CMNT's 1980 Turbo Trans Am. It's alive, it's alive

[CMNTMXR57]

It has arrived... We will work through the title details (the neighbor and I), but it is at the other house.

Not sure what I plan to do with it, but I think i'll just clean it up and flip it.

Sorry, my Son was taking pics and I thought he took more, but obviously not.



And at the other casa de CMNT.

Click to read more...

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Not worth a million bucks but looks rot free. It was the 301T wasn't it?

You may be lucky enough to find a person trying to race a class that needs an "OE turbo car" For a class.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

We did not open the hood, it has that lock thing that I believe Unitsn4 was mentioning. I was wore out. So I just got it unloaded and booked. I'll mess with it more later.

 

[Unitsn4]

That alarm should be easy to remove. Then it's a matter of connecting the cut wires. It does have a hood lock you'll have to deal with. The bent hanger probably goes up the latch. It will be a major pain, but you should be able to open it provided the hood lock isn't engaged. I believe it isn't judging from the key position. I can send you a pic of a latch that may give you an idea on what to do.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

I've got time since I've been furloughed another month.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Not worth a million bucks but looks rot free. It was the 301T wasn't it?

You may be lucky enough to find a person trying to race a class that needs an "OE turbo car" For a class.

From preliminary looks, at least where I lifted it to load on to the dolly and then when I removed it from the dolly, it looks fairly solid and rust free. There is normal 40 year old rusting that I expect, but nothing rotted through... So far.

The hood has the turbo lights, the dash has the "hi/lo" switch for them, it has the white turbine wheels. Like I said earlier, the interios is in shambles, including the t-top handle on the drivers side is broken off, rear plastic trim all busted up, the oh shit handle broken off on one side...

Oh, the tires, not sure if they're the original, but they too have the Indy motor speedway insignia on them...

 

[IDAFC21]

Oh snap

 

[v6buicks]

This is one of those cars that I've always wanted to drive or even just ride but never wanted the aches of owning. Good luck!

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

IceCreamAssassin should have some words about these. I’ve seen him drive one.

 

[Mook]

I was today years old when I learned the 80 TA was turbo'd

 

[Aircal]

I was today years old when I learned the 80 TA was turbo'd

It came with and without in 80 and 81. 81 was the first to get a computer to help. Mines without a turbo so I have the shaker hood. Turbo has the big offset on the hood.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

It came with and without in 80 and 81. 81 was the first to get a computer to help. Mines without a turbo so I have the shaker hood. Turbo has the big offset on the hood.

The 81 is actually awesome for this reason; That distributor lets you put a computer controlled HEI into a traditional Pontiac engine (400,455 etc.) so you can TBI or port injection swap it for minimal cash outlay. It was slightly ahead of its time it's a shame the engine didn't have about another 20lbs of metal in it and made it to the EFI era with a turbo. I think it would have been a winner if the 303 and 367 Pontiacs were any indication.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Yea, the mighty 301...

It's how you roll when they cancel the 400 after 1979.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

Basically they just strapped a heater on top of the motor and made the carb offset. Biggest turd ever but I always had lots of thumbs up while driving it.

 

[Gav'sPurpleZ]

congrats on the new fire chicken

 

[Unitsn4]

Those aren't the original tires. They 'should' be BF Goodrich Radial T/A's.

 

[v6buicks]

Basically they just strapped a heater on top of the motor and made the carb offset. Biggest turd ever but I always had lots of thumbs up while driving it.

lol yeah, I've always heard that the turbos were more of a novelty on these than anything else, but I've never gotten to ride in one to make my own judgement. If the 80 models didn't have any sort of electric ignition timing then how did it compensate for boost? I remember seeing that the turbo Olds V8s had the "Turbo Rocket Fluid" which was just factory meth injection. I wonder if the Turbo Corvairs had something similar.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Basically they just strapped a heater on top of the motor and made the carb offset. Biggest turd ever but I always had lots of thumbs up while driving it.

