I think there's something wrong with me...

I really want a 75-76 formula 400. With rear window louvers. And yellow.

ClemSparks said:

Second gen for $1,000:

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/627280261039940/

Lol... "This is a Trans Am clone"

Except it has none of the parts that make it a Trans-Am AND it has the wrong engine.

Great car for a project. Anything you do it will only make it better than it is now.

That would be the first time a seller of a $1,000 Pontiac on facebook ever missed the mark, I guess.  ;)

Something wrong with you? How about what I would like to do? First gen Firebird Sprint, the model with the OHC 6-cyl, 4-bbl carb & 4-speed trans and set it up like an old Trans-Am road race car. Period style. Lowered, upgraded suspension with really wide steelies all the way around. Can't find a good pic for concept though but kinda like the Sunuco Camaro. Would look pretty hot with the Firebird grill.

wlkelley3 said:

Something wrong with you? How about what I would like to do? First gen Firebird Sprint, the model with the OHC 6-cyl, 4-bbl carb & 4-speed trans and set it up like an old Trans-Am road race car. Period style. Lowered, upgraded suspension with really wide steelies all the way around. Can't find a good pic for concept though but kinda like the Sunuco Camaro. Would look pretty hot with the Firebird grill.

First Gen Trans Am series FTW...  Go for it.  I'd love to build a Dart or a Valiant with a 273...

In reply to wlkelley3 :

You basically described the car that Herb Adams used as a proof of concept to convince the higher ups to put the trans am into production. It was a 67 firebird Sprint with a worked over suspension. They called it the PFST or Pontiac Firebird Sprint Turismo. That same car became the testbed for the 303 used for SCCA races.  High Performance Pontiac magazine had the whole story on it way back in the nineties. 

Found a picture of it.

Yeah, something like that. Lower with wider tires. Finding an unmolested 1st gen Firebird with the SOHC-6 is the hard part. Most I've found started with the 6 only to have a 400 swapped in.

This one is a terrible candidate in that it is overpriced ($1,700), 2.8, automatic, and has t-tops... but you started this ;)

https://columbiamo.craigslist.org/cto/d/1989-pontiac-firebird/6845028127.html

80sFast said:

Do it!

Is that the car from the "Yanque Tanque" article?

The elderly home-economics teacher at my junior high school had a gold ‘79 Formula (could have been ‘80 or ‘81 now that I think about it) with honeycombs.  That was one of the most handsome cars I’ve ever seen to this day.  She was buds with my mom so I bumbed a ride home a couple of times.  I couldn’t understand why it had such an obnoxious hump in the passenger side floor.  Years later I bought a ‘94 Formula.  Same damn hump.  Looked under..oh there’s a cat there.

bentwrench said:

Any Firebird I owned would have to have a 455 motor.

 

For the Torque's.

Agreed.  Except I’d use the one that’s head and shoulders above the Pontiac or Olds (SD doesn’t count).  The one from Flint.

same bellhousing.  I reckon it ought to go in pretty easy.

A 401 CJ said:

bentwrench said:

Any Firebird I owned would have to have a 455 motor.

 

For the Torque's.

Agreed.  Except I’d use the one that’s head and shoulders above the Pontiac or Olds (SD doesn’t count).  The one from Flint.

same bellhousing.  I reckon it ought to go in pretty easy.

I'm convinced that there is nothing easy about Pontiac engines, OR Buick engines.

Have fun with the headers.  Especially if it has a manual transmission and you have to fight the Z-bar.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

I really want a 75-76 formula 400. With rear window louvers. And yellow.

I’ve always wanted a ‘76  T/A in John Player Special inspired colors.  What would, one year later, forever be known as a Bandit T/A.  I’m enough of a geek that I don’t want a Bandit but the one from before.  Everybody wants a Bandit but me it seems.

Well, poot.

He doesn't say if it's a 6 or an 8.  Prolly needs a rebuild, regardless.

stroker said:

Well, poot.

He doesn't say if it's a 6 or an 8.  Prolly needs a rebuild, regardless.

The ad says it’s a 5 speed.  The 6 has the 5 speed. The 8 got the t56 6 speed. Since that’s a 95, that means it’s a 3800, not the 3.4l.

Wxdude10 - Mike said:

stroker said:

Well, poot.

He doesn't say if it's a 6 or an 8.  Prolly needs a rebuild, regardless.

 Since that’s a 95, that means it’s a 3800, not the 3.4l.

Thanks for the clarification.  Is the 3800 more desirable than the 3.4?  I know nothing of them--doesn't really matter, I'd be looking for a V8 regardless.

In reply to stroker :

The 3800 is about 200hp.  The 3.4l is about 160, but a good bit less torque.  The 3800 was the first time that the lesser engine in the fbody has some guts.  Warshrike has a build on the forum with a 3800 build.