I have great running 1981 Turbo T/A with 301 due to the expertise of Joe at TTA Performance in Kenosha Wisconsin. Look him up! They are awesome cars when running right and can be dialed in with the right information. Good luck!
Tom..."I use-ta throw these cars away". LOL. You weren't the only one. Amazing what the market is doing with these now. I guess anything "old" has value, at least as an antique. I commend you guys for attempting this "restore to original" charade. Hopefully it'll pay off. Good luck with it. I see this video is a few years old. I'll have to check out your channel, and see how it transpired.
BTW Thanks for showing all of your trials and tribulations you had with this Trans Am.. Being I was about 10 years old when these came out these( Along with a certain 69 Charger ) was my dream car ...
Tom and Elana, this car is lucky to have found you. The Turbo Firebirds of 80 & 81 aren't fast, but they sure are cool and that's enough. While I don't own one (yet), its wonderful to see others who are enthusiastic about getting these rides back on the road. Thanks to both of you. :- )
Excellent info. I have an '81 Turbo Trans Am and when I bought it in '94 the original 301 engine and all its components including the ECM were gone and replaced with a weak Pontiac 400, which I soon rebuilt and modified by adding 6x heads and other upgrades. I was told the original owner blew up the turbo 301. I haven't seen a TTA with the original engine and have always been curious about the set up. What a complicated arrangement that didn't pay off well in performance. Pontiac did the best they could after GM shut down production of the bigger engines amid the fuel crisis and new regulations of that era. I feel much better off having the 400 engine in my Trans Am. Thanks for the video.
Awesome! Happy to see a turbo 4.9. Had a 1980 Turbo Formula back in the 80's. Got walked by a 1979 Camaro with a 4 speed and he had 4 people in his car. Yeah, the 4.9 turbo was gutless.
Nice looking car. Couple of rich kids had them in high school because their parents couldn’t afford the insurance on a T/A type V-8. They ran great in the day. But could GM have molded and stuffed the coolant recovery bottle and closer to the A/C compressor? Nice quick video clip.
Thank you for further validation of my decision not to buy a turbo car. My 305 might be wheezy, and have a bunch of smog stuff, but nothing compared to that nightmare.
I bought a 81 turbo brand new. Black and gold with t-tops. Transmission oil pump failed after 1500 miles and camshaft and lifters needed to be replaced around 15000 miles because I didn’t drive it in the winter and pontiac recommended straight 30w oil. Should have used 10w30 synthetic
I'm not an F-body guy at all, but these Pontiacs I like. Also sorry for the plight of a Californian... 49 other states this would have a truck LS by now :)
Great Video. Can you let me know how you found all of the electrical connections you replaced. I am restoring a 1981 Turbo Trans Am and I need to replace these electrical connections as well and I am having a hard time finding them. Thanks
Hi Bob, we got all of the connectors off of Ebay. Search "gm weatherpack map sensor, or gm weatherpack coolant sensor" Sometimes adding other search terms helps find them too like "nos gm connector" that sort of thing. You'll have to scroll through a fair amount to match up each connector (they're location specific) I found all but the EGR one which I had to re-use. Hope this helps. T
I have great running 1981 Turbo T/A with 301 due to the expertise of Joe at TTA Performance in Kenosha Wisconsin. Look him up! They are awesome cars when running right and can be dialed in with the right information. Good luck!
Tom..."I use-ta throw these cars away". LOL. You weren't the only one. Amazing what the market is doing with these now. I guess anything "old" has value, at least as an antique. I commend you guys for attempting this "restore to original" charade. Hopefully it'll pay off. Good luck with it.
I see this video is a few years old. I'll have to check out your channel, and see how it transpired.
BTW Thanks for showing all of your trials and tribulations you had with this Trans Am.. Being I was about 10 years old when these came out these( Along with a certain 69 Charger ) was my dream car ...
