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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Aug 2002
      Location
      Sweden
      Posts
      902
      Country Flag: Sweden

      The Firebird-74

      I've been lurking around here for quite some time. I used write more posts a couple of years ago, but now a days I'm mostly reading...

      Kind of a strange name on the thread, but I would like to show my car... or what's left of it.



      I bought the Firebird ten years ago, 1999, and it was my first car. I was 18 then and I quite alone with an american car - alone at my high school, alone in my neigborhood, alone among my friends but at least not alone in the city... After that, I've done quite a lot of work on the suspension but not much on the rest of it. Mostly because of lack of time, money, interest and a decent garage to work in.
      The car was fast, behaved well but it was a six footer. No, probably a sixty footer - the paintjob was a 150dollar job that was made when I just bought the car. There was rust, bad interior panels, ugly trunk and overall a bad impression.

      When I found a garage last year the fuel injection had the nice timing to break down (harware failure) which resulted in "well, if I should do some minor maintenance at the same time...."


      So the car was stripped of all the parts...


      quite alot of cables in a car, eventhough it's old... It was heavier than I thought.


      front off...


      I made a rotisserie so I could weld and work on the floor more easily.




      And the suspension was removed (and sold!)




      It took me like five minutes to realise that the rotisserie was probably one of my best ideas during this rebuild... I'll never again find myself under a car welding rust...




      Why am I calling this a budget build then?
      Well, I have app. 10000 USD to spend (plus the old parts that I can sell) on it which is going to cover new suspension, wheels, paint job, electric system, interior, roll cage etc.
      Since I also live in Europe, and not the US - buying aftermarket parts for the project is out of the question. Everything I see, I can make cheaper myself after import taxes, shipping, toll, taxes on the shipping, toll fees, tax on the toll fees and tax on the taxes etc has been added.
      That means this thread probably will contain a lot of manufacturing and not that much purchasing... That's why I'm calling it unorthodox - I want to eat the cookie (=have a fast car) and save it (=for less than a **** load of money) at the same time...
      So, starting my budget project - what can be better than starting with shopping for "new" (used) wheels?


      A used set of centerbolt BBS E87 was purchased for "only" 2500 USD... So much for that budget... :bsjerk:
      2500 USD was excluding polished lip and new paint on the center, which I did myself - atleast that was "free"...


      What's my goal with the project then?
      Well, focus for me is getting a car that is real fast. Not a 3500 lbs 1200 hp car, but a 2500 lbs 500 hp car or so. Good suspension is better than a 100% super duper mega show paint job.
      If the money can cover a cage, suspension and some aerodynamic improvements and I'm satisfied...

      That's all for now. Hope you guys like it...


    2. #2
      Join Date
      May 2005
      Location
      Miami
      Posts
      2,218
      Country Flag: United States
      yeah for some reasons budget's NEVER seem to work when building cars..LOL

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Dec 2005
      Location
      Birmingham, AL
      Posts
      3,356
      Country Flag: United States
      I have always wanted to see pics of this car. I remember the blocked out front grill. The new wheels look perfect.
      Stephen

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Mar 2010
      Location
      San Gabriel Valley CA
      Posts
      148
      Country Flag: United States
      Those centerbolt BBS E87 look great.

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Feb 2008
      Posts
      118
      The "unorthodox" build threads are the best to read. Bolt-ons, whilst good, are not interesting to read about in comparison to fabrication.
      Matt Barr.

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Jun 2005
      Location
      Greenwood, SC
      Posts
      2,314
      Heck yeah man! I'm a longtime fan of your car, and it looks like it's going to come back badder than ever. Keep us updated!

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Mar 2009
      Location
      overseas
      Posts
      3,433
      Country Flag: United States
      cool to see another europe project! good luck with it
      Kevin S. (overseas in Germany)
      1963 Chevrolet Impala 2d ht Coupe

      www.CruznArt.com
      CRUZN - Automotive Artworks

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jan 2008
      Location
      Charlotte
      Posts
      1,295
      That rotisserie looks awesome!!
      2005 LeMans Blue Corvette w/ T56 & Z51 & C6Z06 Brakes, Build Thread: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?64496
      2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD LLY / Allison
      2014 Chevy SS LS3 / 4 Door

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Dec 2006
      Location
      summerville,sc
      Posts
      160
      Country Flag: United States
      good looking car keep up the good work.

