1968 Firebird...Project Childhood.

[Josue]

After hanging around these forums for years, gathering ideas on what route I wanted to take with my car, I'm finally getting some work done! Having the cash flow helps too, haha, but even that's somewhat limited, so I'm trying to stay patient and keep my eye open for deals. Here's a quick backstory on the car...

My parents originally bought the car for me back in 1996 when I was 13, from my 8th grade history teacher, for $1,700! Interior was in very good shape and all original, body needed quarters, doors, and fenders, but everything else was solid, and the motor was original and untouched. We tinkered around with it for a few years, but I became more interested in lowered trucks by the time I got my license, so I bought one and they kept the Firebird for themselves all these years. It's still mostly original though, they had the body work done about 10 years ago, new fenders, doors, quarters, inner quarters, and the color is C5 Corvette Millennium yellow. Interior is still all original minus some A/M gauges, and the only thing the motor was taken apart for was a mild cam. Not that the WHOLE motor was "taken apart", I just mean that other than a cam, everything inside is still untouched. Other than that, just bolt ons; Holley 600, Performer Pontiac Intake, Hooker headers, Pentronix Ignition, etc.





It needed tires, so he bought a new set of Eagle II's along with these trailer wheels for it. They were like $50/ea at the time. lol






Out with the old, in with the new! My first car was this '72 Nova, but the Firebird was in better shape, so we sold the Nova in favor of the Firebird.



And today...





I was able to get a few things done to the car last season, swapped out the original powerglide for a TH350, and installed a 2nd gen Formula steering wheel. I also started playing around with timing and carb adjusting. We've always had to rely on other people for that stuff, but I figured it was time I knew how to do it with how much I'm going to be working on the car. This season's list goes...

-BMR solid subframe bushings
-Hotchkis subframe connectors
-Hughes 2000 torque converter (the TH350 came with a 2600-3000 stall, WAY too much for my original 2.56 rear end)
-1992 Camaro steering box
-Nova 8.5 10 bolt with 3.08's (open for now, not sure if I'll have an extra $600+ for posi this year)
-C5 master cylinder and booster
-Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve
-C5 disc brakes up front
-LS1 disc brakes in back
-1/2" wheel studs
-US Mag Bandits; fronts - 17X8 with 235/45's, rears - 18X9 with 275/35's


Let's get started!!