1979 Trans Am - Second time around

[737driver]

Last fall I picked a nice 1979 TransAm in trade for a 77 Project Y82 TransAm. Basically I was halfway through a restoration of project DirtBird, a 1977 TransAm that I was about halfway through restoration. At that time my current shop was actually an oversized storage unit (2000 sq/ft.) and the rent was cheap. However the owner decided to sell early this year and the new owners wouldn’t let me do car work there much longer. So I made a trade for the project car and I got a really good (running) 79 TransAm.

So here is the backstory on the car. Remember about a year ago when they had that huge estate auction of a bunch of TransAms? There was a retired postal employee in Kansas that amassed quite a collection of TransAms and parts. He passed away and his estate was auctioned off.  That is where this car came from. A good buddy of mine bought it and brought it back to Las Vegas. He did some work to it, got it running and driving , sold it to another friend of ours, then traded back for it a few months later.  Shortly after that he traded with me for my 77 TransAm.

Now my personal favorite TransAm is the 1979. I bought one 10 years ago and did a complete restoration on it. I still have that car and I love it. I think the first car I ever fell in love with was the 1979 TransAm back in high school. A good friend of mine had one during our senior year of high school (88-89) and we had a lot of fun times and mischief in that car.

So what is this car? It’s a 400 / 4 speed car , WS6, 4 wheel disc brake and has 28,000 original miles. The car sat covered indoors for many years which is a good thing and a bad thing.

The good things are numbers matching motor and transmission. Original motor and transmission is a big plus. The 4 speed cars did have the VIN stamped on them which matched motor and VIN tag.
The interior is original and in excellent shape, the dash is excellent as is the seats and carpet. The interior condition is impressive considering it is 44 years old.
The body, like the interior, is amazing considering the age. No rust or bodywork issues.
The motor was overhauled and runs great with one exception, leaking rear main seal.

So the bad ( but not so bad), the paint is a 6-7 depending on how you want to judge it. Some areas were resprayed , some original paint areas. Very few chips but nothing serious.
A/C system doesn’t work.
Brakes were minimal at best, ( I’ve already fixed that issue). Because the car sat for so long, the entire brake system needed attention. New calipers front and back with new rotors and master cylinder. Right now the brakes work very well but will get some attention later on.
Temp gauge reads very low, not real worried about that too much I check the engine with a temp gun and it’s very consistent at 185 degrees.
Radiator is a cheap Champion 3 row, but it does the job.
Few other minor issues but nothing to really lose sleep over. It’s all stuff that can be taken care of.

Once I got  the brakes proper, I drove the car a bit. I was very happy with how it drove. It felt good in all aspects. In fact it was very enjoyable!

So what’s the plan? Well it’s not going to be a full restoration, but I do have a plan for this car.  The first thing to address will be the rear main seal. That means removing the engine, which again is no big deal , just time and work. I’m going to use a Viton one piece seal from BOP. Those seals work great and are worth the effort to correct a rear main seal leak.

I’ve also decided to replace the AC with a Vintage Air system. I chose this because it works really good and and installs well. The existing AC System is original but hasn’t worked in a long time. To be honest I never liked the original AC system.

I’ve also ordered a Gear Vendors overdrive for it. One of the things that would enhance the freeway drive ability is an overdrive. The GV overdrive bolts directly to the 4 speed transmission and offer a .78 overdrive. With the stock 3.23 rear ratio I feel like that would be a perfect final drive ratio.

Other plans may include EFI and especially a radiator upgrade. Here in Las Vegas it gets hot in the summer, so cooling is important.  I plan on installing solid body bushings and sub frame connectors from Pro Touring F Body. These are a popular upgrade to the TransAm suspension and PTFB makes a set that are easy to install and they work great. I’ve used them on every Firebird I’ve owned and I love them.

So here are some pictures and I will post more as things progress.
Jim

[737driver]

Some interior pics

[737driver]

Some exterior pics

[737driver]

More pics

[5th T/A]

What a great survivor car you found, and a WS6. Just goes to show there are great cars out there if you look hard enough.

