1978 Pontiac Trans Am FAST EZ EFI Fuel Injection Overdrive Engine Upgrades V8TV V8 Speed & Resto 

Contact the V8 Speed & Resto Shop if you'd like upgrades like these on your Muscle Car project! www.v8speedshop.com/contact 314.783.8325

My wife and I drove 3 hours south two days ago to look at a BEAUTIFUL low mileage 1977 Black and Gold Trans-Am…well…it’s being delivered to me this week!!!! I can’t WAIT!!!!

By the way my dream of 42 years came true in December when my 78 Bandit T/A was delivered to my home! All original!! You guys did a great job on this one! She's beautiful. Love that clean engine!!

Great video. As a 70s motorhead I appreciate someone "fixing" the garbage detuning of the 70s to make a car more streetable and fun without installing a LS. Most mid to late 70s cars had 2.73:1 or worse gears with a 3 speed auto, a strangling Cat Converter, no advance in timing because we had crap gas. You made a video that shows what anyone can do to make one of these old F Body cars a lot more fun to drive...thanks.

These guys are specialists. I was fascinated at the attention to detail. If you drive your car into their workshop you know it's in the hands of true car enthusiasts.

My dream car! Great job making this T/A faster! That’s the way it should’ve been when it was new!

I called this shop after seeing this video and while the guy who spoke to me was professional and easy to speak to, he was hard to pin down on the pricing. He said they charge 40 hours labor at $75 dollars an hour, plus almost 3 grand for the system. 40 hours labor for the install is a lot and the price for everything is in the 7K range. Not including me shipping the car down there and back, which add around another $1200 to the bill. I don't know many car guys who can swing almost 10K for this and they make sound so easy on the video.

I worked on Muscle Cars for 40 years and you Guys do some nice work! This Trans Am is a 10 point Car out of 10 Points... hands-down. I'm a Big-Block Chevy Guy but this could be my next Muscle Car.

These guys proved that you dont have to go crazy or be rich to put some pep in youre old car

Wow ! What a beautiful car. I had one when I was in high school . Wish I still had it with the technology's we have today.

I wish this stuff existed back when i got my license mom and dad bought me a 79 trans am,, it had the same stuff this one has and needed everything this one needed aswell..sure would have brought mine to life had this stuff been around then....nice car and nice job guys.

Exactly what I would do to one! I would call that "Resto-Upgraded" and love that it still looks completely stock! Glad to see folks that give them some modern love under the hood and stay true to the spirit of the car. Great job!

OWNED 2 OF THEM...1977 & 1978..."MISS THEM BOTH VERY MUCH"...!!! 1ST Car I Bought After I Sold my 1970 OLDS 442

My friend and i bought 2 Trans AM's in 1978 mine was red his was white both 4 speed cars with 3.42 gears. We also both ordered the TA 6.6 Pontiac motor rated at 220 HP, The cars were just over $6000.00 new, I believe our only option was the motor. Driving home with our new cars we knew we needed to get these cars breathing better so on went headers, we opened up the shaker hood scoop, we re jetted the Rochester Quadrajet carburetor, added 1.6 ratio rockers, removed the catalytic converters, we also removed the Pontiac cast iron intake manifold and added the Edelbrock Performer intake manifold. we also added booster springs to the rear shocks to raise the rear 1 inch we both thought a little better look. We did not want to beat our cars so we both went to Milan drag way in Michigan and decided to do 3 runs each to see what our cars would do, We both being amateurs at this, out of six runs my friend did the best time i think because he was skinny hehehe anyways, factory tires, 13.9 at 101 mph was our best.

Great work guys.I had a 77 T/A back in the day, changed the cam which helped a lot but with all that technology out there today the sky’s the limit, one of only a few cars I wish I still had and probably my favourite

Incredible job guys, thanks for sharing. I’m retiring within a few years and I’m hoping one of these babies will be a gift to myself. I had a ‘78 when I was a kid. I babied it but eventually sold it. If I only knew back then what I know now. I promised myself that when I retire and move, one of these will be in my garage. The only place I know of right now that restores them is a place in Florida. If anyone else has information, please let me know. I didn’t read any description. I came straight to the comment section so forgive me if I missed the obvious. Thanks!