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Aug 2002
      Location
      Sweden
      Posts
      902
      Country Flag: Sweden
      Thanks for all the comments guys!
      Things like this helps keep up the motivation for the project...

      Yeah, the front mod came out pretty good...





      Hmmm, why did I tear it down... I actually miss it when I look at the pictures.

      some more pictures;

      Pontiac 400 with Kauffman heads, fuel injection, dry sump lubrication and some other nice stuff.




    11. #11
      Join Date
      Aug 2002
      Location
      Sweden
      Posts
      902
      Country Flag: Sweden
      A friend helped me with the wheel nuts since he had a NC-lathe. Since aluminum in small pieces are hard to find (at least good quality), I ended up buying aluminum from e-bay USA. A friend then took it with him home to Sweden. Funny, it's easier to find aluminum pieces on internet on the other side of the world, than it is in my own city...


      I designed the nuts (the blue thing) with five edges (or is refered to as surfaces?) instead of six. Since the car will be parked on the streets occasionally. That way I'll hopefully will stop the temptation to steal the wheels on a simple way...



      They came out preeeeeetty nice, right?


      (I actually made the washers myself... They wasn't that advanced.)


      Now I just have to make a five edged socket too... Or maybe two if I lose one of them.

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Sep 2008
      Location
      Kathleen, GA
      Posts
      159
      great work ! very cool ideas !

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Dunwoody, GA
      Posts
      4,984
      Country Flag: United States
      bad impression or not, I've always liked you car. I've known about it for years now. Glad to see you still making updates. Keep up the good work.
      Trey

      "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
      ~ Jon Hammond

      1979 WS6 Trans Am stock LT1/T56 drive train out of my Formula. BMW M-parallel rims. C5/C6 brakes

      build thread https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=begins

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jan 2008
      Location
      Charlotte
      Posts
      1,295
      Damn - looking good.

      I'd take the stickers off the side though.
      2005 LeMans Blue Corvette w/ T56 & Z51 & C6Z06 Brakes, Build Thread: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?64496
      2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD LLY / Allison
      2014 Chevy SS LS3 / 4 Door

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Aug 2002
      Location
      Sweden
      Posts
      902
      Country Flag: Sweden
      Does anyone know where I can find polybushings for my Ford 8.8 rear end? (rear suspension is from a Lincoln Mark VIII).

      It's mostly the front bushings that are interesting. I'm going to build a new rear mount and will use either stock rear bushing (if I can find out what it looks like - I didn't get any with the used section) model or same as the front bushings.

      I've looked at summit, energy suspension, google etc but can't find anything.

      any help would be very appreciated!
      Attached Images Attached Images  

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Mar 2006
      Location
      memphis
      Posts
      341
      wicked bird..tha center lug wheel idea is sweet
      Dave

    17. #17
      Join Date
      May 2010
      Posts
      2
      It was a cool ride before you started, I can't wait to see the result.

      I wish I had fabrication skills, my car would have a chance to actually get done sometime this century.

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      I always liked your car. It'll be cool to see how it progresses!

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Apr 2010
      Location
      Dekalb Il (60 miles west of chicago)
      Posts
      30
      great work keep it up

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Aug 2002
      Location
      Sweden
      Posts
      902
      Country Flag: Sweden
      Thanks for the support guys.

      Progress is slow right now. Waiting for bushings for the carrier, SAE drillbits, sheet metal and some other things before I can finish my fixture and start making the mounts for the rear suspension in the body.
      The dedione is finished in CAD and the necessary sheet metal for it is ordered (pics are coming).

      I've added some room for the mufflers since I'm not going to keep the back seat.
      With the modification made, I realized that it would be easier to just cut out all of the floor and start building a new. The problem though, is that I have to pass a certain kind of governemental inspection with th car and to be able to do that I can not do things like cutting out all of the sheet metal and replace it with a tube frame etc... That's why my body mods sometimes may look more time consuming and perhaps slightly more stupid than others...

      Anyway,
      Before:


      After:



      The lowest parts of the floor has been raised to allow for really low ground clearance:



      I'm currently seam welding most of the body. Hard to see on the picture, but look in the lower parts of the door hole


      That's all for now.

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