1968 firebird 461ci stroker project

[lucky13firebird]

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First thing I should tell you is that this car sees on average about 60-120 miles a day commuting to work and getting groceries with my two kids and wife. This is no trailer queen. I've driven across the country when i first bought it as a private in the army., here's a small sampling of whats been done to it so far. started out with a saginaw 4 speed and a 350 poncho, now has a ford 3 speed and a 461 sotroker pontiac monster. the rear end is a 3.90 ratio open diff 10 bolt that was originaly a 3.55 ratio.

i have LS1 rotors and calipers but not the conversion kit from brp hot rods yet. I do have a disc master cyl and brake line conversion pieces. planning on replacing the door skins soon as well as both quarters and re-doing the floors but this time with the actual stampings, not with sheet metal i made myself from 16ga hammered into shape.

love the car, for now its all motor, but someday it'll get all the parts it needs. go to the paved track on ocasion and go in circles for fun, do burnout contests and then when i blow my tires, I swap them and drive the car home.

no posing here :-) just daily life with 600lbs of torque.

[lucky13firebird]

oh, and the picture with the motor in the trunk was when I unbolted the trunk lid and used the car to haul an inline six 250ci motor for my buddies mustang. All this was done while living in a hotel room for a year with my wife and baby at the time, so that i could afford to buy an $8,000 stroker motor for the thing. seats are all torn up, exterior is terrible, but this is my only running car, so priorities after blowing the 350 up was, motor, and new mastercyl and clutch and other things like belts, hoses, new fuel tank, radiator.

everything needed to make this car as reliable as a new car was bought, everything else was simply not bought yet because the real car parts took priority.

[CliffS]

One thing comes to mind; respect. Keep it running.

[sokoloka]

This is absolutely amazing.

[lucky13firebird]

Thank you. Been a lurker for a while, reading up on everyones projects, getting ideas here and there.

edited my post to oraganize and proof read it a little better. :-)

The biggest theme that this whole thing revolved around was that the car had to be drivable at all times. It couldn't be stripped and then left in the corner for a year.... and things like the fuel tank, radiator, windshield washer assy and such HAD to be repaired before assigning budget money to fun parts. sometimes if things were lucky the upgrade parts replaced worn out parts so the project made forward progress and became more reliable and safer to drive in the rain while it was at it.

so on one hand its a 3.90 rear ended 461 monster....

on the other, the windsheild washers, the heater/defrost and drum brakes are all in exelent repair because they are needed.

:-)

[lucky13firebird]

oh and there are two baby seats in the back because this isn't just some toy of mine :-)

the 2 year old loves the vroom vroom.

[LeighP]

My hats off to you.....can't be easy having that car as a DD with a family. :)

[lucky13firebird]

60700

here's a pic from last night on the way home from work. Re-did my side pipes after i got home. I had the glasspacks after 20" sections of pipe and an h pipe. but the diameter of the glasspacks hung way too low. so cut off the side extensions and reversed the glasspacks. The thrush glasspacks are at my headers now and the h pipe right after. then I have dumps facing 45 degrees out and down. A lot less drone and a little better sound this way.

[68firebird]

This is nice to see after seeing all the high dollar builds on here, and there are a TON of them (I'm not jealous or anything, LOL). My 68 bird isn't my main source of transportation like you, but it does sit in the garage at times for years before I can afford to buy parts for it, currently its been on hold since this time back in 2010. Its pretty cool actually seeing these old cars being used on a daily basis though, especially in the snow!!!!!! Like cliffs said above, keep it running!!!

[ryeguy2006a]

I am really jealous of that engine! Nice car man.

[ehummelman]

Damn, driving that in the snow must be very tricky.

[67speedfreak]

Very cool !

[lucky13firebird]

snow is all kinds of fun :-) And I'm up here in northern new york, so In the summers I have to weld and keep up with the rust. driving in snow is easy, driving this beast in a blinding blizzard is nuts, just nuts. :-) but I don't quite get the guys that say drum brakes are unsafe, been using them to good effect for 2 years now :-)

[yellow1098Greg]

That 461 is stroked from a 400 right? What kind of hp number do you get from it?

[dirtybird]

Got the same engine in my 68 bird. Thing is a beast. What kind of cam you running?

[seancarole]

Alsome

[lucky13firebird]

specs on the engine.

-400 block with eagle crank and i beam rods. rotating assy balanced. BOP valley pan. later 11 bolt timing cover/water pump with hyd harmonic balancer and aluminum pulleys and brackets. heads are stock castings with 7/16 studs and a set of $550 crower enduro stainless steel roller rockers and poly locks to keep settings tight. edelbrock rpm intake with a 750 cfm eddy carb with 70/42 needles and pink springs. mildish 236 @50 cam and hedman 1 7/8 primary full lenth headers. old mallory comp 9000 dizzy with light shutters and mech advance.

long block build sheet says 430 hp @ 4850 and just shy of 600 lbs. thats on same engine but no roller rockers and off brand intake with leaner jetting and $100 dizzy on 93 octane pump gas

so I'm expecting around 440 at the crank with my setup. guy ships engines dry (assembly lubed only) but has dyno'd the exact setup he sold me. planning on supercharging mildly so will upgrade valve springs but will keep the medium cam with not too much overlap. Looking to get 600 hp on a blow through supercharger setup if i can.

[acegto]

Cool bird.

[lucky13firebird]

thanks :-)

[ryeguy2006a]

Where in NY are you? I am from the Binghamton Area. It would be cool to see your car at a show, or cruise in sometime.

[lucky13firebird]

watertown ny. I go to a lot of cruise-ins with the "highway legends" club up here in the ft drum area. will be bringing my car to the goodguys events in iowa and ohio in july... and riverfest on the 21st in alexandria bay

[yellow1098Greg]

I was told that if I put an eagle stroker kit in my 400, with my aluminum eheads I would make around 600hp? Does that sound about right?

[lucky13firebird]

well.... more like 550 on pump gas, but yeah feasable with good heads and a roller cam. I make 430 on a mild cam and unported stock heads using just the long tube headers and an edelbrock performer rpm intake. thats 430 at 4850 rpm.... same torque with bigger cam and ported heads should be around 550 at 5700 rpm....

[lucky13firebird]

hey, looking for a good road race pan for the 461, any suggestions? Buddy has a canton strip strip 5qt that had a hole punched through it. its welded back up and i might snag it on the cheap. whats diff on it from a stock pan?

[LeighP]

Not sure on that particular one, Canton have a couple...check their site. I have their Road Race pan which is a 6 quart capacity, has baffles and trap doors for oil control. Needs Canton pickup, stock one will not work. Also has a bung on the side for a Canton dip stick if you don't want to use the factory multi piece one that runs near the crank.

[lucky13firebird]

update . finaly bought the brp hotrods ls1 conversion kit and the disc/drum proportioning valve. will put it all together this weekend. they sell machined hubs and everything.

[lucky13firebird]

update . finaly bought the brp hotrods ls1 conversion kit and the disc/drum proportioning valve. will put it all together this weekend. they sell machined hubs and everything.

[BCHALK22]

nice ride its much more fun repairing the necessities and driving the dog mess out of the car.. keep it up man. subscribed

[lucky13firebird]

LS1 brakes installed. Also some idiot with a uhaul really banged it up

[lucky13firebird]

btw, In the market for a new sway bar. Are the hotchkis ones able to clear the LS1 calipers? I have their 600lb big block 2" lowering springs and am installing them tonight, now i need a good sway bar.

[68firebird]

that sucks, how the heck did that happen?

I've got LS1 brakes and a hotchkis sway bar, no clearance problems.

[neki67]

Just seen this thread for the first time and I'm really impressed!

[Code Red]

Nice build, what happened to the body?

[lucky13firebird]

i was parked with a uhaul to my right. he pulled out and left pulling my bumper apart and crushing the drivrs door into a mazda. the rest is just from me not getting there yet.

[lucky13firebird]

installed the springs, love the stance. getting shocks tommorrow, ordering sway bar tonight. used a sledge hammer to straighten bumper till insurance pays up.

[Vicinity]

I'm impressed. That thing looks bad ****ing ass.

[lucky13firebird]

ride greatly improved even with factory sway bar removed. hotckis springs and some brand new shocks. ordered a 1 1/8" hollow hellwig sway bar.

[lucky13firebird]

installed the hellwig 1 1/8" hollow sway bar and broke my ss braided hose off when i put the car on the ground. now im waiting for stock rubber hoses to come in and looking for the impossible stock banjo bolt. the ls1 calipers run right into both stock and hellwig sway bars at full lock. 1/16" interference so no biggie. swappig calipers left to right to avoid hose interference.

[lucky13firebird]

finaly fixed the broken fitting. replaced the $4 -3 adapter fitting for the ss hose and swapped calipers left to right. the calipers fit no issues with the bleeders facing downward. got everything together and love it. car gas almost no left and right roll

[lucky13firebird]

pics up. :-)

finaly got everything squared away. runs and drives great

[lucky13firebird]

some pics. replaced both left and right quarter skins, still finishing up with it, but for now, its back to flat black and 13 on the corners :-)

[Young Gun]

Pretty mean looking, I dig it.

[lucky13firebird]

sorry about the lack of updates. Anyways, the insurance finally paid up for when the uhaul wrecked the door and front bumper. I will be replacing the doors, fenders and front bumper very soon. BUT in the mean time, I just bought a 12 bolt out of a 65 chevelle. Its 3.31 ratio so it's better for my pontiac stroker 461ci torque monster and and the chevelle rears are the same width as the 68 firebird, but i will have to reweld the spring perches and all that. it's an open 3.31 ratio rear with drum brakes, but I'll be soon bolting in a posi unit and converting my rear to LS1 brakes to match the front Ls1 brakes. Also planned are hotchkis rear leaf springs and a hell wig rear sway bar to match the monster 1 1/4 front sway bar. The ring gear is in good shape so I'll be throwing in the rear with drum brakes as soo as possible. pics will be coming soon. :-)

what size is the u joint on the 68 firebird and will it match the chevy 12 bolt yoke or will i need a new yoke?

