'67 Firebird 400 Resto Mod [Archive]

Fierbird67

02-05-2020, 09:26 PM

Greetings PT Folks!

I have been building this Firebird for the past few years. I stumbled across this Firebird in Montana and, with the blessing of my wonderful and understanding wife, we made the overnight drive to Montana to take the plunge on a first year firebird.
The car originally was optioned with a 326 + powerglide drivetrain, but at the time of purchase it had the 350 and th350 donated by a 68 that was a project at this shop.

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Loaded on the trailer
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The first stop was to my Father in law's garage to survey the amount of rust damage and start disassembling while our home garage was full or other projects.
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Pulling drivetrain and replacing pans
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Needless to say, this car was super rusty and will be getting sub-frame connectors.
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Pans Tacked back in.
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While this was going on, we brought the rear end back home with us to install the C5 big brake kit from Kore3. After a lot of help from Tobin, and several attempts of me managing to everything backwards the first try, the rear end was ready to go back in with a slightly more modern wheel and tire combo.
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For a change of pace in the world of spoilers, I decided to go with a Fiero wing instead of the lip spoiler or 69 Trans Am style wing. The fitment in my eyes actually worked pretty well.
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All primed together.
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Once this was put back together, it was about time to bring her home to finish the mechanical in the home garage. That will be for the next update post.

Thanks again for reading through!

anguilla1980

02-06-2020, 04:19 PM

Awesome man! I'm loving the recent surge in 1st gen Firebirds!

Fierbird67

02-06-2020, 04:34 PM

The plan for the drivetrain is to use what could have been an available option for the car, but also improve the power and driveability with Overdrive, MPFI, and more modern disc brakes on all corners. We continued using the Kore3 C5 setup in the front and picked up the master cylinder to run with no booster.
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We were able to dig up a '67 400 block along with a set of 061 heads from a local boneyard, and then picked up an Edelbrock Pro-Flo kit as the new version came available. For Overdrive, we stuck with the BOP available option of a 200-4R.
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I initially tried using a TH400 crossmember to mount the transmission, but the fitment put it right in the transmission pan and would have lead to headaches later.

Subframe ready to reinstall.
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Subframe back in place. Not pictured, but also installed are the subframe connectors.
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I ran across a corvette dual snorkel intake at a swap meet. But after installing it seemed too tall and needed spacing to get it away from the throttle linkage.
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So that part of the plan was scrapped to go with an Airaid unit that would accept 3" piping (which i hope provides for enough airflow). The plus side is that it does provide a nice provision for the PCV fresh air hose.
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Around this time we we able to finish running the hard line for the brakes and finished getting those bled.
Cooling system installed along with Aux cooler for the transmission.
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With the Trans cooler lines ran, the last major under the car task was to run the fuel line for the EFI. I decided to go with the corvette fuel filter/regulator combo for this build.
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This is kind of a truncated start and I am missing pictures from quite a few steps along the way. But that about catches us up to the present with the next steps being installing wiring, the center console/shifter, and then getting a portion of the exhaust in before getting the car ready to fire/break in the cam.

Fierbird67

02-28-2020, 10:58 PM

Making some steady progress here. Got the shifter and console loosely installed along with the steering wheel and driver seat. Getting all this prepped to take the car on a field trip to the muffler shop.

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Decided to go 2.5" on the exhaust with an X pipe and dropping the outlets right before the diff. With this, I can now get the O2 sensor installed for the EFI system. Getting ever closer to initial fireup and cam break in!
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The view from the side makes it look like the clearance will be pretty decent.
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The weather looks like it will be pretty pleasant this weekend so we are looking for to getting some garage time in to get the engine bay wiring figured out and maybe start getting the front sheet metal put back together.

Jeff_R

02-29-2020, 06:15 AM

Looking real good!!!

AtomicFirebird

02-29-2020, 01:09 PM

Nice

GB68

03-01-2020, 08:12 AM

Hi-Have you always gone with the twist locks as I'm about to line up my project and from a friend said don't 'fight' with the twist on's their a pain.

