1967 Firebird - From Sprint to LS Pro Touring [Archive]

Rexenator

10-15-2016, 03:36 PM

Hi everyone,

I've been a long time lurker on here for a while now. I've been looking for a 67-69 F-Body car for a pro touring build for over a year now. Last week I finally found the right car, a 1967 Pontiac Firebird Sprint. I got a pretty good deal on it since the 6 cylinder cars aren't terribly desirable (although the story behind the Pontiac OHC-6 is pretty neat). I picked it up from the previous owner on Wednesday, and after a short ride on a caul hauler it is finally in my garage. I have some pretty big plans for this car, but I'll post those up later. For now, here is the car:
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I did some initial inspection to see what exactly I had. This was originally a Regimental Red car (currently painted some other red color) with a deluxe black interior. It had the sprint package with a 3 speed on the floor transmission (still intact). Other than that, it was a pretty basic, no option car (apart from power steering). Four wheel manual drum brakes makes for an interesting experience when trying to stop........
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While taking a look under the front carpet, I found a good stash of leaves and poop. I also noticed that the padding was wet, which led me to investigate further. I ended up finding out that the front left footwell is pretty much rotted out, which ended up worrying me quite a bit. Well a few hours later, and I've gutted most of the interior. It turns out that the rest of the car is actually really solid. I'm going to order up a partial floorpan to repair the rotted out area, and prep the interior for rust inhibitor.
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Once I have a solid car, building can begin. I'll talk about my plans for the car in the next post.

Phil_L

10-15-2016, 04:03 PM

Nice car man! Can't wait to see the transformation. I have a 1969 firebird that I plan to build a pro touring. Good luck!

DroptopJ

10-15-2016, 06:17 PM

Cool! Another First gen Firebird

1965gp

10-15-2016, 07:01 PM

Very nice- I would have a hard time not putting a turbo 6 in that car!!

Rexenator

10-16-2016, 02:05 PM

Ok, I just wanted to give everyone a quick idea of what I'm thinking for this build. I'm really going for modern performance with period correct (mostly) looks, so you won't see any modern aftermarket interiors or crazy bodywork attempting to modernize the vehicle. Here's what I am planning for the long term:

Detroit Speed or Speedtech subframe and matching rear suspension
LS3 (480 or 525) with T56
12 bolt rear end with TrueTrac
Digital Gauges and hood tach
Power windows/locks
Big Brakes with hydroboost
Mini tubs
17x9 front wheels and 17x11 rear wheels (or maybe 18s)
VintageAir
Reduce amount of chrome/polished trim
Repaint (Regimental Red with Black Stripes/Accents)
Perhaps a roll bar/cage

That said, this build will not happen overnight. My goal for the short term is to repair any rot to preserve what I have then to get the car back on the road. The tires I have now are over 30 years old, the four wheel manual drum brakes suck big time, and the engine starts and runs, but could definitely use a tune up. The interior also needs some work, and the exhaust is rusted completely through.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have removed the rusted sections of my floorpan and ordered some replacement sheetmetal.

Tim john---

10-16-2016, 04:09 PM

Them Pontiac Sprint motors were way ahead of their time, quite spunky. I really like them.

Tim john---

XLexusTech

10-16-2016, 04:17 PM

Rexenator

10-16-2016, 05:29 PM

My 2 cents DSE vs speed tech would go DSE ... the 480 over the 525...

Some things I wish I knew ahead of time... brakes and wheels and tires need to be in hand for mini tub and rear end sizing get all of those before you start cutting

from the looks of those toe boards you are going to be in for a one piece floor and inner rockers you may get really lucky but these cars are pretty predictable

Thanks for the input. It would be a real shame if I had to go with a full floor, the rest of the floor is solid. I do agree that I will probably have to replace the left inner rocker, there is some rot in there that requires more than a small patch. Oh well, I won't really find out until I get in there and cut some of the bad part of the floor out.