[lucky13firebird]

purchased a used nascar 4" driveshaft with 1350 u joints. and the slip yoke to match it as well. Also bought the LS1 rear brakes finally and matching rotors for the back ;-) . getting a moser 1350 yoke for the 12 bolt and a moser rear cover with bearing supports. Also bought new heavy duty 5 leaf springs and new shackles to put it all under the rear.

bought a disc/disc master to tie it all up, now waiting for me to come home from overseas to start bolting things together.

[lucky13firebird]

built an eaton posi 12 bolt with moser 1350 yoke and moser cover and ls1 brakes with BRP hotrods brackets. going in as soon as I can clear the garage

[lucky13firebird]

the bitchin rear cover

[lucky13firebird]

redid the back seat. doing the front ones in a couple days

[STROKED]

First time seeing this thread, i like how your car is not a garage queen!
Looks bad ass, keep up the great work.

[lucky13firebird]

got the news wheels, test fitting them to the axle. pretty stoked, got the right offset this time, now just need some moser axle and longer studs. with the disc rotors and the wheel, the old studs are too short, so might as well get rid of the stock axles

[OldMechanik]

Badass build...I like the "two lane blacktop" approach...definitely built for function. Please continue to keep posting updates and pics!

[lucky13firebird]

got the 3" exhaust components and the moser axles. now just need to cut and measure everything up and press studs in the axles.

[lucky13firebird]

i got the studs pressed into the new moser axles and installed them over the weekend. so the rear is buttoned up and ready to for brake lines and to be bolted in. Also fabbed up the exhaust, here's a pic of it pieced together and fitted and tacked. so far got one side fully seam welded already and waiting on some spare time to seam weld up the other side and fab a balance tube. 3" exhaust with thrush 3" chamber mufflers. Total price was $175 including mufflers and all bends mandrel bent smooth with consistant radiuses. Now just gotta pony up the $125 for the flowmaster tail pipes for first gen f body cars and i'll be $300 into a 3" exhaust that would normaly run me around $700 from flowmaster. sorry guys, as you can see i'm not made of money.

[lucky13firebird]

btw you guys might get a kick out of this, nevermind my in laws van they helped me move with. but that 1970 vw beetle is literaly my newest car. the firebird was taking a beating from the salt up here in new york, so the last winter untill i move to north carolina I'm redoing the suspension and the rear end and all that as well as new floors too. So i've picked up this bug a year ago for 1k and added another 1.5 k in brakes, bearings and tires and welded some floors in it.

i guess you can say its kinda pro-touring. the motor is bone stock but i upgraded to 4 wheel disc brakes and drive this thing like a mad man. tops out at 85-90 and stops on a dime. takes corners like you wouldn't believe. but yeah, no fancy 2000's car for me, just a **** kicker 1970 bug so i can scrimp and save and keep plugging away on that firebird... and my 67 mustang fastback, and the 68 mustang fastback and my 64 mustang... well yeah. I got my hands full. ;-)

[lucky13firebird]

Well... here's the status now. I'm now stationed at ft bragg and will never again go up to new York and all its salt. I still need to replace the floors from the salt damage and it was a pain to redo the back suspension when I installed the 12 bolt and the 5 leaf heavy duty springs. Also got new wheels with the correct backspacing so I was able to get rid of the 1" adapters in the back and can sleep easy now... The biggest change is I redid the interior aside from the headliner, and finally replaced the drivers door with a dent free rust free patch free original I got for 225 bucks on christmas. No such luck with the passenger door so I gave up and re skinned it for 130 bucks from amd. Also the doors have new hinges and new interior panels and arm rests. I'll post pics of the interior tommorrow.

Btw I welded together a trailer hitch from a free one I got off my buddies wrecked 93 4 runner... looks like **** but does the job well. I towed a 5,000 pound lifted 2000 pathfinder 800 miles down to north Carolina with no issues. And then turned around and drove it to my in laws in nebraska. After a brief stay in Hawaii I drove the (un) lucky 13 firebird to Missouri where I bought this 67 tempest with a pontiac 400 and an st300 2 speed. I then drove the bird to north Carolina again while hauling this 3500 lb car and with me, two kids, Our dog lacy and my lovely wife. Now keep in mind that I had to disconnect the heater core due to a leak and I don't have any ac either... Also keep in mind that I have Manual 4 wheel discuss brakes and no power steering (bought a new pump but pulled the belt off until I can afford new hoses so as not to burn up the pump).... yeah it was awesome in the hills of kentucky. Brakes never overheated in the downhills and the 461 monster under the hood and Ford top loader 3 speed never skipped a beat passing anything and everything at 75-80 up those steep hills...


Here's pics of the 67 tempest, the pathfinder and me using the bird to load my 67 shelby clone project ....

As someone mentioned earlier... This is no garage queen. Really hoping to get out and race it finally... getting pretty old just having to use it as a truck... got my fingers crossed for this summer at some good guys events or something...

[Lenie]

Absolutely awesome!

[Nicks67GTO]

I'm officially a fan of this build....not to state the obvious because you're a Pontiac guy.... but have you checked the vin to see if that Tempest is a 24217 GTO? Its got a 67' GTO tail light panel and until the recent repops, finding a 67' taillight panel in good shape was like striking gold.

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah its a base model tempest With a bench seat and ac. Vin starts with 235. Plus at 2850 with a running 400 and all the trim and everything in the trunk that came off the car.... yeah the guy would've been an idiot to sell that low. Even a post car.

[lucky13firebird]

Touched up the doors and adjusted the hinges. Took some pics before adjusting the hinges. Man is it nice to no longer have a green door... or if you remember back to how crushed my doors were this is a huge improvement.

[Buryingthesun]

Mint car man! I wish I could daily drive mine instead mine just sits and waits for a new part as I scrape money together

[lucky13firebird]

I don't have a choice... it's my only running car since I sold the bug. But thanks, yeah for me the whole sitting around waiting for parts isn't an option. And even when that does happen, it's not for any longer than a few months at a time.

[captainofiron]

my 2 favorite cars, if I could sell my Impala for any other car it would be a 67 GTO

[lucky13firebird]

Double post

[Todd in Vancouver]

Great reading and I have way more respect for a real car guy building his dream than a garage queen spotless build that guys pay to have built and sit in the garage. I like how you roll and how you are building your car. Definitely watching this build as you progress.

[lucky13firebird]

1968 firebird burnout competition 461 stroker: CadQlDY4wJ0

Sorry, turned burnout video right side up and reloaded it.

Thanks todd, yeah its been wild but I wouldn't have it any other way. Just wish I could've afforded to start with a more solid car...

[lucky13firebird]

461 pontiac stroker dual 3" exhaust: jlct3QdINaE

Finally fixed the exhaust and connected the two sides together with a crossover. I had lost a muffler on the highway last week. It tore off at the factory weld. So I welded it back together and added the crossover at the same time. Here's a clip of how it sounds. Thrush chambered 3" mufflers. Btw you wouldn't believe the damage to my headers. Not from losing the muffler but from cracking. Two detached tubes on the left bank. Sounded so bad I was afraid it was a head gasket blown out. So I welded all the tubes back to the flange just to be safe. And did new exhaust gaskets.

That huge dent in the crossover is to clear the 4.5" used nascar sprint cup drives haft with 1350 u joints. I made that with a sledgehammer. Not pretty but it works. The crossover made the exhaust much quieter, the car is hearing safe again, sounds good when you get on it though.

[lucky13firebird]

:injured:Spent an hour or two under the car adjusting one of my shift linkages. It was not adjusted to the right length and shifting from 1st to 2nd was a nightmare. Now everything works smoothly and shifts fast. I shift out of first around 55-57 on a hard pull. Loving the 2.42 first gear and 3.31 12 bolt rear. Had to cut and weld my shift lever to get it at a better angle and then reinstalled the shifter assembly and took the kids and wife to a cruise in.
461 stroker in car 0-90 68 firebird: iEp4omrCfa8

The little guys love cars. And wife says if I ever get her a prius she'll kill me. She's a keeper.

[slammedwhitec5vert]

Really cool how you've been able to keep it on the road while doing all this work....

[lucky13firebird]

Kicking it at another car show today In North Carolina.

[lucky13firebird]

Well, just ordered a 13" c4/c5 kit from ccp for the front, and taking my ls brake setup off the front and transferring to my 67 tempest. That way the lighter car gets a slightly bigger front rotor (same caliper practically) and then that'll help push my caliper forward some and away from my hellwig 1 1/4 front sway bar. Btw gotta hand it to hotckis, their big block 67-9 camaro front lowering springs are amazing, they sit just right and are the perfect stiffness for a pontiac powered 68 bird. Really wish I would've gone with a hotchkis front sway bar, even with only a 2 year warranty. .. they claim they don't interfere with ls brake conversions. Unless hellwig wants to replace my bar with one that's 1" shorter... blowing through a red light or two a couple times a year after the bar pushes on the caliper in a tight turn and pushes all the fluid out back to the master cyl... or making a 5 point turn just to get into a parking space really kinda makes you want to write a nasty letter to hellwig... off course I forget about the next hard corner I take and the car stays flat... enough with the rant. But buyer beware, lifetime warranty is great and all but ls brakes and hellwig front sway bars don't mix.

Btw I blew out my ccp braided rear center brake hose a couple weeks ago on a hard bump or two. They sit on a 12 bolt at the wrong angle and when you bottom out you blow out the hose by kinking it. Been driving on just front brakes for two weeks now. I decided not to go back to a ccp hose because they don't fit stock 69 Camaro brake lines... I needed a brass adapter just to make it fit... and that's just an extra place to develop leaks as far as I am concerned... I ordered one from in line tube. They sent me a stock rubber one. I called them and they sent me the right one no hassle at all. Great people to deal with. Also just a heads up, it bolts right up to a stock 69 Camaro line system and doesn't sit at any odds angles... and its the commercial -3 stuff so when you blow it... just get a replacement braided hose (you'll never need it from the looks of the one I got, quality stuff) in the right Lenth and bolt it to the fittings on the ends.

Customer service is a make or break for me and quality of parts because I drive this thing to work and to buy food with my kids everyday... so the whole backorder or odd ball race only low mileage stuff doesn't cut it for me...

