1. What does the average restoration cost?

2. Would it be cheaper to have my car restored or buy one already completed?

3. How long does a full restoration take?

4. What does Texas Trans Am Service and Restoration do?

5. Why do you focus on Second-Gen Firebird?

6. How long have you been in the business of restoring muscle cars?

7. Do you buy project cars?

8. What is your background in auto repair and restoration?

9. How can I tell a Black Special Edition Trans Am (1977 - 1981) from a regular Black T/A?

10. What does the WS6 Suspension Package option include on the 1978 through 1981 T/A?

11. What does the badge on my dash mean by Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS)

12. Which cylinder head was offered on the 220 hp 400 in 1978 and '79?

13. How does cylinder over bore affect displacement

14. How does cylinder over bore affect the Rated Compression Ratio?

Also please review David's presentation to DAPA for more questions and answers

Answers

Q1: What does the average restoration cost?

A: Texas Trans Am does not perform an average restoration. This includes disassembly of all interior, suspension and body parts, with appropriate cleaning, rust neutralization, coating or replacement. Rusted or damaged body panels are replaced or repaired. All gaskets, bushings and upholstery is replaced. The repaired body is coated in primer and after curing for 30 days is painted with Urethane and color sanded by hand. We consider the restoration results to be "Street Restorations" or "Car Show Restorations" they are not intended to be "Concourse Trailer Queens."

Q2: Would it be cheaper to have my car restored or buy one already completed?

A: Buying a car already restored will almost certainly cost thousands less and get you cruising the street sooner. Remember, when you buy a car already restored, you are buying someone else’s car, built to someone else’s specifications, with the parts they selected and their level of expertise and detail. A great percentage of Texas Trans Ams’ Service work is done to improve or repair someone else’s interpretation of a restoration.  Many customers buy what they are told is a fully restored car only later to find that the previous work was inferior or not done at all. If Texas Trans Ams restores your car it will be done to your specifications as if you had ordered the car new.

Q3: How long does a full restoration take?

A: A full "frame-off" restoration at Texas Trans Ams takes from 12 to 18 months. All parts are removed and each individual piece is cleaned, stripped or sandblasted. Rust is neutralized and parts are coated or primed. Many steps in the process are scheduled to coincide with other restorations. Primed body panels are allowed to cure for 30 days. Finally all parts are assembled and finished by hand. Our work is not collision repair or just a paint job it is full restoration.

A: The majority of the service and restoration work done at Texas Trans Ams involves 1970 ½ through 1981 (Second Generation) Pontiac Firebirds, including Esprit, Formula and Trans Am.  Restoration and service is welcomed on 67 through 69 firebird, but parts are generally not stocked and prices tend to be higher. A few "strays" wander through the shop as well including 1964 through 1973 Mustangs and Cougars and Second-Generation Camaros. We cater to the late 60s through late 70s two door American performance car enthusiast.

A: To fill a gap in the Pontiac muscle car restoration market. GTOs and First-Gen Firebirds have their share of restoration experts, and we love those cars too. Several businesses have opened and closed in the past 10 years that focused on restoration services for the Second-Gen Firebird, but by building a business slowly and controlling quality carefully Texas Trans Ams has purchased most of their inventory. The prices for a project starter Second-Gen. Firebird are still within reason for the average sporty car enthusiast. Even if you spend 10 or 15 thousand dollars to complete your project, you can’t buy anything like it new for less than 30 thousand. And over time they will appreciate in value, as they become more rare.

A: Professionally David has been restoring and servicing Firebirds since 1991, but he still has the 1967 Mustang he rebuilt in 1977.

A: If you are looking to get rid of a late 60’s through late 70’s two door American muscle car or project parts, send me an e-mail. We get calls and messages from people looking all the time.

A: David, the owner and operator of Texas Trans Am Service and Restorations, has been involved in model cars for years, fabricating and painting miniature parts, and substituting parts from one model to another.  Some of David's models have been featured in model car magazines and even toured the country with a model car exhibit.   David has been a professional painter since 1982.  He learned how to shoot Urethane painting high-dollar tractor-trailer rigs for both the Douglas Company and Bell Petroleum for over 4 years.  David has been focusing on the Second-Gen. Firebird since 1991.  Over the years David has developed an extensive network of experts to help with auto restoration components, with final assembly completed at the Texas Trans Am Service and Restoration shop.  David has been a guest speaker on Second-Generation Firebird restoration at DAPA, retained for professional appraisal of domestic sports coupes in a legal proceeding, and is often consulted for authentication of originality of collectible Second-Gen. Firebirds. One customer’s car was featured in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger.  Texas Trans Ams serves domestic customers from California to New York and Alaska to Georgia and internationally from Canada and the Cayman Islands.

Q9: How can I tell a Black Special Edition Trans Am (1977 - 1981) from a regular Black T/A?

A: If the car is SE and has not been tampered with it should feature a gold bird in the horn button, gold tinted spokes in the steering wheel, and a gold bird in the shifter knob if automatic.  The SE came with a gold tinted dash bezel with a black tinted bead around the outside as opposed to silver on silver.  Most dash bezels with gold coloring have faded over time to be indistinguishable from silver at a glance, to verify the original color, pop out one of the plastic instrument rings to see if it is still gold tinted under the protection of the ring.  If the interior is still intact the build sheet should be between the foam and springs of the back seat and one of the last lines should read Y82 or Y84 for T-Top.   The 1979 through 1981 SE had a gold Pontiac arrowhead emblem on the nose. 

Q10: What does the WS6 Suspension Package option include on the 1978 through 1981 T/A?