Rexenator

10-20-2016, 04:51 PM

Just spent the last few days removing the rust and other nastiness with a wire brush and my angle grinder. The undercarriage was poorly coated in a stone chip like material, which took me a while to remove. I kind of wish I had a rotisserie or body stand for some of this work, but my race ramps work pretty good at giving me enough room to move under the car. The good news is only that one panel is bad. The bad news is that there is a lot of bubba work that needs to be fixed.

My entire electrical system is spliced together with twist on lamp connectors and tape. Also, it looks like all of my brake and fuel lines are hand bent (as in without a tube bender). Also, I'm 99% sure my clutch cable and parking brake cable are not run correctly. They cross over and through the subframe, and the parking brake cable hangs on the floor pan. Exhaust is shot, more holes than metal left. I was planning on replacing this stuff anyway, but it's still frustrating to see such poor work.

Also, are there any good reference books that give a clear description of how the car is supposed to be assembled? I have the Pontiac service manual (and supplement) as well as the Body By Fisher manual, but a lot of info I need is either not in there or not clear.

Rexenator

10-21-2016, 02:33 PM

I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what I'm working with. Most of my wiring is pretty nasty, I can't believe someone would wire a car this way. I took out a pretty decent amount of wiring which was never properly terminated, or taped together. It looks like I don't actually have any original wiring left in the car. Once I get it all out of here I am going to replace the entire harness with something like what Painless Performance offers.

Also, it turns out when the car was painted last that the interior was not removed, nor was the interior masked off. So now 90% of my interior trim panels are not reusable because they are covered in paint.

Another thing, it turns out my drivers side inner rocker needs to be replaced. I was grinding off the stone chip underneath and found a poorly welded on patch covering a pretty nice rusted out hole. I also found a few more holes on the passenger side floorpan while removing the stone chip, so now I'm leaning towards a one piece floor pan and inner rockers. I've done some reading, and it looks like the full replacement isn't much harder than welding in a bunch of patches. Also, since my toe boards are rotted out, and I'll be switching to vintage air anyway I might just go ahead and replace the firewall with a heater delete version. I've checked the regular places (AMD and Dynacorn) and these parts are readily available and reasonably priced. All of that should leave me with a rock solid car

Lastly, I think my trunk pan is installed incorrectly. The sides have a huge gap which isn't welded or glued to anything. I'm going to investigate further, but it looks like I may need to replace that as well.

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Rexenator

10-25-2016, 04:13 PM

Been a slow few days with the car. I ordered some 10" RaceRamps wheel cribs to give me some more room to crawl around. Today I ran the engine for what will probably be the last time it runs in this car. I took some video to document the engine so I can try to sell it (anyone want a Pontiac OHC-6?). I'll post the video here in a couple of days.

Back on the restoration side, I removed the exhaust tonight. At first I tried removing it the "correct" way by unbolting the flanges and separating everything. About 30 minutes into removing rusted on nuts and bolts it occurred to me, why am I trying to save exhaust that has 12 or more large holes in it? After that I got out the old body saw and chopped the rest out. Tomorrow I'll start taking the front end off (bumpers, fenders, etc.) so I can begin prepping to pull the engine.
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Rexenator

11-04-2016, 04:23 PM

I thought I'd post a quick status update. I have all of the front sheet metal off the car, but I still need to get the special tool to remove the windshield wiper arms so I can remove the cowl. I also started keeping track of what I need to replace, so far the sheetmetal I need is:

Floorpan (Full)
Firewall (heater delete/smooth)
Dash Panel (To convert to A/C Car)
Passenger side inner fender (maybe repairable)

I'll start disconnecting the fuel lines/brakes/steering tomorrow in preparation to drop the subframe. I am still deciding which method I want to use to remove the subframe. I have considered pulling the engine/transmission, then dropping the subframe, or leaving everything, putting the car on jacks and raising it off of the subframe and rolling everything away. Does anyone have any insight to which method is easier/preferred?

