1976 'Red Dead' Camaro

[jordanh]

Well this project is a few months shy of a year old. This is the first car I have attempted to build. It all started with a bench racing battle with my girlfriends brother. He is build a 67 f-100 with a 429/c6. He had the typical ' big block blah blah attitude' haha. I decided I was going to try to out due him with a 350 small block. The grudge never really had a specific set of guidelines.... but I have always loved the 2nd gens, so I decided to pick up a cheap one to stick my freshly built 350 into. I had the engine built for a bit over 2 months before I found a cheap 2nd gen I liked. I have always been a very mechanically inclined person, but my limited knowledge of cars got me into what I would consider a nitemare.. The outside of the car appeared to be alright, which at the time was all I knew. I have now learned that the quarters were very poorly replaced, the floor is shot, and the rear torque boxes are non-existent. My intentions were to strictly get it running. I got the front end redone, and the engine set in.
All my friends consider me to be a very picky person, and more of a type A personality with alot of attention to detail. With this, and my competitions project seemingly going no where... my personality got the better of me, and I stripped the car down to do it the right way. I was a bit over whelmed at first, but my I can do anything attitude, and drive to learn anything, and everything I can I decided to go for it. These updates are all over the last year, so I'm going to post updates over the next few days to spread them out a bit.... The car started out being worked on in my parents driveway an hour from my apartment. It has now moved into their garage beings its winter. So I get maybe 10hrs/wk to work on the car if I am lucky.

This is the car the day after I got it home.
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This is the progress I had made before the project took a turn for the best!
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Tear down began after I got it into the garage!
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[jordanh]

Thought I would throw up some pictures of the engine build.

The 350 short block I picked up
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Nothing beats a table full of parts!
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My girlfriends dad, and I assembling the engine. I knew we were in trouble when he said, 'WTF is a roller rocker?' haha!
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Problem solved
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fabricated valve covers I picked up. Got the oil fill bung welded in. hole for catch can baffle ready to go
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Here are the baffle for the pcv/catch can I machined the cnc lathe. This was a one operation part turned and drilled with live radial tooling on the 3-axis. I am a machinist by trade.
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Engine almost complete. Valve covers done
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[jordanh]

Well for a change of pace I thought I would post up my door cards I made. I have no prior experience in interior work. I was cruising the internet one night and stumbled across some youtube videos, and thought it looked pretty easy. I made these in the dining room of my apartment. Luckily my girlfriend was very layed back about having materials spread across the dining room... into the living room..with some crap laying on the kitchen island!

Old door cards torn apart. you can see a little brain storming with my sharpie.
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I made a template from the original door panel and cut out these backing boards
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I made another template of what I was after and cut out the high density foam.
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Here I have the foam cut out and glued to the backing board.
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Here I have the panel covered with vinyl. I was going to make the inserts out of foam also, but ditched that idea.
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I decided I had better test fit them to the door. I did not have the door at my apartment when I was making them, so I had my fingers crossed.
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Well I got lazy with the camera, but here is the finished panel.
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Here are the door pulls I machined out of aluminum. The door pulls, and the aluminum trim washers on the flat heads screws that you see in this picture were also made by me.
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[jordanh]

Well that will be in for tonight, I'll get some more progress posted in the next few days.

[oestek]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing! Glad to see you're rescuing a cool car. I like the look you're doing with the machined parts.

[deejai35]

Nice work so far. I really like the custom machine work and originality.

[jordanh]

I want to throw up a warning now...the pictures from here on out are pretty bad quality. my camera broke so I am forced to use my phone.

Well onto the floor repair. Considering the floor was shot, and the torque boxes were literally gone.. well 80% anyways. I decided putting a 70-73 full floor in was the way to go. The rear subframe mounts are a few inches farther back because the bracing was different on the 74-81 to fit the cat on the passenger side of the car. I will need to rework the rear mount on the subframe.. no big deal.

