that was cramped at times. I restored my black car in one bay of my 3 car garage. There was a bit more room to work, but still all of the work and mess was confined to one space. My wifes car doesnt dare spend one night outside, LOL.

[FormTA]

I have every piece I need but I don't think there are extras.

Yes, large shops and barns equal more stuff/junk. My shop is 24x50 and 2 stories. It is split in half, the front half is where my finished TA lives and the painted chassis for the 49 F1 sits for now. The back half has a 8x24 room with my welders, benders, smal lathe and mill are along with all of my paint guns and supplies. The back part is where I actually work and the other chassis and body for the F1 are. I need to get that truck together so I can free up space for the Formula.

The one picture of the Formula tucked in the corner is in my pole barn which houses mostly toys, lots of snowmobiles, a boat, jetskis, trailers, tractor and the 67 Camaro.  Even with all the storage I have my 24' car trailer outside as well as the 69 roadrunner/charger project.  You can also see I have hung the kids old go carts from the ceiling/wall to make more space....

One day I'll get to them all (maybe). I have my retirement planned. Ha, ha.

[b_hill_86]

Sounds like it’s be a fun retirement at least lol.

Kerry, I have a few 4 speed parts left over but not many. I should still have a zbar with one rod attached but I can’t recall which one.

[roadking77]

Very good. I am not sure exactly what I need at this point but I am thinking the whole enchilada!

[ryeguy2006a]

What a great project! I remember seeing that picture of your car with the roof cut off. 

[FormTA]

The shop just finished the custom flywheel for the 301 4 speed swap. If anyone is interested it was $600 shipped.  Ya, a lot for a 301 project.... He did sy the clutch from the 400 would bolt up but I really want a stock style clutch and throne that came with the trans is a RAM powergrip which I have heard may chatter, they are built for higher horse power engines? Anyone using a powergrip?

[ryeguy2006a]

What was the need for the custom flywheel Luke?

[FormTA]

301 engines are externally balanced unlike everything else which is internally balanced. Places day they have a flywheel but it isn't correct.  I had to have ttaperformance.com take a normal flyweel and machine it so it fits and is balanced (or un balanced) for the 301. Back in the day you could go to any auto parts store and order one, that is what I did back in 1994 for my TA. The 301 (as far as I know) only came with the 301 and a 4 speed in 1979 (maybe 80 &81).  So supply is ridiculously scarce. Unfortunately the flyweel I had from my TA I gave to Decaf back when sold him my 4 speed. Unless to him but valuable now to 301 guys.

[b_hill_86]

I don’t know anything about 301s but non301 Pontiac engines are externally balanced I believe from my research.

https://butlerperformance.com/n-13498-internal-neutral-vs-external-stock-balance.html

[ryeguy2006a]

Very interesting about the 301 engine. Will be a fun car when you get her going!

[FormTA]

Kinda of right. It is semi internal ballanced. They just couldn't do it all inside the engine on the crank.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=585271

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529418

The 301 only has two counter weights on the crank so it uses the harmonic balancer and flywheel to offset the weight of the rods. They really had to add weight so it's really offset unlike the 400 which is only slightly off.

[b_hill_86]

Ok Luke, that was my understanding on the 400s as well. I wondered if the 301 had more of an imbalance. That makes more sense as to why the 301 flywheel is so different.