It’s funny you mention your temp gage reads low. I had the same issue with my 1980 and replaced the sending unit with a new one from Lectric. It’s far more accurate now, but with the way the numbers are placed on the gage face the factory temp gage is more of a guess meter anyway. I like having the digital display on my EFI display to cross check against the factory gage.

Having good AC in Nevada is far more important than in the Midwest. My factory AC works fine, but with cloth seats and mostly country road driving I am comfortable cruising with the windows down, I really don’t use the AC. Bumper to bumper city driving would be a different story.

[aussieta]

i used the viton seal on mine and it does not suit cranks after 1975 from memory
the surface where the rope seal goes is knurled on  later 2nd gen cranks and destroys the viton seal
bop shop refused to acknowledge that
i used the graphite seals from butler
https://butlerperformance.com/i-24452896-best-gasket-braided-teflon-graphite-rope-seal-for-421-455-engines-bga-6382s.html?ref=category:1234758

[hakitup]

Great story congratulations, 79 is one of my favorites.

Tom H

[rkellerjr]

Great looking car, love the fact that it is a survivor.

[737driver]

i used the viton seal on mine and it does not suit cranks after 1975 from memory
the surface where the rope seal goes is knurled on  later 2nd gen cranks and destroys the viton seal
bop shop refused to acknowledge that
i used the graphite seals from butler
https://butlerperformance.com/i-24452896-best-gasket-braided-teflon-graphite-rope-seal-for-421-455-engines-bga-6382s.html?ref=category:1234758

I will have to look into that for sure. Whatever seal that was put in just isn’t working, in fact it is the worst rear main seal leak I have seen. The seal may not have been installed properly but either way it’s got to get replaced.
Jim

[roadking77]

All I can say is WoW! What a great car! I remember that auction well. There were a lot of great cars there, some together some in parts. One thing I cannot remember is what the prices were. I dont recall if they sold well or were high. Anyway congrats on getting such an original car. I would do the upgrades your thinking and leave the rest alone. Too original to muck with too much. Its a shame the 77 is gone but I think you made the right decision. As much as I like tinkering on them, its more gratifying having a car you can drive (not that it was a problem in your case, LOL).

[apfstg]

For my project
Your car is priceless- a glimpse at how it should be is like a self explaining manual for someone to follow!

[TATurbo]

Gotta love the 4Spd WS6 cars.  I like the plan too.  Congrats! Enjoy.

[MNBob]

Fabulous car with a great cloth interior.  That is what I wanted when I bought mine.

For years I thought I had a rear main seal leak and it turned out to be the front seal on the Super T10.

I think my temp gauge reads low too, but I have never checked.  The Sniper gauge reads about 30 degrees higher.

I have the .64 overdrive with the extreme TKO and 3.23 and think it is perfect.  About 1900 rpm at 70.

[737driver]

So for the last two months I moved out of my old shop and into a new location. I had my old shop for about 7 years but recently the owner sold the property and the new ownership would not allow working on cars due to insurance liability. At any rate I found a new place which is smaller but better. I also bought a lift, a Challenger CL-10 two post lift, and I really love it.
I have been driving this TransAm a bit over the last two months and I have really enjoyed it. It’s turning out to be quite a good car.
I installed an electric choke and once I had it adjusted, works like a charm. The quadrajet was rebuilt by a friend in Vegas and he did a great job. He has a great 73 TransAm and is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced Pontiac guys I have met.
The original AC System was kinda a lost cause. Many of the lines and fittings were severely cross threaded and the replacement costs convinced me to use a Vintage Air Sure Fit system. I’ve used Vintage Air before and I have been quite happy with it.
I got the brakes working great .
Two main issues remain. The first one is a biggie. Rear Main Seal. I remove the engine last week in order to replace it.
After I pulled the motor out I began the process to change the RMS. I found a few issues I needed to address. I also found out why the RMS wasn’t working. It was a 2 piece seal and it wasn’t installed correctly. Also on the rear main cap there are four slots that allow oil to return to the sump and the had been filled with RTV. This caused oil to build up and collect around the RMS thus aggravating the leak. 