You guys at V8 Speed and Resto are good. I retired an ASE Master Tech and specialist in automatic transmission. I was trained at the GM Training Center in Atlanta back in the 1990's, and I agree with your choices 100% in this project. However I would have added one thing: a Torsen T2 differential. I bought a 2004 Mercury Marauder after I retired and now positively HATE any kind of lockup differential in a car that's supposed to be about good handling on the street. When I converted "Quicksilver" and replaced her 28 spline axles with 31's and installed the Torsen the handling improvement was *dramatic!* No more losing my line when kicking down 1 or 2 gears coming out of curves. I highly recommend the Torsen to anybody who enjoys a bit of aggressive cornering, as I'm sure this young man would have.

Great job on the Trans Am! I love all of the slight mods that y’all did to make the car more driveable!🐟

Smokie and the Bandit along with Convoy really started the CB radio craze in the UK back in the late 70s it seemed like everyone had a CB eather in there car or house.

I had a 74’ TA and put 3.73 gears in and kept the turbo 350 trans. The car accelerated sooo much better but it was brutal on the highway. I think it got about 8 or 9 mpg cruising 65mph.

Excellent! At last, some guys who don't do any drama, know their stuff, and get it done!

Very knowledgeable guys..really admire this model. If I ever had the money, I'd drive the 1st generation to your shop ASAP to make it a 2nd generation- would love to observe the transition-fun part as well ... I'm grateful that you're keeping the beautiful TA alive and well. Thank you sincerely..

I'm really glad to have owned one of them when they came out...Fun car...At the time. Man how things have changed!

You have no idea how happy I am to know there are actual real people that really do know more about cars than me rather than fast talkers. Because they all talk but few of them know.

It's nice not seeing something over done or the same old thing.

Saw this baby and Challenger in ""Upgrade"" movie...superloved it.. I love these guys honest and humble suggestions and recommendations..guys like these are rare.

I had a 74 400 4sp w3:23 in the rear end. It got 15mpg at highway speeds and ran 13:70's @ 101mph in the quarter. I had a lot of fun in that car. Sold it to a friends brother. He had it two weeks and a guy in a pickup truck nailed him in the rear at 40mph and totaled it. :O(... I still have my 69 GTO 400 with a Turbo 400 Auto in it. I watched this because I would like to do something similar to make it more of a highway cruiser yet still have some get up and go. Thanks for sharing your great insight guys, you gave me some good ideas. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya

You all did great on this classic T/A!!!!

I think you hit a winner here V8TV, while not a classic muscle car (64-71). It's still a classic and obtainable. You guys do great work.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'

I loved these when I was a little kid! Swore I'd always have one, but then I "grew up" and became attracted to cars like the Porsche 911. I would LOVE one of these OG Trans Ams with a 6-speed, a modern fuel-injected engine (~400hp), a top-notch brake and handling package (Wilwood or Brembo and coil-overs), and a custom leather interior. Something that looks like a Trans Am, but is as luxurious and quiet as a Rolls to cruise across country in, and handles the twisties like a Porsche. Is that too much to ask?!

Very Impressed. I have always loved the 77/78 Trans Am. These guys done the perfect upgrade to this car. Well done 👍👍.

when I rebuilt my brothers t/a built the engine and made sure to port and polish the heads toped it off with summits efi system which woke the engine and have a 200r4 with a shift kit in it as well as a better posi in the rear

I love Second gens!

You guys do wonderful work this Bird looks great. Awesome job and kudos to the owner for listening to And deploying your upgrade ideas. Great video.

Magnificent legendary Trans Am, with Burt Reynolds in the film The Bandit. I love this Pontiac Camaro, a dream of youth.

Nice... I put a 200 4r in my 78 also over 20 years ago. Huge difference. I have to say I like the 3.23 ratio better though. You had to know how to take it off the line without smoking up the tires even with 10" wide tires. No power breaking touch the throttle to quick and light em up sitting still. 😆 I may have had a bit more power but the rear is light and the torque would break the traction every time if your not careful.

got my 72 in the works right now.... cant wait ! love the video

I too had a Y88 Trans Am. That was my favorite car I ever owned. I kept it looking all stock from the exterior dnd as stock under the hood, but she made about 860hp at the crank out of a 455ho. It had BME aluminum rods, 10.5:1 pistons, solid lifter cam (I can’t remember the specs), Port and polished ram air 4 heads. The best run was 10.42 @ 138 mph.