Fierbird67

03-02-2020, 11:38 AM

Hi-Have you always gone with the twist locks as I'm about to line up my project and from a friend said don't 'fight' with the twist on's their a pain.

This is the first time trying these push-on hoses from our local Erik's (hose supply shop). These hoses are rated for industrial use but we were told fuel shouldn't be an issue so we shall see how that works out.

And yes, they are pretty tough to put together. We ended up taking the hose shop up on their offer to install the fittings to the hose after we cut them to size.

Fierbird67

03-03-2020, 08:50 PM

Starting to get some traction on the wiring and between the AAW kit, the MAD Electric kit, and the EFI harness this engine bay is full of all the wires. And the spark plug wires are still not installed. It's looking slightly rats-nesty at the moment, but hopefully some zipties and conduit can help to tame the chaos.

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The Oil Pressure gauge is a bit awkward. We could not get the plug by the dizzy out of the block so the extension pipe for the sender is going to be super close to the header tube. Hoping that doesn't end up being an issue.

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Running the ECU on the other side of the heater delete block off plate. Once everything is cleaned up, the plan is to cover this area with heat barrier to keep the module from getting too toasty.

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We also confirmed the junkyard Thunderbird fan we got for this is functional and started fabbing brackets.

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It is exciting but also scary to be this close to firing the car up.

Fierbird67

03-08-2020, 08:54 PM

We had a fairly productive weekend of work. Things are getting close, but the first start is still just out of reach.
Fan shroud mounts are built and installed.
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Conversion brackets for the Fiero seats are built and those have been installed.
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Today was spent routing spark plug wires and battling with hanging front end sheet metal. The wires in the engine bay are getting to be a bit much so did a quick pass to tidy things up a little before final wrapping and routing. Figured this would also be a fun time to finally try out the Zip-Tie wire separators. Ran into some issues with the wires since the MSD pontiac kit does not seem like it plays well with tall valve covers or something. Had a few wires that were way too short and had to borrow a plug from the original engine that also happened to be an MSD 8.5 superconductor. Only difference being that this one had a 90 degree boot. It might trigger the OCD in some, but at least it reaches without straining the plug.
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And for the first time, this car has fenders! They're not final and need some more shimming, but she definitely looks more like a car this way. Also, I definitely need to figure out that intake pipe. It is hilarious how far above the fender is sits at the moment.
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Fierbird67

03-13-2020, 09:32 PM

Task of the week has been to finish the wiring up to a point to where the car will start.

Fabricated a simple bracket to mount the fan and headlight relays.
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With the fenders mounted on a little more secure, we can now run the wires more cleanly and install the battery!
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Have had a couple near misses and scares in this process. Got some crazy arcing on the ground cable and starter lug on our first attempt. It turned out that the starter heat shield managed to ground out to the power cable. Turns out the headers are close enough to the shield that they press it into the solenoid on installation. So I had to bend that away from the lug with a screwdriver.

Another fun lesson learned is that while the Pro-Flo ECU does control the fans by keeping a ground open, it closes the fan1 ground wire when it is powered off. Not a huge deal, but I did have to switch that relay's positive to key on 12v source instead of running it from a distribution lug. I may end up installing another distribution block for key-on power.

So here is how she sits now with the tires on. It feels like she is riding really high so hopefully lowering springs can get the front end pulled down a bit.

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I also have a question for those more experienced with these gauges. The fuel level gauge seems to be heating up and putting off some light smoke. I have the signal terminal unplugged for now so that we will be able to break in the engine without risking a dash fire. Is this a normal thing for the older gauges to do or should i start looking into getting a refurbished cluster?

dhutton

03-14-2020, 04:56 AM

Gauges should not be putting out light smoke. Are you sure you wired it correctly?

Don

Fierbird67

03-14-2020, 05:20 PM

Gauges should not be putting out light smoke. Are you sure you wired it correctly?

Don

It's part of the new AAW wiring harness so it is nicely labelled from them. The issue does go away when the Fuel Gauge signal wire is removed from the terminal block. Which also confirms gauge function since it pegs past full with the signal wire removed.

