im looking in to buying a 77 ta for around 1500-2000 so far it has 450 heads a mild cam long tube headers dumped exhaust, 3800 stall all it needs is minor body work replace the battery, spark plugs and wires, and a shifter cable. i wanna make this fast, dont wanna sound ricer but i dont know to much about this model so if you guys could inform me on what i should do to make this car, im hoping for high 9's low 10's supposidly the car right now is mid 12's. money really doesnt matter.


thanks

 

That's a lot of expectation for a 77 Firebird!
At 1500-2000 sounds like it's pretty far from a well built 12 second car - even needing body work. What is 450? Is it a Pontiac motor in the car?
What heads? Runs 12's with bad plugs, wires and no shifter cable?
A mild cam with 3800 stall is not a match either.
Sounds like the seller is pulling your chain.
A 77 T/A without any weight reduction would take around 600hp/tq at the motor to even come close to 10's. That's a heavy car!
My 70 was mid 10s on pump gas with over 600/600 and a narrowed 9" rear.
I sold my car turn key for 7500 and others are priced similar. It cost about
If money doesn't matter and you don't have strong knowledge about the car - look for a more complete and proven car.
My .02

 

ok sorry i guess i should of explained a little more my buddy owned the car about 10 years ago and sold it to one of his buddies, the car sat around for a long time not being driven prolly about 5000 miles in those 10 years, the guy just put in a new 3800 stall it used to have a 2800 stall, so its just that it wasnt maintained or driven much i saw the slip from when my buddy had it it ran a 12.50 i thought he said it has 450 heads maybe i miss heard him put it does have some sort of heads and a cam

 

ok - with more details I can help you out but that sounds better.
Factory the car was probably a 400 Pontiac with TH350 trans and like 3.23 10 bolt posi and if it had a/c maybe even 2.73.
I'd say if it went 12.50 it is either not the original 400 or it has more than a mild cam. He probably said 455 heads which could be good or bad. But either way if they were on for the 12.5 pass they must be decent!
Standard 455 heads on a 400 motor are no imrovement in flow and lower the compression because they have a larger cc chamber.
However, 455 HO from 71-73 were a "round port" head that flow well and if milled would get compression back up on a 400. That might be the combination with a mild cam and most likely 3.73 or 4.10 gears with the 2800 stall that went 12.5
You really need to find out facts to understand what you can or can't do with the motor as it is. First, since it's been sitting what condition is it in? Are the valve springs weak? Are the rings a bit stuck/brittle from sitting? Are the valve seals dry? Probably yes to all. Also that many years ago only certain cams, intake manifolds and distrbutors were availible for Pontiac motors. Better choices nowadays.
You need to know:
what size is the motor.
what pistons/rods/crank are inside.
what is the cam.
what year/casting number/work is done to the heads.
what intake/carb/distributor.
what trans/work done.
what rear end/ratio is in the car.
I'll tell you for sure that 2800 is most likely a far better match than a 3800 converter! Pontiacs make gobs of torque right from an idle - so a 2800 stall in a 350 Chevy will stall 3500 behind a torquey Poncho motor! And I bet that converter was not made for the Pontiac as nobody was really doing that 10 years ago.
If you are serious about the car - and at that price I would be looking with 12.5 timeslips - I'd rather talk you through how to decode and determine what's what on the phone. Way to hard to write in here.
You should talk to the buddy that built the car and see what he remembers for fact. Sounds like he knows Pontiacs so print this thread and let him read my questions. Then be at the car when I talk to you about it to save time.
Let me know if you want help and good luck