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Dark Pursuit

11-04-2016, 05:50 PM

hiflyr

11-04-2016, 06:20 PM

Rexenator

11-05-2016, 02:39 PM

If you are going to recondition your original subframe, It is a good idea to dis-assemble the front suspension with body and engine in place. Then you can the subfarme and roll the body off. Just make sure that you plan the room to roll the body back. Then you can hoist engine and trans and just drop the subframe clear of the power plant. The subrame without suspension will then be under 200 lbs and manageable by 1 man.

I don't plan on re-using this subframe, and I don't currently have an engine hoist which is why I thought leaving the engine on the subframe might be easier. The plan is to get the subframe off the car, and sell everything (subframe, engine, transmission). I kind of like the idea of rolling the body away from the subframe though, what would you suggest using the prob the front up with to help roll it out?

Rexenator

11-05-2016, 02:49 PM

Got some more work done on the car today. I pulled all of the parts for the heater, a pretty easy job that didn't take me too long to accomplish. I will be converting to VintageAir, so all of these parts go into the "sell" bin.

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I also got a chance to try out my new angle grinder today. I wanted to see how hard it would be to grind down the firewall spot welds when I'm ready to remove the firewall. The grinder has plenty of guts, so it should help make easy work of anything I need it for. Sadly, while I was crawling around under the car I noticed a patch on the drivers side rocker that looked like there might be rust under the paint. So I busted out the angle grinder and did a quick grind and found this:

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There was about an inch thick layer of bondo piled up on top of a huge dent in the rocker. Either this car was in a very minor accident (possible) or someone tried to jack the car up from the rocker. Based on the weird mangled bend in the pinch seam right near this very spot, I'd say someone tried using a floor jack for a tire change and messed it up. But who knows, maybe it was t-boned by a motorcycle or something. I ground the rest of the bondo down, and am left with this:

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You can kind of see in the second picture where the lines of the rocker dent inward. The rocker will have to be replaced when I start repairing everything. To be positive, I'm just glad it wasn't filler to cover up a huge rust problem. Oh well, add an outer rocker to the sheet metal I need to replace. And now the teardown can continue!

xsboost90

11-05-2016, 07:14 PM

Rexenator

11-06-2016, 04:49 AM

nice project. Saw one of those at the track as a kid that was all built up- running like 10's or something. Badass. I had a 69 firebird a few years back with a Bischof race motor 355sbc that was very quick. Miss that car.

What part of Ohio you in? Im from cincinnati but now live over the Ohio Ocean in NKY.

I'm just outside of Dayton. I've got an uncle in KY, he lives just outside of Lexington. He got me interested in these cars a few years back. He owns a bird/Trans Am from almost every year they were made. He keeps them in a 30 car garage that he calls "The Birdhouse."

Rexenator

11-13-2016, 12:23 PM

I got a little further with the teardown last week. I removed the steering column and gutted the remainder of the interior. My driver's side inner/outer rockers showed up from AMD (note gigantic box currently stored on top of the car).

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Unfortunately, after I ordered the driver's side rockers I decided to check the other side, and now it looks like I will need to order rockers for the passenger side as well.

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Also, I spent a lot of time this week learning to weld. I put together a few practice projects, and am now much more comfortable knowing I am able to complete this restoration.

Motown 454

11-13-2016, 05:23 PM

Your moving along nicely. Keep at it.

xsboost90

11-14-2016, 03:02 PM

I'm just outside of Dayton. I've got an uncle in KY, he lives just outside of Lexington. He got me interested in these cars a few years back. He owns a bird/Trans Am from almost every year they were made. He keeps them in a 30 car garage that he calls "The Birdhouse."

he doesnt have a firetruck too does he? My dad was in the pontiac clubas a kid and we visited a place like that.

Rexenator

11-14-2016, 03:36 PM

he doesnt have a firetruck too does he? My dad was in the pontiac clubas a kid and we visited a place like that.

