Thread: 1978 Pontiac Firebird Formula-Update- 5/9/2014

Originally Posted by redlinepontiac

butler performance will be your friend for engine parts

Yes sir! im excited but need to pace myself and not start dumping money into it. Need to be smart about this built and also need to remember its a project car. But I cant take me mind out of it lol

i noticed youre in arizona, im jealous there are some good deals to be had at your swap meets.

Originally Posted by redlinepontiac

i noticed youre in arizona, im jealous there are some good deals to be had at your swap meets.

YES SIR!! I love it here

i walked through one and saw what you guys get for rust free fenders and doors, i wanted to take everything i could find back with me, one guy was sellng a fiberglass old 442 pinned hood for like 300$ out here thats an easy 1500$ for the same part

Just scored a Pontiac 400 with Th400 Transmission for $600 wooohooo brooom broom lol

Ignore Scotty, he's biased. '77-78 'Birds had the best beak of any 2nd gen, hands down. Anyone here watch re-runs of the Rockford Files? Oh yeah, not so much. Seen Smokey and the Bandit 100 times? Yes, case closed.

And with regards to the running gear, if you want to be a dinosaur, so be it, but look around for a 455- As already stated, 301-455 Poncho mills are virtually the same, and a 461 Indian is just a quick overbore away. I'd seriously consider a 700/4L60 for the benefit of OD, or better yet 4L80. Cool project, enjoy it. I may, or may not have a '77 in the wings as we speak- But, you can't know what you don't know.

after 74 all HP was dropping like flys. 77-78 all the way up to the 90's all blew a hard dick. no HP no toque. hell later on they used a crappy olds engine and and because it was a 402 everyone thought it was great, well it was not so great. weak sauce pos at best.

my 70 formula 400 used to just eat them like candy. and most other cars in town. there were very few that were faster stock for stock.


the smokey and the bandit cars, NOT ONE WAS A STOCK ENGINE. (they had Chevy built engines) or a stock factory car in general. did that movie boost sales, hell yes it did. ill watch that movie every time i see it on lol

ever see a stock 78 t/a do burn outs like the bandit car did? no you never have.

i have a mild cammed 455 in my pontiac, torque for days

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

after 74 all HP was dropping like flys. 77-78 all the way up to the 90's all blew a hard dick. no HP no toque. hell later on they used a crappy olds engine and and because it was a 402 everyone thought it was great, well it was not so great. weak sauce pos at best.

my 70 formula 400 used to just eat them like candy. and most other cars in town. there were very few that were faster stock for stock.


the smokey and the bandit cars, NOT ONE WAS A STOCK ENGINE. (they had Chevy built engines) or a stock factory car in general. did that movie boost sales, hell yes it did. ill watch that movie every time i see it on lol

ever see a stock 78 t/a do burn outs like the bandit car did? no you never have.

you should have met my dad 78 ta he bought it brand new and everything broke on it but the engine lol. power brakes locked up and refused to let go. windows went down and never came back up then it rained that day as well just to kick him in the teeth a little harder. yeah I do know what your saying scotty but its how it was taken care of or not.

short story my dad bought a 79 camaro off my mom cuz she thought she could make money off doing what my dad does (selling collectors cars for a profit) but she bought a lemon then my dad wanted to buy it from her. so they made a deal and let me drive it. well........ lets just say i dam near blew that engine up and froze it as well all in the same day. what happened is it went through a quart of oil like a mofo and it ate coolant to the tune of about 1 gallon per hour. SO i had to drive all the way down to merced from modesto so i jumped in and started on my way i had no problems with it tell i got back i was in the red line and way way past it. the poor poor engine started to cut out on me i was able to limp it to the office then it died on me it vapored locked on me. i thought forsure that i warped the block and heads. that chevy 350 was a champion. it did fire back up but never was the same so we gave it back to my mom. then she tried to sell it for top dollar.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

after 74 all HP was dropping like flys. 77-78 all the way up to the 90's all blew a hard dick. no HP no toque. hell later on they used a crappy olds engine and and because it was a 402 everyone thought it was great, well it was not so great. weak sauce pos at best.

my 70 formula 400 used to just eat them like candy. and most other cars in town. there were very few that were faster stock for stock.


the smokey and the bandit cars, NOT ONE WAS A STOCK ENGINE. (they had Chevy built engines) or a stock factory car in general. did that movie boost sales, hell yes it did. ill watch that movie every time i see it on lol

ever see a stock 78 t/a do burn outs like the bandit car did? no you never have.

You ought to know better than try to school me. LMAO~~~~~ The Olds engine was a 403, and it wasn't lame, I assure you- I have built about 50 or so, and let me be very clear, they'd b!tchslap amy POS 400 of any year, especially a '74 with 57 horsepower, or a '75 with 42 and a breadbox cat. Fact of the matter is, everything went to hell in the showrooms after '72 as a result of CAFE and other nonsense, and even better fact is new LS engines will sh!t all over any of the outdated platforms we (you) are arguing about. Now let the man build his Firebird and leave the stupid, Fugly '74 formy beak out of this. Nothin' but love, by the way.

LOL i hear ya. like you said, "built" stock they sucked a dick.

i love that beak as you call it. the nose of the 70-74 birds was the best ever. and true most new birds and camaros would eat the old ones.stock to stock, but for what they were, they were rather sick.

Stock, a 400 Poncho sucked dick too. Truth told, a built 454 with a big Holley eats LSx sh!t too, but since we're comparing slow to slower, why not.

I like this thread even better now Im still getting the Pontiac 400 with TH400 combo which I scored for $600 tomorrow , then a nice rebuilt after that! Thanks for the tips ...BTW my buddy did say I should go with a 4l80 but im keeping it old school.

I am just here to give the Scottai hell.

Originally Posted by 02 WS6 TA

I am just here to give the Scottai hell.

Well fo for it lol , keeps my thread ALIVE!

See, my old ass still has skillz. LOL

So I have had a long day so far but surprisingly I feel great Got up at 2 AM did a little running on the treadmill, went into work at 4 am got out at 12pm and all day I was thinking about the engine I was going to go pull after work . Well FINALLY! here it is

Pontiac 400 and TH 400 Pulled from a 1973 Pontiac Grand AM, the seller was kind enough to have removed ALL bolts so basically it took about 30 minutes to pull out.







After 1 hour in traffic I arrived at my house and took this baby off the truck that my neighbor was kind enough to let me borrow.







Car sitting pretty with its new heart and brain or its new set of balls



I also purchased a 650 CFM electric choke Holley carb and the Driveshaft for $45 for both ( carb needs rebuilt, and driveshaft will need to be cut to fit)

Found out the car has POSI differential

nice score.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

nice score.

Thanks, the way I see it is I got a 1978 with POSI differential, Pontiac 400, TH400, matching driveshaft, Holley carb and clear title for $1100 , only $5k to go and im set lol .

that tranny tail shaft looks to be the long one. not sure if the cross member will line up right with it or not. there should be a few sets of holes in the frame. maybe one set will line up right. if not you'll need the short shaft.

some thing to look up maybe. its been a while for me on this old stuff.


5 large to go lol thats the hard part to eat.