I managed to find one instance on a Corvette forum where someone had a similar issue where the resistor gets super hot and burns off whatever crud happened to accumulate over the years. It does seem like a super rare issue, so perhaps the new refurbished gauge cluster isn't a terrible idea anyways.

Widetrax

03-14-2020, 08:59 PM

You are coming along very nicely! Wish my 68 was as far along!

Fierbird67

03-15-2020, 05:58 PM

You are coming along very nicely! Wish my 68 was as far along!

Hey thanks! I like what you are doing to your bird as well! That is some intense fab work you got on your plate there.

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So the feeling of the weekend has been FRUSTRATION! followed up by HOPE. With a chaser of Disappointment. In the process of trying for first start but things are conspiring. We triggered the fuel pump and had to abort due to a pinhole leak in one of the hoses. After building a new section, we are now in a crank/no start scenario and getting funky readings on the MAP sensor and IAC. Because weekend, we are now on hold for tomorrow to call Edelbrock support to see what they can see through troubleshooting.

Getting a little worried since we are going through a decent amount of cranking to get this to start on a fresh engine. Should I be worried about wiping a cam lobe if the engine is just going at cranking RPMs? It's a Comp Cams XE274H.

Also, minor leak from main seal in the middle of all this. Hoping that can be chalked up to cold engine that hasn't grooved in the seal.

Venting session over. Time to move on to the next week.

Fierbird67

03-18-2020, 03:42 PM

Much better update. She LIVES!

I worked with a local mobile mechanic for a few hours today and got the cam break-in done. Will try to post the YouTube link later but she sounds pretty good!

Just need to button up a couple things and we can get the car off to the transmission doctor to dial in the 2004r and set up TV and Lockup.

Falcon64

03-18-2020, 05:06 PM

Fierbird67

03-18-2020, 05:34 PM

Nice work on all that wiring. ...unusual symptom on the resistor smoke!
Whose radiator is that?...i like the OE shape tanks.
One suggestion...mount the cooler in from of the radiator at least 3/4" forward so as not to compromise cooling of either unit.
Jim.

Hey thanks! It feels nice to finally have the wires most of the way wrangled. As for the smoke, I just have the fuel gauge unplugged until I decide on what to do with the fuel gauge.

The radiator is made by Cold-Case. I'll keep that in mind on the mounting if i hit some heating issues. The Thunderbird fan seemed to be able to pull through that stack pretty good so far.

Fierbird67

03-21-2020, 05:53 PM

Update time! Managed to kill the new reman'ed starter while cranking the engine trying to start. So I obviously still needed to work on the EFI tune which was a bit wonky after the cam break-in. Replaced the starter with one from the donor 350 and went back through and reran the fuel map wizard and throttle arm adjustment.

Starting seems to be a lot nicer now and the idle is pretty solid considering the cam profile. Here is a quick snippet of the idle sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHTzLx5awg

Still have a decent list of things to get ready before she is fully able to drive around. But the engine starting nicer and making fewer strange noises is quite motivating!

anguilla1980

03-21-2020, 06:11 PM

Nice! Sounds a lot like my 461, mine just has a little more chop at idle.

Fierbird67

03-22-2020, 05:15 PM

Nice! Sounds a lot like my 461, mine just has a little more chop at idle.

Thanks! And I totally dig your Firebird collection. How are you liking that cam with your 461?

I know our setups are crazy different, but I am curious to see what the difference between 55ci and EFI is.

anguilla1980

03-22-2020, 06:17 PM

It's honestly totally the wrong cam for my combo. When I upgrade my heads I'll be swapping cams.

I'll be finishing my EFI next month, then engine refresh with new heads/cam/pistons, then dyno tuning hopefully by fall.

Fierbird67

03-31-2020, 04:55 PM

This week was knocking out a few little tasks to get the car buttoned up enough to take her to the Transmission shop.