Thank u for not doing an ls swap! I love ls series engines Pontiac power is my first true love. While they may not haul a$$ like an ls there is just something awesome about Pontiac power. That is not to say a 400 or 455 is slow by any means

rare to find three guys that all know how to properly convey what they are trying to. Good build, but my 77 Formula is getting a twin turbo LS

dream car right there, when i sell my house maybe ill contact these guys!

Nice video! Very informative. Like the camera work too. Thanks for the work. Your guys are great! As a former 78 TA owner (Gold Edition), these cars are a blast to drive. They get looks and turn heads wherever you go. Plus, their handling in their day was ahead of their time, so nowadays, they still drive and handle quite well even compared to modern cars. I can almost imagine how it must have transformed the driving experience of that car. That's the reason to do a mod like this. Classic cars generally don't get driven all that much, so yer going to spend way more on the upgrades than you'll ever save in fuel costs, but if the modern 'driveability' inspires the owner to drive it more, enjoy it more, than it's achieved something great right there. Also, from an environmental standpoint, I'm sure it burns much more efficiently than a 40 year old de-tuned engine. Good idea to have it rebuilt. I'd like to know more about the transmission swap and the controls. Here's a funny story: back in the 80's when the 200-4R were in use just about every mechanic and parts store guy would tell you they were 'Junk'! "You want to put in a TH700-R4!". I heard that from almost everyone. The old-school guys would say, rip it out and put in a TH350. Yet the Caprice I had had 250k miles on a 200 4R and it ran great and so did a couple other cars with the same tranny. Now they're all the rage. Funny how things go! Oh, younger readers have to remember that one of the reasons these cars run high RPM's down the road are because the speed limit was 55 back then ....even on the interstates. And the engines were detuned to about 200 hp (depending on which engine you had) because it was only 4-5 years from the super high gas prices of the Arab Oil Embargo. Those were the highest relative fuel prices ever many say. Higher fuel economy cars were the trend in the late 70's (as well as better emissions), so the ways to achieve that were to go with smaller engines, de-tune an existing engine (with more emissions equipment), and lower gearing. None of those were great for performance. Fortunately modern technology has provided a lot more options. Gee wiz, my pickup has over 400hp with a smaller engine!! Ultimately, if yer a 'Purist' you'd probably gain a lot of driveability by spending money on a good comprehensive carb rebuild and making sure your car's engine and emissions are in good condition and live with the gearing and high RPMs (knowing you still have a numbers-matching 'original' car). Those old carb engines 'could' run idle down to 500 rpm or lower and just sit there and purr if properly set up. There's something fun, unique and charming about driving a classic car as it was in the day. Most guys are lucky to put on 2,000 mi per year going to shows and the occasional joy-ride. When's the last time anyone took a TA on a cross-country drive?! For one thing they're not nearly as safe as newer cars ....and T-top cars are so squeaky, water-leaky, and flex like you can't imagine going into an out of gas station driveways (but they still kick 'butt'!). But that charming feeling does get kind of old pretty quick, so if you're looking for smoother, snappier performance, and a much better driving experience than the only way you're going to get it is by doing some modern upgrades like this owner did. I was really thrilled you kept the engine compartment so it look stock. Nice work!

Great Video of a Great Car in under 20 Minutes. You Spanned the Gamut without over elaborate Details of The Modifications.

Mean looking cars. I had an all black ‘77 TA. It handled like a dream. Poor 400 motor got tired. Sold it for $500 in ‘91. We traded and sold hot rods like baseball cards. Good ‘ol days.

Rip Burt Reynolds we lost an icon today Sept 6 2018 the reason why Trans-Am is my favorite car great show guys

You guys did a superb job on this beautiful TA 😍

glad you kept the pontiac engine in it

This is how Pontiac, needs to build trans Am.

As a kid I saw a new 1977 and I have never forgot that .

