Welcome to the “Pontiac Tax” :) But even after fully rebuilding my engine and restoring just about everything else on my car, the seats were by far the worst, in terms of inordinately expensive parts.
So it won’t all be that bad.
They make very good reproductions of the cluster circuit boards if you need to replace that someday, just FYI.
I also resoldered/relaminated some circuits to fix mine rather than get a new one, because the quality of reproduction parts is such a crapshoot.
I eventually did put in a repop...
You’ve got it made!
Starting it a couple of times a year and changing the fluids now and again is all it needs.
That’s a good family friend you’ve got. I wouldn’t worry about doing any rebuilds now.
Probably 90% of these cars will need engine/transmission rebuilds in 25k miles.
That’s a...
As far as I’m aware, no one makes aftermarket seats for these years (assuming you’re talking about repops).
Monitoring eBay is your best bet, or Frank’s Pontiac Parts always has a good inventory of original parts.
They have some 75 rear seats listed right now. Look like standard trim...
This is an old thread, but I went through this recently, replacing the wrong-year Camaro seats in my car for some reason, so I figured I’d share my experience.
Replacing the seats from scratch is a bear.
It would be best to find seat frames that are not repop’d.
Used ones are hard to find...
If they’ve been running it regularly, that’s the best-case scenario; you shouldn’t have to do anything special for start-up.
I was in a similar situation after storing my car for about six years, but I didn’t have anyone to maintain it, and it had been sitting dead.
It was stored outside in...
The RPM is something like 1 1/4” taller than a stock intake.
I could fill a warehouse with the aftermarket air cleaner assemblies I’ve bought trying to make a good setup that will fit under the hood. It’s possible with the biggest drop base air cleaner, a tapered filter, and a lot of massage...
Great write-up.
This book is excellent and has a lot of well-researched detail on the design history of the 2nd gen.
Pontiac Trans Am: 50 Years https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0760357668/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8NCMW9Z2JZ4W4RYEPZKJ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
79TAconvertible, you’re never going to get a...
The front ends are a PITA to get aligned properly.
And I’m not sure if a new one will help you much.
Many of them weren’t that great even from the factory, and the assembly manual had pretty generous tolerances for gaps for new ones off the line.
Sagging/excessive gaps are usually fixed by...
Frank’s Pontiac Parts is a good source for original 2nd gen parts.
He has acres out in the desert just full of salvaged parts.
I have all the manuals/documentation for 76, so let me know what you need.
The standard and deluxe use the same seat frame, but the foam and covers are different.
Legendary is the best supplier.
A bit spendy.
No matter where you source them, though, once you add up all the parts, new seats are expensive!