1968 Firebird 400

[68400BIRD]

I bought this as a second project to build with my kids when they got a little older. I had a 1977RS camaro that was 99% complete but I lost it in a accident at the body shop (FIRE) make sure your insurance is up to par and that the bodyshop has insurance

[68400BIRD]

It's pretty rough, but I'll tackle the projects one at a time. LOL I started out collecting parts and assembling this car as stock and as original as I could. After losing the Camaro which had a lot of aftermarket goodies I changed directions and want to modify this car also. Here are a few pics of the stock things that I had done.

[68400BIRD]

The 400 motor has a complete rebuild with a decent size cam. I plan on swapping out the heads at a later date. The red dist. cap is long gone also.LOL The 400 tranny has a shift kit added along with every seal replaced. I bolted up a 350 converter for a little higher stall. I hope the tranny will hold up for at least a year.

[68400BIRD]

The car came with drum brakes up front. Those had to go and I had a friend who was parting out a 1969 GTO (rust) so I unbolted the front disc brakes and bolted everything onto my car.

[68400BIRD]

Heres a few quick pics of what will happen to a car in a very hot fire.

[68400BIRD]

Moving on I started to tear the firebird apart. I did all of this in two evenings after the kids went to bed.

[68400BIRD]

The floor was real bad and I wanted to do full floor patches on both sides. A good friend talked me into doing a complete floor. I'm glad that I did. About 70 hours later I had this.

[68400BIRD]

[68400BIRD]

[68400BIRD]

Someone thought that a pair of tin snips and a hammer would be a great way to install bigger speakers in the rear package tray. So I welded in a new used one.

[68400BIRD]

I started on the rear window channel. The vinyle tops on these and all cars cause a lot of rust problems. More pics and updates to come.

[SamHatco]

Great project. Sorry to hear and see (Ugh!) you lost your last project to the fire, but, now there's another firebird in the build. Good luck with this project.

Sam

[68400BIRD]

Great project. Sorry to hear and see (Ugh!) you lost your last project to the fire, but, now there's another firebird in the build. Good luck with this project.

Sam

Thanks, yes I will looking be forward to a new project.

[68400BIRD]

The brown truck dropped off some parts.
Upper and lower speed tech control arms.

[68400BIRD]

Tie rod sleeves and global west body bushings.


QA1 adjustable front coil over front shocks.

[68400BIRD]

Pontiac long branch manifolds.

[Code Red]

ouch sorry about the camaro

good luck on the bird

[Jagarang]

Very cool! If I ever try another project, I'll have to do the work myself and save time and zillons of wasted dollars. It's the only way to be financially responsible with these things! Inspiring!

[68400BIRD]

Very cool! If I ever try another project, I'll have to do the work myself and save time and zillons of wasted dollars. It's the only way to be financially responsible with these things! Inspiring!

Thanks, I was looking at some of the other projects yesterday and was starting to wonder if I was in the wrong place. I have to do every bit of the work my self. I cannot afford to pay anyone the big bucks. All of the parts that I have on order or have already posted were bought with money that I got back from my Camaro. That little pile is almost gone. I figure I lost at least ten grand on the camaro. The heat was so hot that it melted anything that was not metal. So I could not save any thing from the rear end,motor, or tranny. Anything aluminum melted off of the car.

[SamHatco]

That's a shame. Not everyone in this site have professional shops building their cars. I for one am building mine in my 2 car garage. Space gets really tight sometimes. Most guys are building theirs the same way. Do as much work as you can with the proper tools and equipment that you have, and on the areas that require specialized tools and equipment leave to the pros. Some times if the tool is not too expensive I'll just buy it and chaulk it up to professional shop labor, but now I'll have that tool for the next build. Good luck

Sam