Thanks for an awesome video......Some fresh muscle in a old classic........Gorgeous car

The only issue I have with this is the loss of the big quadrajet kick down. When you whomped the gas to the floor those big secondaries would open with a bawaaahhh sound that really was nice with the rear facing scoop. Not the same with fuel injection. Definitely an improvement for operation but not as cool of sound when you drive it

Nice car. Nicely done project. I especially liked that you made the shaker hood functional. That it wasn't from the factory has always been a real sin. I was shocked to see someone putting a 200-4R in something on purpose, but then I suppose if they're good enough for a Grand National, they're fine behind a 78 Pontiac 400. Nice upsell on the roller cam. There's just no good excuse for using flat tappets these days. Roller cams do everything they can do, better. Including high ramp acceleration leaving you with more time under the curve for the vales to be open. Plus they're nearly bulletproof. Now all it needs are subframe connectors, a brake upgrade, and some mild suspension work.

Love them Trans Am"s great job kevin and the V8 speed and resto shop

I was waiting to hear the solution for the lock up torque converter control and you nailed it! Thank you

I had an a 1976 455 I bought in 1986 and took off the cat. and put duel exhaust. As soon as I let out the clutch I could tell the difference. It was so much faster and more responsive.

Love the car and love to set up guys thanks for sharing with me

Trans am's of this era were so cool looking but truly lacked any muscle especially with the automatic. Nice upgrades to bring this car up to muscle car caliber.

Cool video. Learned a lot. Thank you

Very nice!!..my hats off to yall!

I would love to do the same but with a 455 72cc aluminum heads & intake with ram air four exhaust manifold. A good MSD ignition.

Haha a 3 speed to OD transmission and carb to fuel injection an even flat crappet to roller cam....these guys get it 👏

This was like turning Frankenstein's monster into a fast, hungry machine. Nice!

Fantastic as always and one of my all time favorite cars!

That was a superb tour and fantastic results.

These cars look so much better with a set of centerlines and no stupid graphics.

I'm big fan 2nd Gens of the Trans Am with the Overdrive transmission plus with 6.6l 400 series

One the most iconic cars of all time……it needs to be resurrected.

This is the poster I had in my wall in 7th grade. I was still afraid to talk to girls, lol.

Nice to see it has been kept powered by Poncho. Thumb up just for that.

My mom had on just like the white on tin the background when I was a kid. White on red.

Kevin - I totally enjoyed and have been inspired by this vid. here in UK, having subbed & enjoyed your MCotW vids for some months now. I had a 79 Olds auto T/A here in UK from '84-89 & at the same time hired a 3rd gen Firebird in US with lock-up converter when in the US one time. I'm now starting to build a head of steam to acquire a 78/79 Formula/TA & introduce some contemporary features along your lines. I think the production totals of 78/79 Trans Ams coupled with what history has proved one of the best all-round cars of that era makes the 78 & 79 Trans Am a good choice. Thanks again for the presentation & content of this vid - well done! Just little background, best friend & me more chanced on our '77 & '79 Trans Am's having graduated from '73/'74 Ford Capri GXL's (3L V6 138hp/128mph). I'm afraid we were more influenced by Smokey & the Bandit than by Bullitt and paid more attention at first the the sound system to belt out Madonna & Cyndi Laupa until our ears bled... We did get to clean up the exhaust by restoring a full custom dual system, tho'... And whatever the reason we chose Trans Am, most enjoyed driving these cars either on our own or together year round as our only daily driver or in a wider group of UK/European car enthusiasts during the summer for a few years.

One of the few cars to get before i die

Watching this at work with the sound off really sucks. I work with a bunch with e car people and when I told them know my Expedition with an SCT tune is now getting worse gas mileage at 13.6, they cringed. I have a code 19 '79 T/A 4 speed with T Tops and a :( 4.9 in my garage getting new bushings, ball joints and Hotchkis front coil springs this winter by me. Great video, thanks, you guys rock. One day I'll ditch that wimpy 301 for a monster 400 with some hp. Take care, happy new year.

EXACTLY the way I’d want it! Maybe someday if my book series goes viral I’ll have you guys build me one!

My dream machine!

This is badass Im glad you guys rebuilt it my uncle had a 1980 firebird formula platinum silver with the black bottom and red lettering, he had a 400 from a 74 trans am he had it rebuilt and put headers a 4 barrel edelbrock and a edelbrock intake manifold and a cam and intake. One of the fastest cars I've ever drove easy and I'd bet this car would beat his how much horsepower and pound feet of torque did this have when you guys got it right?