Its been about 10 years since I went to his house (distant relative). He has the 30 car garage, and also an old barn where he stores a few more cars but I don't remember there being a firetruck there. The barn is used to dry tobacco crops during a lot of the year so its possible I may have missed it or forgotten.

Rexenator

11-14-2016, 04:56 PM

Well, I hit a small snag with a drill bit and ended up inadvertently draining part of my fuel tank. I was planning on replacing these lines anyway, so not a huge loss. I was going to separate the rockers from the floor pan tonight, but I'll just divert and siphon the fuel out so I can drop the tank. More updates soon.

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XLexusTech

11-14-2016, 05:19 PM

Well shoot accidents happen :-) keep going!

Buryingthesun

11-20-2016, 04:36 AM

any updates?

Rexenator

11-21-2016, 08:07 AM

any updates?

Sorry, didn't get much work done this week. My wife gave birth to our baby boy on Tuesday, and we've been getting him settled in. I'm going to finish up a practice welding project today (basically two huge pieces of sheet metal with a ton of holes for plug welds and a bunch of butt joints to practice butt welding). Once I get that done I'm going to weld in the support structure for the driver's side door, then I'll be removing the rockers.

cbpldc

11-23-2016, 09:42 AM

Nice ride! You should be able to get a bit of money back from the parts you're selling off. Some of the Pontiac purists would likely pay a good bit of money for a Sprint OHC six.

You're also not too far from my family, in Richmond, IN. keep up the good work!

Chris

camarodude87

11-24-2016, 10:13 AM

Love this build. Will definitely be following.

Rexenator

11-27-2016, 04:34 PM

Ok, so I finally got some bracing and cutting done. I built a simple triangular brace to support the door opening when I remove the rockers. I also started to drill out the spot welds holding the inner/outer rockers together and the spot welds holding everything to the floorpan.

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After I got that done, I decided to cut out the dented portion of the driver's side rocker to see what I was working with.

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To my surprise, the entire outer rocker is solid (I wish the same could be said about the inner). This leaves me in a bit of an internal struggle, do I replace the entire outer rocker or just patch it? It looks like removing the back portion of the rocker (near the rear wheel opening, under the rear quarter) will be a PITA. I already have the replacement part from AMD sitting in my garage, so now I just need to decide whether to do the whole thing or to just chop of the piece I need from the replacement part. I think a good compromise might be to replace everything to the left of my rear most cut, this would give me only one seam to worry about, and would avoid tearing the quarter and wheel well apart.

Also, I did some "digging" around with my angle grinder/sanding disk, just to see if there were anymore surprises waiting for me. I think I'm just going to go ahead and remove all of the paint on the car to be sure. I don't want to end up doing something twice because of a hidden patch of rust or bondo. I'm thinking I can get everything back to bare metal, then just hit the whole car with some flat black primer to keep everything nice and rust free until I'm ready for final body work/paint.

Rexenator

12-07-2016, 04:12 PM

After a few weeks of the new baby I've finally found some time to make some good progress on what my friends and I have jokingly been calling "Rexbird." I removed most of the outer and inner rocker on the driver's side of the car. I decided that I will replace the entire assembly. The metal was good throughout most of the rocker, but I figured that this is never going to be an all original car so I might as well do the right thing and replace the entire panel. Here's a pic of the car as it sits now:

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I found a few more panels that will need to be patched/replaced, including the front door jamb, outer cowl and the inner door hinge pillar to rocker panel support piece. I already have the door jamb and cowl on hand, and just placed an order for the inner door support.

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I've decided to just patch the door jamb since the part I have has four holes per hinge for the 68/69 model years (vs 3 holes per hinge on my 67), so I'll just use the lower part that I need. The outer cowl assembly I bought has both the structural piece and the outer shell. I'm just going to replace the outer shell because the structural piece is still solid on my car. I'm still deciding what to do with the door support piece, but I have a few days until the part arrives to make that decision. I'm going to get the rest of the rocker out of the car, then the I will begin prepping to patch the door jamb. Everything will be hit with rust preventative, including the interior portions of panels such as the cowl and rockers before I weld anything back in. More updates soon.