Temporarily zip-tied in the gauge cluster since we will need to get back into the dash later. We still need to install the dash pad and clean/refurbish the gauge assembly. I was bored due to the goings-on so I took a video with cabin engine noises.

https://youtu.be/-SPJcOtBUm0

We finally got the pieces together to route the air intake a bit better. The bracket did end up touching the upper radiator hose so we fashioned a little cushion from leftover hose.
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The last little bit we got wrapped up was to mount the heat shielding on the heater block-off plate. Much credit to my wife's small hands in getting that to attach with all the wiring in the way.
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Hoping for no setbacks going forward. the car is still having a slightly hard time with cold start so I will keep making adjustments to try and get to the point of firing on the first crank.

Fierbird67

04-11-2020, 03:58 PM

So there hasn't been progress for this last week. Though adding more overall fuel to the idle trim helped tremendously with the cold start issues.

We dropped the car off to the transmission shop but the main guy we were working with came down with some sickness on that same day. So our thoughts are out to him hoping that he is able to make a full recovery.

Before that, I taped out some boundaries to try to figure out the hood situation
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So with the cowl panel in place, it is looking like our clearance may put us close to being able to use a stock style hood. We have a 400 hood that came with the car, but I am preparing myself for the possibility of needing to get a plain flat hood if we need to do some cutting. I've been back and for on which scoop/cowl to go with, but as of now am leaning towards using a Full Bubble cowl scoop (http://www.up22.com/scoopw1.htm#PR-702) to cover the air cleaner.

Looks like the high point of the airbox is about 4" above the fender line.
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Fierbird67

06-06-2020, 05:11 PM

It's been a while since last update as the car has been at the transmission shop to get the TV cable dialed in. Turns out the throttle rod linkage and Pro-flo throttle body made for problems getting a TV cable installed so the car is getting converted to a throttle cable. So in the meantime, I am collecting parts. Glass, bumper hardware, headlights, and a glasstek hood have showed up and I am just waiting for the car to get back.

Pictures!
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We also got ourselves a blasting cabinet so it's a great time to clean up and re-shoot some of the grungier parts.
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Also, since my wife has been such a trooper through this whole ordeal we jumped at the chance to pick up one her dream cars.
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A dang close to complete '68 Cougar with a 302 and C4 transmission. The worst part is that it is going to need floor pan and torque box replacement. But with a few minor fixes and a tune-up it runs and the sequentials work!
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I'll eventually throw up a build thread for her. Eventually, the plan will be to stroke the 302 out to 347 with a pro-flo as well and perhaps go with a T5 conversion.

1965gp

06-07-2020, 09:33 AM

67rstbkt

06-15-2020, 02:50 PM

Nice build! Be careful with that Ford Fan - I had one of those with a PWM and kept having issues. Loved the cooling potential, not so much the problems. I may re-attempt using it later on, but for now I went with a dual setup by Derale

Fierbird67

06-25-2020, 07:34 PM

Love this build- kept the Pontiac motor and used a Fiero spoiler! I’ve literally seen thousands of first gen bird and never noticed anyone using a Fiero spoiler- it looks great. Fiero seats are a nice touch too!

Thanks! I am happy so far with how the fiero bits are gelling with the rest of the build. For better or worse, I've been trying to do things that haven't been done too often.

Nice build! Be careful with that Ford Fan - I had one of those with a PWM and kept having issues. Loved the cooling potential, not so much the problems. I may re-attempt using it later on, but for now I went with a dual setup by Derale

Thanks for the input! Did you run into issues of the fan burning out the fan controller? Hopefully I don't have too many issues since the High speed power wire is using the factory split in it and is being run off of two 40 amp relays. I'm using the MAD Electric wiring setup so when the main fan kicks on the voltage reading doesn't dip at all (from what I can see in the EFI control).

Anyways, still waiting on the transmission shop. Was going to try to get the car into the local Goodguys show in July but no idea if they'll even be done with it by then. So in the meantime working on the Cutlass, Cougar, and collecting parts.

Fierbird67

07-11-2020, 09:52 AM

At long last, the 'bird is back home and can be driven without fear of frying clutches.

So next steps are to get the lighting structures installed and wired, get the body panels aligned, and swap the power steering pump. The pump that came with the car so it was an unknown until we were able to drive around the parking lot. Once we could drive around under power, it was screeching up a storm.

