JUNE 2002, Volume 5, Issue 6

General Meeting-June 4th, 2002
The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by Sgt. At Arms, Dante’ Higgins. President Ted Klein presiding.

Guests:
On his way to the meeting Dante’ saw one of our guests driving through the Auto Mall and convinced him to pull over. Dante’ told him about the Club and he is really interested in joining, however, he had to leave the meeting early as he was headed somewhere when his trip was interrupted. His name is Joe Pittman and he drives a 2002 35th Anniversary TA. Joe works fore KHTK, 1140 on the dial, which is the sports station for Sacramento. Jon Carr, saw our ad in the paper and decided to come check out the Club. AND – because he bought the car at Reliable Pontiac, Jon receives a free membership to our Club. Along with John was his guest Dave Hollars. Harry Anderson says he has several F-Bodies at home but the one that qualifies him for our Club is a black 2001 WS6 TA. Don Simons has a blue 2001 WS6 TA. Rob Nunes has a 2002 TA, collectable edition with T-Tops.

Old Business:

Past Events:
An unscheduled run this month was a memorial for Mark Iriarte. It was held at Travis AFB where Mark was stationed. Mark joined our Club in November of 2001 and was very active when he wasn’t on duty. He was killed in a tragic accident in the hanger where he worked. Mark's parents were very gracious. His mother was so pleased the Club was represented and told us to keep on doing what we were doing as Mark really enjoyed it. They are keeping Mark’s car and they were told that anytime they would like to attend a meeting or join us on a run they were welcome. His brother gave us his phone number and address and said we were more than welcome to give them a call or visit. They are a beautifully family.

Rio Linda Car Show:
Dave Gershon was given "The Best of Show" in his class award for his car. Dave wasn’t there as he had to leave early.

Sacramento River Cats game:
The Cats played the Tucson Sidewinders. Even thought the Cats lost it was a good time. The weather was a little nippie though. The River Cats set up a raffle for groups and group’s names go up in lights on the board and someone from those organizations wins a prize. J.J.’s son won the raffle for our Club and Gary and Gayle’s daughter caught one of the balls that were tossed into the stands. Fireworks were also set off after the game and from the report they were very good. The Club is planning another trip to the field in August.

The Kragen Car Show:
We had about six or seven cars at the show. Not our best showing but there will be another one soon. Dante’ said six cars made the run up to Jim Boy’s Tacos in Loomis. They have been somewhat regulars for the last few weeks and know some of the people. After the show they took a short cruise up through the hills.

New Business:
Treasurer’s Report will be found in another portion of the Trans Script.


Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, June 5th.
Drags at the Sacramento Raceway is Firebird Night. Be there as early as possible as they close the gates when they have reached capacity. Gates open at 4pm.

Saturday, June 8th.
Teddy Bear Factory @ $12, Japanese Gardens and Alcatraz. The cost for Alcatraz - adults $13.25, Children $8, and Srs. $11.65. Meet at Levitz on Watt Avenue at 9am and leave at 9:30am.

Sunday, June 9th.
Philippino Festival in the South area, across from Florin Mall. Bowling at Crestview Lanes in Carmichael. Cost – $3.75 per game. Shoes free for children. After bowling it’s out to Rudy’s in Woodland for a Bar B Q. Then it’s back to Sacramento to Gunther’s for ice cream. We need to be at the festival early. Meet at K-Mart on Sunrise and Coloma at 7am and leave at 7:30am.

Saturday, June 15th.
Fulton Car Fest 10am to 2pm. Cost is $15 which includes lunch and all proceeds go to the Sacramento Receiving Home. No caravan for this one. Our cars will be displayed at Braley Graham Pontiac. We need to arrive there by 8 am in order to get the cars set. Ted said last year they supplied all the water, soft drinks and hotdogs you could eat all day. After the car show it is planned to go to the Crawdad Festival in Ilton.

Sunday, June 23rd.
Star Wars movie in Elk Grove and then to a Bar B-Q. Cost for the Bar B-Q is $10. Leo didn’t have a time for this one but will call everyone in plenty of time.

Saturday August 17th.
Dinner at Woodies and another River Cats game. More on this at the next meeting. The game is at 7:05 pm, cost is $9. Meet at Levitz at 4pm.