Rexenator

12-13-2016, 05:20 PM

Just a quick update, this should give you an idea of where I'm at.

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xsboost90

12-13-2016, 08:04 PM

congrats on the baby boy!!! yeah best thing ive done with my current car was having it blasted top and bottom to remove everything. Found a few small surprises but better than after its ready for paint

Rexenator

12-17-2016, 04:03 PM

I fitted the driver's side cowl and door/hinge pillar reinforcement today. The side cowl assembly (inner and outer parts) was made by AMD, and I'm not 100% happy with it. The inner part took quite a bit of cutting and reshaping with a hand seamer to match the contours of the upper cowl and the firewall. The outer part fits fine, except I will need to extend the upper flange with some scrap metal since the flange is about 3/16" shorter than the factory part. The door/hinge pillar reinforcement was made by Goodmark. It looks slightly different than the factory part (shape of the openings is a little different), but it fits perfectly. All-in-all it wasn't too bad, I hope the rockers fit up this easily.

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DT69Cam

12-17-2016, 07:19 PM

Rexenator

12-18-2016, 05:37 AM

You may be aware of this already but if not, All panels from AMD that begin with an "X" are NOT AMD panels, they are from another manufacturer. AMD refers to them as "X" brand parts. Just an FYI here.

Yeah, I saw that on AMD's website. The weird thing is the cowl parts are no kidding AMD parts (no X). I also didn't order their door/hinge pillar reinforcement panel (also a no kidding AMD part) because of some bad reviews about waves in the sheet metal (which is evident even on the pictures on their website), so I guess not all of their parts are up to the same quality.

camarodude87

12-18-2016, 07:51 PM

What welding experience do you have prior to doing this car?

T_Raven

12-19-2016, 12:04 AM

Nice project. My 67 was a regular straight 6 car. I drove it with that for a while. Kinda cool for a straight 6. My 68 is a sprint but one of the previous owners put a 400 in it. I did track down and bought the engine that came out of it, but unfortunately the block doesn't match the car. It looks like someone swapped in a regular long block, but the intake and carb are there. Not that I care about numbers matching, I just figured I'd sell it as a numbers matching car and buy another one to modify.

Your sprint engine should be worth some money. I'll probably put mine back in the car to play with until I build the car how I want it and then sell the sprint stuff.

rohrt

12-19-2016, 10:21 AM

Nice work. Good to see another bird on the site.

Glad I never had to tackle rockers.

Michaels 69

12-19-2016, 12:11 PM

Looks like a fun project!

Rexenator

12-19-2016, 04:03 PM

What welding experience do you have prior to doing this car?

Not a whole lot, mostly just hobby type welding, such as building work tables or small decorative pieces. I don't have any real experience with automotive sheet metal (patched the trunk in an old Honda one time), but I am taking a class right now (part of the reason I haven't been in a rush to get to the welding stage). Most of this has been learn as you go, with a lot of practice projects before I get into welding anything onto the car.

Rexenator

12-19-2016, 04:05 PM

firebird.sprint

12-28-2016, 05:12 PM

I have a small hoard of these motors, related parts and a 69 sprint firebird to top it off. Theses are very cool motors with a real awesome story. They are not worth much, the market for them is just not there.A couple of years ago i bought 3 motors, 2 of which where sprints (one was even a ultra rare 69 manual) for $300. if you want to know more about these motors and what you can do to them there is a sprint forum (pontiac overhead cam six forum) its pretty much dead at this point but their is a couple of real nice knowledgeable guys left on there and some really good articles on what these motors can really do.