Now that the car is back, we could test fit the cowl hood to see how it clears the intake.
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View from the Driver seat. The hood isn't bolted in so it is slightly cocked forward but it looks like the airbox should clear nicely!
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Fierbird67

08-04-2020, 09:34 PM

Been a crazy stretch the past few weeks with looking to sell/buy a new place with a bigger garage. In the meantime, we got a bit more progress on the dash, the remaining glass is installed, lights are in and wired, and installed the Speedway Hollywood side mirrors.

Catching up on backlog pics, this is the bracket the trans shop had to custom make for the Pro-Flo TV/Throttle cable provision. Still needs to go back in since they dialed the throttle in at 83% instead of WOT.
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Mock up of the hood with the lights. These pictures are making me question my color choice of True Red since the flat black is looking pretty mean. Definitely something to think about.
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And here is with wiring tidied up some more and the mirrors and grille in. Also a look at how the halos worked out.
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I haven't fully pinned in the bumper at this time, but am curious on how much further I should expect it to tuck in to the fender from where it is. The gap I am seeing now seems a bit excessive.

Thanks!

Fierbird67

08-10-2020, 02:00 PM

Spent a nice Sunday with my wife and father in law dialing in the body panels and getting the front end pieced together. It's looking a lot better now aside from confirming that the original bumper had a bit of a twist to it on the passenger side.

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Got an hour of drive-time in it to let the EFI learn something aside from idling. Knock on wood, the drive was nice and uneventful for the 'bird. Though my wife who was running chase got her truck sideswiped by a guy ogling the car.

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Fierbird67

04-07-2021, 05:18 PM

Wow, so it has been 8 months since the last update and there is a decent amount of progress to talk about.

With the help of my wife and father-in-law we got the aerocatches and body work done up enough to get into a first primer. We also took the time to get the carpet kit and sound deadening on the floor boards to take some of the edge off the cabin exhaust notes.
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And once we got that far we sold our house and had to store the 'bird for the winter. Getting her out of storage we found that her hard starting had gotten worse and she was burning up power steering pumps and spitting up PS fluid. To temporarily get her home until we could get that figured out, we disconnected the power steering belt.
After 3 months of dealing with the home buying process and house-sitting a friend's house, we finally managed to find the house we were dreaming of and got all of the cars back home and tucked into the garage until we got settled.
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Another month passed and we finally got the car to a shop for a tune and to get the power steering issue figured out. Turns out that all the sitting managed to clog up the factory steering box, so out that went and in goes a Detroit Speed 600 series box. Another issue found was that the inline LS filter/regulator we used was providing way too much fuel for what the 400 wanted so we also installed a 43 psi regulator in the engine bay.

After those drivability issues were squared away we finally bit the bullet to pull the car back apart to do final prep for paint.
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Which brings us about up to date now to the exciting part, she has some color! The original plan was to shoot her Mazda True Red to get a color with pop. After some looking around a bit, and waffling several times, the family and I decided to take a page from the Ford boys and go Grabber Blue. The 'bird still has a couple more passes through the paint booth to go to get graphics and clear-coated, but this is where we now stand.
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Once she gets back and cures a bit, we then have the daunting task of getting all the interior bits and bobs installed. Some highlights are the TMI molded headliner and a 3 point seat belt kit for the safety.

Thanks for looking!
-Phil

Fierbird67

07-12-2021, 03:36 PM

And we're back! We just got the car back from paint and have spent the last weekend installing a large percent of the boxes that had been piling up for the past 5 months.

First in was the TMI headliner. It looks super nice once in, but was a bit of a bear to wrestle to get it all in place. The A-pillar covers do leave a bit to be desired with their fitment so we may need to keep an eye out for some OE A-pillar moldings.
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The interior is coming together but still needs some love. We still need to wrap up installing the console, do something with the dash center stack, and find the rear armrest assemblies for the deluxe interior.
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On a plus side, the new bumper seems to be fitting in nicely and really add some nice pop. Next on the list will be getting emblems and trim pieces installed.
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