Btw I haven't mentioned it yet but brphotrods has great customer service too. Messed up a minor order once and set it straight in no time and refunded my shipping. (In cash literally in the box) I have their machined drum hub and bearing kit, brackets, and the rear spacers for my 12 bolt. Great stuff. I've driving thousands of miles all over this Country and towing **** to boot and it's been no issues besides the goofy ccp braided hose with I'll never buy again and that hellwig sway bar madness. Hoping that going to 13" c4/c5 corvette brakes on the front will take care of it. Otherwise WARRANTY be damned I'm cutting a 1" chunk out of the middle of the sway bar and welding it back together.

[Mattycamaro]

Thats A Badass FireBird man!! You Stationed in Ft Bragg?

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah ftbragg

[Gil]

Roots rad rat Bird... Amazing...
You have all my respect & attention.
Gil

[Bob's68]

God that Bird looks mean! You get my respect for driving the hell out of that, instead of just collecting parts like myself.

[lucky13firebird]

thanks guys, theres nothing like stepping outside on a summer morning at 5 am and breaking the silence with a 461 stroker as you light it up and prepare to face the day in your hand built monster of a car. ;-) Aint the prettiest thing, nor the most high tech, it don't even have a radio and fixing the power steering is last on a long list of things to finish on it, but i love it. It's kinda like a sum of all badass movie cars, cept its real and my kids ride in it.

today i got my fan shroud and fuel fittings for my edelbrock rpm mech fuel pump. And I cleared the garage so i can tear into it and swap over my front end (fenders, hood, bumper assy...) that i got from an old man in New Jersey who had something to do with Nunzi Romano, i'm not sure but i almost want to leave Nunzi's name on the fenders in respect to the legend but the fenders are white, so I'll paint them black and cover up the name. Besides, Nunzi had nothing to do with my motor, so in a way it wouldn't be right to have his name on my car.

I also test fitted one of my back wheels on my 67 tempest to see if a 9.5" wheel and a 275mm tire would fit in the stock wheel well of a 67 gto/tempest. busy busy, hopefully tommorrow is more productive, today was kinda slow since i was up till midnight guarding a soldier/prisoner at a mental health clinic. follow him around like a tail, dunno what this kid did but he's not allowed to even close the door to pee.

[lucky13firebird]

Swapped out the busted cpp braided rear brake hose for the braided one from in-line tube. The blowout that left me with no rear brakes was probably caused by me, I bolted the splitter block facing up, so on a hard bump it bottomed out again the trunk floor and blew out the rubber hose inside the braiding... BUT I do have two major complaints about the cpp piece over the in line tube one...

- it's $36 vs $29 bucks for the in line tube one and it doesn't have a plastic coating on the outside... it's super rusty after only 3 months under my car....

- it's not a direct fit for a stock 67-69 f body... it's threaded for 3/16 brake lines on all three sides... This meant I needed to go down to Napa and get a brass fitting that went from the next size up down to 3/16 or change out my hard line (which wasn't gonna happen ). I'm glad i just used an adapter because hoses are wear items and now my in line tube piece, which is a direct replacement for stock, is in with no adapter and fits like it should.


Took a pic of the oily dusty underside of the car. That ugly dent i put in my crossover on the exhaust gives me 1.5" of clearance from the drive shaft under full suspension extension. That and it's the front of the drive shaft so it doesn't move up and down much. Just whatever flex the cross member has.

[lucky13firebird]

Corvette brakes for 68 firebird unboxing: http://youtu.be/-wmcy31gR0k

Got my brakes from cpp. Good looking brakes, and great price at $395 plus hubs. Also installing the edelbrock fuel pump today. Will post pics as soon as I'm done, if I'm lucky I'll get the brakes done too. Meanwhile on a side note, I test fit the tempests 17" front wheels I just got today and they do clear the 13" c5 brake setup. Oh and a pleasant surprise was that the boss wheels are made in america...and are dirt cheap. Due to the rear quarter issues on the tempest, the bird may wind up with the boss wheels, 18x9.5 rear and 17x8 fronts. It'll solve the rubbing issue in the back too, since the 18x9.5 boss wheels are -4 mm instead of +15mm offset. .. which ironicly fit the tempest perfect...


Edit to add- I replaced my worn out stock pump with an edelbrock performer rpm unit. It's self regulated and doesn't require a separate fuel pressure regulatdor. While I was at it I got rid of about 5 feet of rubber fuel hose that went under my harmonic balancer and then up the front of the block, past the carb and then behind the edelbrock carb where it splits to feed both fuel bowls. I used 5/16 steel fuel line and sections of rubber hose to connect everything. Came out much neater, now I just need to do my fuel line under the car.

[68firebird]

nice price for the brakes. and of course they look good behind those rims. good progress!

[lucky13firebird]

DO NOT DEAL WITH CPP. I'm installing the brakes right now and have to make my own part already.... and it was advertised as direct bolt on. oh and don't get me started about how rude their customer service is... lifetime warranty my butt.

[lucky13firebird]

here's the video of the brake install -Xdlc2M0tjM

Did the brakes, here's some quick pics. Explaining to follow, gotta run and finish the right side now. Oh just to avoid confusion, the before pic is of the right side and the rest are of the left. The calipers are behind the spindle vs in front like the old brakes.

edit to add since i didn't want to bother with another post-

The hellwig sway bar is no longer a problem and i can do tight parking lot turns,

three big things that were an issue, these were explained in the video but here they are again anyway.

1- not all gm spindles are alike, i happened to have one that was threaded in the upper spindle brake anchor at 1/2-20, the kit is specifically made for the 5/8 threaded spindles, which wouldn't be such a big deal if they had said so in the listing on ebay, and would've been even less of a big deal had they not been so rude. they simply told me to make my own shim, refused to send me a 1/2-20 bolt pair, and even suggested i buy the "right" spindle... all this for a suppossed "bolt on" no machinging needed kit...

2- they included some cruddy chinese bearings but forgot to include the bearing races... they must've assumed that your drum hubs will have some... and then forgot to install any in the drum hubs i bought from them... yeah, tell me about it, so much for a "complete" kit. I had to pound out the old ones from the cut down hubs i was saving for the tempest.

3- disc brake installs require longer wheel studs, they included some longer ones threaded in the stock thread size BUT they forget to tell you that they're .600 or something shank diameter, while the stock ones for a pontiac are .480... i know this because I used some super long ones on my moser axles. And yes the stock drum hubs i bought from them do include studs, but again those are only good for stock drum applications... again, so much for a no machinging required kit that suppossedly bolts on to stock drum hubs and stock drum spindles.

---- oh and i will add their customer service is horrible, after being blown off by them I looked through their ebay feedback and sure enough i'm not the only one----

no complaints about the kit itself though, years ago a sub $500 kit that included drum hubs and hoses and corvette calipers with 13" corvette rotors would've been unheard of. There are otheres that sell this exact kit, but claim the hubs and brackets are made in america. OH they are cheaper to boot... by about $25 bucks. Had i know i would've gone with them...

[Gil]

Nice video & setup ! Hum...
No fun if no problems, you know :angel:
When do you plan to have new tires ?
Very good work, keep it up !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

these tires are pretty new, 255 front and 275 rear. they are cheap tires but have great reviews, threadwear of 350. fairly sticky considering the price but not soft track tires thats for sure. stumbled across the original pics of the car when i bought it for $4500 many years ago... under all those straight lines is anywhere from 1/8 to 1/2 inch of bondo.... it was horrible. I drove it across the country with its pontiac 350 and saginaw 4 speed with an open 10 bolt and 3.90 gears...

[Gil]

Said that for the new shoes, maybe you"ll swap them ?

Edit - Hum, just see the wheels were for the Tempest, thought were new for the Bird...my bad

Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah I got front tires for those wheels but no back tires yet. And I may indeed swap Em, we'll see. I like having a 255 mm tire on the front.

[lucky13firebird]

qDegZE4TZD4

here's a vid of me trying to do a 0-60 time, can't get it to hook up though. I also changed out my hei cap and rotor with an msd cap and rotor and disconnected my vacum advance, it was driving me nuts, i prefer the mechanical advance, its not all over the place.

to the guys who've tried some really good tires, how much of a difference did it make? This is primarily a street vehicle but I'm really thinking of getting something a lot more aggressive, and less sliding sideways kinda thing. I don't let the rear kick out much, but its all over till around 35-40 on 0-60 and 0-100 pulls.

[lucky13firebird]

For the first time in a long time the body is straight and dent free. (Aside from my taillight panel, but that's next). I spent all day tearing down the front end and painted the parts I couldn't reach with the fenders on. Then spent a SUPER long time putting everything back together and lining everything up just right because As most of you already know the on going theme of this car is that it's NEVER off the road. That means it's not coming apart for a very very long time, I wouldn't have the luxury of lining up the body lines some other day. I still need to get a handful of bolts to replace the ones that snapped when I took everything apart but I am SO loving it. Big day for me.

Replacing the front bumper assembly also had another benift. The bumper the guy sold me is fiberglass, and so is the hood, tommorrow I'll change over to the pin on fiberglass hood ( fully, not just front like mine) so between the lift off hood and the fiberglass bumper and getting rid of the hinges I'll be losing at least 25 pounds in the front, maybe closer to 35. And the front is exactly where this car needed to lose weight since I'm sticking to the massive pontiac iron block and heads...

[Gil]

Wow... you are skilled & you work fast !
Love the new look, white trunk to match would be fun.
Why not putting a set of Toyo R888 at the rear wheels ?
Not given with your size mount but I think would be a big improvement & it's street/track legal.
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah I'm really thinking about getting something besides these long wearing street tires.

It's gonna be all black when I scrape off all the white paint and stickers. Then I'll paint it like it was.

[lucky13firebird]

Swapped over to the fiberglass hood. Dunno how I feel about the scoop, but whatever, we'll see for now

[Gil]

Scoop stays in the street fighter theme.
Why not if it helps cooling the 461 ?
Will disappear when all flat black
Very nice
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

It does the opposite of cool.... an extractor would help draw air out from under the hood and through the radiator. A scoop just builds pressure in the engine bay and doesn't do a whole lot but get in the way... A lot of people love it so I'll keep this hood the way it is and get another one with either 69 style scoops or a flat one with extractors.... so I can go back and forth.

