One Bad Bird!

[TempleU_WS6]

Im watching Modern Marvels 70's Tech on the History channel and they talked about the Trans am and the SD 455 as well as Smokey and the Bandit and how much the demand went up after the movie. They said how the car was such a 70's icon and how people thought GM was crazy for making the SD 455 after insurance hikes, higher emissions and gas prices. Good to see the old bird gettin some good recognition on a show about iconic 70's stuff

[firemedic0135]

Yeah I saw that also.
I really love those 70's birds and have been thinking about selling my 2000 and buying one for awhile now.

[hutch1999]

I wish the smokey and the bandit T/A was faster than 15s in stock form. They are awesome looking none the less.

[JoshieDoom]

my dad first paid for ride...(1974 455 sd).. he flipped it... still got the drivetrain..

and mine... dad is in the background...

and the other two... theyre all gone except mine... all restored cruising around ky so weve heard.

[third_shift|studios]

i'm thinking transformers will have done the same justice to the camaro

[qwk93ta]

I had a 77 Smokey and the Bandit T/A, t-tops leak A LOT, mine had lots of issues...I don't think the build quality was very good.

[GULLETT17]

Hell yeah for the 70's style birds!

[9T8W66]

I had a `79 T/A and it was one of the best cars I ever owned
Most of those late 2nd gen cars are faster than 15's, all they need is a good tune.
The SD455 cars were the fastest V8 Firebirds until the LS1 debut in `98.

[JoshieDoom]

Im looking into a blow up 98-00(they dont know) trans am all intact for 500 bucks... id like to drop the sd 455 down in it.. that would be the shit.

[9T8W66]

Im looking into a blow up 98-00(they dont know) trans am all intact for 500 bucks... id like to drop the sd 455 down in it.. that would be the shit.

Not worth the effort considering the LS1 is a better engine. The Poncho engines would be a PITA to install in a 4th gen.

[2000T/A Guru]

I had a `79 T/A and it was one of the best cars I ever owned
Most of those late 2nd gen cars are faster than 15's, all they need is a good tune.
The SD455 cars were the fastest V8 Firebirds until the LS1 debut in `98.

The lt1s were faster than the 79 with the 455 for sure, i have seen stock lt1s run 13.6-13.7s no stock 455 ever did that.

[9T8W66]

The lt1s were faster than the 79 with the 455 for sure, i have seen stock lt1s run 13.6-13.7s no stock 455 ever did that.

`79's never came with a 455 most were Olds 403 Auto's and about 8000 were 400 4spds.
The last 455 T/A's were 76 models with a whole 200 HP also only available with a 4spd.
The SD455 was built for only 2 years `73-74
Box Stock SD's were running 13.5's with a full tank of gas and the Auto left in D. I've seen super tuned cars running 13.0 -13.2's on stock 225/70/15's also.
Hell even a `71-72 455 HO is capable of hittng mid to high 13's

[JohnnyBs98WS6Rag]

`79's never came with a 455 most were Olds 403 Auto's and about 8000 were 400 4spds.
The last 455 T/A's were 76 models with a whole 200 HP also only available with a 4spd.
The SD455 was built for only 2 years `73-74
Box Stock SD's were running 13.5's with a full tank of gas and the Auto left in D. I've seen super tuned cars running 13.0 -13.2's on stock 225/70/15's also.
Hell even a `71-72 455 HO is capable of hittng mid to high 13's

I used to have a '76 455-4sp T/A, great handling car, still lots of low-end torque, but the patheticly low 7.3:1(?) CR and choked Y-to-single cat exhaust system made it run out of breath around 4000RPM. I think stock they ran 0-60 in the mid-hi 7 sec range, mid 15s in the 1/4. With nothing but changing the exhaust to a '74 system (no cats, duals back to the muffler above the axle), mine clicked off 0-60 in 6.3-6.5 secs. Never got a chance to run it 1/4 mi at a track, but it was probably in the hi 14s. Even the SDs were pretty well choked by the exhaust, I read somewhere simply adding headers to a SD455 gained ~85HP.

BTW, I had heard that the '89 TTA was the fastest T/A until the LS1s. It kinda ticked me off at the time, the ONLY T/A w/ less than 8 cylinders and it was the FASTEST?? WTF?? I think it'd be a good run between a TTA and a SD455.

[9T8W66]

I used to have a '76 455-4sp T/A, great handling car, still lots of low-end torque, but the patheticly low 7.3:1(?) CR and choked Y-to-single cat exhaust system made it run out of breath around 4000RPM. I think stock they ran 0-60 in the mid-hi 7 sec range, mid 15s in the 1/4. With nothing but changing the exhaust to a '74 system (no cats, duals back to the muffler above the axle), mine clicked off 0-60 in 6.3-6.5 secs. Never got a chance to run it 1/4 mi at a track, but it was probably in the hi 14s. Even the SDs were pretty well choked by the exhaust, I read somewhere simply adding headers to a SD455 gained ~85HP.

BTW, I had heard that the '89 TTA was the fastest T/A until the LS1s. It kinda ticked me off at the time, the ONLY T/A w/ less than 8 cylinders and it was the FASTEST?? WTF?? I think it'd be a good run between a TTA and a SD455.

Check my original post Johnny I did say fastest V8 Firebird. I would never discount the `89 Turbo T/A's because IMO they are the best of the third gen birds.

Yeah I owned a `79 Trans Am for 7 years as my DD. Swapped the Olds out for a mild 400 Poncho and had alot of fun whipping up on the 5.0's.
I've owned my LS1 for almost 10 years now and I kinda lost track with the pure Pontiac part of the hobby. Those Smog era engines can be made to run with very little effort.