[737driver]

For a new seal I used the BOP one piece seal. Recently I replaced the RMS on my 68 Lemans. Happy to say that worked well. The one piece seal works great so I had no doubt it would work again. Good thing was that the crank was recently polished on a recent rebuild so the serration concerns were going to affect the Viton seal.
Since I was working alone that day I used my engine hoist to help install the crankshaft. This is much easier with 2 people but utilizing the hoist made the job doable. Just had to take my time and be patient.

[737driver]

Once I had the crankshaft installed, and piston and connecting rods back in place I had to clean out the oil pan. As I cleaned it out I realized it wasn’t in the shape I was comfortable with. Some of the bolt holes were oversized and the pan just didn’t fit right. Additionally it seemed to have some corrosion issues I really didn’t like, so I made the decision to replace it.
The timing cover was in good shape but I wanted to inspect the water pump and I was really glad I did. As I said before the engine was rebuilt about a year ago. The new water pump that was installed was a cheap stamped impeller pump.
The original pump used a cast impeller. Cheap replacement pumps use a stamped impeller. The stamp impeller pump do not mate well with the divider plate nor do they allow the proper spacing tolerance to the divider plate. What this means is , the water pump will not be as effective in flowing coolant through the engine and radiator. I had this issue 10 years ago with my first TransAm. The hard way , I learned a lot about the cooling system on Pontiacs . Two important things about the Pontiac cooling system are :
1. Use a good cast impeller water pump, stamped impeller pumps are worthless.
2. Use the right spacing between the water pump impeller and divider plate. Typically you are looking for about .020 - .060 clearance. Too much gap will decrease the effectiveness of the water pump. The stamped impeller pump had about a 1/4” gap.

In the pictures you can see the difference between stamped and cast impellers. I used a Milodon water pump which have worked great for me in the past. You can also see the “span” of the cast impeller is wider than the stamped impeller. I also showed the difference in gap between the impeller and divider plate.

Living in Las Vegas cooling is very important especially driving in the summertime when the temps are in the 110 range. The key to success is a good pump , good radiator, and proper gap between pump and divider plate. I’ve also used both electric fans and engine driven fans and both work well in high outside temperatures.

[737driver]

I am also installing the Vintage Air GenV sure fit AC system. These are pretty good replacement AC units and work pretty good. I decide to install this while the engine was out of the car. I wanted to use the original AC unit but it was not in great shape and most of the hoses and connections were cross threaded. I really did not have the confidence in the original unit to actually work once I inspected it further. Most of the components were okay but i honestly had no knowledge of the actual condition of the compressor, condenser and other items.
I removed the external AC box and its associated components. I started removing the internal vents and ducts work and they looked to be in good shape. They will serve well as replacement parts for someone with a stock system.
I was really impressed with the condition of the interior. I removed the front seats and I was impressed with how clean and original the interior was.
Part of the installation of the vintage air system is removing the dash. Everything behind the dash looks absolutely fantastic. Pretty much untouched from the factory.
I did pull up the carpet to partially inspect the floor and I was amazed how great it looked. Absolutely beautiful! No corrosion, no dirt, no problems. It certainly shows no issues I have seen in the past . The dash and console are in excellent shape and all the wiring is proper.
This is a very low mileage TA with 28,993 miles on the odometer. I have little doubt this this the original mileage. By far I can say this is the cleanest and most straight car I’m have had. For a 44 year old car it is in fantastic shape. My plan is to keep it as close to original as possible.
With that being said, I may be stretching that statement slightly. I do want to install sub frame connectors and solid body bushings from PTFB . I’ve used them before and they are quite effective. I may install a Gear Vendors overdrive on the transmission. I want to keep the original 4 speed because it does have the VIN stamped to it. If I want, I’d it can be removed if I ever wanted to and revert back to the straight 4 speed.

[b_hill_86]

Wow that thing looks great! If you decided to separate those ducts I may be interested in the piece under the glovebox

[FormTA]

That plastic tab under the a piller trim is really cool to see. Great car you got there. I'm pretty interested in your ac install as I may go that direction too.

[roadking77]

Great work as usual Jim, Here I am struggling to get a couple of pulleys put on my motor and youre tearing yours apart (and will most likely be back in the car running long before me). 

[Wallington]

Lovely car. A shame that in that condition it still needs an aftermarket Camaro AC setup based on service items. You change the oil for the engine, not the engine for the oil.