Finished up the dash. A huge improvement over the wood burl and 80 s cassette player... and cheesy add on guages.

[captainofiron]

It does the opposite of cool.... an extractor would help draw air out from under the hood and through the radiator. A scoop just builds pressure in the engine bay and doesn't do a whole lot but get in the way... A lot of people love it so I'll keep this hood the way it is and get another one with either 69 style scoops or a flat one with extractors.... so I can go back and forth.

Finished up the dash. A huge improvement over the wood burl and 80 s cassette player... and cheesy add on guages.

pretty cool

I have my gauge pod under the ash tray
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/09/P1010558-1.jpg

have you seen the gauge pod overlay they sell for the 1st gen F-body?

http://www.classicdash.com/shopping/1967-68-Camaro-Black-Center-Dash-Panel-Not-Drilled-Blank-Panel.html

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

[68firebird]

pretty cool

I have my gauge pod under the ash tray
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/09/P1010558-1.jpg

have you seen the gauge pod overlay they sell for the 1st gen F-body?

http://www.classicdash.com/shopping/1967-68-Camaro-Black-Center-Dash-Panel-Not-Drilled-Blank-Panel.html

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

I like that, but why the hell does a molded piece of plastic, thats not really that big and its not drilled or anything, need to be that expensive!? kind of rediculous.

[lucky13firebird]

i dunno about that... you were lucky enough to get an AC bird... so you can't just get the $70 metal piece and cut the holes for the guages like i did. but you could get rid of your radio and put them in there...

just that big molded plastic piece gets rid of not only your ac vents but also your heater controls... spend any real seat time in a firebird and while heat isn't important, and neither is AC, the blower is very important in bad weather or foggy mornings at 5 am on the way to work etc... i blew out my heater core and am in no way in a hurry to replace it but i definately hooked up the blower and it makes my driving in north carolina rain MUCH safer for me and the little guys in the baby seats behind me.

you were also lucky enough to get a console bird.... this is what i would do to keep it clean and functional.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/10002/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710789115&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=230006180000514800&cadevice=c&gclid=CKXXt4_6sb4CFbTm7Aod7SMAqA

[lucky13firebird]

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oh and GIL, got a new phone mount for the windsheild so here's a vid i took today on my way home from work after dropping off my co-worker at his place. You can see pretty clearly why i'm not a big fan of the scoop. ;-)

[Gil]

This thing has serious power...
Nice vids, and yes, scoop is not nice for vision...
If I can't see I would prefer a blower than a scoop
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Yes it does gil, the other day I embarrassed a custom big inch harley, TWICE. One from a stop to a out 60, then he got on the gas again, guess he figured I got the jump and he'd do better from a roll... from 35 to 120 he lost by 20 feet after starting 30 feet in front. The look on his face was priceless ;-)

But on a serious note, I got rid of the goofy scoop, have a hole for now that extracts air and does wonders for cooling. Planning on using a small piece from my old metal hood to cover the hole, then I'll be cutting holes on either side right where the 13 louveres were on the metal hood and epoxing mesh grills. The middle of the hood is a low pressure area unlike the front or back (hence cowl induction or the scoops being way forward on 442's and 69 trans am cars and such) so it'll help with cooling.

Also got a wilwood adjustable prop valve and installed it today. Installing it was a breeze and I have nothing but good to say about wilwood products. Now I can daily in more or less rear brake, and if I feel like it I can get rid of my pedal mounted brake light switch and use the one built into the wilwood piece.

[lucky13firebird]

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[Gil]

little 2 much front brake ! lol

What is better improvement for you, concerning brakes ? prop. valve, bigger discs & calipers front/rear or master cylinder ?

Gil

[lucky13firebird]

The biggest single improvement was installing disc brakes on all 4 corners. The master cyl is a given because you can't use the drum master with disc brakes, so that doesn't count.

Going from 12" ls1 camaro brakes to 13" corvette brakes didnt change the feel any... maybe it's better but on regular tires you won't notice a difference. I did it mostly to move the caliper to the back and away from the sway bar... besides who can resist corvette brakes for that cheap...

But changing out the prop valve to an adjustable one let me dail out some of the rear brake so now it stops HARD when I get on it. I started with too much rear, went too far and got a little too much front, then adjusted to a good happy medium and it stops on a dime now.

Before the adjustable valve it would lock up my rears with and slide sideways while the fronts still had more I could've got out of them. Now I can use all wheels at maximum, and it was $76 so it was basically the single biggest difference in feel.

[AtomicFirebird]

Swapped over to the fiberglass hood. Dunno how I feel about the scoop, but whatever, we'll see for now

Add this to the top of the fiberglass hood and make your own cut out. My scoop is made of metal and is functional. I bought the fiberglass form from some company online.

[AtomicFirebird]

Just saying

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah I dunno about that. That scoop Looks decent but I'm really thinking of plugging the hole and doing the flat hood sleeper thing. Eventually the bodywork will be done and the engine call outs and stripes won't be there after I finally paint it.

[AtomicFirebird]

A flat hood will not work for me. My carb is sitting 2 inches above normal pontiac engine height, which means I have to put a hood scoop on my car.

[lucky13firebird]

What manifold is that? I have the performer rpm manifold and a 3/8" thermal spacer from edelbrock and it clears a flat hood with 1" to spare when using a drop base 14x3"... The guy I bought the manifold from swore up and down it wouldn't clear even the ram air hood for a 69. I dunno, so far so good though.

[AtomicFirebird]

The Shop builder said it's a Torker II

[lucky13firebird]

you're gonna use stock manifolds and a torker II single plane intake? i dunno man... you might not like that so much.

[AtomicFirebird]

I'm not known for making great 1st time purchases. I find myself wanting something after reading a couple of articles, thinking that's the best thing for me.. I have had the car since 09 when it was a driver and bought stuff that was nice and cool at the time and later wishing I didn't. Justin my friend and engine builder, did a lot of work on the heads at my request. That's what I wanted at the time and I still want the original #16 heads on my motor. Will I be happy with the combo, maybe or maybe not. I can buy and change a manifold myself, I can't work heads or replace so easy. I plan on going to an EFI anyway. I want the engine for cruise nights, burnouts and maybe a Bandit Run or Power Tour.

[lucky13firebird]

Jealous of your heads. Mine have no work done to them

[68400BIRD]

From the video that I watched it seems that your car moves out just fine as is. They can always be made faster. LOL
I really appreciate how you have been able to keep your car on the road with all of the upgrades.
I have yet to drive mine down the road yet. I don't count the 20mph down my own street.
I hope to get the first drive in within a few weeks.

[AtomicFirebird]

I am jealous of you, at least you get to drive yours. Ever since I went to replace the throttle cable in 2010, it's been a nightmare of finding rust. It's like 1 step forward and four steps back. I believe if it weren't for this and other forums and the regular guys working in the garage and drivways, I would have given up a long time ago or paid someone. You my friend and all the other garage mechaincs give me motivation to get in there and work on it.

[lucky13firebird]

well, i stripped part of my left fender with a 40 grit flap wheel. found some bondo filling small dents. Wasn't too happy about that, some time in the near future I'll strip all the bondo off and hammer out all the dents using a body hammer and dolly. For now i primered it in black and did the hood and right fender too. I also painted the offset stripe back on it and the "13" and the cards on the fenders. All this while going to a cruise in, then going to do laundry, and while my wife shopped at target. I finaly finished the cards when i got home around 11 pm.

Funny story though, while i was outside doing the cards, some random black guy asked if i had jumper cables. I said sure, and we proceeded to jump start his 89 chevy celeberty. Well it was also out of gas, so while he walked to the nearest gas station with his jug, I finished up the ace of spades on my fenders. He came back and asked me how i did that, after showing him the basic stencils i had just drawn up and cut from a file folder, i asked if he wanted some on his $500 car. He was super thrilled about it and said he did. So while i waited on my wife to finish shopping i did him up a set of cards on his quarters. he wanted pocket aces so thats what i painted. Came out pretty cool actually. I'm posted pics so you'll see. I also made a video for my you tube channel i'll post in a minute. It's kinda long but definately worth watching if you have a beater rod or are just curios as to how i go about painting the ace of spades and two of hearts on my fenders.

[lucky13firebird]

T8s2mFFJ_9s

[Gil]

More roots DIY you die mate, I like your style....
Red nail polish, So cool ! Heart ace pops.
Very nice
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

I understood "I like your style" but not the first part of your sentence. ;-) thanks though, I'm glad you like it. No worries, there will be LOTS more D I Y videos and such, I bought a ton of rusty projects that I'm in the middle of. You know, just deals i couldn't pass up. The Tempest is getting some love while the bird is being worked on, but I have a 1967 mustang fastback body stashed away that I welded together from two different cars, as well as another 68 mustang fastback (this one is real, not a clone)... and a 64 1/2 mustang coupe that was made in the first three weeks of production. Yeah, splitting my resources like that kinda slowed some of the builds down, but when you find a 64 mustang for $1,400 or a 68 fastback for $1,500 or a running 67 Tempest GTO clone for $3,000, or a 68 mustang coupe with a blown head gasket for $1,000... you don't ask questions, you just buy...

I have this $90 pile-of-crap welder and let me tell you, I've put that little sucker through hell over the last 4 years i've had it. But aside from really ugly and really splattered welds (its flux core, so messy messy messy) I've literaly welded two half cars together with it and saved countless people tons of money by welding up odds and ends they needed for their clunkers.

here's some pics of the different projects I have going on right now to give you an idea...

that little bug I upgraded to 4 wheel disc brakes and drove across the country last winter with the wife and kids and dog it was a WILD 3 days and 3,000 miles, then left it at my old mans place, it shorted out, caught fire and I had to sell it at a huge loss for $500. and that red 66 mustang I gave to my friend for helping me work on the firebird every single free weekend he had.

but the other rust buckets i still have and I'm slowly tinkering with, just not fast enough to start a seperate thread yet... but as soon as the headliner and tail light panel goes in the firebird, I'll start working on the 67 tempest again and the 67 fastback clone i made. trying to turn the 67 fastback into a GT500 shelby... and someday it will be so.

the story on that $1,000 black mustang coupe is I swapped it over to an explorer 8.8 with 3.73 gears and posi, a used 302 and a T5 5 speed, lightweight racing flywheel, aluminum driveshaft and 4 wheel disc brakes and heavy ass well springs. I'll be cutting it up and using the floor, suspension and trunk and taillight panel to try and save that blue 68 fastback thats almost completely destroyed. The fastback is so bad I'll still need full quarters and a trunk lid and the panel in front of the trunk lid. About all i CAN use from that 68 fastback is the interior panels, so of the roof skeleton (after i sledgehammer it back into shape) and the glass. AMAZINGLY the back glass and unique door glass is intact on both sides.... so for $1,500 i got a VIN, interior panels, and $1,500 worth of original fastback glass....