Well here is the stock floor after some cutting...
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here is the invisible floor. That brace was later removed as the new one is already attached to the floor.
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The new floor...that took 2 months to arrive!
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Leveled out the whole car as best I could. Got it relatively level. Should be within 1/32" all the way around. That burned up a lot of time.
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Fixed the front torque boxes and floor with parts I cut out of my 77' donor.
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After a few hours of leveling, and making sure the height from my front and rear subframe mounts matched up I started spot welding the sides to the inner rocker. I plan to go back after the rest of the body work is done and stitch weld the entire shell.
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This is all I have left of the floor. I got the front tips of the rear frame rails welded in that were cut from the donor.
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[jordanh]

Onto the firewall.


First off I cut off everything that potruded from the firewall
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Here are my templates in progress. I've come tot he conclusion that templates are your best friend in sheet metal work. I went a different direction with the transmission tunnel, it was just to much flat space. If only I had a bead roller..
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here is what I'm doing with the tunnel.

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I do enjoy a good template making session!
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I am so far happy with how it turned out. When I told a few people my plans they thought I was wasting my time, and that it was to much work...so that motivated me more..

I still need to get the clutch cylinder bracket fabbed in. I am also hoping to do something with the seam at the top of the firewall to the cowl. I am thinking about trimming it back and welding a piece of 3/16" bar stock to the front to blend it in.
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This is my first real attempt at sheel metal fabrication. I do have a degree in welding, so that was the easy part.. but have never been into the sheet metal side of things. I'm looking forward to doing some more... I have tons of ideas, but the other body work is taking priority, and just have a major overall lack of time.


My plans for rubber is to do a 275/40-17 on all fours. From my understanding from nastyz28.com... that is my widest option without tubbing. I would like to tub.. but realistically it just isn't in my budget.

I'm planning on keeping the leafs with a full hotchkis suspension setup. Adding a spring offset, shocks, shock bar..etc would just be to much expense.

I have been thinking of flaring the quarters to get the width I would really like, but the front would almost be mandatory to look decent..but thats still undecided.

[jordanh]

Being an hour from the car, I am always trying to find small things to do at my apartment...so onto the wiring. My other major hobby is rifles.. But I decided to turn my reloading room and bench(spare bedroom) into my small workshop for my wiring.

Here is the mess I started with. Thats also my nice new trunk floor that its piled on.
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After studying wiring diagrams I started dissecting the harness.
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Here's a bunch of useless junk I spliced out. (door buzzer, seat belt buzzer, few idiot lights, etc)
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Oh yeah, the stock dash was tan and had a lovely interior paint cover up job. I sanded it down and decided to 'flock' it. This is used a lot in race cars wether its rally racing, alms, etc.. Oh this was also done in my apartment workshop!
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Test fitting my gauge panel and switch panel in the flocked dash.
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Next up was to finish off the gauge panel. Also started wiring up the harness for the gauges.
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Then onto the switch panel, switch panel wiring, and also modifying the stock harness to plug into the panel harness.
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[dropit69]

WOW great work..love the big bumper second gens..

[jordanh]

WOW great work..love the big bumper second gens..

I appreciate hearing that! Everytime I put money into the car I can't help to think it would be much more worth it if it was a 70-73...but I'm hoping the end result with be something original. The end result should be a 'smaller bumper' second gen haha. Hoping to trim a few inchs off them vertically and horizontally. somewhat like the popular hotrodding 76 g/28 project.

[exwestracer]

Nice work. That interior stuff is hard to get right... Liking it all so far!

[jordanh]

Nice work. That interior stuff is hard to get right... Liking it all so far!

Yeah thats for sure. If I was to do it all over there is stuff I would obviously do different just because it was my first time, and it was a first time learning experience sort of deal. For now I will live with the tiny flaws that only I know exist.

[bonecrrusher]

Damn - loving the fab work.

How hard is the flocking process?

Is that real carbon fiber - or some kind of wrap on the gauges/door panels?

[jordanh]

Damn - loving the fab work.

How hard is the flocking process?

Is that real carbon fiber - or some kind of wrap on the gauges/door panels?

