73 Firebird

[yellow1098Greg]

Awesome build! My 77 needs these updates ASAP! I know this will open a can of worms but what made you choose the speedtech setup over the beloved ridetech? Because you were keeping the leafs in the rear?

[jp455]

Hi all...yeah, been a while, Ive been waiting on the wheels to arrive and since without them the car couldnt go on the ground and everything underneath was done there wasnt really more to do in the meantime. Wheels havent arrived yet...but, that made me stumble into a problem/solution that apparently several people have. The big brakes make finding a (cheap) spare very hard. So trying to get the car on the ground while the actual wheels arrive Ive found that front dragster skinnies fit! The tires are 135/90 R17 spares so perfect for a spare wheel later on. Since I needed 4 I'll be putting up the other 3 for sale once the "real" wheels arrive. So if anybody wants a spare let me know...I´ll sell them at cost plus shipping.





In the meantime the engine was done. Its a basic rebuild with a roller hydraulic. The pistons were already forged ones from that work I did in 96. The heads are cleaned up 6Xs. Nothing extreme, but nice and reliable. This is going to be more leaning towards a GT ride than an all out autocross or track car. Those valve covers were temporary while the actual ones arrived which they did, but I havent put them on yet. The breather is a pretty sweet billet piece from Moroso...it unscrews so it doubles as an oil cap. I also painted the pulleys black...they were polished but got really pitted from sitting in that humid garage. So now it has the matching valve covers...





As for the questions...yes, I used to own Hydyne Motorsport but I got called to the UK to do development work on the new Aston Martin DB11 so that was a chance I wasnt going to let pass. So Ive been here for almost 5 years now.

The Speedtech choice had nothing to do with keeping the leafs...I actually plan on swapping over to their torque arm later on, when $$ allows. I just liked the kit overall, great quality plus the upright was included which worked out great since I was going to use the Z06 brakes. If I would of had the cash I would have bought the complete kit that comes with a brand new axle too!

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