[Gil]

Very nice! You're such a dark horse!
A lot of good things waiting... You're luky.
Would love to rebuild a 67 Fastback
Keep up the good work
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

went to the track with the kids and wife, had a blast but had a huge problem shifting and hooking up. eventualy the shift linkage actually fell off, i was able to retrieve it but not the nut that attached it to my transmission. threw a rubber grommet on it, and went home. best run was a crappy 14 second run but at 103 miles an hour after fighting the trans into second gear and losing any momentum. best 60ft was a horrible 2.4. basically spinning through first gear with the 350 threadwear street tires and then fighting the trans, sometimes back into frist (yeah i know) and then eventualy to second, then third and then going through the traps either just above 100 or below depending on how long i fought with the shifter.

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[Gil]

Nice sunset in your video !
Would love to do trackday week-ends with all the familly
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

thanks, they have 1/4 mile tracks in france? here its really cheap. $10 and you can do however many runs you can fit in.

[Gil]

This is not too far from were I live, yes !
96380
1/4 mile tracks are little more difficult to find but should not be a problem.
Gil

[68firebird]

This is not too far from were I live, yes !
96380
1/4 mile tracks are little more difficult to find but should not be a problem.
Gil

OH, that looks fun!!!!!!!!!

[lucky13firebird]

charlotte motor speed way is down the road from here but its gonna be a while before anything happens there that i can attend. That track look familiar... i've prob played it in FORZA 4 or something.

adjusted my floats today to sync with my new edelbrock fuel pump. My old pump was not pumping properly so i had raised the float levels, but now that i have a pump thats running 6 psi all the time i had to tighten up the floats to make them close the needles sooner, carb was getting kinda flooded.

BTW if anybody is still running a carb, and has heat soak issues, edelbrock part number 9266 totaly solved my heat soak problems without adding too much height. its a heat insulator gasket thats 3/8" thick and is a divided plenum. comes with longer studs and the devided plenum keeps my monster bottem end torque at the same monster level with good vacuum signal for idle and off idle around town driving. best $17 i've spent on that carb.

while i was at it i took a video to explain the basics of the edelbrock carbs. I've honestly met people who had NO CLUE how to adjust them. they thought the idle mixture screws actually adjusted the whole mixture throughout the rpm range... so yeah. if you're one of those people, got you covered ;-)

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[lucky13firebird]

Been throwing around the idea of a low profile street fighter style scoop, or using it as an extractor facing backwards. Dunno yet, but it'll just bolt on so it's not permanent. Eventually I'll just glass over the hole in the hood but one of these two options should work for now. The scoop is what's left of the goofy drag scoop that was on the hood when I got it for free. I'll probably cut down the back some more so it'll slope towards the opening, not be straight across like it is now.

[Gil]

Reverse extractor with a little roots mock-up & triming sounds visualy better to me ! :headbang:
Very nice !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

yeah, reverse with more taken off the front so not as big a bump.

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[lucky13firebird]

went to the 1/4 mile track with my family and dragged some friends along, it was their first time, and they had a blast. getting a little faster now, best pass so far was a 13.7 at 106 and a 2.5 60ft. I managed a 2.3 second 60ft a couple times but heat soak killed my carb and the passes were horrible. The 5/16 fuel line running next to my block like that was heating up the fuel too much. That and that stupid heat crossover thing all pontiacs come with.

I bought new 3/8 fuel line and ran it to the carb, but this time way out of the way of any heat sources, should pass enough fuel now to not be starving out by the time i hit second and third gear. Later on I may change out the entire fuel line all the way back to the tank, we'll see though. fuel supply should also help me in future road course events too, not just drag racing. guys at the track were telling me to get an ice box but that's not a realistic fix for me... I just keep picturing ice water sloshing out of that thing on hard corners... maybe works for the drag guys... but this isn't a drag car.

next mod will be to pull my intake manifold and JB-weld the darn heat crossover under the carb, and use gaskets that block it off... its just TOO MUCH HEAT. while i'm at it, I'll trace my intake ports on some paper and port match the manifold, I doubt it'll do much but I figure i'll at least remove any sharp edges that restrict airflow if any of the ports don't quite line up clean...

trying to get the little things hammered out on this thing so i don't embarass myself too much when I finaly make it to at least one of the goodguys events this year.


also- bought a hammer and dollie kit, so I'll start work on the couple dents in the left fender, so that after i cut out the taillight panel i can slowly start prepping for real paint, plus a few less dents wouldn't hurt anything.


8Ryf9WDsp0k

[lucky13firebird]

fixed the vapor lock issue with the 3/8 fuel line rerouting. Takes a little longer to warm up in the mornings too now. Got it nice and warm on the way home and then hammered on it, no more stumble in the higher rpms and pulls hard in all three gears. can't wait till next weekend.

RkId5AK9kNM

[68firebird]

Looks like its moving now! sounds good too.

[Gil]

Yes, very nice !
Sounds 1/4 mile should be way better than last Sunday !

When are you planning a 5 or 6 gears ?
:6gears:
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

6 speed? NEVER, these FORD 3 speeds are awesome. Practically unbreakable. The ones that were special ordered for pontiacs are really rare, BUT when you do find them, people practically give them away... I bought the last one for $100... i have 3 of them, 2 spares and one in the car. my plan next is for a ford 4 speed. those were never made in a GM input shaft size so i'll need to get the pilot bearing replaced with a custom made one that lets me put a ford input shaft in a pontiac crank. the cool thing is the trans itself will bolt right up, since pontiac bellhousings have 8 holes already, 4 for GM trans, and 4 for ford and you can use which ever you like...

a 6 speed conversion costs much too much to be practical for me. 3-4k total cost for a swap. for that kind of price i can just pro-charge the 461 and not worry about the gear spread.... ;-)

[lucky13firebird]

my gear spread i have now is 2.42, 1.61, 1 ..... with the wide ratio 4 speed I'll be able to launch a little harder and not have as big an rpm drop with 2.78, 1.93, 1.36, 1 ...... and for how though those trans are, they are very affordable.

[bonecrrusher]

Your mentioned your near Charlotte Motor Speedway - where are you from?

Are you going to checkout the Power Tour this weekend @ Zmax?

[lucky13firebird]

I will if I can, back up plan was to just go drag racing, it's only $10 for that here

[lucky13firebird]

update-, prob going to power tour kick off, and visit some friends while i'm up there.

[lucky13firebird]

took a sunset cruise and did a couple donuts... didn't make it to hot rod power tour kickoff but did get to go racing that weekend at the strip i4r07I07eps

[lucky13firebird]

Well, today I found out my thermostat has been stuck in the closed postition and its costing me some power. doesn't overheat on the street but causes issues at the track...

Aside from that, I saved myself $400 today by fixing the hole in the fiberglass hood instead of buying another one. I bought $6 worth of fiberglass matting in a big sheet, and $15 of fiberglass gel resin. I cut a chunk out of my own metal hood and threw it under the hood on top of my tempest hood, and the firebird hood was upside down on top of the metal chunk. that way the fiberglass had a form to follow and the patch would then have the ridge just like the factory hood did. I was actually really simple, now i just need to do the finish body work on it, filler primer etc. but it looks good, I'm very pleased with it. posting pics and a video in a few minutes.

[lucky13firebird]

here's the video of the whole process. a couple hourse of work edited down to 8 minutes. I didn't know how it would turn out but it turned out really really good. i mean the hole was over a foot long and almost a foot wide... took three layers of fiberglass matting and gel in between each layer. the last pic before it was painted shows the matting before i applyed a layer of gel to it too, and then sanded it. no more rivet holes of a giant hole in the middle either. just need to primer it a few more times and block sand and maybe use a tiny bit of filler. now my fiberglass hood looks like a factory flat hood, just much much much lighter...
xhXX74v6O2Q

[Gil]

Hey Lucky,
you are a "know it all" dude !
nice work
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Dunno about knowing it all, but I'll try it all for sure. Writing this as I'm waiting for a tow. My pinion yoke nut backed out and dropped my driveshaft on the ground as I was coming home from being in the field for 4 days... chances are my gears are **** now so I can re gear my 12 bolt. On the sunny side of things I'm going back out in the field for a week so when I come back again all smelly and such my parts will be home and ready for me to install them. Whatever it is I want to install. Also a good note is that patch I made for my fiberglass hood turned out really well. Just needs some sanding and paint. But is the right shape and everything. It's anything but rough. The sloppy painting gives it an odd look but it's strait.

[lucky13firebird]

Opened the rear end today to see what's up. This is what I found. Chunks missing from the pinion gear and a small chunk torn out of the ring gear. Also my posi case has some serious pinion gear rash... any more and the case would've come apart. This is what happens when your pinion nut loosens up and comes off while your wife is driving the car.... I'll see if I can score another posi case to put these guts into and another set of gears. While I'm at it it'll need a complete ring and pinion install kit. Bearings, cush sleave, seals etc...

[lucky13firebird]

Did some more sanding on the fiberglass hood. And painted it some more, lines are clean now with some minor surface imperfections. Decided that I'll be going with a 308 gear ratio to replace the destroyed ring and pinion and then swap in a toploader 4 speed from a 429/460 ford with a 31 spline output shaft. I have the Nascar 31 spline 1350 yoke sitting there and it'll work good. The gear spread will be decent with a wide ratio Trans and it'll still give me killer top speed.

[lucky13firebird]

Got 3" exhaust cutouts and a fan clutch to free up some power for events. Still looking for a good deal on ring and pinion gears.

[Gil]

Sorry about the rearend... Maybe it was a little weak for the new 461 ?
Looking forward to see how you rebuild this thing.
Gil

[dangina]

looks better sans scoop!

