TAC Tech > Number Crunching

1978 L78 T/A 6.6 Original Block?

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stros:

--- Quote from: Maxthe222 on September 15, 2023, 07:50:27 AM ---L78 and "T/A 6.6" are two different things, like what you mentioned later on. Yes this is a WS6 car, but in this case, the W72 engine did not come part of the bundle. Your shaker would have been blank from factory, as the standard L78/L80 cars did not get a shaker decal in 1978. So many people just buy the kit from Pheonix Graphics that just comes with the T/A 6.6 decal and just throw it on. It's getting a little harder to find original 78 engines as of late as the price has been going up for them, especially W72's. Another thing is, it'll never be numbers matching without the original engine, it will just have the "correct" engine. The numbers that match are the VIN number on the body and the partial VIN on the block. If that partial VIN is not on the block in the car, it's not numbers matching.

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Hmm that's interesting.  I know for my 1977 the L78 had the "6.6 Litre" decal on it instead of the T/A 6.6.  I thought the 1978 L78 was the same decal-wise.  Sorry we're probably back off topic again, but now this thread is becoming a good history of the not often mentioned Trans Am L78 engine  :-D

Maxthe222:

--- Quote from: stros on September 15, 2023, 04:47:56 PM ---Hmm that's interesting.  I know for my 1977 the L78 had the "6.6 Litre" decal on it instead of the T/A 6.6.  I thought the 1978 L78 was the same decal-wise.  Sorry we're probably back off topic again, but now this thread is becoming a good history of the not often mentioned Trans Am L78 engine  :-D

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The SE's for example always had the shaker decal, but for whatever reason, in 1978 and 1980, the standard engines did not receive shaker decals, as well as some other misc decals like the front bumper "Trans Am" sticker. The shaker was just blank, unless the car came with the W72 performance package or was an SE. T/A 6.6 in 1978 and T/A 4.9 in 1980.

Wallington:
I guess we just keep chatting until Tom returns. Anyone know any good jokes?

b_hill_86:
Two engines walk into a bar…

nUcLeArEnVoY:
He didn't respond to his same thread on PY, either. Lol

The block that would be in your car would be a 500557 block, either with a YA or YU code stamped on it for an auto trans. People give those things away, if you want to do a numbers-matching resto, then that's to your benefit. There's services out there that will stamp numbers into the blocks to make them appear fully numbers-matching... take that for how you will from an ethical standpoint. I wouldn't worry about the shaker decal. People just slap the T/A 6.6 stickers onto those shakers all the time without realizing that they're actually reserved for the W72 cars - most people, even to this day, don't really know about the ins and outs and fine subtleties of these car's production quirks. They're also the same people that pay absurd prices for them in the spirit of speculating.

The history of some of these cars is pretty fascinating. The PWH 481988 block that originally came in my '79 W72 is long gone and was replaced by some plain-azz XA 500557 block from late '76. I can only imagine how critical a failure it must've been to necessitate replacing the superior 481988 block with the XA block, since it's takes a lot to condemn an engine block these days but it is what it is. Interestingly, only the block is unoriginal - 6X-4 heads, correct 17059263 carb, intake, manifolds, emissions equipment, air cleaner, etc. from the W72 motor are still on the car. Oh well, I have a standard bore PWH block that has been magnafluxed literally sitting in a box in my sister's old bedroom, so I guess when the time comes I'll do a build on it.

As for the driveability of my car, yeah, it's a turd. It's literally just all torque with some rear gear mixed in. At least the car looks good getting passed by everyone else, haha.

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