My favorite car of all time the Pontiac Trans Am. I plan on getting one sooner than later. I haven't decided on a classic or a late model LT1 or LS1 car.

Thanks for the clear concise video !

Nice job! Thank you for not going the LS swap route and ruining this car!

Nice work..!! I have put T-56 and ZF 6 speeds in 2 of my GTOs and enjoy the cruisablilty ..Almost 30 mpg at 70 Mph with a 3:55 rear end.. Next I want to try the newer 8 speed or even the 10 speed automatic. One of my GTOs is a 500 CI with over 650 HP at the crank.

Great work, guys!! Kudos for keeping it as original in look as possible!

I hope I need you guys one day👍

I wish I could my truck into y'alls shop. That would be a one thing off the bucket list.

The best car I used I had three 1981, 1979 and 1977

Haven't read the comments yet,but how bout that LTD Classic in the dash?Best radio I've ever had. And use everyday.

I'm always happy to see a classic muscle-car get a new lease of life! They're not very common over this side of The Pond, which is a shame.

Hurts my feelings that I had 3 1979 Trans Ams in the 90's! I could get them for like $500 back then. My last one had the rear wheel disc brakes.

Very cool I always loved and wanted one of those cars totally awesome

Nice Build! This is along the lines of what I would have done for my step dad's old '77 Camaro if I had the chance. The 200-4R is a great choice because you get the THM350 gears with that nice overdrive fourth instead of the goofy 700R4 gear set. I would have loved to see before and after 1/4 mile times because I think the combo of cam/fuel tuning/final gear is exactly what most older American cars need for the biggest bang-for-the-buck go-fast upgrade. For my trouble, I probably would have added a set of aluminum heads, modern intake manifold, 1.6:1 rockers, and a 3500 stall converter and cooler, but then everyone would know the car wasn't stock and you'd a real tire and probably some rod bolts and pistons too. As is, it's a great warmed up head turner that cruises nice and can masquerade as stock anywhere anytime. If it was your own car would you guys have gone with the in-tank pump route, or maybe a external pump and AN based fuel system?

great episode!!

Yes! I need one!

Damn that thing is stupid clean

one day I'll get a trans am and of course bring it to you guys coz you know the rules :)

2:10 God damn, it jumped to 30,000 rpm and didn't even throw a rod. Impressive.

Nice job! Love these F body GM's.

Hello everyone. I have a set of 68 gto ra iii heads. Wondering where I need to go to get them ported. Would like to build a 461.

I'm sorry, but I must admit confusion. Kevin seems to say that the gearing is too tall for off-the-line performance ("can't get out of its own way")...but then the driver points out the relatively high RPM the engine is turning over at highway speed. If the gearing is too tall off the line, wouldn't it mean the engine would loaf at hwy speed and get better economy? Thank you.

not easy car. but i love it. an all pontiac in world

Nice job. I have a 68 LeMans/GTO clone w/406 Pontiac, Edelbrock 600 , Pontiac Performer Intake, 068 Tri Power Cam , and 6X heads. It currently has 3.23 gears and I think the engine makes enough power to go to 2.72 gears. It has a turbo 400 and 1st gear is useless unless you want to show off. I'm running 5000 at like 35 mph and as you know that cam and engine are all done at around 4500 and I'm a road racer and not so much drag racing. I did install Disk Brakes as well. It seems slow to me but i have only lost 1 stoplight race and that was to Tesla S and I beat him up to around 35 mph! It's a big car and you don't feel the speed and it will go like hell up to about 100 mph. I also own a 500hp 6 sp manuel C5, but thats a whole different animal. I did the math and 2.73 will put me right where i want to be up to around topping out 140 (you dont need to go faster than that in that car.) I don't have a shop and I'm not a young buck anymore and don't want to shell out $2200 for a 2004r conversion. Do y'all think I would gain much going to the EZ EFI? The car has great manners with the carb. Seems to be a good match to the cam and i think i should get 15 to 17 on the hwy with 2.72's cruising at 2600 @75 mph I get 10 to 12 mpg no but turning 3200@75.I will be doing some hwy miles. mostly. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Tlrua3xSAP4.html (jump to .40 sec) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qrwsVCs9uiA.html Here