[lucky13firebird]

looks better sans scoop!

yeah, I much prefer the clean look. Rear end broke because I didn't locktite the pinion nut and then all hell broke loose when it came off... locktite and impact wrench on the next one for sure.

[lucky13firebird]

Pos welder is acting up, time for a new spool of wire I think. But got one side of the cutouts tacked on. Now to the other side tommorrow and to seem weld all of it. I'll add electric switch operated cutout flanges to it in a few weeks.

Bought a 308 ring and pinion set, waiting for it to arrive, then rebuilding the rear end this week or this weekend hopefully.

[lucky13firebird]

Cutouts welded in, exhaust reinstalled. Now just waiting on my 308 gear set to arrive.

[lucky13firebird]

quick video of the exhaust cutouts closed and open after installing them.
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[lucky13firebird]

mxDE_95sLmw

Rebuilt my rear end with all Timken bearings and a set of Richmond 355 gears I got for $25 plus shipping. Here's a 13 part video series for anybody who wants to do it in their driveway ;-) it's a Playlist so I'm posting the first video, the rest play automatically in order.

The guy I bought 308 gears from burned me so I got a full refund. Luckily I had bid on the 355 gears on a whim and had them available to put together this weekend. Sure makes this light car zippy though ;-)

[agoristmike]

Damn dude, this thread is awesome. Your wife must be pretty awesome too to survive hotel living and the like for the sake of the car!

[lucky13firebird]

Yup, she's one in a million. We drove across the country last winter in three days during a blizzard in -20 degree weather.....wait for it..... IN A 1970 VW SUNROOF BUG!!! 2 KIDS AND A DOG TOO!!!

Any woman who comes along on a trip like that is a keeper.

[lucky13firebird]

the british paratroopers came over to cross train with the US airborne corps and me and a couple friends showed them the beach and rode them around in the firebird, posting a video of our town out with the guys, here's some pics. They absolutely LOVED the car, especially when I uncapped the cutouts and revved it hard, they described it as an airplane taking off. good bunch of guys.

[lucky13firebird]

the brits LOVE american cars, video from the night out. some of the guys were saying they want to move here as soon as possible...
GHH188Ari7A

[lucky13firebird]

Well, made a rookie mistake, when I rebuilt the rear I cleaned out the pumpkin but forgot to clean the tubes.... all the shattered teeth from the first failure killed every bearing in the rear end during a 120 mph highway blast. Milked it home at 20 mph and tore apart the rear, gears are saveable, but I'll be replacing every single bearing, pinion bearings, carrier bearings... every one. Lesson learned.

[adibs]

well you cant win them all, hopefully this will be the last time you tear that rear apart

[lucky13firebird]

well, finally got a chance to go drag racing with the family again and test out the performance difference of the exhaust cutouts and the radiator fan clutch. I gotta say they're worth the $35 spent on each. Dunno how much value they'd have on a road course but at the strip they're worth 1/5 of a second... and some consistancy. I went from barely hitting 13.7-13.9 and to consistantly hitting 13.6 with 18 wheels and 35 series sidewall daily driver tires... had a lot of fun, here's the video I put together for anyone interested.

EoRV09Ruu4o

[lucky13firebird]

Swapped out the intake manifold gaskets for some with the little exhaust crossover plates that block the damn exhaust crossover and got a best time of 13.3 @ 105 .... ;-) hell yeah, and a side benifit is If I drive 30 minutes somewhere and park for 5 minutes the carb isn't gonna boil away the fuel from the float bowls.

QCUP3pZBq_s

[lucky13firebird]

Swapped in the wheels off my tempest. Love em, only issue is theyre not hub centric and nobody makes rings that big... 70.5 to 82.8mm bore. Also a key note, dunlop tires are horrible, at least this set is. The nexen n3000's are better by far and cheaper

zGJTBSrfo8g

[seancarole]

Not sure what your saying as audio didn't work, but get rid of that glass fuel filter before it turns ur bird into a true Firebird!

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, ive read about the glass filters leaking. Soon ill be swapping out my fuel supply system for -8an fittings and such. To make it legal for events and such and also to keep it from running lean on the top end... best time was 13.3 @ 105 on crappy streat tires and i just know i can do better than that...

[captainofiron]

Yeah, ive read about the glass filters leaking. Soon ill be swapping out my fuel supply system for -8an fittings and such. To make it legal for events and such and also to keep it from running lean on the top end... best time was 13.3 @ 105 on crappy streat tires and i just know i can do better than that...

yea those glass filters will crack sooner or later

brittle material in an environment that has big temperature swings, lots of vibrations? not a good idea, then fill it with a combustible liquid? even worse idea, lol

[Gil]

LED taillights looks good !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Swapped out the 1157 bulbs in the back with some super bright red led taillight bulbs. It was only 14 bucks shipped from hong kong and in a pinch if one burns out i can always get the normal 1157 bulbs at a parts store. Had my wife do a quick video while i was away for work...
AWZJGek6blo

[lucky13firebird]

Well, the led taillights turned out to be garbage, so i switched back to regular long life 1157 bulbs. Kept the small led lights in the marker though, those turned out ok.

Upgraded from my 750 cfm edelbrock carb to an 800 cfm edelbrock that had its choke assembly removed, then i spent a week jetting and setting everything up just right. Hoping for a better time with it. Snagged a handful of used nascar -8an fuel lines and redid my entire engine bay fuel setup in nascar pro gold -8an (1/2" ID is what it is...) and it came out awsome. Also swapped in a russel -8an fuel filter and got nomex sheilded -10an fuel line going all the way back to my sending unit which is still 5/16" for now. I need a new tank soon since i punched a hole in this one so i'll be going to a complete package with a 3/8" sending unit and new tank and straps.

Loving the new carb, the day i swapped it i had problems untill i dailed it in perfectly, now it pulls harder than ever... we'll see what it does at the track, thats the only way to tell ;-) timeslips dont lie.

[lucky13firebird]

Just installed 2 alternators in a row again, damn oreilys is having a batch of bad bearings in their rebuilt alternators, they charge great, just sound like they're gonna come apart any second the moment you fire up the engine. Lifetime warranty so hopefully in a few months I'll be able to snag one up that has decent bearings in it without spending anything... here's a video describing the braided fuel line setup i have going on. I love it, the fittings were a little spendy but it feels good, the carb is pretty happy with it.
RWDHAzgkiWs?

[lucky13firebird]

got a cool photo from the track photo guy while doing a 3rd gear burnout. Made a part throttle pass over 105 in the traps, so the new carb definately makes more power, just gotta sort the issues, trying to go to charlotte the coming weekend for the goodguys show, never been, but the wife has, she says they're awsome. Hopefully will sort the carb issues out by the time i go and will get some autocross runs in.... FINALY seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Gil]

Sweet !
Nice picture...
Saw you bypassed your heater, I'll have to do it too
Waiting the rad. hoses I ordered to do it the same time.
autocross would be cool, make vids if you have a chance.
Regards
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

i did bypass the heater. I DO NOT recommend it. the heater offers resistance to the flow and helps cool the motor. without it, all the water just wants to flow in the heater hose because its easier than being pushed through the radiator... I took out the thermostat to help balance the system. reason for bypass was to drive the car while not having to replace the cracked heater core... I've got a new one and one of the videos soon is gonna be of the install how-to...

also notice the nice hot heater hose sitting on my russel fuel filter... you can bet your butt that thats a big part of my fuel supply/vaporlock problems... ;-)

[Gil]

Well, OK... I'll have a lot of work this winter...
Seems a real pain to change the heater
I'll need your video soon, lol...
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Nope, piece of cake... nothing has to come apart fender wise... if the blower motor is still good anyway. Ive done it once, theres six or so sheetmetal nuts on the firewall and the the whole heater box can be pulled off on the inside... if the cables are in the way undo them, and make sure to mark them. Theres three of them and an electrical connection, the box comes off under the dash and you replace the heater core, make sure not to bust the new one like i did (my motor sits back more than stock btw, thats what broke it) and connect the hoses and push the cover back on... connect the three control cables and the electrical plug and tighten up the six sheet metal nuts in the engine bay.... and enjoy your heat...

[Gil]

Yep I have searched more & seems not so bad I thought first...
Will order a 37 bucks heater core & start to work this week end, waiting the rad. hoses too.
Thanks for the tip, I'll remove the 6 nuts & shake that thing...
Have a nice day
Gil

[Nicks67GTO]

FWIW I have my heater core blocked off on my 455 until I get vintage air installed. With an aluminum radiator, 160* t-stat and properly clearanced cast impeller water pump, I stay at 180* in 95* Iowa heat and humidity. The only issue iv'e had is that the rubber cap I used to block off at the water pump, split on me last summer and sprayed antifreeze all over....

[lucky13firebird]

The key to making the setup work that nick had was to use blockoff caps... i couldnt find anything durable and just closed the loop with the heater hose... hense the thermostat being yanked.

[lucky13firebird]

RmAx3w-C1ig

Absolutely loved the goodguys show. I am soooo going to every one i can reach now... theyre all over till next april for this area due to the winter. Failed miserably at my first autocross but had a lot of fun and learned even more... also got to do two laps around the nascar oval track at charlotte and the kids loved it. Such a good time.

[Gil]

So cool ! Nice vid.
So funny the kids... Go go go !!!
Gil

[Tucks69]

Cool build, just read the whole thing! I saw you at Charlotte, you were doing fine in the auto cross. Maybe I will see you in Raleigh in April. Geoff Potter is having an auto cross down in GA December 6th.

[Nicks67GTO]

Nice! that run around the track looked fun!

[lucky13firebird]

yeah, was a blast. thanks man. Just smashed my windshield recently and snagged a new one in charlotte. I'll try and make it to as many events as i can, its too much fun to miss them.