The flocking process is quite easy. You basically have a basecoat that you brush on. the actual texture is created by applyingfine fibers. There is an applicator tubing that you use to apply the fibers by 'blowing' them onto the wet base coat. kind of like a tar and feathers type situation. The only real way to mess it up is to get the base coat brushed on too thin. You basically mop it on and stop before it runs. check out donjer.com. I got the mini flocker kit for 24.80. If you are doing a dash you will want to have a second person help you with the base coat, and if I were to do it again I would order a second applicator to have a second person help there also. It is impossible to overdue the application of the fiber. just keep blowing it on, anything extra will just not stick and fall off. Only problem is that you have a one time shot at doing it. If it drys you'er out of luck. If you try to do a second layer over it the texture will be course and lines will appear where you overlapped it.

As far as the carbon fiber, yes its just vinyl. It is 3m brand, and awesome stuff. Search 3m di-noc.
It is actually textured a bit like carbon. pretty much as close to the real thing as your going to get looks wise. I got a 3' by 4' roll off ebay for something like 45$...so a bit spendy.

[srh3trinity]

Any more info on the flocking?

[rfalker1]

this is one cool project!!! You have skills!!! Love all the work so far!! Keep that pace and the interior door handles look amazing

[rfalker1]

and why the name red dead for the project?

[solarguy09]

Very Nice work that you are doing....

You are going to love driving it...

[jordanh]

I'm going to be getting rid of the red, and going with a different color. A friend said it one day, and I just went with it for lack of a better project name really...

A gun metal metallic or darker gray are my plans for the exterior. The bumpers will also be body color to try and blend them into the body. Every other piece of trim will be satin black. My goal is to have no chrome on the exterior. The wheels will be black cragar d-windows, with exhaust that exits infront of the rear wheels. Going to try and have a bit of a trans-am vibe.



More on the flocking..

It really is a process you just sort of have to jump into. It's not so difficult.

It comes with a can of base coat, which will be the color of the fiber you decide to get. I went with black. you just brush this on fairly thick, make sure it doesnt run as you will see each run.

The kit comes with a applicator. Which is nothing but a 2 part tube with a few holes in one end. You fill this tube about half full of fiber, and from pumping it in and out sprays the fibers out. Keep going at it and spraying fibers on it. Dont stop till you use the whole bag. Then take a minute to carefully sweep up the extra fibers on the ground and refill the tube and keep going at it. Do not stop until you know for sure you have that dash COMPLETELY covered. You can NOT over due the application of the fibers... you can overdue the base coat however. Lay a tarp down so its nice and clean to collect the extra fibers when done. Do not try and do this on your garage floor with out a tarp and start sweeping up fibers to re-use haha. Now that you are done do NOT touch the dash for 72hrs...so make sure you do this somewhere where the dash can sit that long. After 72hrs take an air hose and turn the regulator way down and lightly blow off the excess fibers.

This is really as detailed as the process gets... check out youtube also.

[LeighP]

Hey, nice job on the car....you'll like the earlier floor, the seats sit a bit lower. Really easy job on the subframe, you'll just have to use a hole saw to put two new holes a couple of inches further back.
I used a 75+ Camaro frame in my 71 Firebird.....I also plated over the old holes.
A couple of things to be aware of...if you're using solid body mounts, the later frame will have an uneven edge where the new rear mounts fit, you'll need to machine or grind the solid mount to take that into account. Heres a pic of mine....
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

The other thing to consider is you will probably have to use an earlier model gearbox crossmember....I found the later model crossmember will not fit with the early body floor pan...theres no room to get it up and onto the top of the rails to bolt it down. I had to use an early crossmember and redrill the holes further towards the rear of the frame rails. The two round holes in the frame you can see forward of the crossmember are the mounting points for the later crossmember - you can see how theres a big difference in location.
Again, heres mine with the early crossmember fitted.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Good luck with the car, I'll definately be following along.

[jordanh]

Thank you for that info, awesome. Gives me a little better idea on what I have in store. I am using dse solid mounts and subframe connectors. I actually have a subframe mount plate kit coming that comes with the plates to weld in, so that should take care of the uneven lip. If not I'll figure that out when I get to that point. I'm also building my own trans crossmember, so I'll be good to go.

Thanks again!

