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   Texas Trans Am Service & Restoration Newsletter
     "Specializing in Service and Restoration of
         Second Generation Pontiac Firebirds"
             + + www.TexasTransAms.com + +
             + + www.TexasTAMuffler.com + +
            "Celebrate your inner mullet."
    + + Proud Sponsor of www.PontiacChick.com + +
+ + Reluctant Sponsor of www.TransAmTerritory.org  + +
               Episode 20 - August 2004
 
In this Issue
1a. 1981 ignition trouble shooting
1b. Trip to POCI
2. New Project Cars
3. New, re-pops, and discontinued parts
4. Show Room
5. Shipping, Credit Cards
6. Top 100 Muscle Car Site, site-search and e-mail about "Emission exempt in Texas". 
7. Tee Shirts and Bumper Stickers
8. What's new at the shop?
 
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1a.  One of our biggest fans from Ireland recently moved to Plano, Texas.  He bought his daughter a 1981 Firebird to go to off to college.  After buying the car, they brought it straight to Texas Trans Am Service to have it checked over and pick up some parts.  When they stopped for cold drinks at a convenience store just down the highway from the shop, the car would not start.  David came down to the convenience store to check it out.  The horn and headlights worked, and the ignition key could be removed easily (this proved that the neutral safety switch was not out of adjustment, or missing the back-drive linkage).  Under the dash David noticed that the heavy purple wire was cut, spliced and the additional wires re-routed.  The  kill switch was found in the console under the girl's sunglasses and hairbrush, right where they were tossed on the way in to the convenience store.
 
1b.  We road tripped to Joplin, Missouri for the Pontiac Oakland Club International Convention, Car Show and Swap Meet. Got to show off the sound of our mufflers on the suburban parts hauler.  David offers words of advice if you are road tripping to Joplin from Fort Worth: Don't take 121 to McKinney, bring your own music.  If you choose the toll roads through OK take a coffee can full of "exact" change. 
 
We saw our friend Lee Green with his brown '79 Trans Am, (or is it Brown and green) and our Pontiac Chick friend Myla from Oklahoma.  We met new Pontiac Women like Candy, Sharon, Lois and Shelly.
 
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2. "The Privileges of Membership"
Welcome to new newsletter subscriber "swiss-bandit", who became our 544th member of the 31 new subscribers from the past 30 days.  Newsletter subscribers get first notice on rare parts and new project cars.
 
- New Offering :: 1979 Mayan Red 403 automatic Trans Am project car with clean straight body.
 
- New Offering :: 1979 Red 403 Trans Am - Arrive and Drive.  This was Jerry J's old dream but now it's for sale.  Some minor service work was done at Texas Trans Ams, but not the paint or body.  It's the car we used for the Texas TA Muffler sounds and video. 
Please contact Jerry directly about this one at 972-386-9882.  Serious inquiries please.
 
- New Offering :: 1980 Silver 301 CID Formula.  Engine is partially disassembled.  Really nice straight body, good primer job to start with, pretty nice black interior.  No structural or surface rust has been detected.

- New Offering :: 1981 Autumn Maroon 265 CID Formula.  Straight body panels, some surface rust.  http://www.texastransams.com/projects/81maroon265fo.htm

1980 Formula originally White.  Straight body, no visible rust, amateur restoration started Needs engine and transmission.
 
1981 Trans Am originally Silver, in primer now. 301 T/A 4.9 (non turbo) Car is intact, including overflow bottle, brackets etc..
 
1978 Black on Black Trans Am, 400, Automatic, runs.  Clean straight body.
 
- Coming Soon 1977 Brown Trans Am, no engine, trans or hood. straight body - no rust.
 
If you are interested in one of these great project cars, call David at 817-563-2121
 
NEW PARTS CARS
'72 Firebird Esprit, good tail light panel, no rust - minor dents.  Good sub-frame.
'74 Buccaneer Red T/A lots of rust, sub-frame looks fine.
'79 black Trans Am, ripped quarter panel. Offering all or part.
'77 red T/A parts car 400, automatic transmission, all but carburetor and hood shaker.
'76 Yellow T/A, 400 block complete motor.
'80 White Turbo T/A, 301 Turbo with 4 wheel disk brakes, 308-positrac rear end with brake booster, master cylinder and proportioning valve.
'66 Ford Pickup, reasonably straight, big block, with A/C.
 
The previous newsletter can be found in the articles and news section, but only upon the sporadic mailing of the following edition.  As a subscriber, you get the cars, parts and "scoop" 4 weeks (approximately) before anyone else.
http://www.texastransams.com/articles/2004june_newsletter.htm
 
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3. New, re-production, and discontinued parts
We are finally caught up on the back orders for our fiberglass reproduction '74-'75 front splash pan.  The original was made from ABS, but fiberglass is much easier to repair than 30+ year old brittle plastic.
 
We also offer lightweight billet aluminum pulleys for Pontiac engines in standard and under-drive configurations.  These pulleys are available in black powder coat with anodized color alt pulley, polished and in clear powder coat-all pulleys, 
original "Robin's egg blue" powder coat, or dark Pontiac blue powder coat.
 
Original parts available:
AC Delco AM/FM 8 Track Tape player
6X 4 heads, street ported
Freshly rebuilt turbo for a 301 (a $600 to $700 service)
Call David at 817-563-2121 for prices.
 
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4. Show Room
 
Roy just finished painting the office and part of the front of the show room.  He is putting down carpet and base molding now.
Directions and map to the Texas Trans Am shop / showroom available here:
 
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5. Secure on-line ordering: 
 
Texas Trans Am Service retro shirts are available for ordering on the stuff section of the parts page.
 
http://www.TexasTAMufflers.com
http://www.PontiacChick.com
More secure ordering coming soon on the Parts and Stuff page.
In addition to accepting Visa, MasterCard and American Express, we can now accept Discover Card. 
We are shipping parts nationally and to many other countries around the world. 
 
