68 Firebird...about time

[Camikaze]

ive had my 68 'bird since i turned 18. it was black and not so pretty but i fixed it up to par and drove it a little bit. then a year later i decided to restomod the car. i love the 70s style wide wheels with air shocks and a badass motor lol. so i purchased centerline wheels (fatties in the back, with skinnies up front) along with the shocks, traction bars...all that good stuff. i replaced the quarters, floors, trunk pan, lid...mostly everything. then college came and i hit a rut. up til then i was doing my own work to everything so i learned by trial and error. its been i think 2 or 3 years of off and on progress with the car. ive had other cars to fix, blah blah blah. then i found this amazing site with all you guys and your amazing cars...major motivation haha...so ive sold my aed grand am and now i have enough money to actually get this thing going again

it was a 68 firebird 350/powerglide with black painted over the original agean? (dark metallic blue) paint

the original 350 is stripped and waiting for a rebuild with a few goodies thrown in. idk what ill do with the 'glide...ill rebuild and maybe sell it...i have a 74 pontiac 350/350 combo that will be in the car until the original 350 is finished...then ill swap that back in.
my camera is at my parents house so ill have to go there and find it...ill post some pics later today after some work to it

[Tuske427]

Sounds like an awesome ride, I wish you the best on the build up. I would recommend that, if you're going to keep it Pontiac powered, that you step up to a 400 engine. You'll get much better performance for your dollars spent.

This is a great book for educating yourself about performance Pontiac engines:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Perf.../dp/1884089674

I hope this is helpful, and I look forward to the pics!

[68firebird]

nice, another 68 firebird. can't wait to see the pics of where its at now.

[Camikaze]

Sounds like an awesome ride, I wish you the best on the build up. I would recommend that, if you're going to keep it Pontiac powered, that you step up to a 400 engine. You'll get much better performance for your dollars spent.

This is a great book for educating yourself about performance Pontiac engines:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Perf.../dp/1884089674

I hope this is helpful, and I look forward to the pics!

haha, funny that you mention it...i bought that book for some info a while ago but its mostly 400 engine combos and stuff, not much 350. im always looking for 400s but in my area there isnt really that much pontiac stuff for sale. a couple 455s but everyone wants tooo much for those.

we moved the car to the other shop and took a couple of current pics...i've got some parts ordered but im stuck waiting so im doing little things til they're here

the car is pretty much stripped and i've been patching and replacing panels. new floors, trunks, blah blah....front clip is loosely hung. rebuilding the front suspension tomorrow, along with installing the engine and trans. but for now this what im working with lol

[Camikaze]

alright, got a lot done today...took some pics but imageshack is being retarded and wont upload my pictures so it'll be either late tonight or tomorrow morning :(

[CruizinKev]

cool project! try photobucket for the pics

[68Formula]

You might find this interesting:
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...ild/index.html

[Camikaze]

You might find this interesting:
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...ild/index.html

i saw that kit a while ago and its what i want to do with one of the engines a 383 would be really nice since i have two pontiac 350s...trying to get this car going on a $3,000 budget also so it will be after the car is mostly done.

[Camikaze]

got the pics finally lol.

i ran into a snag today...i now have to drill and tap 2 exhaust bolts

so monday will be suspension day!

ive got a front end rebuild kit from my buddy at oriellys. (huge help to my budget). ordered subframe connectors, traction bars...im gonna order hotchkis sway bars as well. im looking into disc brake conversions since i have manual drums, should i go with a ls1 disc swap? my centerlines are 15in wheels. i heard you had to have 16s minimum. anyone know about this or another good alternitive? if i have enough cash i want to go ahead and get coil overs(two words?) for the front.

pics of yesterday...removed doors, cleaned up jams...lots of prep stuff for incoming parts. and a look at rusted doors

doors removed


check out that hole...awesome...


other side


sanded and primed...cut out parts of rocker cuz i want to see how the inside is...and its not great...some holes here and there


view of the patched floor and door jams


other side


newer trunk lid...i think its from goodmark


found an original spoiler at a swap meet for $50 even has the cheesy bumper sticker on it lol


im ordering a new tail panel since this one has seen better days.


mocked up the spoiler on the deck lid


more progress coming up when i get my parts...i hate waiting so much lol

[bonecrrusher]

I spy your Grand Am with an AED kit... lol!

Nice progress on the Firebird!

[Camikaze]

I spy your Grand Am with an AED kit... lol!

Nice progress on the Firebird!

thanks!

Sadly i sold the Grand Am last tuesday...
i really miss it but ive had it forever and im going to finally finish the firebird. i did find a 99 firebird v6 for $1,700 that would make for an awesome DD while im working on the 68 though! hopefully the owner hasnt sold it yet

[Camikaze]

small update today!

got some parts in finally...







cleaned and painted the engine. no one had "pontiac blue" engine paint in town so im going to have to order it. so i settled with "GM corporate blue"...which i think was used on late 70s pontiacs anyways. more pics tomorrow since i have all day to work on it.

[Tuske427]

Looking good! I had very similar rust spots on my door like that, too. Most of my project journal is postings of rust repair (it's over on lateral-g though) so far.

Tell me more about your '84 T/A you have listed. I had one for 17 years, brought it to CA and did an emissions legal LS1 swap to it. Then I sold it and am working on my '67.

[bryster]

Working on a 68 myself ....... 4 years in the making....good luck..
It will be worth it when done.

[Camikaze]

sorry about the late reply guys lol...i've been in an epic battle with my wisdom teeth and they're winning :(

i got a few things done and ill post the pics in a sec. ive gotta go see how much it is to go cut these bad boys out and how soon they can do it.

tuske, the 84 i bought in the small town of Lebanon, MO. a year ago. i saw the ad on CL for $750 "84 TA early 70's pontiac 350, runs and drives". i was going to buy it as a DD till i finished the 68 but i figured id just swap that motor into the 68 since it was a 74 pontiac 350. it was majorly "tweaked" when i bought it though. the motor mounts were welded in improperly, the motor was not level and all sorts of problems haha. now im gonna drop a lt1 in it and make it an autocross/pro touring car after this project.

it definitely needs some tlc...

[Camikaze]

i have a feeling this thread could have a lot of rust repair in it lol.

thanks bryster! it's been 3 going on 4 years with mine as well. but now i have a bigger space to work on the car and i love it.

do you have any pics of your firebird project? theres a lot of 1st gen birds being worked on lately ive noticed lol

[Camikaze]

i used duplicolor truck bed coating in a can to sorta "rustproof" the floor. im impressed with it so far. it has a nice slightly textured, matte finish. i also tried to scrape off the old undercoating since im gonna spray this goodness in a can on the underside to make sure the floor pans wont get all messed up from rock chips or whatever. i got a sample of paint from o'reilly's paintshop and sprayed it on an extra firebird fender i had around. i didnt really sand the fender that much just because i wanted to see the color, which is "blackcherry". it has to have a clearcoat over it for that nice gloss. now its kinda matte finish. not too bad for a harbor freight spray gun lol.

ill have more stuff done soon since ill have my stupid wisdom tooth taken care of...agh