Another Firebird project

[rickpaw]

Hi Rob,
Mine is from Addco. I bough it from the local speed shop. The brackets for the new sway bar lined up perfectly with the old mounting holes. I'll take some pictures tonight and post them up.

[CruizinKev]

nice work so far! looks good!

[rickpaw]

nice work so far! looks good!

Thanks.

[rickpaw]

Rob,
Here are some close up pictures of the sway bar. The end links are pretty close to vertical. I still need to move the bar a bit to the pass side to get it centered.







Let me know if these work for you.

T

[rickpaw]

Put the steering linkage back on the car. New tie rod ends and Hotchkis tie rod sleeves



Rebuilt steering box from Napa


Hubs installed with new bearings. Was thinking about mocking up the brake but ran out of time.





Hopefully this weekend I can put her back on the front wheels and put together the front end sheet metal. I hope to get it in primer before the end of March. That's when my second daughter is due.

[68400BIRD]

Tu, Thanks for the pics. I need to get the car on the ground with some weight on the suspension before I mount my sway bar. Looks like a tight fit on the lower mounts but it did fit. It's nice to see your car progressing so fast.

[rickpaw]

Tu, Thanks for the pics. I need to get the car on the ground with some weight on the suspension before I mount my sway bar. Looks like a tight fit on the lower mounts but it did fit. It's nice to see your car progressing so fast.

I had to use a pry bar on one end of the sway bar to push it down over the end link. It went in without too much trouble. You're right, it's tight. After I got the steering linkage in, I turned the wheel to make sure that there is no interterence.

I've been sneaking out to the garage every day for an hour or so, since I get home around 4 pm to work on the car. I'm on a time crunch.

[rickpaw]

Quick update.

Got the sheet metal hung and the doors aligned. Overall the parts fit very well. Had to enlarge one of the bolt holes on the pass side fender, and on the hood hinges.

[rickpaw]

Started spraying primer this last weekend. Only had time to spray two coats on the body. I need to re-adjust the mix ratio as the paint was too thick, and the paint was just splattered on.

She does look good in one color, though.





Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to spray the rest of the body panels.

[AtomicFirebird]

very nice

[68400BIRD]

Looking good Tu. Make sure you have a slow drying reducer for what ever temp your spraying in. It sure is nice to see them in one color. Makes you feel like your getting some where.

[rickpaw]

Looking good Tu. Make sure you have a slow drying reducer for what ever temp your spraying in. It sure is nice to see them in one color. Makes you feel like your getting some where.

I have a fast activator as the ambient temp was/is around 55F. I think the paint shop gave me the fast reducer too. Should I go to a slower drying reducer?

[68400BIRD]

Tu, I would check with your paint supplier to what would work best. I also needed to give you a bump to the front page. What do you have for updates?

[BirdsThaWord]

Nice to see that Bird coming along! Same as the others, I'm keeping my eyes on your build. I got lucky (or paid too much) that my paint was already done. Concerns me a bit as I intend to do some of the suspension, etc. that you've done and have to be carefull with the paint!

[68firebird]

Looks like you're doing and excellent job with the welding for just jumping right in, good job. I've never welded and would be very scared to just jump into the project like that. So far its lookin great, I'm keepin and eye on this thread, keep up the good work!!!!

[68firebird]

Great work Tu. How did you mount your front sway bar? It looks like I will have to drill out new holes and shift it back a little on my car to get the end links to be vertical again. My larger sway bar brackets are also to big for my original holes. Any close up pics of that area would be helpful.

What kind of sway bar do you have?

[Tuske427]

Awesome job! It's inspiring for me as I will be fixing up my 1967 Firebird, too. I didn't see (maybe I overlooked it) any pics of the pontiac engine mounts for you. I looked through some old pics and found these (attached) they have the engine mounts attached also, but, you will see the lower mounts attached to the subframe. note they are offset behind the crossmember. they have one bolt that attaches from the underside to attach the 2 mount halves together. the lower mount has the 3 bolts on the crossmember and the 4th is through the large bolt for the control arm. These are not the easiest to remove/ attach.

FWIW, I did notice your 68 fender attached.

Good luck with your build!

[Tuske427]

Nice looking rims and tires.

To me 67-68 are both the same car. I know the main difference is just the wing window but I think the 69 looks a lot different with the front nose change. I like all three years and would be happy with all of them.

I disagree. There are actually a lot of subtle differences between the 67 and 68 models. You just have to take the time to notice them. Granted, the 67 was a mid year release so no, there aren't as many visual external details as some other cars, but they did make a lot of mechanical revisions.

Visually, in addition to the wing windows, I'm aware of the following (without going to research this. I'm sure there are more that I overlooked):

- rear side marker lights/ front wrap around marker lights on 68
- side view mirrors (67 are round, 68 are mostly square. supposedly, some early 68's had round, too)
- fuel door bird is different. (68 sticks out more to accommodate a finger grip)
- front valence/ fender extensions are different
- 68 vin is seen on dashboard. (67 has in door jamb) this makes the dashboard stamping different
- 67 had a black center console. 68 had the mahogany, as well as mahogany dash insert. (67 woodgrain pattern is different). I believe the console is a different design altogether. At least the top panels/ shifter bezels are.
- different wheel options. ie. 67's could be had with rally 1 wheels.
- different deluxe interior door designs, handles, etc
- paint options. 68 had nightshade green for example.
- 67 had 120 mph speedo, 68 had 160
- speedometer lens shape is different. (67 is more pointy)
- doors are actually different. Not that you can tell form the outside, but the 67 has 3 bolt hinges, 68 has 4 bolt hinges. (good to know when part swapping)
- dashboard pad has a different shape
- automatic shifter handle is different.

mechanically, I'm aware of:

- 400 ho option added for 68
- 326 changed to 350 cid
- 67 400 engines had the #670 heads. 68 had the #16 heads. (at least the ones I've seen. not sure exactly when this change was made)
- mono leaf springs went to multi leaf with staggered shocks. gone were the factory traction bars, support plates on the floor pans...
- bump stop design on lower control arms changed
- windshield wiper motor changed
- hood latch design & engine hoods. the 68 has a secondary safety catch. The hoods are designed to work with this. the square catch area for the latch is angled to work with this.
- with the removal of the wing windows, 68's have the "astro ventilation".
- 68 deluxe interiors have the firebird emblem etched into the windows.
- rear axles are different. the 67 is the modified A-body carrier (has the 2 areas unused on top for the rear control arms)
- One other thing I've noticed different between my 67 and my friend's 68 is the location of the light switch. It was reversed with the wiper switch. I don't know if this was specific on our cars (ie. someone switched them) or if Pontiac relocated them

Again, this is off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a lot more. I'd love to hear them. It's not my intention to come across as a jerk, but I enjoy noting the subtle details between cars, especially ones I like so much.

I hope this is helpful.

[AtomicFirebird]

I have been served by the King.

[AtomicFirebird]

Dude, that was cool. And No, you did not come across as a jerk, only as an informative Muscle Car Lover.