Labor Day Weekend.
We would like to participate in Butch Gardner’s Hangtown Car Show held at the Placerville Fair Ground. Butch is on the radio station out of Auburn. This show is for cars 1976 and older, however, if we go as a Club, we are more than welcome to attend. We will have our own territory in the center of the event. This is over the Labor Day weekend so make your plans early. More at the next meeting.

Dave again went over the events of Trans A Rama for our guests and visitors. This is great because it means we have more people coming to our meetings who are interested in knowing more about our Club. Dave would like for us to get our entries in as soon as possible so please get them in as quickly as you can. Bruce Westrup, owner of Reliable, needs to have a car count for the show. Dave says Bruce will probably choke at 100 so that is probably our limit for this event. We still have George Scalla as our guest speaker. He is supose to bring copies of the books he has written on the Trans Am and Firebird. Dave also said, “Get out and get raffle items for the show”. This is our big money maker for our Club.

Jim Prinzivalli will have the prints for our T-shirts for Trans A Rama at the Fulton Car Fest. He always does a great job on the shirts.

We still have some Club shirts that are available for $26 each.

Rebecca said if we could get $5 or $10 donation from each Club member we could buy a large “easy up” tent for our outdoor events. A 10 X 10 would allow us to hang our Club banner on it.

The Club sang Happy Birthday to our Vice President Ted Bechtel. Happy Birthday Ted!!

With no further business the motion was made by Ray Howe to adjourn, seconded by Frank Brown. Meeting adjourned at 8:23pm Respectfully submitted, Irene Raff - Secretary

Respectfully submitted Irene Raff, Secretary.

The Starting Line.
Well everyone it's the halfway point through the year and we are off to a good start. The membership had dropped a littleafter beginning of the year, however we were expecting that, and after making appearances at Autorama and several other events, our membership is again back up to around fifty registered members.

As we enter July, thoughts are turning toward Trans A Rama 14. This year the event is scheduled for July 12-14, and should be three days of fun. Friday will consist of a short run from the Hotel to Jaspers Rocklin, where we will be having the show and shine. Day two will combine the Car Show at Reliable Pontiac with the Awards Banquet at Suzanne's Restaurant at the Rocklin Park Hotel. An Autocross at Cal Expo, and Lunch at Woody's on Watt Avenue will conclude the event on Sunday. So you can see a lot of planning effort has gone into this event celebrating 35 years of Firebird Excitement!

Leo and Dante' our activity directors have a full schedule planned out for the second half, so there will be plenty of events for us all to get together with one another and have a great time! I would however like to get everyone thinking now about what you want to do next year. Now is the time to start thinking about who you would like to have as club officers for 2003 and where you would like to have the meetings!

After all this is a club, and it is up to ALL OF US, to make sure it succeeds and we all have fun. We have some really great people and they would all do good jobs as officers.

As I close out this months newsletter I would just suggest that if you get a chance let this years officers know what you think of the job they are doing for you. In my personal opinion these are the best group of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with! Their dedication and hard work has made this club stronger than it ever was! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!!

Ted "Theo" Bechtel

Pontiac's Final Hi-Performance T/A 6.6, Part III.
By John Witzke, POCI Tech Advisor W72 Performance Package 1977 T/A 6.6 Engine

Welcome to Part III of an in-depth look at the Firebird T/A 6.6 engine package. In Part I and II we looked at the engine option codes, pricing, basic engine specifications, block casting numbers, block codes, build dates, main bearing caps, oil pump and pan, horsepower and torque numbers, carburetor applications and cylinder heads. In this section, I will concentrate on the controversial camshaft specifications, transmissions usage, rear axle ratios, exhaust systems and production figures. As mentioned in Part I, this article will concentrate on the W72 Performance Package installed in the Firebird. The 1977 Can Am used the same T/A 6.6 engine found in 1977 automatic transmission Firebirds, however, the Can Am used different drive train parts including transmissions, axle ratios and exhaust systems.

CAMSHAFT SPECIFICATIONS
Pontiac engineers developed a new camshaft profile for the T/A 6.6 engines. This hardened cast iron alloy camshaft had a longer intake and exhaust duration (274 degrees / 298 degrees vs. 264 degrees / 264 degrees) and more aggressive intake and exhaust timing than the base L78 6.6 Litre engine. For 1977, Pontiac developed two slightly different camshafts for the T/A 6.6 engines. The first was for the automatic transmission and carried factory part number 549112. The second was for the 4-speed manual transmission and carried factory part number 549431. Both of these camshafts have the same intake and exhaust durations, but with slightly different timing events. Additionally, both camshafts were advertised from Pontiac with having an intake and exhaust lift of .364 inch @ zero lash. The T/A 6.6 was the only Pontiac engine to use the number 112 and 431 camshafts.