Rexenator

03-06-2017, 04:09 PM

Ok, its been a while since I last posted an update. I had a busy holiday season, and finding time to work on the car with the baby has been more difficult than I anticipated. I've been averaging less than 2 hours a week on the Firebird, up until about last month when I was finally able to dedicate some time and get a lot of work done. I haven't imported the pictures from my camera yet, but I've completed all of the driver's side sheet metal (inner/outer rockers, door reinforcement, and side cowl). I'm finishing up the passenger's side tomorrow (pretty much the same as the drivers side except I was able to salvage and re-use my original inner rocker). I'll post some pictures with specifics tomorrow, but I'm just glad to be done with rockers.

I also posted my engine and transmission to Craig's List, hopefully someone comes to take those off of my hands pretty soon. This weekend I will start the rest of the disassembly so I can get the floor out. I'll be going the full floor route, which should be easier (at least cleaner) than piecing the floor together from patch panels. I'm debating if I am going to do the firewall at the same time, but right now I'm leaning toward doing the floor and leaving the front unwelded so I can then remove the firewall and replace it. I think it will be easier to maintain good measurements if I only do one piece at a time, thoughts? Also, I'm moving to California in June, so I need to make sure the car is assembled enough to be shipped, which may drive the decision as to how much I tear out right now. More updates soon.

Rexenator

03-15-2017, 02:32 PM

Lots of progress this week. My replacement floor pan from AMD showed up, so I spent some time disconnecting brake lines and the other few things still attached to the bottom of the car. I also found a buyer for the Sprint engine and transmission, they are coming by on Saturday to pick everything up. I spent most of the week disconnecting disconnecting plumbing, the driveshaft (some of my bolts were frozen solid, took forever to remove), and various additional parts. Hopefully the engine pull goes smoothly so I can get the subframe off and start working on the floor.
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Rexenator

03-19-2017, 05:45 AM

The engine's out of the car! It took about 2 hours yesterday, after hurdling a few small roadblocks. We ended up having to remove the aftermarket Hurst shifter, the engine mounts on both the engine and on the subframe, as well as part of the exhaust manifold. I have almost everything under the car disconnected minus the brake lines, so once I drill out some spot welds I'll be ready to swap in the new floorpan. One area of concern is that my driver's side frame rail has a decent amount of rust around area where the forward leaf spring mount attaches, so I might need to address that before replacing the floor.

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TheJDMan

03-19-2017, 06:15 AM

Rexenator

03-19-2017, 09:27 AM

I know this is counter to the norm, but I have thought many times that a turbocharged inline six would be a very unique power plant. I have envisioned a number of times a full on Pro-Touring suspension build with a stock body and a blown inline six. Probably just more of a mental excersise but it would certainly attract attention.

I will admit that I had considered going a turbo 6 route with this car. However, with the availability of parts (or lack thereof) for the Pontiac OHC, the lack of community support and the complexity involved I decided that the turbo 6 route would probably be outside of my personal ability. There are other 6 cylinder engines that would probably work, but I'm not smart enough on them to attempt that build. I was talking to the guy that bought my engine/transmission though, and it sounds like most folks who own Pontiac OHC 6 cars have multiple backup engines sitting around just in case they need something.

I'm happy that I was able to sell the engine to someone who is going to use it for an original OHC 6 car. The buyer also indicated that he would be interested in buying my rear axle and suspension when the time comes, since my setup with the dual traction bars and mono leaf springs was only available on the 67 Firebirds. In the end, I look at this as a win/win for everyone.

mean buzzen half dozen

03-19-2017, 10:11 AM

Nice project you have going.
I had this with my old engine combo. 250 CI inline Chevy 6 cyl.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/03/PaxtonsuperchargerChevy260six003-1.jpg (http://s87.photobucket.com/user/itsjustasix/media/Paxton%20supercharger%20race%20impeller/PaxtonsuperchargerChevy260six003.jpg.html)

With the Paxton it ran mid 12's in the 1/4.

I am currently working on turbocharged inline 250 6 cyl pro-touring .