Ddx2tlROohk

[lucky13firebird]

a couple weeks ago i got to race another 68 firebird, he has a 6 speed auto and a 474ci pontiac with fuel injection and aluminum heads. much faster than mine but was a great time oHUjPMt6gQU

[captainofiron]

a couple weeks ago i got to race another 68 firebird, he has a 6 speed auto and a 474ci pontiac with fuel injection and aluminum heads. much faster than mine but was a great time oHUjPMt6gQU

that other bird is a BEAST

[lucky13firebird]

So the 2 series posi i built for the 67 tempest got used in this build as i prepared to travel thousands of miles for the holidays this winter. I put it all together with the 2.56 ratio gears and now my top speed is 165+ if it doesn't shake itself apart around 140. I can literaly do 0-60 never leaving first gear and my second gear is good to 100... basically what my final gear would've been had i put in 4.10 gears in the rear diff... now i REALY need some nitrous and a wide ratio 4 speed... that would make it absolutely nuts.

W6s4x1sw6F8

[lucky13firebird]

Absolutely have been loving the 2.56 gears. Little sensitive on starts because of the 2.42 first gear... kinda wish i had the wide ratio toploader 4 speed.... a 2.73 first gear would be just right while still giving me a crazy 165+ top speed and most importantly the ability to cruise all day at 75-85 without any stress on the engine.

Finaly wired up a horn and made a little video. Also put in my heater core, should have the hoses hooked up shortly.

Oh and snagged a 66 mustang for 350 bucks for my brother in law. And proceeded to do a massive burn out with the mustang on thr trailer ;-)
iaBQ9unjbbg

[lucky13firebird]

As promised, the burnout video. Getting ready to travel around 8,000 miles in a handful days to pick up parts and see relatives for christmas.

vzzj4Wc7kdo

[lucky13firebird]

Drove over 2,500 miles to go see relatives for christmass and picked up a transmission, some heads, and headers for my pontiacs... had a crazy time. Now in nebraska but went up to new york first to grab some things and then ohio then pennsylvania and then nebraska.

Here's part one, the trip from north carolina to upstate new york in our 68 firebird... ;-)


N9RmEoW1aQs

[Gil]

Nice first part Perry, Merry Christmas !
Hope Santa will bring you a new 70480 Dayco upper rad. hose ! Cheap & nice fit.

Was the thermostat Water Neck, right ? not the hose...
Nice trip mate...

Gil

[expensivehobby22]

Agreed. Nice vid.

Merry Christmas!

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, i forgot that the gasket goes OVER the thermostat, not under so i cracked the neck bolting it down and had to sprint to the parts store to get another. The chevy ones didn't work and neither did the ford one, but i cut open the bolt holes on the ford thermostat to make it work. And yes i need a new smaller upper radiator hose too...

Part 2 gets even wilder. I melted a battery terminal in half and then went and saw niagra falls. Then loaded up the th400 trans i had bought for the 67 tempest 5 months ago and the heads and headers and made my way to nebraska... by the end i limped it there and was having serious issues with a stuck lifter for 5 minutes but that solved itself... and i think my vacuum advance pulled oil into my distro and is causing all kinds of problems with firing under full throttle.

It was all worth it though, because i got to see some family and now will fix some odds and ends and change my oil and have the confidence knowing the car is good to drive thousands of miles at a moments notice.

Also, blew out one of my rear caliper hoses and lost the rear brakes. Easy fix though.

qfh3f9lVlvY

[Gil]

Awesome road trip,
Love the crazy backpack !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, i took apart my distro and the cap and rotor were just covered in tens of thousands of miles of road dust. And they were worn out for some reason. But i cleaned up the contacts which were severely oxided over and will get a replacement cap and rotor soon. Ordered the rear brake hoses for a 98 camaro and they should hopefully be here in nebraska before i leave... then i'll have the added safety of all 4 of my disc brakes working for the trip back.

Yeah, that backpack thing was pretty handy, didn't have to bring a trailer. Thanks, glad you guys enjoyed our adventures.

[armourmark]

Awesome trip! Looks like you made lots of memories with the family and that's invaluable.

[lucky13firebird]

finaly drove the 1,400 miles home to North Carolina. did a tune up on the ignition and changed the oil. Home sweet home.
QdSGCtJRass

[lucky13firebird]

Cut "speed holes" through the hood. Looks ok, keeps the interior cooler on the highway by dumping some air out the hood instead of up into every little crack and hole heating up the inside of the car...

ePV0DCrNges

[Gil]

Nice reverse NACA ducts !
good idea.
Gil

[ArtosDracon]

I love this build, exactly my kind of work, do what you can, when you can and just have fun with it!

[JakeD]

I love this build. Just read the whole thing. Way to go, that car is epic. So you went with hotchkis springs to lower it? I am looking to do suspension on my car 67 firebird right now. Heres the link. Any advice?
Jake

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/115120-67-Firebird-In-Need-Of-Suspension-HOTCHKIS-vs-RIDETECH

[68400BIRD]

I'm a little concerned. There have not been any updates n over a month.
Quit slacking.

[lucky13firebird]

SO, i finaly made actual reverse scoops, heat extractors for the engine in my hood. Came out pretty cool. Then we all piled in and drove 1,300 miles to lincoln nebraska and had a blast at the first goodguys event in lincoln nebraska, hitting the des moines goodguys heartland nationals tommorrow and then heading the 1,000 miles home to north carolina.

Bk2TysJV5Pk

[lucky13firebird]

Well, i freaking lost a wheel on the highway while driving to the des moines goodguys show. I replaced 5 studs and still managed to autocross the car. Had a blast, even met nick and saw his cool 67 GTO, then drove home The 24 hours...


cw-vZvO1wok

[Centerforce]

Drag racing, autocross, daily driving, family road trips...This is incredible. It's great to see a tough old 'bird put to work; tremendous project!

[Nicks67GTO]

Well, i freaking lost a wheel on the highway while driving to the des moines goodguys show. I replaced 5 studs and still managed to autocross the car. Had a blast, even met nick and saw his cool 67 GTO, then drove home The 24 hours...


cw-vZvO1wok

It was great meeting you and your family. I remember seeing you pull in and I thought...holy **** I think he lives in North Carolina, that's a heck of a haul. That's awesome man. Glad you got back home safe after the wheel mishap.

[Gil]

Hum... awesome road trip ! You seemed very... concentrate when autoX :drive1:

What about remove your BMW wheels maybe ?

Very Lucky !

Gil

[Josue]

LOVE all the tutorials for the amateurs and newbs! Gives us reassurance that anyone can tackle projects like these!


The biggest single improvement was installing disc brakes on all 4 corners. The master cyl is a given because you can't use the drum master with disc brakes, so that doesn't count.

Going from 12" ls1 camaro brakes to 13" corvette brakes didnt change the feel any... maybe it's better but on regular tires you won't notice a difference. I did it mostly to move the caliper to the back and away from the sway bar... besides who can resist corvette brakes for that cheap...

I probably already know the answer to this, since I didn't see any mention of you wanting/needing to add a power booster, but are you happy with the pedal pressure with a manual disc setup? I plan on daily driving my 68 as much as possible next year, short of rainy days, but I'm having a hard time trying to decide between a manual C5/C6 setup, or a power OEM style 11" disc setup. Both are around $1200 total. I do a lot of spirited driving and hard/late braking, with plans for track days down the road, but it's still a toss up to me...

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, thanks. Made it home safe after 40 hours of non-stop driving, fixing things and racing. Time for new wheels, the inside of this one is all messed up...

As far as the brakes, go big or go home, sure they used 11 inch brakes during the lemans races but they had the pads to go with them, and i'm sure those pads wouldn't be much fun on the street.

I've been driving this thing for 4 years now and have around 100,000 miles of seat time in it and i've never once wished for a booster for the brakes... drums, 12 inch disc and the current 13 inch corvette setup. My only gripe with the corvette disc brakes is now i cannot use my 98 camaro spare tire i keep in my trunk...

I guess i'll go buy a corvette spare tire and keep it there, if theres such a thing.

[Josue]

I wonder if I just have something wrong with my stock manual drum setup then, because from the time I get to the end of my driveway and beyond, it's pretty much a 2 foot operation to get the car to stop! Unless I'm just being a pu55y about it. lol I always just chalked it up to "that's the way she goes"...

I have concerns about the amount of vacuum needed for a booster too, whether or not my engine has enough now, or whether or not subsequent engine combos in the future would have enough.

Was there any difference in pedal pressure going from manual drums, to manual discs? Or, same amount of pressure needed, just stopped a lot better/quicker?

[lucky13firebird]

To be honest it kinda felt the same... the KEY difference was that if i was doing 120 and panic stopped with the drums, they would overheat and just coast once i got below 60 or so... and no amount of pedal effort would help at all.

Now with the corvette setup and the wilwood adjustable proportioning valve dailed in just right it stops so hard it makes me dizzy and stalls out the engine, not to mention my oil pressure drops to zero...

They really are good brakes. Just don't expect the feel of a rental nissan sentra or other small car, those are too touchy for my taste... and a big dissapointment when going down long hills.

The manual 4 wheel disc setup is nothing like that, in fact its the opossit, a little on the firm side, but consistant, and give you confidence even while flying down mountains in virginia ... they don't overheat. And yes, hit 'em hard enough and you can lock them up, just watch the middle of my last video during my autocross runs.

[Josue]

I gotcha! The more I think of it, and the more research I do, I may just try a manual C5/C6 setup first, see what it gets me. Worst case, I've seen a few people piece together hydroboost kits for relatively cheap.

You made mention to "other vendors" selling a kit similar to your front for cheaper than CPP? Who are they? The only one I've looked into was Kore3, and I get confused by their site. They make mention to AFX spindles and hubs so many times, I have no idea if they'll work with stock spindle/hubs, bunch of weird numbers (o325mm, o340mm??), and all they show in pics are rotors, calipers, pads, and brake lines....I know there's more to the installation than that! Hardware? Brackets? Bearings?

[Josue]

Also, can you point me in the direction of the "shim" needed to install the LS1 brakes on the rear? Is there any disassembling of the rear axles/housing needed? Or can I just pull my drum crap off, bolt a bracket and/or shim for the LS1 brakes on, caliper, rotor, maybe longer studs, and voila?

[lucky13firebird]

Gotta pull out the axles to instal ls1 brakes... no avoiding that. But its easy if you have a 12 bolt. Little different on pontiac boot in axles. Spacer is sold by brp hotrods and others too.