[Uneek68]

Well for a change of pace I thought I would post up my door cards I made. I have no prior experience in interior work. I was cruising the internet one night and stumbled across some youtube videos, and thought it looked pretty easy. I made these in the dining room of my apartment. Luckily my girlfriend was very layed back about having materials spread across the dining room... into the living room..with some crap laying on the kitchen island!

Old door cards torn apart. you can see a little brain storming with my sharpie.
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I made a template from the original door panel and cut out these backing boards
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I made another template of what I was after and cut out the high density foam.
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Here I have the foam cut out and glued to the backing board.
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Here I have the panel covered with vinyl. I was going to make the inserts out of foam also, but ditched that idea.
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I decided I had better test fit them to the door. I did not have the door at my apartment when I was making them, so I had my fingers crossed.
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Well I got lazy with the camera, but here is the finished panel.
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Here are the door pulls I machined out of aluminum. The door pulls, and the aluminum trim washers on the flat heads screws that you see in this picture were also made by me.
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I really like those door pulls where could I get me a pair?

[MikeDVC]

always happy to see another big bumper car in the forum; subscribed!

[Protournova]

Another one interested in the door pulls...

[jordanh]

I am glad you guys like the door pulls.. but they are one off pieces that I designed and machined. Unfortunately I do not have the time to make more. sorry guys.

[kmdracer]

Subbing in. I like the custom touches so far. Have always liked the "flocked" dashes, but didn't know what it was called or how to do it.

[workbenchracer]

Very nice work. Admire your passion and energy. I could use some!

[jordanh]

Took a break from the car to get a little bit to eat. I figured I might as well post a few pics of my progress this morning.

Started working on the cowl.

Heres the passenger side finished up. Moving onto the drivers side when I get back out to the shop.

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[jordanh]

Well went back out and got the driver side finished up. This will be all my progress for today. I have to get cleaned up and head over to a family event.

I learned a lot doing the passenger side, so I feel that the driver side came out much better. I wasn't able to get all the way down into that corner to finish the weld. Thats the limitations of a 4 1/2" side grinder I suppose. I just got my Lincoln mig welder and 26gal air compressor, but I haven't collected any air tools yet. I will have to get a small angled die grinder I think. Is there a better tool you guys would recommend? I'm only 22 yrs old so I have next to no body work experience...so I'm just learning what tools I need.

Well heres the important stuff

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[LeighP]

Nice patching job.....one of the common weak points for rust on a 2nd gen.

[jordanh]

If anyone knows where I can get the rear piece of the driver side rear frame rail, send me a pm. The passenger side of my donor car was good, but not my driver.

Looking for a cut out section to save a bit on money, or else I can get a repop.

[LeighP]

Contact Mike Freeman (screen name Kentucki Yeti) on www.transamcountry.com
He has various parts cars that he sections up for people, he may be able to help.....sorry I don't have an email handy for him.

[SLO_Z28]

Cool build! Good to see another big bumper coming back to life!

[jordanh]

Cool, I will have to give him a ring.

I found some pictures of the day I got the car home, when it was still a complete car (sort of)... Can you tell whats missing?


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[FirebirdSteve]

I'll bite.....engine.

[jordanh]

Dang, to easy. It does have a useless to me th350 hanging in there.

[jordanh]

small wednesday night update..

Thought I would put up a few pictures of some parts I've been finding time to turn out in the last few months.

Petty boring in respect to the stuff I do for customers but...

Heres some pieces I made to connect the front subframe braces to the firewall. The flat pieces without a center hole will be blended into the firewall. The other piece with the thru hole will be welded to the end of the subframe tube.
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Few pieces I started making for my trans crossmember.
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Also started working on the tail lights. Need to be disassembled and cleaned.
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[jordanh]

Got a few things done in the few hours I had saturday morning. I left early to head back home to beat the snow storm.

I got the trunk pan welded in and rear tail panel cleco'd and welded to the seam of the trunk pan. I will finish welding it 100% once I have the quarters hung, and trunk drop offs fitted.

