Froggy 69Bird PT wannabe - "poor dady" VERY SLOW build.

[Gil]

Hello all !!

With you since 2009, thought it would be time for me to start the thread of my 69 Firebird.

Thanks a lot to give me the motivation to work as it won't be a limitless money build show car.

I'll do the best I can, the way it has to be done & I want you to tell me when I go the wrong way.

The car will be kind of "sleeper" & garage built for all I can do by myself.

So...

I have a new house, new job, new garage & the Bird is in with us so easiest to work on it for me.

The "to do" list :

Not starting PT style but will be later, don't worry...

Finish fuel lines check & change
Change the neg. cable of the starter (melted due to headers heat)
Drain fuel tank
Restart engine

Pass the "technical control". We have to in France if we want to drive the car in the street.

Clean the rear end & find the little leak
Find what is the model (seems a GM 10 bolt 8.5") & rebuilt it with new seals to stop the leak.



Clean underneath & inspect if rust spots
Rust-proofing treatment & painting underneath if necessary

Install the new body mounts bushings

Unsettle the old headers & install the new Rare R/A long branch (deport the oil filter if necessary) & Build all the stanless exaust lines.

Buy & install 225/50 R15 Toyo R888

seems a lot to do for me already...

After that :

Order & install :

Front

Speedtech LCA & UCA + QA1 front coilovers
Hotchkis front sway bar
Hotchkis subframe connectors

Rear

ChassisWorks G-Link adjustable Rear 4 Link

Motor

Be Cool Radiator with electrical fan
F.A.S.T. EZ-EFI 1.0 fuel injection


Enough said, now time to work

Thanks for reading
Gil

[Gil]

Hi all,

For the curious guys, just wanted to share what I already did on the car :

When I bought it, the carb was on fire (literally) every time I stoped the motor & it was long to see (for me) the previous owner puts a "race" fuel pump, without return to the fuel tank.
So I changed to the normal GM original fuel pump w/ return & fire stoped.

When I used the brakes, it turns right by herself, so I checked the front brakes & discover a GM front caliper to the right, and a Oldsmobile caliper to the left, so I rebuilt & install a complete set of GM original calipers, discs & hoses.

I have also strip down the TH400 & gave it to a local guy to rebuilt as there was no more rear gear & 1st gear pased with very stongly jolt. Also reinstall the gearbox in.

Changed all the fuel hoses from the tank to the fuel pump as I had a serious leak. I will change soon what left from the pump to the carb.

Will post pics of my small french garage & big American car tonight !

Have a nice day
Gil

[Gil]

Hi guys
Here are pictures in my garage



Gil

[leturnracing]

Beau projet!!

[Gil]

Merci beaucoup, cousin des Amériques !
Gil

[Gil]

Hi all,

Not a big deal for some of you, but I'm really happy to have time to take care of the Bird. Not a lot done but it's a start...

Finish fuel lines check & change all hoses - DONE
Will just spray some stop-rust & paint to finish the lines.

Change the neg. cable of the starter (melted due to headers heat) - DONE

Clean the rear end - DONE

Have a nice day
Gil

[FireBeater]

thanks for keeping us posted on the progress. any progress is good progress.

[68firebird]

nice car! looks like its in fantastic shape to start out with. I am also another on here with VERY slow builds, basically because of funds, LOL. definitely keep posting updates, we may not always post, but we definitely read!

[Gil]

Thank you very much guys !

Always motivating to read little posts, even if our garage builds are not fat $$.

Nice looking cars you guys have !
I'll post everytime I make progress, even little ones !

Next step is cleaning, spraying stop-rust & paint on fuel lines & fuel tank.

Gil

[Gil]

Hi Guys,

Today I changed the fuel filter & stripped down the fuel tank.

It's (a bit) rusty so I cleaned it with scotch-brite, cleaned with white spirit & sprayed a biiiig coat of Rustol stop-rust.

If it's dry tomorrow I'll spray black spraycan paint to finish.

I have also a new sending unit as my fuel gauge is wrong & I'm out petrol in the midle gauge, so it was time to put the new one I had for 5 years in a bag.

Also discover that my trunk flor is badly rusted & previous owner tried to hide it, but when you remove the tank you see...

- NOTE FOR LATER - CHANGE PARTIAL TRUNK FLOOR PANS

Here is the tank, just out of the car...


Have a nice day
Gil

[Gil]

Hello all,

Quick update tonight :

Here is the tank, ready to go back under the car.

Pretty happy with the result.



Regards
Gil

[68firebird]

yep, looks much better!

[lucky13firebird]

Nice, that car is super nice, keep plugging away ;-)

[Gil]

Thanks a lot guys.

A little rust here & there under it & on few body parts but nothing terrible as I can see.

I should be able to start it up this weekend & do all the liquid levels (fuel, water, gearbox, motor oil) to be more relaxed when i go to the technical control in the next weeks...


One thing that's not cool to me is I think front ride height is too low due to poor quality lowering springs previous owner puts on the car.

As a result, front tires are badly rubbing on inner fenders & headers (old & rusty poor quality also) are too close to the ground and rub against it sometime.

I bought QA1 front coilovers years ago to raise the nose & have more room for headers before I change them to brand new long branch from Rare ( I have also) & home made stainless exhaust.

So, in the next days I'm in to order LCA & UCA from Speedtech and few things like hardware and also a new throttle cable as mine is no more in a good shape.

Gil

[68firebird]

Sounds good, do you have a side shot of the car at ground level to see how it sat before throwing it on stands? I had lowered mine in the front by two inches with hotchkis springs, but because of the size rim I'm running it was just too low and I also was scraping the headers when going over big bumps or steep entrances to driveways and such. I raised it up a half inch using global west spring spacers. Now I only rub a very little going over large speed bumps.

[Gil]

Hi Rene,
I have this one but we don't see very well.

I'll make closer pictures tonight
Gil

[68firebird]

Man, that is a very nice looking car! by looking at pic I can understand how you might be rubbing, especially turning. Do you get alot of people staring at it while driving around? I'm assuming there aren't alot of those around there.

[Gil]

Rene,Thank you very much !You're right, almost everybody not deaf is staring... This beast makes a hell of noise with the poor headers & the pierced & leaked stainless exhaust.Hey, you should be surprised like I was first time I came to a local place where some oldies should meet...More or less 100 are parked here once a month, form Triumph, Lotus, or Ferrari to American muscle like Camaro or Mustang...I went there last Sunday for the 50th of Ford Mustang... More than 200 new & old Mustangs from north of France, Belgium & UK, was crazy crowded...Will post pics tonight tooFound a vid on the tube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgyaJ5Xw_rwGil

[Gil]

Here is a picture of my ride height
Less than a 20$ note, really too low for the roads we have here

Gil

[68firebird]

Wow, yea that flange is really low, LOL. Looks like that header hit something pretty good too, mine are a lil scraped up too. I'm gonna check that video out!