[5th T/A]

Nice job documenting your progress and photos too. I personally never had issues with a Pontiac engine running hot. I live in a much cooler climate. But I had to deal with crummy aftermarket and cheap rebuilt pumps enough to know it’s not an area to cut corners.

With the high ceilings and twin post lift, the new shop looks like a pleasure to work in!

[737driver]

I have been making progress over the last several week but like anything it’s sometimes a slower process than planned. I pulled up an area of carpet and I was really surprised. It is exceptionally clean and and in great shape.
Here are some pics:

[737driver]

Floors

[737driver]

Back seat pics

[737driver]

Trunk area pics

[737driver]

I installed new speakers from RetroSound. The speakers I replaced were very old Sanyo speakers. Definitely 80’s vintage, they worked okay with a the Pioneer tape deck, I decided to swap them out. The new speakers fit very well into the factory location.

[Wallington]

Are they clear of the jack and equipment, for those that have it installed? Flat face for factory grille or have the retro look to suit car?

That floor and harness cover strip looks nice and clean. I don't think I've seen them in red primer before. Even the very clean ones I've collected were still bare metal, one reason they rusted so easily when moisture sat there. Even the set that came on my car were gold anodise plated, no, not original! The previous owner must have had contacts that did plating, nearly every engine bay part, bolt or clip was plated, albeit when not needed. Funnily enough, the set he plated had swiss cheese ends prior, and after!

[5th T/A]

What an exceptionally clean and unmolested car.

[motorcycle79]

Looks good. Did u do anything with the gear vendor yet. I heard there needs to be tunnel mods to fit. Haven’t been on here in a long time. 

[Lev]

Awesome looking car and great work.
But as always some questions, are those stock seats? they look like they recline? and Did you find the build sheet?
Keep up the great work, always a pleasure watching your work.

[737driver]

They are the original seats , and this car had 2 build sheets and I have both.

Right now the car is all finished up. I will post some pics here in the next day or so.

I addressed all the issues with the car and I am very very happy with it!
First off, no leaks! I am really happy about that.
I did repaint the motor back to the correct color and kept it mostly original. The QJ carb worked really well so I didn’t want to change anything on the induction.
The car did have a champion 3 row aluminum radiator and I replaced that with a cold case radiator, it looks very close to the original and when painted black it is hard to tell the differences. I swapped the temp sensor with a correct one from Lectric Motive it reads about as accurate as it should. The one that I replaced was inaccurate nor was it correct for the motor.

I had some starter issues that was due to the the flywheel teeth that were chewed up from previous owner I believe. Once this was corrected the rough starting and grinding noise was gone.

The first start was pretty uneventful. With some minor timing adjustments it was running very well. I replaced the hot air choke with an electric one, I set the choke idle and got it right at the factory specs.
The motor runs very well and like I said no leaks.

The only real aftermarket item I went with was the Vintage air AC. The original AC was in poor condition. Unfortunately , the system was left open and it had dirt and crud in the drier and most of the hoses and lines were cross threaded from a poor reinstall. Overall, everything I saw with original AC system was crap. Otherwise I would have kept it. That was the only thing that was really bad about the car. The new VA air conditioning works pretty good and I am very happy with it.

I installed a new radio replacing the old Pioneer tape deck with a new unit from RetroSound. I have used their radio units and speakers in some other cars and like the sound. I kept the radio pretty simple, one speaker in the front and two 6x9’s in the rear shelf. It’s a simple setup and very good fit for a factory replacement. The sound is really great for three speaker set up. The RetroSound unit has a great Bluetooth feature and I mounted the microphone for phone calls near the rear view mirror and that was a good discrete location and works great.

All the gauges are as per factory specifications, the oil/ temp gauge had been replaced before with a re-pop and it was quite glitchy , I replaced it with a factory original that I had. Works great! I also made sure the cigar lighter worked. For whatever reasons I always find they don’t work, and although I quit smoking some time ago , I like having them work.

I pulled the door panels off to clean and grease the window tracks. I was able to remove the original water shield ( had a date code on it as well!) and it was very clean inside the door panels. The old grease in the tracks was pretty expired  so a good cleaning and re grease really helped out. I did incorporate relays for the power windows and mounted them under the center console. On battery power only ( engine not running) the windows go up and down really easy with no straining.

