Hey gus,
A friend of the family is selling a 1980 t.a. with the 301 turbo. Im really thinking about it.
any websites with second gen stuff?
thanks
Craig

 

Don't know of any...

What are you looking for?

Those cars are dog slow. I'd be real surpriesd if a stock one could break into the 15s, or that it could be made to run 13s with the stock long block still in it. A 3rd gen LG4 car is faster. Don't hallucinate that it's going to be fast, or that there's much you can do to make it fast; you can't. Apart from just being a kind of cool and unusual car, nobody cares too much about them.

On the other hand, if it's in real good shape and all original and all there, it's a cool car. Just not really worth any more than any other 80 Trans Am.

 

www.transamcountry.com

 

I dont think he was asking if its fast..........


Not everyone feels the need to yank out a motor and replace it with a "fast" motor and since this is the history and restoration board, I would assume he intends to restore it (even though its a 2nd gen car, hopefully this wont get locked)

"nobody cares too much about them" ...Ill just consider the source and ignore that comment entirely.


While the big bow tie dropped the Z-28 in 75 and 76, Pontiac continued to provide the Trans Am. This shows the commitment to performance that continued on with the Turbo 301, part of the LAST V-8 MOTORS that Pontiac made.

http://www.iwaynet.net/~gl&lisk/1981ta.html

You have to remember the heavy restrictions placed on Detroit at the time and because the technology was not there yet to provide a low emmision / Hi-HP car, they did the best they could.

I praise Pontiac Engineers for having the ***** to design what they did with what they had to work with.


Don

 

You're right, not everyone wants to "yank the motor and put in something fast". On the other hand, if he's expecting something fast out of the box, this isn't it, which is my point. It's nothing even dimly, remotely, vaguely similar to the 89 turbo TA, which definitely would fill someone's requirement that their car be reasonably fast. It's more like the 79-80 era turbo Regals with carbs, which were pretty much a joke as far as speed; they were faster than an otherwise similar 6-cylinder car without a turbo, maybe, but nowhere close to a "muscle" car. Those would probably have had trouble hitting 16 seconds.

And as far as I can tell, please correct me if I'm wrong, there's no public sentiment of wistful longing for a return to the "good old days" of 16-second turbocharged cars; so there's no demand out there for that car. People will pay more for a regular black 80 TA even if all it has is an Olds 403, because it's black, than they will pay for the 80 turbo TA, because it's white.

 

RB is right... these cars aren't really the spittin' image of fast. If you want a relatively fast, later 2nd gen TA, i would look into a '78/79 Trans Am with the 6.6L (400ci) engine. They have something like 270hp i think (could be wrong though) and an assload of torque to get you going.

 

O.K. guys!
First of all, the 301 Turbo engine is not the slowest powered Trans Am ever made. Try a Chevy 305 for the same years. The Turbo cars of '80-'81 were fast for their time. I don't remember the Trans Am's or the Z-28's being fast until the TPI came out. The 305 H.O. was pretty fast also.
The second gen TA's had a style that will be around forever! Heck, even the prices for them seem to be slowly climbing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that everybody who posts on these message boards thinks that their car is the best. It's all in taste of the person. But you will get more looks than a early third gen.
The early third gen cars were pretty slow as well.
The 301 Turbo had about 210 horsepower. Granted that was in a car that weighed almost 2 tons!
As for a 1980 having a 403 Olds, they didn't come from the factory that way. Last year for the 403 was 1979! 1980 was the 301 regular, 301 turbo, and the Chevy 305. Same in 1981.
Now the 1979 400 Pontiac engine, was a T/A 6.6, the 6.6 Liter was the 403 Olds. And the Pontiac 400 engine of 1979 had 220 horses.
Check out local Pontiac clubs for second gen owners, or , as TADan said, http://www.transamcountry.com
There are a few more out there, but that's all I can think of right now.
I say, go for it! They are fun to drive!
Also, according to GM, there is no public sentiment of wistful longing for the return of the "good old days" F-body! Hopefully there will be enough for them to reconsider!!

Do what you decide,

George

 

Dan, George, that link you guys gave: http://www.transamcountry.com is a dud for me

Whoop, now it works, my bad

 

I seem to recall both the 78 Z28 automatic and the 79 Z28 4-speed I had being able to smoke those turbo TAs. Those cars were both about 180 HP. The TA would probably have been slightly heavier, so I doubt it was actually good for any more HP than about 180, whatever the "ratings" were. I still had the 78 car after I bought this 83 L69 Z28 I still have (traded in the 79 on this 83). The 83 car would murder the 78 car, made it look more like 40 HP than 10 HP difference.

Yeah those were the dark days for HP though.... a Pontiac 400 with 220 HP, and just 3 years later a 305 with 190. And people wonder why I counsel novices against going to all the trouble of swapping one of those into one of these cars. Basically you come out with something that just almost runs with a stock L69 on a good day, however many thousand $$$ later.

Probably the slowest TA ever made would have to be the LG4 cars, from 82 up to whenever they bumped the compression up.

When I referred to that poor suffering Olds motor, I didn't mean that it specifically had to be in a 80. Just the late 2nd gen body in general, with that basically land barge cruiser motor in it. Those were so pitiful.

What we all used to do to those cars was to just yank out whatever BOP stuff they had, and drop a BBC in them. Weight was about the same, and fitment was easy since they came in the early 2nd gens, you can buy headers and everything else for that combo off the shelf; 350-400 HP cheap, quick, and easy out of nothing special, no scouring junkyards for months to find the one remaining set of HO W30 heads or whatever. One of my brothers-in-law had one like that, a 79 I think it was, real pretty car, metallic brown with gold trim IIRC, that had come with the Olds motor. We stuck a mild 454 in it. Much more satisfactory I must say.

 

well said, RB. thats basically sums up my feeling on the late 2nd gen cars. cool looking, but slow as hell. i love 2nd gens, but the first thing i would do is yank whatever boat anchor of a motor that was sitting between the frame rails and put a nice sbc in there. personally i think the turbo T/As look nice, but the motors are terrible. pontiac 301s are notoriously weak.

 

A turbo second gen should only be bought for the fun of having a classic. Anybody looking to go fast right out of the box would be well served just to go buy an LS1 fourth gen. The late second gens were among the meanest cars available in a very dark era for factory performance, that's no big secret. I'd love to have one for the nostalgia and style ( same reasons I bought my third gen ) The prices for those cars are rising for these reasons. If it is a good deal, snap it up.

 

Hey guys thank for the info
yes the reaon I am most interseted in this car is for the classic value.....
As it sits right now it has just over 75000 miles,
The seller is a friend of the family
He has replaced a coulpe exterior parts due to rust/dents but the rest of the car is rust free.
He just completly redid the interior(navy blue) and is in the process of getting a new driver door.
The first thing that would need to be done is to paint it or at least prime it.
The engine is in good condition
as is the turbo.

He is asking between $1500-$2000 for it.
I have seen these cars running $4000-$6000 for painted cars so i figure 2g paint job would put me at this level

Im thinking white for the color, maybe with two blue racing stripes?
thanks for the help
Craig

 

Sounds like a good deal, but I would keep the factory exterior appearance. There aren't that many of those left unmolested, and the nice ones bring pretty good prices.