[Josue]

I have the original BOP 8.2 10 bolt with 2.56's, but I'm looking to upgrade for a little more giddy up on the street. Everyone on the Pontiac forums says the 8.2's are the worst option, but I'm not making any serious HP with my worn out 350, so the 8.2 should be fine for the time being. My neighbor has a 68 Camaro 10 bolt 8.2 with posi and 3.08's he'll sell me for $100, so it seems like the perfect time to add LS1 brakes prior to installation!

Still not much luck finding a inexpensive C5/C6 swap though, $700+ is the cheapest I've found so far. Kore3 says I need to machine my front drum hubs to fit a C5 rotor on, why didn't you have to do this with the new hubs that came in your kit? Were they specific to the C5 swap and were already machined? Or you did have to do it, but didn't mention in the video?

[lucky13firebird]

Turn down the drums yourself... and a used set of c5 brakes is around 400 bucks... plus the kore3 bracket... and some studs and brake hoses

[Josue]

Score.

Did you run into any problems with the size of the spacer in the rear with the LS1 swap? Or whatever one you ordered worked just fine? Just came across a thread on a Camaro forum, and everyone in the 4 page thread seemed to need/use a different thickness spacer in order to have the rotor in the right place...

[lucky13firebird]

Just a heads up, an alternative to the disc brake rear end dilemma is using an explorer rear end... exact same width as the 67-69 camaro and 95-01 came with posi, 373 gears 31 spline axles and disc brakes..... and can be had for 150-250 bucks.

They are a copy of the gm 12 bolt in practically every way except the rear cover. And plenty stout.

Besides that, i strongly recommend getting a 9 inch housing, and building it up. Disc brakes for them are 170 brand new from ford racing.

[Josue]

Explorers, eh? First time hearing about that swap. I was told to source a S-10 ZR2 rear end for those exact reasons...disc brakes, posi, and good gears, although 3.55 and up seem to be too much for my daily driving goals.

Doing a rear end swap like that, do the leafs bolt right up to the perches? Or would I need to cut my perches off and weld them on the new rear end? Leafs springs are probably leaf springs, all the same, but still has me wondering. Same thing with the driveshaft and yoke/u-joint...

[lucky13firebird]

Perches are 30 bucks, weld them on and be done, dont bother with your old ones. U joint adapters can be found for 1310 or 1330 u joint size as needed. I did the swap in my 68 mustang and was under 200 bucks with u joint adapter and new rotors just in case.

[Josue]

My local pull-a-part junk yard (you pull your own parts off) has about a dozen Explorers in those years at each of their 4 NE Ohio locations, so their readily available! I'll check into it more....thanks for all the advice!

[Josue]

I'm finally gathering parts for my disc brake swap, came across some cheap stuff locally! This place is about 30 mins from me...

http://www.clevelandpap.com/

So I hit them up asking if they could sell me a LS1 rear "kit", and he said they do it all the time. E-brake cables, backing plates, 2 left side calipers, and rotors/pads that are in good shape still that I'll likely reuse...all for $100! And I'm not sure why I didn't ask them when I was inquiring about the LS brakes, but while I was picking them up it hit me that, "duh, I'm doing C5 brakes up front, I'm SURE they have those here too!" $150 for a pair of front calipers with brackets, and they even came with EBC redstuff ceramic pads with tons of life left. Looks like all the bearings, brackets, and brake lines from Kore3 will be $199, then a pair of rotors and I should be set for around $400-$420 like you said!

Few more questions came to mind since reviewing this thread again...


The master cyl is a given because you can't use the drum master with disc brakes, so that doesn't count.

Which disc brake master did you use? Stock replacement? I heard new MC's are a pain to bleed, and that you need to/should bench bleed them first. Otherwise, you might be fighting a losing battle trying to get a good pedal feel after bleeding at the wheels.

You mention in your Firebird corvette swap video that the stock drum hubs do NOT need machined to fit inside the C5 rotor hats....do I have that right? But by your rear brake video, rear axles WILL need to be machined to fit inside the LS rotor hat?

Also, what lug nuts are you using? I need to find new ones for the wheels I bought, they're similar to yours in that the fronts are "sunken in" like that....I can't even get a socket on the lugs that are on the car now, they're just on there hand tight for now to see how they look.

[Hammered]

I did the LS1 swap 7 years ago and have never had an issue. I have quite a few details on mine here: http://1967firebird.atwebpages.com/chassis2.php I had the original 4-piston discs and drums and the LS1 brakes were a huge improvement.

[Gil]

Hi Josh, I'm in the process of doing a budget swap from a low vacuum brake booster (due to my big cam) to manual brakes. Talked a lot with Tobin@Kore3 & did a lot of search to find the good 1" bore Corvette MC P/N we need to complete, same part from different brands :

So for a 1" bore M/C:
68-76 Corvette with manual brakes
CARDONE 101371
RAYBESTOS MC36367
DORMAN M36367
AC DELCO 18M27 (18030269)

Bench bleed seems not a big deal, a few process vids on youtb
Hope this will help
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Got a front spoiler installed, digging the way it looks. Blacked out the whole car... still lots to do for what i want to do with it



7TNf-6AZ-ws

[Gil]

very nice !

[Josue]

Love front spoilers on these cars! Installed one on mine over the summer, really changes the look of the front ends!

They're supposed to be pretty functional too, driving more air into the radiator/engine.

[lucky13firebird]

Thanks, yeah i'm really digging it. Hoping it helps at least a little with stability at high speeds...

[lucky13firebird]

Slowly making progress

[lucky13firebird]

UUCLt7lrCOI

Got the rear spoiler installed to match the front. Car as real stable at speed now, pretty happy with it. Best $175 anybody can spend on a first gen they are planning on racing with later.

[lucky13firebird]

Took this old bird on the wildest 7,000 mile roadtrip ever. Loved it. Had issues, but nothing i couldn't handle. NpZjRXGFtgs

[Hammered]

Wow - that's determination. Reminds me of bumper towing my '67 almost 1300 miles from Colorado to Ohio non-stop. Lost a lot of tires on the way and the pinion gear went out somewhere in NE. I solved that problem by turning the rear end around so that the pinion was facing rearward. That way the pinion was forced away from the carrier so that there wasn't any interference. My trip was a cake walk compared to yours.

[Nicks67GTO]

I don't think anyone in America drives their vintage muscle more than you do. How many miles do you have on the Firebird?

[lucky13firebird]

I don't think anyone in America drives their vintage muscle more than you do. How many miles do you have on the Firebird?

You may be right bud... i bought it with 119,000 miles and the speedo stopped working at 136,000 .... since then i haven't bothered making it work and just kept driving it. Best estimate is its rounding 400,000 miles.... because the 461 i put in after blowing the 350 pontiac is already eating 1 qt of oil every 1,000 miles... and has a bunch of blow by.

Doesnt smoke yet and still hauls ass like it should, so i'll just drive it into the ground and then rebuild it as needed...

[camarodude87]

Love this! Roadkill to the extreme!

[lucky13firebird]

Love this! Roadkill to the extreme!

Yes, I would say so. BTW .... electric cutouts on a daily driven muscle car aren't the best idea... the aluminum and stainless just can't take the abuse. Both of mine have left this earth. I am now back to the reliable manual wing nut cutouts.

I have left the army after seven long years, and am in the process of moving out west. So enjoy our cross country haul in our 68 firebird, with a 240z on a trailer behind it, and a 67 tempest behind the moving truck.

[Gil]

Awesome !
I love your Mad Max convoy style...
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

0vUMrO4m60c

Took a spare nascar 1350 u joint driveshaft, shortened it, and installed my 1977 F150 toploader 4 speed. So now I have decent first gear and an overdrive.... although I already have a set of 2.56 gears in the car....

[Josue]

Nice.

I can't wait for an OD swap. Even staying high with 3.08's, my RPM's are still way higher than I'd like them to be for longer trips and highway speeds.

[lucky13firebird]

Didn't think that OD would make a difference on 2.56 gears but, holy cow, what a world of difference. I can finaly do 200 or more miles per tank of gas. Just drove 1,650 miles to nebraska, and driving 1250 more to grab my 69 charger, then turning around and heading straight back to try and catch a few days of power tour... OD is the way to go.

Its only a 15% increase in fuel mileage but that makes all the difference sometimes...

[lucky13firebird]

2U4OPbydR98

Shredded my 4 speed. The cluster gear on these isnt as strong as the regular toploaders. Plenty strong for towing, but a clutch dump and burnout at 4,000 rpm while pulling a trailer with the charger on it killed it. Grabbed another but its dead as well. Going to fix one, then rebuild the other one with the proper wide ratio gears.

[Gil]

Come on your sooooooo crazy awesome... Was just laughing out loud behind my screen... Thanks mate !
(If I do less than half of it to my wife she kills me... three times...)

[68400BIRD]

Those were two great videos. I may be assuming here but between your natural ability and the millitary it seems there isn't much that phases you. Great job.

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, not a whole lot can stop me... not even losing a header tube and running on 7 header tubes for over a thousand miles, jackknifing a trailer badly, and having my brother overheat the engine in the middle of nowhere...

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[dobie6982]

I want to be like you when I grow up.

[Fbird]

Always enjoy seeing this evolve. However, Id much rather have the T1 but the bird is still cool.

[lucky13firebird]

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Rebuilt the shattered overdrive 4 speed with the heavy duty wide ratio guts. No more overdrive, but man, it hauls now. Going to use my other busted overdrive trans for my 67 GTO

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[anguilla1980]

I've been following your vids for a few months, makes me wish I had filmed some video driving my daily driver 69 back from Texas to CA when I bought her. Broke down 4 times including a fire, damn car was trying to commit suicide but I wasn't having it lol! Previous owner wasn't exactly proficient in wiring to say the least.

I used to have a Datsun Z and I'm looking for a roller E body for my teenage son. Thought about a 65 Mustang for my other son but only if we can find a fastback roller for a good price (cheap!).

[lucky13firebird]

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Firebird badly needs a rebuild, or at the least some floors and body bushings...

[ryeguy2006a]

Now that's not something you see everyday.

[expensivehobby22]

More please :)

[lucky13firebird]

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Got the bird fired up again. Rented a garage for 6 months and bought floors, bushings and a taillight panel. It will finaly get the love it deserves.

It was a close one though, almost lost my engine to the cold.