Establishing exact specifications for the camshaft used in the 1978 T/A 6.6 engines has been difficult to determine. Since Pontiac changed the part number for the camshaft used in the 1978 T/A 6.6 engines, it has been rumored for many years that a change in duration and timing characteristics was made as well. The Pontiac Master Parts Catalog lists the camshaft part number 10003402 for both T/A 6.6 engine codes X7 and WC. However, the question remains, did Pontiac in fact change the camshaft profile for the 1978 T/A 6.6 engine? I have struggled with this issue in my research for a quite some time. After reviewing 1977 and 1978 Motor Vehicle Manufactures Association (MVMA) specifications forms, it would appear, the camshaft revision was the use of only one camshaft for the 1978 T/A 6.6 engines, instead of two listed for 1977. It is important to note, that Pontiac Motor Division supplied all the specifications listed in the MVMA Specification Forms. Unfortunately, the MVMA does not list the part numbers for the camshafts. The single camshaft specifications listed for the T/A 6.6 engine in the 1978 MVMA, is identical to the specifications for part number 549112, originally used in the 1977 T/A 6.6 engine with an automatic transmission. However, what is somewhat confusing about the MVMA data is that it lists a 4-speed manual transmission camshaft under the base L78 engine column for both 1977 and 1978 editions. For clarification, there were no 1977-78 Firebirds with the base L78 400 engines produced from the factory with a 4-speed manual transmission. This has been verified though very reliable sources. So technically speaking, did Pontiac make an actual change with the T/A 6.6 camshaft specifications for 1978 or did they simply change the part number? Before I attempt to answer this, lets move on to the 1979 specifications.

For 1979, the MVMA once again list the specifications for the T/A 6.6 engine camshaft identical to the specifications for part number 549112, originally used in the 1977 T/A 6.6 engine with an automatic transmission. Based on the information provided by Pontiac Motor Division to the MVMA and the part numbers listed in the master parts catalog, it looks as if camshaft part numbers 549112 and 10003402 may have the same specifications. Please see the camshaft tables for a complete list of specifications. So in theory, it appears that Pontiac made a camshaft revision, but only in the usage and not in specifications. If Pontiac did change the camshaft specifications for the 1978 T/A 6.6 engines, why didn’t they list the change in the MVMA? Remember, Pontiac supplied the information and specifications to the MVMA. If there were any former or current Pontiac engineers reading this who knows the answer, your input would be greatly appreciated.

All T/A 6.6 camshafts are unique in Pontiac performance applications, in that they are ground and installed retarded. All earlier Pontiac performance camshafts were either ground and installed straight up or slightly advanced. Advanced in reference to camshaft timing means that the intake lobe centerline value is smaller then the exhaust lobe centerline value. In general terms, retarding the camshaft tends to spread the power range a little higher in rpm, while retaining very good idle qualities for the duration's used. By retarding the camshaft the lower rpm power slightly degrades. So it would appear that Pontiac redesigned the camshafts used in the T/A 6.6 engines not only to help with emissions, but for higher rpm use without sacrificing idle quality or low rpm stability. Even with this change, good horsepower was achieved from relatively low compression ratios. All T/A 6.6 engines used specific engine timing and mechanical and vacuum advance settings for each transmission application that differed from the base L78 400 engine. Research indicates that Pontiac may have never released a code number or letter for any of the W72 camshafts. 1977 Automatic Transmission W72 Camshaft Specifications Possible 1978-79 W72 Camshaft Specifications Part # 549112 1977 Manual Transmission W72 Camshaft Specifications Part # 549431

TRANSMISSIONS
Originally, Pontiac offered customers a choice of two transmission options for the T/A 6.6 engine package, a special version of the Turbo-Hydramatic 350 automatic or a 4-speed manual. By mid-1978 and continuing through 1979, the 4-speed manual would become the only transmission available with the W72 Performance Package. Both the automatic and the 4-speed manual transmissions were a no-charge option in T/A 6.6 Firebirds.