For whatever reasons, this car had no window washer reservoir so I got a replacement and installed it. I had the original wiper motor, washer pump restored by a guy named Steve Hackel. He restores a lot of these motors and pump and they work fantastic and look factory new. His prices are very reasonable considering how they look when they get done.

Most of the other work was really just addressing smaller issues which is typical of these cars.
All in all everything is in proper working order, with no issues at all! I am really happy with this project . I had certain plans with this project however I more inclined to keeping the car closer to original factory setup.

Jim

[737driver]

So how did it drive?

Well honesty, really darn awesome!
So the first couple of drives were just local spins, just to check out everything and make sure everything was good to go.

I was very pleased with everything and decided to fill up the tank and go for a long drive.
This last Saturday I took the cars to a Cars and Coffee event that is run by the company where I lease my shop space. Several buddies of mine usually attend this event every Saturday and we unofficially represent the Pontiac minority here in Las Vegas.  Vegas has good car community , but like in most cases it is dominated by Chevy and Ford people.

Afterwords, I decided to go out on a long drive. I drove out towards Pahrump, Nevada  which had one long segment with a long drive up the mountain pass. I wanted to see if I’d have any hot temp issues. It was 98 degrees out and I climbed the hill at a steady 65-70mph. The motor temperature was quite steady at 185 degrees +- 5 degrees. I drove back the other way and got into about 15 minutes of stop and go traffic. Still no issues and temp was very steady. I then went South on I-15 toward Jean, Nevada. I then drove back to the shop to give everything a good look over .I dint find anything concerning and  ended up driving about 110 miles total.
By the time I got back, the outside temperature was just over 100 degrees and I checked the water temp with a temp gun and it was right at 185/190. I was quite pleased because engine cooling is important anywhere , but in Vegas you want your car to have good cooling.

I could have drove much longer. In fact I wanted to keep going till the tank was empty. I was enjoying every bit of this car, it drove fantastic. No issues , no worries and no hassles. Whether I was on the highway or regular streets, the car was just so fun and I enjoyed it all. I guess it’s a good sign when you don’t want to stop driving a car.

This car is, for the most part, is relatively unchanged from the original form and I couldn’t be more happy about it. There is something to be said for the original design of the Firebird which explains why there were so popular back in the day.

I plan to put on more miles with the car in the future and look will forward to it every time!
Jim

[FormTA]

Man that's great! I'd love to see the pictures! Sounds like a really nice car!

[roadking77]

Jim, that sounds exactly how a project should go. Seems fairly straightforward and not too invasive. Fix the few glitches and youre good to go. Im jealous I completely agree with you on the original design of these cars. Other than maybe a vette its one of the few cars from that era that can be left completely stock and still look killer! No need for any add ons.
I assume you did the air conditioner? If so maybe put something in the mechanical section. I was shooting to have my tata an aaca judged car, but there are a couple of mods that may be too large a point deduct so I am leaning towards driver class which my black is in. IF I go that route I may put in aftermarket air.

[5th T/A]

They are the original seats , and this car had 2 build sheets and I have both.

Right now the car is all finished up. I will post some pics here in the next day or so.

I addressed all the issues with the car and I am very very happy with it!
First off, no leaks! I am really happy about that.
I did repaint the motor back to the correct color and kept it mostly original. The QJ carb worked really well so I didn’t want to change anything on the induction.
The car did have a champion 3 row aluminum radiator and I replaced that with a cold case radiator, it looks very close to the original and when painted black it is hard to tell the differences. I swapped the temp sensor with a correct one from Lectric Motive it reads about as accurate as it should. The one that I replaced was inaccurate nor was it correct for the motor.

I had some starter issues that was due to the the flywheel teeth that were chewed up from previous owner I believe. Once this was corrected the rough starting and grinding noise was gone.

The first start was pretty uneventful. With some minor timing adjustments it was running very well. I replaced the hot air choke with an electric one, I set the choke idle and got it right at the factory specs.
The motor runs very well and like I said no leaks.