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/03/3inchintercoolerplumbing003-1.jpg (http://s87.photobucket.com/user/itsjustasix/media/Camaro%20intercooliong%20piping%203%20inch/3inchintercoolerplumbing003.jpg.html)

It's a long term project.

Rexenator

06-29-2017, 02:36 PM

Well I'm finally moved into my house in California, and the Firebird was delivered yesterday so I got straight to work. After removing the doors, trunk, and subframe again I started to tackle the firewall. I ordered a firewall that already has a blank panel for the heater delete. The panel is a Goodmark part, and it actually fits pretty well. The only issues I've found are that the holes for the fender bolts don't line up with the holes on the cowl (apparently a common problem with these parts) and the stamping doesn't perfectly follow the correct contours at the top edge and will require some minor trimming to get everything to match up (no big deal). I'm starting to get a little excited, because after this all I need to do is patch the trunk pan, then I can start doing things that are actual pro-touring mods and not standard restoration/sheet metal stuff. More updates to follow!141803

Rexenator

07-01-2017, 03:37 PM

Well... progress on the firewall has been stalled since I'm still waiting on a shipment of supplies (weld-through primer being one of the things I need). I decided to start tackling the trunk. I made a cardboard template and traced it into the trunk, and then cut the hole about 1" smaller all around (to give some overlap for plug welds). I left the fuel tank support brackets in for the time being. My plan is to weld in the new trunk pan and fuel tank brackets at the same time (brackets are about a week out), but I wanted to use what's left of the existing brackets to help ensure that the trunk pan is aligned and centered correctly. I also noticed that the new trunk pan comes pretty close to the inner wheel houses, so I'm going to have to double check Detroit Speed's mini tub instructions before cutting that area for the trunk, just to make sure I leave myself with enough usable metal to mate against the mini tubs when I get there. Since I'm waiting on supplies/parts, most of this week will just be grinding down welds and ordering parts. More updates soon.

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Rexenator

12-05-2017, 06:45 PM

Been a while since I posted an updated. I've knocked out a decent amount in the last couple of months. Firewall/trunk are done now. I've also installed minitubs, and removed most of the paint from the the car. I got sidetracked while removing the paint/bondo from the car. A previous quarter panel repair wasn't done well, so I had to grind down some welds and hammer/dolly both quarters to get things to line up correctly.

I'm finally ready to install the rear suspension. All of my parts from Speedtech came in this week. I'll be installing their rear torque arm kit (and eventually their pro touring subframe). The kit I ordered includes Ridetech single adjustable coilovers (this car will be more of a daily driver so I just need to be able to dial in the suspension for comfort), as well as a new Ford 9 inch housing (narrowed to 56" from axle flange to axle flange) with matching axle shafts. Everything is in bare metal because I plan on spraying all of the parts with SPI black epoxy primer when I spray the entire car in January. Hopefully I can get everything test fit this weekend so I can get the crossmember welded in. More updates soon.

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76TA

12-06-2017, 11:29 AM

Awesome build. Great to see consistent progress. Also, welcome to CA. You won't miss these winters.

BlackHD

12-06-2017, 11:45 AM

Nice build - where abouts in Cali are you located?

Rexenator

12-09-2017, 09:16 AM

Awesome build. Great to see consistent progress. Also, welcome to CA. You won't miss these winters.

Thanks, I'm hoping to have the car ready for paint by May/June. After that, things will move at the pace of my checkbook since I have a lot of major purchases to make (engine, transmission, electrical, etc.).

Nice build - where abouts in Cali are you located?

Thanks, I'm just outside of Palmdale.

Rexenator

05-15-2019, 12:23 PM

I can’t believe it’s been a year and a half since I last posted an update. Since then I have moved again from California to Florida, had another kiddo (baby girl), bought a 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ and done almost nothing on the Firebird. I finally got back at it last month and have since assembled and installed a SpeedTech pro touring subframe. This was a relatively easy project, but the difference it makes to the vehicle has really got me excited about finally finishing this car. I still need to install the front Baer brakes and order some new wheels to finish the front end. I just need to get the torque arm powder coated and assemble my Ford 9” and the rear suspension will finally be done. The goal is to get the car to the body shop for some final body work and paint by July. I have accumulated a good amount of time off from work, so this is the perfect time to get back at it. More updates soon.