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[jordanh]

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Had to cut this peice from the old trunk floor. Really not sure why they left this very small piece out of the repopped trunk?

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/02/IMG20120225000081-1.jpg

Also some Good news, I'm going camera shopping today. So hopefully we wont have to put up with these painfully crappy pictures much longer.

[jordanh]

Small update from this weekend. I got my rear tail panel mostly finished up. I shaved out the keyhole. I am going to run a cable trunk release from lokar. I also smoothed out the area where the fold down license plate is mounted.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/001-1.jpg

I got the filler panel welded up last night at about 12:45. I am not real happy with how the driver side blended in. I had been up since 4:45 friday morning and was getting tired and impatient. I'm fairly happy with how the body line blended though, considering I bent the filler panel over the edge of my workbench. I'm hoping to start collecting more sheet metal equipment.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/007-1.jpg

My lighting in my garage is lacking to say the least. Here are some daytime pictures.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/008-1.jpg

And a picture to see the gas cap and tail lights.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/003-1.jpg

[bhcustomdesigns]

Where did you get the gas cap at?

[jordanh]

http://shop.autocraftinvestments.com/products/9030_20A1-106668-0.html

[Chad-1stGen]

I love the name and the custom machined aluminum parts. Man those door panels look great!

[bhcustomdesigns]

Looking really good I like the way you done the rear panel! :twothumbs

[jordanh]

Glad you guys like it. I have some ideas for the rear bumper and lower valance that I am hoping will work out. I am hoping to use a 67-68 rear bumper and fab it into the rear panel. Then I want to fab in a roll pan of sorts that goes from the bottom of the rear bumper to the lower valance. It'll then be all body color. I want it to have the look that a 67 does with no rear bumper.

[jordanh]

Small update from last weekend.

I was for the second weekend in a row sidetracked by college hockey.. so all I was able to accomplish was getting the rocker panel welded inplace. I'm going to work on the passenger rocker this weekend, and hopefully move onto the quarters.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/011-1.jpg

I also got a bit of time at work today to get my door lock pulls done. Not much, but a nice little detail that I didnt have to be at my car to get done.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/014-1.jpg

[RicerwannaB]

Nice custom little touch. I like it.

[Mr T81]

Your custom door panels are killer. Love all the small pieces your making, which I had access to a lathe and milling machine.

[LeighP]

Very nice work....the car is looking way better than Cherolet turned out for that model year.

One thing you might think on for the rear bumper....a guy set up the back of his 74 Firebird in a similiar way to yours, but he used 68-73 Corvette rear bumperettes and built a recessed plate holder between them...worked really well with a rolled pan. Wish I had pics to show you.

[jordanh]

Thats an interesting idea. I may of already said this in this thread, but as of right now I am wanting it to look as if it had the shaved bumper look of a 67-68 camaro. Something like in this picture below. I am hoping to fab in a 68 camaro rear bumper, and make a roll pan below with an area for the plate. I want it to be body color so its got that shaved look. If you can find a picture of that corvette idea that'd be awesome.

Basically I am trying to go for a bare bones simplicity type of build. The front and rears of the 74-77's just had way to much going on. I have no heat, no A/C. I'm going to run cragar d-windows( I know I know, lets hear it haha), and bare bones electronics. Want a sort of t/a type of look. I'm going to have a cd player with one speaker which will be in the original dash mount position,thats all, etc,etc...

I'm planning on running 275/40-17 on all 4's. I am either going to go a shade of white similiar to the picture below, or I am going to go with a dark gray like the late 2000's chevy trucks and suburbans have. I'm leaning on the white to save me a bit on not having a/c!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/03/sucp1203031967chevycamarorearview-1.jpg

[LeighP]

Found it!

Heres a picture....

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Heres the guy's webiste...hasn't been updated in a while, worse luck, nice car.

http://www.extremefirebird.com/Home.html

[jordanh]

Awesome, thank you. Thats neat and original. I think im going to stick with a straight across bumper, but that does actually give me some ideas for my license plate mount!

[Radlark]

I know this is old but did this car ever get finished?

[smcox1]

Any more updates? You have given me a lot of good ideas for my 76.