1968 firebird 461ci stroker project

[lucky13firebird]

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]

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.