72 TA (clone)

[1965gp]

First pro-touring (light) build... Everything else I have is stock or lightly modded.



The car is a 1972 firebird that I picked up from a friend of mine. Originally going to be a Formula (clone) day 2 car with yellow spark plug wires, big Accel super coil and anodized valve covers and honeycombs the car evolved and took on a life of its own.

This is the car when I got it:




the car had obviously been hit in the rear to give it that rake. We found out it was originally a vinyl top car and figured that if we put full quarters on it we would get rid of 95% of the rust on the car:




we needed to put new metal around the rear window:



At this point I got a great deal on some 18's from a friend that look great on the car. That's when the day two plan went away- and looking at Pro Tourng 2nd gens I just really like the flares. So we decided to make th car a TA clone. I know it's a 72 and it should be white or blue... But we have a 69 TA clone, all of. The anniversary cars and a blue 70 GTO- the garage needed some color so we decided to set it up like a Buc red 73:

[1965gp]

Once I got it home and got the wheels on it I knew I made the right choice:





The car came out really nice- there are a few spots we need to touch up (always are) but I a very happy with the paint considering the amount of work on the car.

[thumper877]

Beautiful car love the color what color red is that. And ur right the wheels look great

[thumper877]

And I love the general Lee in the background

[1965gp]

This is when the 'might as well bug' got me. The car is a low option car and I knew I wanted to upgrade the brakes and look at the suspension. It would have been easier to go back to stock but I decided to go with the PTFB kit- not coil overs but substantially better than a base 72 firebird. The plan for the brakes is the Kore3 C5 kit in case I want to swap my 17" honeycombs on the car.

I got the car in the air and started tearing it apart- after some cleaning I was impressed with the condition of the car:



I used Eastwoods rust encapsulator red oxide paint and I can't say enough about this stuff- goes on extremely well for something out of a spray can:

[1965gp]

Thanks for the comments- the color is '73 Buccaneer Red.

The General Lee is a blast- amazing how much love that car gets!

[1965gp]

That pretty much brings the project up to speed- I have the PTFB kit to put on - not sure about the rear sway bar because this car doesn't seem to have the stock mounting points.

After that it will be the sub frames, solid mounts and front suspension. I wanted to get the rear end cleaned up and painted before I put it in. Hopefully I will be placing an order with Tobin this week for the brakes. I was hoping to find a 79-81 disc brake rear but haven't had any luck.

The motor is going to be a 400 with 69 Ram Air 3 heads- nothing too crazy. Something with a nice choppy idle and hopefully the FItech kit as others seem to like it.

Timeline on this one is slow- all of my other cars are 'hurry up and put it together so we can drive it' scenarios and I just wanted to try to take my time on this one and enjoy it.

Right now my plan is to get this one running and driving well with the 350 in it and new suspension/brakes. Then I can put the interior in while the motor is being built.

[qnitro]

Car looks great.. Love the second gens

[TerryD]

Cool project. Impressive stable there!!

[1965gp]

Thanks- it's been a lifetime of collecting project cars and slowly working through them!

[1965gp]

Finally found a late 2nd gen disc brake posi rear end! Been looking for a couple months and couldn't find anything local. This way I can go with a factory e-brake set up and just add the Kore3 brakes on the front with drilled/slotted rotors in the back.

Timing is perfect as I was just about to clean and paint the stock rear end and install.

Friend also has a built 400 I may pick up to drop in- that way I can pull the 350 and complete the car; then build a serious motor for it.

Got the cracks in the rear frame rails (from the rear collision and straightening) welded up so it is time for re-assembly.

[NOT A TA]

Nice looking car! I might be biased though, ahaha since it looks a lot like mine. Keep in mind when you do the brakes that the 4 wheel disc cars had a different master cylinder, combination valve and clevis position on the brake pedal. Since you're using the Kore 3 fronts you might want to talk to Tobin about those other 3 items so the brakes will function properly.

[1965gp]

You aren't kidding- I just read all through your build and it's amazing! My car looks like the budget version of what you built before tearing it down.

[NOT A TA]

Thanks! Dave at PTFB has the weld on frame brackets you need to install the rear PTFB sway bar. Our early cars had weld on ones and the later cars have bolt on ones.

[1965gp]

Thanks, I talked to Dave earlier in the week and he said he was going to send them out as soon as he got them fabbed up. I have a later set of bolt on brackets that I could weld on but would rather wait for the PTFB pieces.

Made some progress unfortunately it's only been in the spending $$ department.

Originally I planned on building a 77 T/A 6.6 (XX block) motor that I picked up. Never bored and relatively clean inside. Now this motor is getting saved for a future project.

A 67 GTO came into my friends shop with a fresh LS conversion and a solid 400 the owner wanted to sell:

[1965gp]

I picked up the motor- anything that could be chromed, polished or stainless on the motor was. Too much bling for me but I am planning on toning it down.



After getting it home I pulled the valve covers and it looks brand new inside.



The motor is a 74 YT block with 670 heads. Those should push the compression to 10:1 or higher depending on if it has been bored out.

I thought for a moment I should pull the cam and put something in that I knew what it was, but I've decided to leave it alone. Someone spent some money on the motor and the car it came out of is fairly high end. I think I am going to paint the motor Pontiac silver blue and put some tall fabricated valve covers on it and roll. Ideally I will sell the polished intake and put on a painted intake. Add a quick fuel carb and see how it performs.

[1965gp]

Also picked up my disc brake rear end today- I got it painted and hopefully will get it in next week.



I grabbed a hydraulic table- I do most of this work by myself on off hours so I figured this would be helpful. It raises to 50" so I figure I can raise it to about 40" and use the lift to lower the car on it and put the leaf springs on. That way I can loosely assemble everything and make sure it's all lined up correctly before tightening it up. I think this will be very helpful for the rear end, gas tank, etc.

[NOT A TA]

Looks like it's coming together nicely. I work alone a lot also and use one of the hydraulic tables. For some jobs I find removing the push handle and laying it down in the base allows more working room and makes the table more versatile.

[1965gp]

I can definitely see that making the table more versatile- dropping the transmission comes to mind.

Going to install the rear this coming week- need to decide if I am going to leave it on the lift and move on to the font or hook up the rear brakes and keep it driveable. Probably just move on to the front.

[vwmopar]

Do you like Pontiac's or something? Nice build.