Formy

I just posted on the Western forum about your car. ABSOLUTELY BADASS!!! I can not wait to see this thing.

lsevenl

iTrader: (5)

beautiful, simply beautiful definitely keep us updated on the conversion!

300bhp/ton

Nice looking TA man, I'm after getting me a 77/8 TA SE.

Needs some gold Snowflake alloys IMO. Also I just couldn't dump the Poncho power plant either.

casey02ws6

iTrader: (2)

Run a carb set up on the LS1 and keep the shaker hood - that is what I would do! I have seen many write-ups on running a carb on an LS1

Ateyate

iTrader: (4)

Awesome car! Looks like they did a great job on the restoration.

76LS1BIRD

iTrader: (35)

You will love driving your 78 with that LS1 & 6 speed .My car is/was a 78 until I put 76 formula front end & hood on

LS1Bandit

Thanks for the complements guys! Much appreciated.

Multiple replies:

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out what to do there. Most people don't seem to like them, but I actually like the wheels that are on there now. But one guy pointed out that the Fikse FM/10 with gold anodized wheels would match pretty well, which I thought looked pretty nice.

I'm in the wonderful Republic of Kalifornia. I wouldn't be able to pass smog with it carb'd.

What did you use for motor mounts, cross-member, etc? BRP/S&P/ATS or fab'd your own? Did you keep the a/c? (probably more appropriate in the conversions forum ...)

BTW - there are a couple Hanover's in PA. Which one are you from? I grew up just outside Wilkes-Barre, which has a Hanover nearby. Though I'm guessing you're from the one closer to Gettysburgh.

That was a really hard decision. I lost many hours of sleep on many nights fretting over that decision. And on the day I actually bought the LS1 I had a sudden bout of remorse wondering if I had made the right decision. The Pontiac 400 has a lot of sentimental value for me and it almost seemed sacrilegious to yank it. Not to mention the 400 has some good torque and responds well to mods and just plain sounds cool.

But this car is for my personal enjoyment only, so I just had to decide what I thought would be the most fun. The LS1+T56 seemed to have the edge there, so that's what I did.

I've accepted the fact that there will be plenty of people saying I should've stayed with the 400. But there are also plenty of people that think the LS1 conversion is awesome. Can't please everybody. Just gotta please myself.

300bhp/ton

GM Performance offer a carb conversion kit for the LS1, have no idea if it's CARB approved or not, be if any are that one will be.

76LS1BIRD

iTrader: (35)

99/76 bird , my hanover is on PA/MD line.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...0&page=1&pp=20

Bird Man

iTrader: (1)

Real nice car!

300bhp/ton

nautiboy - just kinda curious. But in the thread title you say "Bandit TA" I assume you mean Trans Am SE (Special Edition) as Pontiac never made a "Bandit Edition" car???

LS1Bandit

Actually, the moderator put that there, I didn't, so you can blame him. But seriously, you are right - there was no official "bandit style" made by Pontiac. But many people refer to the black SE's of that year as Bandits due to Smokey and the Bandit.

However, there *was* a "bandit style" made by a company called Transam Specialties. Here's more info on it:

http://www.78ta.com/banditedition.htm

300bhp/ton

yeah that car look damn nice I have a full review of it at home in print.

Well keep us posted with how the LS1 swap goes. and damn you, I think this thread has just cost me money, I've wanted a 77/8 TA since I 1st saw Smokey and the Bandit and see such a nice example only intensifys my want. Looks like I'll be on the scout for one now.....

Keem them pics coming

~JOSHUA

iTrader: (92)

Yeah that car looks like sex. Nice car to have memories with. I'd seriously put some 8" gold snowflakes with a polished lip or even polished Torque Thrust 2's.

Bad *** ride, but if it were mine my next "memory" with that car will be stacking up those stock rims in the garage corner!

LS1Bandit

Yeah, yeah. Like I said, I've gotten that comment a lot. The only ones I've found so far that I kinda like are the Fikse's shown below, but with gold anodized. I think it would match the Bandit styling pretty well. But DAMN are they expensive! At least $700 per wheel! I could do a few nice mods with that money ....

~JOSHUA

iTrader: (92)

Torque Thrust 2's are classic enough to look at home on the "Reynolds Special."

I'd do ANYTHING other than the one's on the car.

rocketrider93

hey you could open up the ducts on the fenders and pull the air in from there. that is pretty sick. i have a 1970 bird i would love to do an ls1 swap into. i would like to do dash and all like that blue one that was on the hybrids forum.

LS1Bandit

The ducts on the fenders are already open ... they help to lower the air pressure in the engine compartment at higher speeds. With the aerodynamics they way they are, I'm not sure it would work very well. Plus there would be a lot of tubing and a lot of turns to get over there.

Interesting idea though ....

-Dave

Jassick

iTrader: (1)

what are you going to do with the old engine?

also i thought it the car was older than a certain year it didn't have to meet any emissions. not sure the year or how things are run out there in cali though.

completely bad-*** btw.

LS1Bandit

I currently have someone that's interested in it. So at least it'll live on. If you're interested in it, let me know in case the first guy backs out. I'll also have a xmission. I'm pretty sure it's the TH350, but I'd have to check.

In CA, it used to be a 30 year rolling date. Any vehicles over 30 years were exempt. However the Governator passed a law recently that made the 30 year roll end in 2005. So '75 and earlier are exempt, but anything later than 75 will always have to pass smog.