My freind is looking into buying a 1981 Turbo TA and we cant find any info or specs. What we want to know is hp@rpm and torque@rpms any other info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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85 IROC LB9

 

Uh, I'll look at one of my old Motor Trends for you tomorrow, but I do remember the 301 turbos had 210hp around 4000 RPM, and did 0-60 in the high 7, low 8 range. I can get you more details soon.

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Jason E
'89 Camaro RS 2.8
Grey/AT/T-tops/all power
Hypertech chip/2 K&N filters/Accel 8.8 wires/RapidFires
Eclipse CD and 100x4 amp/Boston 746 4x6 plates and RX 6x9 3 ways/ALL Monster's goodies
Alpine Alarm w/ Keyless entry
IROC tailights/t-windows

 

It was rated at 16 MPG, Compression ratio was 7.5:1, and HP is 200 or 210@4000 RPM. 1 magazine said it did 0-60 in 8.7 and the 1/4 mile in 16@85.9 MPH. The other said 0-60 is 9.8, but had no 1/4 mile. Required with this car is air conditioning, automatic transmission, and 4 wheel disc brakes.

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Looking for:

87 IROC-Z L98
84 TRANS AM H.O.

[This message has been edited by IROCZTWENTYGR8 (edited October 14, 2000).]

 

8.7 to 60 MPH sounds right. Were you quoting the 9.8 from an all-turbo test that Motor Trend did around '81?? That car had to have been off a bit, because they shouldn't have been THAT slow.

The high 7, low 8s I quoted above was from a late-'79, pre-production car MT road tested. These were GM's quotes for the car, so they very well may have been fudged a bit.

If you want any additional information from either of the 2 articles I have, feel free to email me at JasonEE98@aol.com, and I'll be happy to help.

 

hey man this website deals specifically with 2nd gen TAs it may take a day or two to get an answer but the guys are good www.pub12.ezboard.com/b2ndgentransamforum
the 301 Turbos were slow i would bet at least the 8.7 0-60 not high seven or low eights. if the 81 turbo TAs did high sevens then my 79 403 TA is doing sixs 0-60. i hope he isnt buying the TA in hopes of making it fast at least not with that engine anyway. and i am pretty sure you could get a four speed turbo TA. one of the guys on the board listed above has a turbo TA. he is Frankie Rider ever heard of him he is on this board a lot too.

 

The 1981 Turbo Trans Ams were rated at 200 bhp @ 4000 rpm, down 10 hp from the previous year. Torque ratings were the same with 340 ft/lb at, I believe, 2800 rpm.

As an owner of one of these cars (a 1980 model)..... rest assured that the power seems to be "paper horsepower" only. They are not really fast cars, so don't expect a tarmac terror.....

The 8.7-second 0-60 time sounds about right, as these cars were about 1.5 seconds off the times posted by the 1979 400/4-speed cars that listed 220 bhp. A near-10-second run would make me think that the car's performance was off somewhere else.....

FYI..... the Turbo T/As were offered with THM350s only. Reportedly the 4-speed prototypes ran so dismally that Pontiac put that fire out pretty quickly.....

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Frankie Rider, 2
The GTA Source Page
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1988 GTA Red 5.7L Hatchback
1988 GTA Black 5.7L Notchback
1988 GTA Gunmetal Metallic 5.0L Hatchback

[This message has been edited by FrankieRider2 (edited October 15, 2000).]

 

ok well i was wrong about the four speed. i could have sworn you could get it but only in limited numbers like the other four speeds at the end of the second gen run. oh well. see there's Frankie. it is weird though that the Turbo 301 has more torque on paper than my 403 yet my 403 would kill it. weird may be they altered the numbers to make it seem better. TINFY

 

I was wrong about the Turbo 4.9L torque ratings as well..... I rechecked my literature and the correct figure is 345 lb/ft, not 340.....

TINFY, just about any decently fast car will take a Turbo T/A off the line because of the spool-up time involved. Now after the car hits its power band in second gear, things happen quite rapidly.

I used to run my first Turbo car a little bit on the street for fun and had a lot of good luck after the car shifted into second gear; it was very quick after it got going. People were really shocked. Stoplight-to-stoplight was another matter; you had to shut the car down just about the time it got all spooled up to run.....

But the start is hard to do anything with..... When somebody challenges you at a light, you just look over and grin really big...... and say "yeah, but damn I look good....."

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Frankie Rider, 2
The GTA Source Page
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1988 GTA Red 5.7L Hatchback
1988 GTA Black 5.7L Notchback
1988 GTA Gunmetal Metallic 5.0L Hatchback
1981 Trans Am WS6 5.0L..... soon to be replaced by Chevy SB400
1980 Turbo 4.9L Trans Am WS6