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6.
"Top 100 Muscle Car Sites"
Blah Blah Blah...
 
David's e-mail:
We fired AOL, so please address e-mails to david@texastransams.com.
 
Question of the month:
David answers e-mail
 
"I was reading about one of the cars on your website. In the write-up you say that the car is emission exempt in Texas. 
http://www.texastransams.com/projects/projects.htm
I have always been under the impression that that any federal emissions that were factory installed on a car had to remain in tact and functional to get an inspection.   If what you state is correct it is exciting news to me.  Would you mind explaining how the car is exempt, or what makes any car exempt?  Chris"
 
Hi Chris.
I would be happy to explain the emission laws to you.  According to federal laws, not state, a mechanic or shop, can not remove any emission equipment from a pollution controlled vehicle.  A licensed vehicle dealer can not offer for sale, a pollution controlled vehicle that has had the pollution controls removed from it.  Here is the loophole, the owner is allowed to remove the equipment.    Now that we have the federal portion of the law explained, let's move to the state laws.  Any vehicle that is 25 years or older, is only required to pass a safety inspection, not an emissions inspection. 
As of January 1st of the year the vehicle turns 25, it becomes emissions exempt.  So, instead of paying $42.50 for your inspection, and holding your breath until they tell you it passed, you pay $12.50 and hold your breath and hope they don't find out the parking brake doesn't hold.  This explains the Texas law, other states may be different.  Some states are pushing for a 35 year time period.  If this concerns you, contact your local state representative and let them know how you feel. 
David
 
Site Search from "WhatUSeek.com". 
What are visitors searching for on TexasTransAms.com?  Site Search helps us to tune the site based on what you are looking for.  The following were the most popular searches for the last 30 days:
 
Count, Search Phrase, # Results
11 'fender' 26 
 6 'Decoder' 15
 5 'pontiac chicks' 31
 5 '78 Trans Am' 36
 5 'center caps' 13
 4 '1983' 10
 4 '1979 trans am' 78
 4 'clock' 6
 3 'hoods' 131
 3 'honey comb rims' 0
 3 'alex manz' 3
 3 'pontiac' 173
 3 'cars for sale' 18
 3 'shirt' 25
 3 'wheels' 129
 3 '1979 trans am interior' 24
 3 '1976' 21
 3 '1972 trans am' 17
 3 'decals' 20
 
This months searches not found include 'honey comb rims'
(some call them honeycomb rims, and Yes, we've got them) and reminds us that it's not Texas '4th generation formuls'.  
We also use Site Search results to learn popular new spellings like 'grond afex', 'anniverssary' and 'formuls'. 
Remember if it's an absolute Firebird emergency, please e-mail us at david@texastransams.com or call us at 817-563-2121. 
 
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8. At the Shop Recently ...
 
We are headed to the 20th Annual Trans Am Nationals coming up August 27-29, 2004 Hosted by the Trans Am Club of America Dayton, Ohio Chapter
 
Wisconsin is our top shipping destination of the month!
 
Shipped Recently:
74-75 Splash Pans to Pennsylvania and Oklahoma
79 tail light panel Connecticut
T-Shirt to Connecticut
Battery hold down to Colorado
Firewall AC box to Delaware
Seats in Texas
72 tail light panel to Florida
Carpet to Florida
Trunk lid to Florida
Full weather-stripping kit including Fisher t-tops to Florida
Refinished 8 inch gold turbo wheels to North Carolina
Refinished 7 inch snowflake wheels to Georgia
Reupholstered back seat  to Wisconsin
Black SE Texas Trans Ams ball cap to Louisiana
Intake manifold to Wisconsin
Recovered seats to Wisconsin
Headliner material to Wisconsin
Trunk Seal to Wisconsin
Toe-pans to Wisconsin
Chrome splitter tips to Wisconsin
Carpet to Wisconsin
Intake manifold to Michigan
Carpet in Texas
Exhaust Tips to Sweden, by way of California.
Spoiler to Utah
Mufflers to Quebec, Canada
AC hoses to New York
77-78 Spoiler to Illinois
Center caps and Texas Trans Am retro t-shirt to Virginia
Texas TA Mufflers to California, New York and Washington
Rebuilt door hinges and weather-stripping in Texas
Full Weather-stripping set, center caps, chrome splitter tips, door handles and door locks to Arkansas
74-75 Splash pan to South Carolina
 
 
Alex M's 1979 Formula 400/4 Speed -
The crack in the firewall has been repaired, the rust in the driver's side front toe-pan has been cut out and replaced.  The axle, springs, brake and fuel lines are out for thorough cleaning and priming of the undercarriage.  David is currently prepping the area on the driver's side quarter panel for replacement.
Dano's '79 T/A Special Edition TA -
Front fenders and deck lid are being soda blasted so we can prep them for primer and paint.
 
Larry A's '71 Firebird - 
The body work on the driver's side fender is complete, and bolted on the car.  A good passenger side fender is being soda blasted.
 
1977 Black Trans Am -
Exhaust tips are installed and the wheels are being re-finished.  The Hurst t-top weather striping has been replaced.  The gold SE decals and full SE pin stripping is completed.
 
Michael B'.s Blue '79 400/4-speed Trans Am -
After waiting months for the original blue hobnail cloth, the seats are now being re-upholstered.  The blue vinyl dye is mixed for the plastic interior parts. Once the door panels arrive David will order the correct shade of carpet from ACC.
 
Thanks for reading!