Automatic:
From the start of the 1977 production until mid-1978, Pontiac offered a special version of the Turbo-Hydramatic 350 automatic transmission available only in Firebirds with the T/A 6.6 engine. Unfortunately, beginning with Pontiac Car Distribution Bulletin dated February 22 1978; dealer stock orders for Firebird Trans Am and Formula models specifying the T/A 6.6 engine with automatic transmission will be cancelled. These dealer orders would instead be produced with the base L78 400 engines unless the dealer specified another engine. Shortly after the February announcement, another Pontiac Car Distribution Bulletin delivered the final blow to the automatic transmission option. This time, all customer orders received on and after March 20th 1978 specifying the T/A 6.6 engine with an automatic transmission would not be accepted and would be sent back to the dealer for re-ordering instructions. With customer orders, dealers had to notify the buyers that orders for this engine / transmission combination were no longer being accepted and their car would have to be produced with the L78 400, unless the customer specified another engine. All customer orders accepted prior to the March 20 1978 cut off date would be produced.

This special automatic transmission used a specific governor, modulator and an oil control valve body. Additionally, a smaller 11.75-inch torque converter producing a higher stall speed ratio of 2.5:1 was specified for T/A 6.6 equipped Firebirds. The shift speeds were also increased from 4200 RPM as found with the THM 350 used in standard L78 400 engine cars, to approximately 4800 to 4900 RPM with the T/A 6.6 engine Firebirds.ú The forward gear ratios for this transmission were 2.52:1/1.50:1/1.00:1 with a 2.00:1 reverse gear. On the factory build sheet, in box number 27, this transmission carried code MK. In addition, in the option area of the build sheet, these transmissions were also identified by UPC code m38 in 1977 and m33 in 1978. Finally a unique rally shifter was used which allowed for manual shifting between gears without the fear of skipping gears or accidentally shifting into neutral. This shifter is identified as SHIFT C FL2 in box number eighty-nine of the factory build sheet. In comparison, standard shifter code, SHIFT C FL4, will appear in box ninety-eight on Firebird Trans Am and Formula's with the base L78 400 engine.

4-Speed:
All 1977-79 T/A 6.6 engine Trans Am and Formula Firebirds with a manual transmission used the 82mm heavy-duty 4-speed transmission called Super T-10 and was produced by Borg-Warner. This transmission used an 11.0 X 6.5-inch clutch with a 2600 lbs. pressure-plate. The forward gear ratios were 2.43:1/1.61:1/1.23:1/1.00:1 with a reverse gear of 2.35:1. Contrary to popular belief, there were no base L78 400 engine 1977 or 1978 Trans An or Formula Firebird produced with this or any other 4-speed manual transmission. By reviewing 1977thru 1979 Pontiac invoices and build sheets, it appears Pontiac used UPC code M21 from 1977 thru 1979 to identify the 4-speed transmission. However, some order forms used UPC code M20 in 1977. In box number 27 of the factory build sheet, code ZT was used for 1977-78 and UH for 1979. When a customer specified a 4-speed manual transmission in either the Trans Am or Formula with a 400 engine during 1979 thru 1979, UPC code W72 Performance Package was mandatory.

Part 4 of this article will be in the July Transcript.

Star Wars Movie.
I want to take moment to tell Leo and Dante' what a great job they are doing as the new activity directors. The Star Wars movie the first chance I have had to participate in one of their events and I must say I really enjoyed it.

We met at the Levitz parking lot, and Leo informed us the first part of the event would be a preview of the run that is scheduled for the first night of Trans A Rama. It involves traveling some of the back roads of Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis, and Lincoln. If the rundown Highway 193 is part of the run I think the Trans A Rama participants will have a good time. We stopped for a short lunch at Jimboy's Taco Restaurant in Loomis. This is where our club has been going to car shows on Saturday nights. Let me just say the owner of this establishment, is a very nice gentleman who went out of his way to meet our club members.

After lunch we were on our way down to Elk Grove Century Theaters, for the Star Wars movie. This was my second time seeing the movie and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

From there it was a short drive to Pizza Plus where we had all you can eat pizza and some BBQ that was really, really good. Hopefully one night we can do all you can eat BBQ.

After that some of us called it a night while others headed out to spend more time together. I was one that called it a night, but I would just like to say again what a great time I had, even though I was driving a Camaro.

Ted "Theo" Bechtel