New guy with 68 firebird

[68400BIRD]

Hi, my name is Rob and I just joined up today. I hope to gain a lot of info off of here to help build my car.
I started out with a 1977RS Camaro and had it 95% complete. I had a few mods done to the suspension including upper and lower GW delalum bushings in the factory control arms, 1 5/16 front sway bar, Howe tall upper ball joint, GW offset upper control arm shafts, quick ratio box,sub frame connectors, bilstein shocks on all four corners, and new leafs in the back with my own custom front bushings and sleeves.
I was very happy with how the car handled and looked. It received a new RS paint job this last fall. Unfortunately (sp) I lost the car when the body shop that it was at had a fire. There was nothing left of the car. So, I am starting over with a 1968 basket case Firebird.
So far I did a complete rebuild on the 400 engine with a mid size cam (don't have specs on me) 750 carb, long branch manifolds and I just bought a set of #16 heads that need to be redone. The tranny is a 400 with all of the seals replaced , shift kit installed and a 350 converter. Fingers crossed that it holds up for a while.
The suspension is all junk so I started with ordering all new parts. For the front I ordered upper and lower control arms from speed tech, QA1 coil over shocks, and a 1 1/8 front bar. The middle of the car will get GW solid sub frame bushings and sub frame connectors. The rear will have new leafs and koni adjustable shocks.
I already converted the front drums to disc's and I ordered a complete kit from the front to the back including all ss lines, braided lines and a new rear disc brake kit. I know my one biggest limiting factors is that I'm running 15" rims. So I am limited on my brake size.
My main goal for the car is to have a great handling fun car that is not to harsh to drive back and fourth to work on nice days.
If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know. Right now I am looking at the procar rally 1000 seats but that will come close to tapping me out of money.

Thanks Rob

[MWCC]

Welcome Rob. You'll find a ton of info here to help you with your build. Post some pics.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the site, rob.

[CliffsBlueCamaro]

Welcome! Make sure to post lots of pics.

[MYSTICMISSLE]

nice! keep it poncho! lets see some mpics

[68400BIRD]

nice! keep it poncho! lets see some mpics

Yes, I plan on keeping the drivetrain all original Ponch parts. I will post some pics but I have to warn you it is not pretty. I have spent the last month cutting out and replacing the entire floor, toe boards, and replacing the rear speaker shelf. Some po thought it would be a great idea to use tin snips and a hammer to put bigger speakers in the car.

[Steve Firebird]

Good to see an other 68 getting saved. You may want to check up on the heads your are going to use. The # 16 heads may cause you to have too much comp for the gas you can get today. If you had the pistons dished you might be OK but with flat top pistons maybe not.
For the seats check into a set of 4th gen F body seats.
Take care and lets see some pics

[68400BIRD]

THe pistons do have the valve reliefs in them so I should be ok on the compression. I really like the procar rally 1000 seats made by scat. I just need to push the little button that says buy it now. LOL

[Steve Firebird]

I was this close to ordering the Procar myself. They look great. I picked up a set of black leather 2000 Camaro seats with a power driver seat that I still need to put in the car instead. By the time you buy the seats adaptors and pay shipping on the Procar seats it really adds up. I have 500.00 in mine to my door but still have to fab up rear mounting brackets. The fronts are suspose to bolt right up. I still want to pick up some 3 point seat belts also before I do the install.

[68400BIRD]

I started a new thread in the project forum. I will update it as much as possible after I get projects completed. Which I hope will be all of the time.