69 Firebird getting an LS1 and t56

[T_Raven]

Well some of you may have seen the pics of my 69 I picked up last year. I decided do some work to it so here are some pics from today.

This is when I picked it up in Sacramento last Sept.

Had to rent a second storage unit to put my others in so I'd have room to work

I guess this is a 283

Front sheet metal was all loose when I bought it so it came off quick

Pulled the subframe so I can clean it, weld it up and paint it

I bought this bad ass old GMC a while back when the propane company my dad works for bought out a smaller company that had this truck. I got it running yesterday and had to fix some wiring on the hoist but I got it working. It came in handy for pulling the engine

This is what's going in it. LS1/t56 out of a 00 Trans Am. I got it off ebay from a yard in FL and they said it had 90k miles.

Stripped the interior too

So far this car looks pretty rust free other than the driver's side floor, so I'll have to patch this

Trunk looks solid

Here it is until tomorrow


The plan for now is to repair any rust or damage to the body and get it ready for paint, weld up the subframe, paint it, and install it with solid body mounts and figure out what I want to do for subframe connectors, and install the engine and get it wired. Then from there I can upgrade the suspension and interior as I go along.

[robertjra]

looks good did the ls bolt right up to the stock motor mounts?

[78 Type-LT]

nice start & nice square body dually,,post some pics of that too

[T_Raven]

Didn't get anything done to the car today. Spent the morning cleaning my Raptor's carbs and the afternoon organizing the storage unit. I need to build some shelves so I can put all my crap high and make more room for working on the car. I took some pics of the truck though. I got this for a grand, I was originally going to keep the engine and sell the rest. The crane is kinda cool but since it doesn't telescope it's not super useful and a guy wants it so I'll probably sell the crane. Good body other than some cracked bondo on the hood and the hood kinda started to bend there so I have to shut it gently.

Not sure if this is the original engine, I don't know if GM painted them blue or not. It runs good though and would be much better with a tune up.

Interior is in pretty good shape.

[T_Raven]

Stipped the rest of the firewall and dash today


Old AC and wiring

Removed the gas tank, it's in great shape but I've got a Rick's tank to put in

Sorry excuse for an exhaust is off, it had a chrome Camaro cowel panel for some reason so that's got to go

Axle and leaf springs out

Floor looks good other than the rust on the driver's side

Trunk floor and frame rails look really good




Gonna order subframe bushings and a floor patch panel tonight and get the subframe prepped while I'm waiting

[78 Type-LT]

looks really solid

[LeighP]

Another good rebuild to watch.

[Josh69]

Sweet, I love seeing other '69 bird builds. The car looks like a factory yellow car, not too many of those. Would be a cool color to see on a PT bird. What are your plans for it aside from the LS/T56 conversion?

[Motown 454]

Nice project you have there. It sounds like you have a good plan too.

[T_Raven]

Sweet, I love seeing other '69 bird builds. The car looks like a factory yellow car, not too many of those. Would be a cool color to see on a PT bird. What are your plans for it aside from the LS/T56 conversion?

I'm not sure if it was originally yellow or not, i haven't seen a color under the yellow yet but there is yellow overspray and other things that make it obvious it was repainted yellow, but maybe on top of the factory yellow. I'll probably paint it blue though.

My plan for right now was really just to put the engine in to free up the space it was taking up and get rid of the 283, but you know how things snow ball. If I'm gonna put the engine in i might as well paint the subframe and if I'm going to do that I might as well get solid mounts and weld in some sf connectors and then I can paint the whole floor, but that means i gotta smooth the firewall now too and if I don't mini tub now I'll have to do it to a nicely painted floor. But I want a 4 link too so it would be nice to have all the mount points in before I paint but then I'd have to get wheels and tires, build the 9 inch to the width I want and fab up a 4 link.

For now I just want to get the floor taken care of, mount the subframe and weld it in, paint the under carriage and install the engine. I'll keep the factory suspension for now, do all the body work and at least get it in primer, maybe paint it too. Then as funds allow I can work on the interior and suspension

[STROKED]

Just came across your build sounds like you have it well planed, love to see more progress i'll be watching this.

[T_Raven]

Went to see some buddies for the weekend so I didn't make any progress on the car but Friday I cut the rust out of the floor and ordered a patch panel

I wanted to check the body and make sure it's not twisted before I start cutting and welding on stuff so yesterday I made some little adjusters so I could level the body

I used a 360 degree laser level to measure from since the concrete isn't a perfect plane and I don't feel like building a frame bench. I measured the rockers as well as the front and rear suspension mounts. As far as I can tell it's close enough to straight

Drained my diff, I was hoping I got lucky and someone had swapped in a limited slip but no luck

Look at the dimpled tube, I've never seen one like it but it looks factory

I had a local welding shop order in a sheet of 18 gauge so I can make some panels, that showed up yesterday

After I measured the body I started working on smoothing the firewall

When I got home my floor panel and Global West subframe mounts had shown up.

[67blacklist]

coming along nicely man, you have a real good base to work with there

-Tom

[T_Raven]

Trimmed my floor and patch panel. I want to spray some weld through primer where it over laps the lower part of the cowel panel. Being in the middle of no where no one had any so I had a body shop order some so it'll be here in the morning.

I went ahead and stripped the sub, I wish I would have remember to do it before I removed it from the car so the springs would've beeen easier to get out with the weight of the car on the subframe.

The factory welds are disgusting. I'll redo a lot of these


Ordered some Rust Bullet to brush on the insides of my quaters and a few other places, it showed up today.

[T_Raven]

I forgot to mention this. I bought a wrecked 00 TA while I was in California a couple months ago. I got a smoking deal on it from a Marine that was about to deploy and wanted to get rid of it. t56 car with 55k miles for $2800






I originally bought it figuring I'd keep the engine and trans, part out the rest and sell the other LS1/t56 I already had. Then I decided I wanted to use it to do a 3rd gen TA swap and put the interior in it as well. But now I'm thinking I'll put the dash, console, and seats in the 69.

[96t/acj]

this will be pretty sic, just stick with it and take ur time. cant wait to see the results.

[srh3trinity]

Nice project. I am jealous of your flock of Firebirds and some of the deals you have scored.

[LeighP]

I've seen a couple of 4th gen interiors in early birds...looks great!

[T_Raven]

Nice project. I am jealous of your flock of Firebirds and some of the deals you have scored.

I get lucky once in a while with a good deal. Bought this tig welder recently. It's a Lincoln Square Wave 175, barely used with cart and bottle. The little plasma cutter is a Lincoln Pro Cut 25. Guy had a pace maker put in and couldn't use them any more. All of this new is $3700, I bought it all for $1300!

[T_Raven]

Speaking of tig welder I finished welding my frame rails. My tig skills suck but this was a good part to practice on.



Decided to repair the dented crossmember and make it stronger. Cut out the damaged parts.



I wanted to weld something in so the new plate couldn't get smashed in by a jack. Plenty of pipe laying around where my dad works so I welded a couple pieces in


I made the new plate out of 1/8th inch, so it's thicker. I made it to tie both crossmembers together and act as a skid plate


Here it is welded in


I'll tie it to the rear of the front crossmember also