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Rexenator

05-18-2019, 08:31 AM

Got the front brakes installed today. I was surprised at how easy it was (4 bolts total per side). I’m going to finish up the rear suspension this weekend and order some wheels. More updates to follow.
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Rexenator

06-24-2019, 04:14 PM

Haven't done much work on the Firebird lately. I did start the work on the rear suspension (nearly done, just need to find another free Saturday to finish it up). I've been searching the area for a good body shop to finish out some of the final sheet metal work and paint it. Unfortunately, after Hurricane Michael last year a lot of the local places switched from classic car restoration to auto body repair (to cash in on that insurance money). I've found a couple of places that are still doing classic cars (both come well recommended), but of course they are back logged with other large projects. I asked both shops if they would be wiling to send someone to stop by for a quote, so hopefully I'll get that done in the next week or two. Hopefully I can find someone soon, the body work (and funds to some extent) are the only things holding me back from getting a new driveline in and getting the car back on the road. In the meantime I've been busy working on my 1991 Jeep Wrangler (one of the many projects I've picked up since starting the Firebird). More updates soon.

anguilla1980

06-26-2019, 05:00 PM

Good stuff man, keep the updates coming! Good to see another 1st gen Firebird! I've had terrible luck with paint shops, I really hope you find a good one that doesn't F you around for a year.

AtomicFirebird

06-27-2019, 12:31 PM

A wise friend of mine once told me, building a car of your dreams is a marathon not a race. So, take your time my Firebird brother. I will be here to enjoy the slow additions you add to this Firebird.

Rexenator

07-09-2019, 12:16 PM

Good stuff man, keep the updates coming! Good to see another 1st gen Firebird! I've had terrible luck with paint shops, I really hope you find a good one that doesn't F you around for a year.

A wise friend of mine once told me, building a car of your dreams is a marathon not a race. So, take your time my Firebird brother. I will be here to enjoy the slow additions you add to this Firebird.

Thanks for reading! I've had a couple people stop by to look at the Firebird, one quoted me an astronomical amount, and the other told me he wasn't interested in doing any resto mod type jobs.................... I have another person coming by on Friday who comes highly recommended by a coworker (this shop did his '71 Cutlass, which needed ALOT more work than the Firebird does). The guy said I might have to wait until September or October though, apparently he doesn't like having more than one or two "projects" sitting around the shop at any time.

I thought I was going to have the rear end buttoned up by the beginning of June, but I got hit with a couple more trips for work and then near the end of June my appendix tried to burst on me. Fortunately, I listened to my wife for once and just went to the doctor, where they quickly diagnosed it as appendicitis and had me in the operating room by lunch time that day. I'm glad I went, if I had waited it probably would have burst and I would have been in for a much more invasive surgery with a much longer recovery time. I haven't been able to do much wrenching for almost 2 weeks (doc said don't be crawling around or lift anything over 15 lbs), but I'm finally back to the point where I can get some things done.

Today I took the factory rear axle / leaf springs off the Firebird for the last time (ignore the oil stained cardboard box in the photo, my 91 Jeep just sprung a gnarly rear main seal leak :banghead:). The first time I did that it took me like 6 hours to figure out, this time took me 30 minutes (granted I wasn't fighting rust and seized bolts this time). I have a little surface rust to deal with on the DSE mini tubs I installed but never primed, but that should be an easy kill. I've also started to set out all of the parts for my Ford 9 inch. I have everything except the third member, which should be here this week. Going to drop the torque arm off for PC tomorrow, so I should have everything I need by the weekend. Can't wait to finally be done with the suspension phase of this project!
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