1968 Firebird 400

[68400BIRD]

What kind of rear brake kit are you using?

Big brake kit from CPP. The 15" rims almost fit. It was real close. I could have used a spacer but I would rather get rims that fit the car better.

[68400BIRD]

Hope to start working on the car again. I ordered a set of American racing T71R rims with Nitto 555's. I also had my ram air manifolds coated in a high heat ceramic coating. Hope to get the rims yet this week. Family is out of town at the end of the month so I hope to have a lot of car time to myself.

[BirdsThaWord]

Congrats on the new parts! Bet you can't wait to get them installed. I looked up those wheels and I love them! Definitely sticks with the old school but new school theme.

[68400BIRD]

Yea, I can't wait to start working on it again. I have another car that I'm working on for a friend. When that's finished I can have my garage back. Just checked the tracking number and my wheels should be here today. WooHoo

[John Wright]

post up the pics when they arrive....inquiring minds want to know....LOL

[68400BIRD]

post up the pics when they arrive....inquiring minds want to know....LOL

The rims did not fit the car correctly so I had to sell them. I mounted one of the front tires on the back to see if that would work. The sizes were 275-45-17 and 235-45-17. I took some pictures on how they fit on the car but all of the shots are from behind or showing how the tire was going to go into the wheel lip.

[68400BIRD]

I did get a chance to get the Pypes exhaust bolted in. It's not finished yet but is close. I also put in my PTFBODY sub frame connectors. The connectors tuck to the floor pretty tight along with the exhaust.


I had a chance to get the steering linkage in. I also updated the steering gear box.

[68400BIRD]

I had my long branch manifolds ceramic coated. The pictures don't show them very well but they were the best shots I could get.

[John Wright]

Man, that bird is looking good.

[68400BIRD]

Thanks John. I hope to have a lot of progress pictures to post this fall and into the winter.

[rickpaw]

Looking really good. I seem to have the same problem with the rear wheels as well. Driver side tucks in real nice, but the pass side may hit the lip.

[bryster]

Bummer about the fire on the 77....Good luck with this one...

[rickpaw]

Hi Rob,
How do you like the sub frame connectors? Any problem installing them? What kind of mufflers do you have on your exhaust?

I'm looking into purchase another set of subframe connectors. I have Competition Engr connectors, and they did not install real well. There is a 1/4 gap between the connectors and the rear sub frames.

[68400BIRD]

Tu,
The sub frame connectors fit great. I bought them from protouringfbody. You can either weld or bolt them in. I chose to bolt them in for right now. I bought the complete pypes exhaust system. I think the mufflers are the violators series.

[68400BIRD]

Have some new pictures with the car back down on the ground.





I still need to order the PMD center caps and black center lugnuts.

[John Wright]

Put the seat and steering wheel back in there and go for a ride....LOL

[rickpaw]

Looks good Rob. Can't wait to see it fired up. I'm planning to drop the engine/tranny into mine Thanksgiving weekend.

[ponjohn]

I just read this entire thread.

Real nice work.....kudos for doing it yourself.

How did you cut the old floor out so cleanly?
What rims did you end up using, I like them better than the factory rally IIs.

[68400BIRD]

I just read this entire thread.

Real nice work.....kudos for doing it yourself.

How did you cut the old floor out so cleanly? I used a sawzall,spot weld drill bits and a lot of grinding pads. It took the better portion of a week using all of my evenings after the family was all asleep.
What rims did you end up using, I went with American Racing 500's you can get custom back spacing also. I plan on making the PMD caps work to. Just have not bought them yet.


I like them better than the factory rally IIs.

Thanks

[68400BIRD]

Next on my list was to get the upper and lower dash painted in a low gloss black. I also painted the rear shelf and some other interior parts.