The only real aftermarket item I went with was the Vintage air AC. The original AC was in poor condition. Unfortunately , the system was left open and it had dirt and crud in the drier and most of the hoses and lines were cross threaded from a poor reinstall. Overall, everything I saw with original AC system was crap. Otherwise I would have kept it. That was the only thing that was really bad about the car. The new VA air conditioning works pretty good and I am very happy with it.

Jim

Jim, Looking forward to seeing some pictures. Since you started with such a clean car, I like your approach that if it's not broke don't fix it. You are definitely the authority on how to get these cars to run cool under adverse high temperatures. Even though modern vehicles use electric fans it was nice to hear the engine driven clutch fan can get the job done.

I seem to recall you put a Vintage Air system in your Formula too, so you must like the product. Do you feel it is significantly better/more powerful than the original GM system? I have read nothing but good reviews on VA, I like the compressor mount much better than what Original Air offers. Does the VA setup still bring in fresh air? Does it have a recirculate mode? I read one post that said the VA blower motors are noisy, but that may be because it is significantly more powerful than the factory blower. I do think the original GM control panel is a little nicer looking. Sorry for all the questions.

[scarebird]

...I seem to recall you put a Vintage Air system in your Formula too, so you must like the product. Do you feel it is significantly better/more powerful than the original GM system? I have read nothing but good reviews on VA, I like the compressor mount much better than what Original Air offers. Does the VA setup still bring in fresh air? Does it have a recirculate mode? I read one post that said the VA blower motors are noisy, but that may be because it is significantly more powerful than the factory blower. I do think the original GM control panel is a little nicer looking. Sorry for all the questions.

I was not happy with the VA setup - compressor mount and condenser was good, the hot-roddy one-in-all heater/evap box stinks, their mount for it unsat.

The blower moved less air as they used nothing but flex duct which is quite restrictive.

[737driver]

In my opinion, I am happy with the VA setup. The blower motor works very well and blow pretty decent. As far as the recirc air, it is a different method that the stock system, but it works to my liking and I have no real complaints about it. I would strongly recommend Scarebirds mounting bracket upgrade, it is simple and strong , works great.

Here are some pics:

[737driver]

Here are some engine area pics.
I used a battery topper from AMES. It fits pretty good on the 78size  battery and the stock hold down fits perfect with the battery top. The battery was a local store bought battery and the battery top gave it an original OEM appearance.
When I did the brakes, (because the car had sat for a long time) I found the master cylinder was pretty corroded on the inside. When I first got the car it did need a lot of attention in regards to brakes. Good news was it was all addressed properly. One thing about the rear disk brakes in regards to the parking brake, I replaced the calipers, disc and pads. The parking brake on the RWD cars never had a great reputation, however if set up and installed as per the service manual they work really great. The trick is setting up the parking brake before you bleed the rear brakes.
I tested the parking brake at about 30-35 mph and it surprised me just how effective they were, they were able to lock up the rear and stop the car effectively.

As far as wiring it is stock with very few exceptions. For the air conditioning idle up solenoid I did wire that into the VA system and with its own relay. That way when the AC is turned on the solenoid activates. VA recommended this to me when I called their tech reps to get some advice on setup.

I installed the spark plug wires to the factory way as shown in the service manual. I did have to replace some of the plastic keepers with replacements from Ames. Also used a new set of AC Delco spark plugs.

All the vacuum hoses were done they way it was shown in the service manual. I have always felt that these hoses and emissions thermo switches and valves were very Rube Goldberg “ish”. For the technology of the day and stricter emissions regulations I guess it worked.

Instead of traditional hose clamps I used Power Grip hose clamps from Gates. Basically, they slip over the hose and and heat shrinked to keep the coolant hoses on. They work great and keep a real tight grip on the hoses. The only downside is if you have to replace the hose the clamps have to be cut off and replaced with a new one.

For steering , the steering links were all in good shape and I just cleaned them up and greased them. The power steering lines were replaced and I also put new seals on the power steering pump.

Most of the  work was just cleaning up parts and components and once it was all cleaned up I was pretty happy with it.

Jim

[5th T/A]

Everything looks great, I am a sucker for a clean engine compartment. I can’t believe how much more space there is on the passenger side with the VA setup. The battery topper is a nice touch.