Looking on the tubes I found rough dimensions as follows for the compressor:


Inducer 53.5mm
Exducer 68.9

Turbine wheel
Inducer 65.0mm
Exducer 49.1mm

That comes out to roughly an H-trim T04B compressor and (oddly) a stage II T3 wheel. The turbine's where I'd expect to see a hold up even with a .82 housing (probably meant for fast spooling.) The compressor is actaully well matched if those dimensions and it has head room even if you wanted to push your luck some. If the engine would have had that 20lbs more metal in it I talked about and people knew what to do with this in the era (methanol injection kit) these things would have been brutal as hell to run up against. It would have been cat back/exhaust/intake manifold to a quick car for the era. Pontiac just ran out of time to make the engine durable enough to do it.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

Hmm, that’s Interesting. Slap some real fuel injection on it, get the turbo off the top of the intake, and run an intercooler. Then it might feel like it does something. Does make decent turbo noises tho.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Hmm, that’s Interesting. Slap some real fuel injection on it, get the turbo off the top of the intake, and run an intercooler. Then it might feel like it does something. Does make decent turbo noises tho.

I just saw in a blurb these ran 5 PSI and were rated for 87 octane+7.6 CR? If the durability was there they had a lot of head room provided you were running premium IMO. I don't even think it would have been that complicated. Chip for timing alterations, some new rods in the QJ to richen it up (almost certainly lean as shit due to emissions) intake and exhaust and I bet she would have gone way better than she did. Throw a methanol kit on there and you'd be at the block's limit probably. I would bet that Vette owners of the era woulda been pissed had Pontiac released an over the counter "off road" package for this car.

With the turbo what it is I really need to get up to grab that one from b4black I didn't realize they'd support that kind of power. I'll end up with an adapter plate on a 350P because it's what I have here in all probability. Should work out well tbh.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

The only problem I remember having with it was finding the best timing. If would either run rough or start to detonate. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to get it to make some power

 

[Mr_Roboto]

It's a turbo car. It's almost never about turbo cars making power, it's about them holding together as they do.

 

[b4black]

In 1980 and 1981, premium gasoline was still leaded, so these had to run on 87 octane.

The 1980 without the computer still should have had a knock retard system. The 1981 would have an ECM. Both would have had a baud rate that was super slow. They would pull too much timing and hold it out for too long.

Best would be to run a non-ECM set up, jet the carb for E85 and then use this for knock protection:

J&S Electronics SafeGuard Indivdual Cylinder Knock Control

www.jandssafeguard.com

I hope to run this one day on my '82 Turbo Buick. The 301 Turbo set up was borrowed from Buick's Carb/Turbo draw thru system. I've run 15 psi on the Buick setup with race gas. The 301 T will make well more than 5 psi.

 

[b4black]

Those aren't the original tires. They 'should' be BF Goodrich Radial T/A's.

Goodyear Polysteel Radial. Available as reproductions.

P225/70 R-15 Large Letter Goodyear Polysteel Radial Tire

Pontiac did it right. The Trans Am, talk about looks and performance! This platforms stole the show and hearts of an admiring public. The convoy of excellence was in full swing and hugging the road fitted with Goodyear Polysteel radials.

www.firebirdcentral.com

 

[Mr_Roboto]

In 1980 and 1981, premium gasoline was still leaded, so these had to run on 87 octane.

The 1980 without the computer still should have had a knock retard system. The 1981 would have an ECM. Both would have had a baud rate that was super slow. They would pull too much timing and hold it out for too long.

Best would be to run a non-ECM set up, jet the carb for E85 and then use this for knock protection:

J&S Electronics SafeGuard Indivdual Cylinder Knock Control

www.jandssafeguard.com

I hope to run this one day on my '82 Turbo Buick. The 301 Turbo set up was borrowed from Buick's Carb/Turbo draw thru system. I've run 15 psi on the Buick setup with race gas. The 301 T will make well more than 5 psi.

If you're looking for a way to do it on the cheap a Megasquirt II can run the ignition timing map entirely and has support for GM knock systems. I am going to probably end up hooking knock back up on my 383. GN parts should work for what you're doing (you'd need the sensor, module and part of the wiring) as well as an 81-end of production CC quadrajet distributor.