My Firebird build

[Young Gun]

LOL!!!!! Ahhhh yes!!!

I remember coming home, drunk out of my skull, and throwing up in the front yard. I grabbed the garden hose and tried to hose off the evidence. My dad came out and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was thirsty and wanted a drink of water!

BTW this was at 3 a.m.!

John

I had a friend drive me home one morning, about 4 am, and I thought I made it home without being detected. About 10 minutes after I got home, my dad walked upstairs into my room, took my keys, and my license and cut my license in half, then walked out with my keys...I have not tried to sneak out since...not worth it haha

[SaturnVUEguy]

Man, my parents never busted me for coming home late. They were pretty easy on both my sister and me

[Jimmy Sean]

Wow it’s been a while. I got sidelined and remodeled our bathroom. I was supposed to do it before we moved into the house, that was seven years ago. I’ll attach some pictures of the before and after of the bathroom. I totally gutted it down to the studs, expanded and took the hall closet. I did all the work myself except for the taping and mudding. Well I got eczema really bad on my hands when I put the floor down. The thinset killed them, like a doof I didn’t were any gloves. So I have been battling that for two years and still have issues, so anyone that reading this, be sure to where gloves when working with the thinset.

Ok back to the firebird. I have been working a lot on it lately and have made some progress. The driver’s side mini-tub was finish before I started in on the bathroom. Recently I made (for free) and installed a DSE style cross member and started the passenger’s side mini-tub.

Here are few of the purchases I have made recently.
New gas tank – Rock Auto $97 Shipped
Megasquirt EFI DIY Kit – DIYAutoTune.com
In tank fuel pump PA_Series – Tanks Inc.
SS 2-1/2” Magna Flow Exhaust – Prodigy Customs, Thanks Frank.



Mold!!

[Jimmy Sean]

Remodeled


The shower

[Jimmy Sean]

Progress has been slow. I have been working on the torque arm suspension. I also modified the front lower control arms to accept the ridetech coil overs.

Control arm modification.


The rear lower control arm mount - front


Rear Shock mounted



Panhard Bar

[Jimmy Sean]

So it’s been a long time but that is what happens when you don’t have money or time and life gets in the way. I have owned this car for 11 years and I recently told my wife that I wanted to get it drivable by my birthday in May 2015. Then my father-in-law called a few days later and wanted me to bring it down to Arkansas (from MO) for his birthday in late April. He also wanted to make sure I met that goal by helping me financially with it. What a blessing!

Some things have changed with the project since I last posted. I have two LS truck engines that I have acquired a 5.3L and a 6.0L that has some damage but I’m not sure what it is yet. I will be using the 5.3 instead of the Pontiac engine that was in it. Instead of fabricating a bunch of parts I have decided to buy parts that I can bolt on and speed up the progression. I want to focus on getting it running, get the under carriage painted and worry about the body after I get it road worthy. I’m tired of not being able to enjoy it.


Here is the initial list of large parts.

Hooker LS retro-fit adapter motor mount brackets
Hooker T-56 crossmember
Holley reto-fit oil pan
DSE subframe connectors
DSE Firewall fill plate
DSE fuel pump access door kit
ridetech tru turn
600 Steering box
Tanks Inc. fuel injection tank
3/8” confer fuel lines
Matt’s Classic Bowtie Griffin Radiator combo
Classic Auto Air
Dakota digital VHX Gauges
Moser Axles

More to come…..

[Jimmy Sean]

I'm tired of the black subframe and want to do something different and felt inspiration from Mary's camaro and the Trans-am series race cars. I like the darker grey, it is darker than the picture shows.



I was able to get the firewall fill plate installed.



Looks like I need to find somewhere else to host pictures but until then....

[lucky13firebird]

Hey, all that work will be worth it once you're rolling down the road with the windows down...

[Jimmy Sean]

Hey, all that work will be worth it once you're rolling down the road with the windows down...

I drive a wrecked 03 Taurus that was given to me so every day I day dream of grabbing my own gears in the bird, enjoying the smiles per mile and having some fun. It will be worth the wait.

[Jimmy Sean]

With a friends help I was able to get the drivers side subframe connector installed.

[Jimmy Sean]

Can someone explain what type of spacers go on either side of the coilover shock and where to get them?

[Jimmy Sean]

Finished the passenger side subframe connector install.

[Gil]

Can someone explain what type of spacers go on either side of the coilover shock and where to get them?

Hi Sean, nice work !

Not sure but may be something like this

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ar...FeRj7Aod3HAAjQ

Gil

[Jimmy Sean]

I have been working on the firebird off and on over the past year but have not made much progress towards getting it back together. Both the 5.3L and 6.0L truck engines have broken rods. My father-in-law who has been helping me fund this project offered to buy another engine. We purchased a complete takeout engine, harness and computer from a 2009 G8 GT that had been wrecked. I had the computer flashed by Mike Norris and the harness reworked by John at Modern Vintage Systems.

Earlier this week we found out that he will not survive the cancer he has. He beat the cancer the first time but this time it is not treatable. Our relationship in the past was not all that great and I’ll leave it at that, in the past. The past few years though have been great and we have connected around this car. I hope that I can at the very least get it running so he can hear it and at best get it in a drive-able condition so that I can take him for a ride in it.

So the plan is to get it running as fast as I can and then focus on getting it in a drive-able state maybe not legal but drive-able.
I have order some parts this past week for reaching the goal of getting it running but still need to order the intake tube, headers and some misc. fittings for the fuel system. Then I’ll need to purchase a rear suspension system, hopefully the torque arm system from Speed Tech.

More updates to come.

[Jimmy Sean]

Here is the 5.3L's broken rod.


And the 6.0L broken rod and mangled crank.



The L76 from a wrecked 2009 G8 GT

[Jimmy Sean]

Test fit of the Holley A/C bracket and compressor.



Checking the clearance from the alternator and the Holley motor mount bracket. Just enough to get the nut on.

[Jimmy Sean]

A few weeks ago I was able to get some work done on the trunk.





And this past two weeks I have been working on finishing the firewall and sanding the floorboard. I was able to get the firewall, floor and subframe painted last night. Very happy with how it turned out.

[cbpldc]

Sorry to hear about your FIL. You're making good progress! Your trunk will look nice when you're done too.

Chris

[Jimmy Sean]

I missed my goal by two days. My FIL passed away on January 28th and I got the motor running on Saturday the 30th. My wife and I had been caring for him 24/7 for the last five months and I had limited time to focus on the car.

I'll start with the older updates

Here I got the subframe paint (by my kids) and mounted.


I took the top end off to swap the cam and remove the DOD.


The engine has 145 thousand miles on it.


Dual Valve springs and titanium retainers.


Modified the Passenger header to clear the Tru-Turn.

[Jimmy Sean]

Welded on reducing collectors onto the headers.


LS7 Clutch Kit


Engine and T56 mounted


Fuel Line whip from Tech AFX


battery Mount


Mounted the Tanks Inc gas tank, used electrical heat shrink in the straps.


Trans mount and torques arm mount.