1978 W72 4spd L78 M21 WTF

[cook_dw]

[Tracker1]

Congrats Dave! Welcome to the W72 club. I've owned a few of these and they are tons of fun when all the bushings are replaced with fresh rubber and the 15 X 8 wider snowflakes are added. Too bad the Original owner didn't tick the WS6 box, that is the gem with the 78-81 cars, it was GM's best suspension option of the '70s...better than Vettes.

I agree on paint, Martinique looks spectacular fresh. Get that exhaust off of there and hang it in the garage as art - that is all it is good for. Put on some Ram Air Restoration Enterprises 2.5" original appearing Ram Air manifolds (just like a Judge!) and a good mandrel bent 2.5" exhaust . get a Cliff Ruggles kit for the carb and watch that baby come alive. N.H.R.A. spec'd that engine at 260 horsepower back in the day, laughing at Pontiac's 220 rating. I added 3.73 gears to mine as the 400 is way peakier than a 455 obviously.

I'll be watching this one, let's get going!

[Tracker1]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

I think the 3.23 rear was for the auto. 3.42 for the 4 speed AFAIK. Rear would have a WC code.

The rears used 'P' codes actually with 3.42 being PY code. WC is the engine suffix on the front of a 4-speed W72 block in '78.

[Jonesy]

I got a low mile 79 z28 with that same color light blue interior and it fades even when its in the garage!!
I had shades of light blue, grey, a weird aqua tint in the carpet.

[njsteve]

You can get the Evaporust in 55 gallon drums, you know. :-) Just set it up on jack stands and start spraying the underside with a sump pump, a couple kiddie pools and tarps underneath. It works great on old, non-greasy surface rust.

[McCune]

I just sold this 78 W72 4 speed blue bird. It is very rough but all there. Good job on finding a much nicer car!

[grantprix]

Nice find! That one is optioned perfectly IMO. My one and only T/A was the same year and color combo that I bought in the late 80's, but it was a CA car with the dreaded 403 Olds smog engine with an auto trans. My girlfriend at the time really liked driving it, but I didn't keep it long.

[Crush]

[QUOTE=grantprix;1522647]Nice find! That one is optioned perfectly IMO. My one and only T/A was the same year and color combo that I bought in the late 80's, but it was a CA car with the dreaded 403 Olds smog engine with an auto trans.

“My girlfriend at the time really liked driving it, but I didn't keep it long”

The girlfriend or the car? LOL!

[A12pilot]

Thanks Guys! Des, good info. So really, what I’m seeing is that these cars are some of the ones that do better when modified versus restored/stock. While part of me would want to keep the original stuff on there, it’s basically worthless since it doesn’t perform well and is 42yrs old.

Yep, paint, wheels, exhaust, and some interior treatment. That might be about it!

Cheers
Dave

[Lee Stewart]

Dave:

Try to use the Rallye II wheels that came with the car. If you do a search for 1978 Trans Am you will see literally almost all the photos have the "snowflake" wheels so yours will stand out.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...mageBasicHover