Pontiac Firebird 1967-2002 Birds of a feather flock together

1979-1981 turbo trans am?

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Old 08-04-2013, 02:14 AM
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Also fyi on the turbo 4.9s, they were a completely different casting than the n/a ones, lots of differences between them. The turbo blocks were thicker with thicker mains and more webbing, larger main bolts, and a unique rotating assembly with a stronger crank and specially designed pistons that look really funky of you ever get to see one lol. These motors got a bad wrap for being unreliable but actually most of that is because in the 80s nobody had any experience maintaining a turbo car so when they maintained it like an n/a car they burned out the turbos. Factory boost was meant to be 8psi but ranged from 7-9. I love them, personally they're my favorite style from the 74-81 range, I like the turbo bulge cause its a lot more unique. Also I really like the nose and tail lights on these better than the 77-78. I really like them but they really were dogs. I believe they were in the 16s in quarter mile time. Factory ratings had output right up there with the 400 and 403 the difference being those two were under rated from the factory while the 4.9 turbo had a pretty honest rating. That and the turbo cars grew to about 3800 pounds fully optioned. They're my favorite for styling but are terrible performers. Smokey 2 used a 1980 model and had to equip the car with nitrous to film burnouts



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