68 firehawk update

[68firehawk]

Firehawk

Your building my (wish) car. It looks awsome. Where did you snag the motor/Tranny? Wich motor is it? What did the frame run you? My 68 is white to.

My rims are 17” not sure about availability on an 18”.


The motor and transmission are from an 02 Camaro (T-56 and LS1). I also plan to put on a Pro-charger before all is said and done. E-bay is a good start but I ended up calling LKQ auto recyclers to find one that had less then 20K miles on it. This was well over a year ago. I just recently checked and they are getting almost double for what I paid for my setup.


I choose to go with a weld in frame for added stability and less weight. It also allowed me more flexibility with the stance of my car. I will be able to fit 285's up front. As of now I don't think they are planning on offering a bolt in but it wouldn't hurt checking with them to see what their future plans are. Kevin was a big help when I ordered my frame. It's also nice because they are only 30 minuets from my house. Their C-5 front sub frame starts at $1440. You can choose to buy all the hardware, suspension and rack from them if you like. Check out their on line catalog for more info.

[Hammered]

Great to see another Firebird getting attention. Can't wait to see more progress pictures.

John

[rohrt]

Again it looks awsome. Keep posting pics when you can.

Hammered. Your revamped web site was great. I spent a hour going through it.

[Hammered]

Thanks rohrt! I need to add a bunch more already.

[Stoker420]

I didn't know they made firehawks back in 68?

I wish I could afford a new front frame for my 68 fb. Nice rack better geomertry. oh well very nice project.

[camaro608]

hummm.......what do i think................
i think bad ass
i love those brakes
looks good

[Nine Ball]

Nice work on the tubs and frame mods. I don't see any body mounting points on the subframe though, will it be difficult to get all the panels lined up again?

Good choice on engines Bonus points if you paint the block Pontiac blue!

[68firehawk]

Nice work on the tubs and frame mods. I don't see any body mounting points on the subframe though, will it be difficult to get all the panels lined up again?

Good choice on engines Bonus points if you paint the block Pontiac blue!

Yeah, I'll have to build new front brackets for the core support. One downfall of having a fully custom frame. The good news is I have electronic drawings that show me where the exact mounting points are.

[Hammered]

You line everything to cowl first anyway so you don't need the core support mounts to hang the front sheet metal. If you can add the mounts after the sheet metal is hung, just locate them using the core support.

[68firehawk]

Attachment 13357



I finally finished the rear axle and it looks great. Here are some cool before and after shots. One of the last things I had to do was find the shock mount locations and finish up the spring perches. I also included pictures of the upper shock mount/rear sub frame cross member.


I'm very happy with how things are turning out.

[68firehawk]

I’m finally finished most of the fabrication. I have a few more loose ends to tie up then it will be time to strip it down and start bodywork.

The stance shown is still a little higher then final it will be about 1” lower then shown.

[restomodbird69]

great ride,keep it goin

[speedster]

FYI - one thing (which you probably already know if you rotated the rear wheels) is that the inner valve stem sometimes hits the disk brake caliper. If it doesn't hit, still make sure there is adequate clearance. I had to change my Budnik Tiller 5's to the "button" valve stems when using Wilwood disks.

Your car looks great and you have done some really killer fabrication work.

[68firehawk]

FYI - one thing (which you probably already know if you rotated the rear wheels) is that the inner valve stem sometimes hits the disk brake caliper. If it doesn't hit, still make sure there is adequate clearance. I had to change my Budnik Tiller 5's to the "button" valve stems when using Wilwood disks.

Your car looks great and you have done some really killer fabrication work.

This was defiantly something I had to consider. Luckily the rear grand national hubs were so large or I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish it. The front valve stems had to go on the outside to clear because I wasn’t willing to go with any more of an offset in the front.

Thanks for the fabrication props. There are many many hours of it in this car already. It's nice when someone else can appreciate the work. Most people I know have know idea what I'm doing and can't really comprehend what it takes.

[68firehawk]

More progress has actually been made on my bird then these pictures show. However, I just had to get a picture of my Procharger up. It showed up today, it was a rush just opening the box. This is a DS1C unit that will push all of 10psi. I can’t wait until it’s installed. The other pictures are of my artsy steering linkage and front brakes. The car is currently sanded down to bare metal. My goal is to have the body work, primer and paint complete by mid May…. We’ll see.

My wife and I spent part of the day last weekend perusing car lots for the perfect color.
We found it, stay tuned.



Attachment 16784

Attachment 16785[
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[68firehawk]

It's amazing how much paint can be put on a car over the years.
I think mine has over 3 coats on it. I had over 40hrs of sanding to get everything down to bare metal. Talk about mind numbing.
I probably shouldn't complain because it's the main reason there is so little rust on this car.

I've attached some bare metal pictures of everything before I shot the etching primer. A buddy of mine came over to show me some basics for doing body work and shooting primer. It was a very helpful couple of hours. he showed more new tricks then I've seen in a all the books and magizenes i've read about painting to this day. When it comes time to put the top coat down I still think i'm going to have him do it. You just can't beat experience.

My goal is to have all body work complete by the end of the month.

[Morgan]

The project is looking great and I love all the fab work.

[68firehawk]

Well the firewall and front subframe coatings are finished.
I decided not to paint the firewall the same color as the car. considering I would like to run it in the Silver State classic challange someday and other racing events I wanted it to be more durable finish for engine swaps. The firewall was finished off with an uddercoating and painted with black epoxy primer and sealed.

Now as with most of my weekends I get to go back to the endless ammount of blocking and primer before painting can begin.

Let me know what you think.

[72NovaSS]

Amazing!

[68firehawk]

Well the paint turned out way better then I could have ever expected. It appears that over 240hrs of body work paid off. The last major push included two full days and an all nighter in the paint booth. We played with the booth temps to get what you see here. And yep that’s about 5 coats of clear you’re looking at. The color is a custom one off color that we mixed different pearls into until we were happy.

Overall I couldn’t be happier. And better yet the wife has an all new appreciation for the car. It still holds true that girls love shiny things.

Keep in mind she is still not buffed in these pictures.
Let me know what you think.