And we were blessed with the Knock Sensor, and it was good; then it came to pass an engineer at Pontiac declared "hold my beer."
Tom and Elana, this car is lucky to have found you. The Turbo Firebirds of 80 & 81 aren't fast, but they sure are cool and that's enough. While I don't own one (yet), its wonderful to see others who are enthusiastic about getting these rides back on the road. Thanks to both of you. :- )
Excellent info. I have an '81 Turbo Trans Am and when I bought it in '94 the original 301 engine and all its components including the ECM were gone and replaced with a weak Pontiac 400, which I soon rebuilt and modified by adding 6x heads and other upgrades. I was told the original owner blew up the turbo 301. I haven't seen a TTA with the original engine and have always been curious about the set up. What a complicated arrangement that didn't pay off well in performance. Pontiac did the best they could after GM shut down production of the bigger engines amid the fuel crisis and new regulations of that era. I feel much better off having the 400 engine in my Trans Am. Thanks for the video.
Jim’s cameo appearance was the best part. He’s just itching to go for a ride. Oh that turbo Trans Am is pretty cool too.
Awesome! Happy to see a turbo 4.9. Had a 1980 Turbo Formula back in the 80's. Got walked by a 1979 Camaro with a 4 speed and he had 4 people in his car. Yeah, the 4.9 turbo was gutless.
I love seeing videos from you and Tom!
I'm absolutely loving this - what a great series on this car! Thanks, Tom and Elana!
Nice looking car. Couple of rich kids had them in high school because their parents couldn’t afford the insurance on a T/A type V-8. They ran great in the day.
But could GM have molded and stuffed the coolant recovery bottle and closer to the A/C compressor?
Nice quick video clip.
Well look who is in the driver's seat.. 😆!
I love the videos, you guys have some serious patience to work on that thing, I love my Trans Ams, but I'd be throwing all that in the garbage
I’m pretty excited to see how it works out. There is at least one website where the goal is to make these cars fast. Lots of tips and stuff.
Thank you for further validation of my decision not to buy a turbo car. My 305 might be wheezy, and have a bunch of smog stuff, but nothing compared to that nightmare.
Nice work! Looks like its coming together from the insta posts I saw on Sunday 😎
Well the body looks to be in great shape at least... All the issues look to be getting it to run well...
I bought a 81 turbo brand new. Black and gold with t-tops. Transmission oil pump failed after 1500 miles and camshaft and lifters needed to be replaced around 15000 miles because I didn’t drive it in the winter and pontiac recommended straight 30w oil. Should have used 10w30 synthetic
These are gold!
I've always wanted a Rockford style Formula Firebird in gold.
I'm very interested to know if that turbo can be permanently removed?
I'm not an F-body guy at all, but these Pontiacs I like. Also sorry for the plight of a Californian... 49 other states this would have a truck LS by now :)
Great Video. Can you let me know how you found all of the electrical connections you replaced. I am restoring a 1981 Turbo Trans Am and I need to replace these electrical connections as well and I am having a hard time finding them. Thanks
Hi Bob, we got all of the connectors off of Ebay. Search "gm weatherpack map sensor, or gm weatherpack coolant sensor" Sometimes adding other search terms helps find them too like "nos gm connector" that sort of thing. You'll have to scroll through a fair amount to match up each connector (they're location specific) I found all but the EGR one which I had to re-use. Hope this helps. T
@@Challengeher Thanks for replying and love your channel
So is this a restoration, or resto mod? Lol @ the ending of the video
Joey I would describe it currently as a “tune up” but it may surprise us all. -E
I love you crazy kids ❤️
How many beers to this point?
Looks like the whole engine in this was a nightmare!!
Cool car do you have a 440 or 383 to fix the 301 problem?
Can you please help me with TA
take a look at my 81 TA 45k miles, I have to find someone who is good with the 4.9 carb. choke idle too high
following. I have an 81 Turbo T/A on my channel..
Weiner Dog disapproval
So much disapprove.