Trans Am vs Firebird? info please

[atarijri]

Perhaps this is a stupid question but not being "in the know" on T/A's here goes; What is the difference, if any, between a Trans Am and a Firebird Trans Am? Is it the body style? Goofy decals? Engine? Besides always being curious I'm window shopping for one of my own but I find more Firebirds then anything. As luck would have it the car dealership literally right around the corner from my house has an '87 FB asking $1100. Hot damn! It's already black but has a very thrashed red interior (which doesn't really matter when you take conversion into consideration:) ) Since my transmission is going to need work I'll have to put the TA on the back burner for now Someday.....

JR

[neps]

There are differences, however I guess I probably wont be able to give you all the specifics, hopefully someone will fill in where I missed.

The model of the car is a Pontiac Firebird, the same as a Honda Accord, or Toyota Camery. With most car models there is a luxery model, something that has leather seats, a better engine or something. In the Trans-Am case, it had a better engine, it also had the raised spot on the roof that KITT has, it also had I believe ground effects, making the car appear lower to the ground, although that may only be on later models.

Hope that helps for now.

[pdennis93]

firebirds had less options, different motors, sometimes, and being its an 87 its totally the wrong exterior (has that stupid wrap around spoiler most likely? and the tail is different ,and maybe other things) also the firebird didnt have the turbo hood.

[KITT]

i always thought firebirds looked more ugly then trans-ams..

KITT

[sarfraz]

You know it would really help if we had a side by side comparison shot. From what I've been told, I always assumed that the TA was a series within the Firebird line (ie SE, GTO etc)

Sarfraz

[knightdriver]

Trans Am's and Firebirds are the same car! There is only major differences in the two models with interior packages and suspension upgrades. Trans Am's usually have the upgraded ws-6 suspension and usually have 15" wheels instead of 14". Exerior options that are usually different are the bulge hood and some ground effects packages. Trans Am Dashboards are full gauge clusters while firebirds tend to have idiot lights for some gauges. T-tops were options in both versions and don't really count as a difference in models. Engines would be most noticable package varient between the two versions. Firebirds being mostly v-6's with some low end carberated v-8's. Trans -Ams are usually 5.0 v-8's with either a Carberated or Fuel Injected option avaiable. Hope this helps some.

[March2875]

Raised spot on the roof? Now that is something ive never noticed. Any way you can describe it more specifically so I can recongize it. Since Kitt has it I sure hope my 83 Trans-am does.

[neps]

By raised spot I mean that V spot that KITT has on the hood. I meant the hood not the roof, sorry. Normally it's just a flat hood. Starting in 84, the Trans-Am got ground effects.

From the Pontiac site at http://www.pontiac.sk

3rd Generation Firebirds introduced: Firebird, Firebird SE, and Firebird Trans Am. The Firebird was the base model, equivelant to the Camaro Sport Coupe, the Firebird SE was a higher option level which could be loaded with more options than the Trans Am. The Trans Am was the highest performance level for the Firebird.

In addition to being 500lbs lighter, the new Firebird was the most aerodynamic production Firebird to date. Wind tunnels were used to form the body shape. The aerodynamic developements extended to the finned aluminum wheels with smooth caps and a functional spoiler. Trans Am received a turbo bulge hood styled loosely off the earlier turbo Trans Am. Plans had originally been made to use the Pontiac 4.9 turbo, but it was scrapped at the last minute. The hood remained and was made fuctional for the Cross-fire injected 305. The SE could be had with every option the Trans Am could have but didn't use the bulged hood. Leather seating was also availble on all models. Firebirds were available several engines. The standard fuel injected 90hp 2.5L 4 cylinder Pontiac Iron Duke, a 102hp 2.8L V6, and two 5.0L V8's. The first and most common was the LG4, a basic carburetor equiped 305 producing 145hp. The other was a new fuel injected 305 using a fuel injection system similar to the 82 Corvette's 5.7L and producing 165hp. The base model Firebird came standard with 14" steel wheels. 14" aluminum and 15" aluminum wheels were available on the SE and Trans Am. Pontiac had also hoped to drop all the "Trans Am" badges from the new cars to save royalties paid to the SCCA for use of the name. Early promotional cars were marked "T/A" as an alternative, however the production cars came marked as Trans Am regardless. The WS6 option available on the SE's and Trans Am's included 4 wheel disc brakes, P215/65R15 Goodyear Eagle GT radials with 15" cast aluminum wheels, stiffer springs, thicker front and rears way bars, a high ratio 12.7:1 steering box, and limited slip rear differential.

[IceKnight]

that looks to me like one mighty fine donor vehicle. In fact, I'd AlMOST feel guilty about ripping it apart .

[neps]

Sadly, that picture is from the original product brochure I believe. So its safe to say that the car no longer looks like that.

[Darknight]

There's nothing as beautiful as a nice 3rd gen T/A. I LOVE these cars. It's just too bad they didn't put enough muscle in to back up the look. With a 5.0, the T/A should've gotten from 0-60 in faster than 9.2 seconds(at least 7 seconds). Their "fuel efficiency" story doesn't add up, either, because a 4 speed/OD tranny would've given much better economy to the automatics than the 3 speed. Besides, what's the point of putting in a 5-0 if it only makes 165 hp? They could've made that much with a 6. I can't figure it out, but I still love these cars, and the Crossfire IS capable of making mega power with the right upgrades. 5 liters is a lot of displacement. (Ever tried drinking that much?;)) Having two throttle bodies makes monstrous airflow potential. If I ever get one, my biggest mechanical question will be whether to keep the engine or put in a turbo or supercharged 3.8. (Or a secret little design of my own, hehe) Choices, choices.

Stay cool, y'all.

DK

[atarijri]

Thanks neps & knightdriver for all that info. That answered about all my questions. You sure know your Firebirds!

JR

[knightdriver]

No problem, glad to help when I can. Thanks to Neil as well, He really answered the question!

[neps]

glad to be able to help with knightdriver, but most of the credit goes to google.com!

[KITTvsKARR]

Well.. in actuality he asked what the difference was between a Trans Am and a Firebird Trans Am... not sure if this was just a typo.. but a Trans Am IS a Firebird.. just a better model... But as everyone else have stated, there are a lot of differences over the years...

[Army_F_Body]

the 86-92 models were slightly different from the 82 model used for Kitt. The interior featured a more modern rounded off effect versus the squared edges of the 82. The tailights were rounded out instead of flat making it impossible to mount the flat one piece balck out tailight cover Kitt had. You can however mount the 1982-84 style lights, I got them to work on my 92. 1986 and up T/As also had the slanted style rear wing similar to those on modern T/As. The Kitt style spoiler was now standard only on the V6 models. It should also have the vented hood as opposed to the "power bulge" one that was made standard for all Formulas from 86 on up. If your 87 is a GTA you have a digital dash display and steering wheel mounted radio controls. Check the link in my sig to see the progress I've mad on my 1992. My goal is to make it look like the T/A in the pic Neps posted. Some misc. facts: some later model T/As, 1990-92 had the rare 1LE suspension option. And 92 saw the introduction of the Firehawk.