A: With the reduction in horse power due to emission and gas mileage regulations performance enhancements were made in traction, and handling through the combination of components offered in the WS6 option.  This package helped the nose heavy sport coupe to have a more neutral feel under real world driving conditions and handle as well or better than any other American car of it's time.

The WS6 package was upgraded in 1979 to include:

• 4 wheel disk brakes with 11.1" rotors
• 14:1 constant ratio steering box in place of the 15:1-13:1 variable ratio unit

The lower control arm support is not really on the control arm. It bolts to the back side of the lower control arm housing and on the curved part of the sub-frame.  This support is small and relatively thin.  It is about the size and length of a big pencil connecting frame to frame for the inside of the curve.

Q11:  What does the badge on my dash mean by Radial Tuned Suspension (RTS)

A:  In the 1960's and early '70's the performance tires offered from the factory was the F60-15 bias ply tires.  However for daily driving comfort bias ply tires left a lot to be desired.  Pontiac introduced the "Radial Tuned Suspension" to the automotive world to improve the ride quality and performance offered by the new GR70-15 radial tires.

RTS (Radial Tuned Suspension) in 1974 included the following:

• GR-70-15 radial tires
• Front anti-roll bar diameter shrank on the Trans Am from 1.25" and grew on the base model from 1" both to 1.125".
• Rear anti-roll bar diameter also shrank on the T/A from .875" and grew on the base model from .625" to .75".
• Stiffer springs - 330in/lb. fronts and 125in/lb. rears up from 300/100
• Heavy-duty, re-valved shocks
• Altered bushing durometers

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Q12:  Which cylinder head was offered on the 220 hp 400 in 1978 and '79?

A:  Two versions of the 1975 - 1977 "6X" cylinder head were produced.   The head designed for the 400 cid has a chamber volume of 98.09 CC's.  The head designed for the 350 cid has only a 91.11 CC chamber.  The difference is in the size of the chamber scallop on the spark plug side.  The big chamber head matches the 4.12' bore size while the smaller chamber matches the 3.88" bore size.  The heads can be identified without removing from the car by a number stamped into a flat machined pad just below the valve cover surface, above the temperature gauge fitting.  The small chamber heads are stamped with a "4" and the large chamber heads are stamped with an "8".  However, when installed in a car the number faces the ground so a mirror and a flashlight comes in handy.  To increase compression ratio, and in turn horse power, the factory substituted the small chamber 6X-4 heads on the performance 400 engines in 1978 and 1979. 

Among Pontiac heads designed for un-leaded gas, the 6X is considered the best flowing medium compression head for street performance on "pump" gas.  Since the lead in gasoline that helped to lubricate moving parts was removed the 6X features hardened valve seats in it's 2.11" intake and 1.66" exhaust valve.  The 6X head has an exhaust to intake ratio of 78.7%, these numbers approximate the classic theoretical ratio of 85% (the RAM Air and SD heads from 1967 through 1974 had a ratio of 83.9%.

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Q13: How does over bore affect displacement

Common Pontiac Displacements and Overbore Displacements. 400

	inches	metric
bore	4.1212"
stroke	3.75"
overbore	0	0
displacement/cylinder	50.023 ci's	819.72 cc's
displacement	400.18 cid	6.557 liters
new bore size	N/A

400 bored .030" over

	inches	metric
bore	4.1212"
stroke	3.75"
overbore	0.030
displacement/cylinder	50.75 ci's	824.43 cc's
displacement	406.03 cid	6.595 liters
new bore size	4.1512"

400 bored .040" over

	inches	metric
bore	4.1212"
stroke	3.75"
overbore	0.040
displacement/cylinder	51.00 ci	835.71 cc's
displacement	407.99 cid	6.595 liters
new bore size	4.1612"	10.57 cm

400 bored .060" over

	inches	metric
bore	4.1212"
stroke	3.75
overbore	0.060
displacement/cylinder	51.49 ci	829.15 cc's
displacement	411.92 cid	6.633 liters
new bore size	4.1812"

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Overbore Displacements Calculation

(Webmaster's attempt to explain the calculation)

400 CID

				Inches
Cylinder Bore Diameter				4.1212"
Cylinder Bore Radius	Diameter / 2	4.1212 / 2	=	2.0606"
Cylinder Head Area	Pi * Radius * Radius	3.14159 * 2.0606 * 2.0606	=	13.3394 sq inches
Stroke				3.75"
Displacement/ Cylinder	Area * Stroke	13.3394 * 3.75	=	50.023 cid
Engine Displacement	Disp/ Cyl * # of Cyl	50.023 * 8	=	400.18

1. To arrive at the Cylinder Bore Radius, divide the Diameter by 2.
2. To arrive at Cylinder Head surface Area, multiply the value of Pi (3.14159) by the radius squared (Radius times Radius).
3. Area of Cylinder Head surface multiplied by stroke equals Cylinder Displacement.
4. Cylinder Displacement multiplied by number of Cylinders equals total Engine Displacement.

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Q14: How does over bore affect the Rated Compression Ratio?

Cylinder Displacement plus Head volume divided by Head volume.

This is based on a "mythical" engine with flat top pistons, with a 0 deck height including the head gasket, but the percentage changes should give an indication of performance improvement.

cylinder bore volume		head volume		total volume		head volume		rated compression ratio
819.72cc's (400 cid)	+	98.6cc's (6X-8)	=	917.78	/	98.6cc's0	=	9.36:1
819.72cc's (400 cid)	+	91.11cc's (6X-4)	=	910.83	/	91.11cc's	=	9.99:1
835.71cc's (400 .04" over)	+	91.11cc's (6x-4)	=	926.82	/	91.11cc's	=	10.17:1