1968 Firebird 400

[DYNODANNY]

Very cool build, I must feel good to do all the work yourself. Good work and keep at it.

[68400BIRD]

It's been almost a year since the car has been sitting on the ground. I bolted the wheels up that were on my 77 Camaro. I'm not sure if I'm going to go this route or not. The rear tires look a little wide. I think???





The rear tires at least do not stick out of the wheel wells. I know the car will come down an inch or two when all the weight is back on it. I also have the option of running a set of 15" Pontiac rally rims. I don't see having the money any time soon for a new set of fancy rims. Just not in the budget.

[68400BIRD]

Heres a couple of shots with the wheels on my last Camaro and one of the rally rims before the start of the resto.



Heres a shot of my old car just out of paint.

And heres the only pic I have of the rally rims. If I use these I would put a wider tire on them.



Like I commented before, new rims are out of the budget for a long time. I can run the Weld pro stars with a smaller tire on the back. Or, sell the pro stars and buy all new tires,trim rings,center caps and lugs for the rallys. What do you think??

[rickpaw]

The rear tires do look wide. I like the look of the rally II better.

Did you get the front sway bar mounted?

[68400BIRD]

The rear tires do look wide. I like the look of the rally II better.

Did you get the front sway bar mounted?

I did everything I could last night just to set it back down on the ground. LOL I do not have any of the steering linkage in and the sway bar is just laying across the frame. I wanted some weight on the car before I bolted it up.

[68400BIRD]

The rear tires do look wide. I like the look of the rally II better.

Did you get the front sway bar mounted?

The more that I look at it I think both tires front and back look to big on this car. I think I will go with the Rally II's in 15" and some new rubber.

[Dalamar]

I like the wheel size!

[rickpaw]

I hope to have the car on all four wheels by the end of this month. The subframe is bolted up and I started running more of the ss gas and brake lines.


A little trial fit of some rims and tires from my last car.



I think the back tires are going to be to wide. I can either buy different tires or go back to the Rally II's.

Rob,
On those exhaust manifold, where did you get them, and did you have to get the oil adapter bracket to clear the pass side manifold?

[wmhjr]

To my knowledge, the best aftermarket cast manifolds for Pontiacs are from Ram Air Restorations. They've got all kinds including long branches, etc. Very good quality.

[gto406]

Like the Rally II's myself too!

Looking good, keep at it!

Cheers,
Brian
'72 GTO.

[68400BIRD]

Tu, I bought the ram air manifolds from Classic Industries and bought the oil filter extension along with it. I still have the stock manifolds on the car, thats what you are seeing in the pictures.

[68400BIRD]

Like the Rally II's myself too!

Looking good, keep at it!

Cheers,
Brian
'72 GTO.

Thanks, still undecided on what rims I want to go with. I like the looks of the Welds better and when these tires wear out I might go a little smaller or sell all of them and get into a 16-17" rim.

[68400BIRD]

I had a chance to get some more work done on the car over the last two evenings. I wanted to install the front sway bar but with having a larger size bar comes a larger mounting bracket. There was no way I could use my old holes that are threaded into the frame. I bolted up the end links and got them set close to 90 degrees. I then marked the new holes and drilled out 3/8 size holes in the frame. I then welded a tab onto the tops of the grade eight bolts so it would have a stop on it which would lock up against the inside of the subframe. I also drilled,tapped, and inserted a grease zerk into the bushing.


Heres a picture with it all bolted into place. I don't think this will pull out of the frame. It only took one picture of the damage than can happen when a sway bar rips the threads out of the frame to make me do this upgrade.

I also had a chance to start getting my axles ready to be bolted back in.

The ball joint tool makes installing the wheel studs pretty easy.

[Dons67]

what direction are you going with paint? -- I have a 67 camaro that i like to look like it could have been factory so i would lean towards the rally's -- I went with 255/60R15 in back and 215/65R15 upfront - I think they sit nice on the car and fill the wheel wells

[68400BIRD]

what direction are you going with paint? -- I have a 67 camaro that i like to look like it could have been factory so i would lean towards the rally's -- I went with 255/60R15 in back and 215/65R15 upfront - I think they sit nice on the car and fill the wheel wells

I'm thinking about going with electron or lemans blue which I found on 2003 and 2004 Corvettes. I know the Lemans blue is a popular color but I have not seen it to much on the older Firebirds.
I'm going to keep the Welds on the car for now. The rims and tires are new and I would like to get some use out of them. I will also hold onto the Rally's and when I can afford it I will buy all new caps,rings,lugnuts, and tires.

[rickpaw]

How's the project going? Any new updates. Thought I'd give the thread a bump to the top.

[John Wright]

How's the project going? Any new updates. Thought I'd give the thread a bump to the top.

+1 another bump to the Top

[68400BIRD]

Nothing new over here. Yard work, sick kids, honey to do list, and getting the boat ready for launching are taking up all of my spare time. I hope to be working on it again by the end of the month.

[68400BIRD]

Not much to update. I had to order new rear calipers for my car. The new calipers are a little bigger in size. With that being said my 15" rims no longer fit. Good news-bad news. LOL Bad news I have to buy new rims and tires. Goon news I get to buy some 17-18" rims and tires with correct offsets. Still looking for options. I'm on a tight budget so I would like to stay under or close to $1,500.00 for tires and rims. I would like a rim with more of a 60-70"s vintage look. Most of the rims out there just would not look right on my car. If anybody has any ideas let me know. So far I'm looking at the Billet Spec. Rally rims, American racing V500's and maybe Hopsters.

[rickpaw]

Not much to update. I had to order new rear calipers for my car. The new calipers are a little bigger in size. With that being said my 15" rims no longer fit. Good news-bad news. LOL Bad news I have to buy new rims and tires. Goon news I get to buy some 17-18" rims and tires with correct offsets. Still looking for options. I'm on a tight budget so I would like to stay under or close to $1,500.00 for tires and rims. I would like a rim with more of a 60-70"s vintage look. Most of the rims out there just would not look right on my car. If anybody has any ideas let me know. So far I'm looking at the Billet Spec. Rally rims, American racing V500's and maybe Hopsters.

What kind of rear brake kit are you using?