Another Firebird project

[rickpaw]

My first attempt at installing headliner. I measured the centerline on the window frame (front/rear) and lined it up with the centerline marked on the headliner, then stretch the headliner out and clipped it in place.








Headliner glued in place. There are still some wrinkles toward the center, despite my attempts to get it smooth. Hopefully it will tighten up overtime, otherwise I may have to redo it.


I started hooking up the transmission linkage. I bought the outer shift lever from CI for a 67 and they sent one labeled 67/68. However, 67 cars have round holes for the linkage rod, whereas 68 cars use cables.

So I went from this...


to this, after some welding, grinding and drilling.

[Tuske427]

Awesome progress! It's looking great! I can't wait until I'm that far along...

[68400BIRD]

Wow you have been busy. It looks like it is coming along very nicely. If it's not to late can you take some pictures of how you routed any and all wiring that is still showing. Mine was pretty gutted when I tore my old wiring out. Also any tips on the vintage air. I'm a couple of years out from buying and installing but any tips would be great.
Thanks for any help Tu.

[rickpaw]

Wow you have been busy. It looks like it is coming along very nicely. If it's not to late can you take some pictures of how you routed any and all wiring that is still showing. Mine was pretty gutted when I tore my old wiring out. Also any tips on the vintage air. I'm a couple of years out from buying and installing but any tips would be great.
Thanks for any help Tu.

I have pictures of the original wiring inside the car before I took them out, and some of the new wiring before I installed the carpet. I can post those up on your project thread. I don't have anything from the firewall forward, since I bought the car without the front end. I'm rewiring the car with Classic Update kit from American Autowire, and they made some changes to the engine and front light harnesses so the wire routing will be different anyways.

As for the V/A set up. It's very complete. I actually enjoyed working on it since I did not have to hunt down little parts. They provided everything, right down to the little screws. One thing I don't like about the kit is the crappy supplied block off plate for the heater box opening. It looks really tacky when installed. If I were to do it again, I'll go with DSE firewall closeout panel for a better looking install.

[68400BIRD]

Thanks Tu, I also bought the AAW update kit. I welded up my firewall so it is all flat already. But I was worried about how I was going to hang the unit under the dash. I don't really want to drill any holes in my clean flat firewall.

[rickpaw]

You may want to check with DSE. I think they make a bracket for the V/A unit that allows you to mount the evaporator without drilling holes in the firewall.

[68400BIRD]

Tu, here are a few pictures of my exhaust. It's not complete and I am still not happy with the fit.
This first picture is where I think it is best to start since none of the back pipes get cut. Get the mufflers positioned in the xpipe to just hold them in place. Slide the pipe in that goes over the rear end and then push the whole assembly back until the prefabbed brackets touch the rear floor.

[68400BIRD]

Check out this link it might help some also.
http://forums.performanceyears.com/f...d.php?t=625549

[rickpaw]

Thanks Rob, I found the same thread while searching on PY. I still have the original hangers on the car, so I may try and use those. There are some installation pics of a 69 FB on Pypes web site showing the original hangers being used. I did the mock up on one side and looks like I have to trim the legs of the x-pipes and down pipes quite a bit.

[68400BIRD]

Keep me updates as to how your install goes. I plan on starting on mine again this week. Like I mentioned on the phone I think I might need to cut the pipes coming out of the mufflers and going over the axle. In order to get enough clearance so the pipes do not hit the rear frame rails I need to have my mufflers hanging down to low.

[Lycan]

Nice work and the car looks awesome!!!

[rickpaw]

I had the rear tail sections mocked up tonight. Took me awhile to figure out the pipes. They (Pypes) need to redo the angles on the bends of the pipes as the mufflers are hanging a bit too low, not below the differential though. My camera battery died so I'll have some pictures this weekend.

Tu

[geberhard]

Tu, looking great keepit coming! Cool to see the VA and headliner install, will be going through the same soon!

Gui

[rickpaw]

Tu, looking great keepit coming! Cool to see the VA and headliner install, will be going through the same soon!

Gui

Gui, check out post 179 in this thread at team camaros.net for a youtube video of a headliner install. Very informative.
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showth...install&page=2

[rickpaw]

Pypes exhaust install

I also installed the Pypes 2.5" exhaust with Race Pros mufflers, and long branch manifolds. The kit quality is fine, but the instruction needs a lot of improvement, plus the 2 tail pipes are mislabeled. I heard stories about the tail pipes fitment issues with the Pypes kit, but mine went in fine, after a lot of head scratching.

Down pipes. It tucks up nicely along the frame rails.




X-pipes



I used factory exhaust hangers to mount the tail pipes. Here's shot of driver side. Passenger side is the same.



Tail pipes. I wish that the tail pipes are a bit longer.




Race pros mufflers. I used clamps on all connections, so it will make it easy to swap out mufflers, or change the transmission down the road.

[rickpaw]

Next is wiring up the relay for the cooling fan, check all electrical connection, and I'm ready to fire the engine.

[rickpaw]

Got my gauges and Momo steering wheel installed. I used Grant GM column mount, along with Grant to Momo adapter. I also had to purchase the horn retainer ring from Momo, since the wheel did not include one. I had to enlarge the adapter opening slightly so that the horn retainer would sit flush.





Installed the Mark VIII fan. It's tight. I had to turn the fan upside down for it to fit. The fan mount doesn't look too pretty but it works. Down the road I may have to make some sort of cover to pretty it up.

[68400BIRD]

Looks great. I still have to do more work to my exhaust. Like you stated the tail pipes are to short and the pipes going over the rear end could have a better bend to them. I just started the wiring process. A lot of head scratching going on over here until I noticed I was missing the instruction sheet. LOL Glad that the oil filter was not a problem.

[rickpaw]

It's been almost a year since I posted an update on my project.

A lot of things had happened. The car is almost done, with an old fashion carbureted Pontiac 400/Turbo 400 tranny combo. I managed to drive the car to a car show in Vancouver before we moved to Houston.

Here's the car at the show, my buddy's 65 fastback parked next to it.




The torque thrust 2 wheels I got off craigslist only had a backspace of 4", so the front end rubbed badly. I ordered a set of TT2 wheels with 4.78" BS, and BFG KDW's tires from the tirerack. The wheels/tires showed up the next day.

Can't tell much, but the new combo fit much better

[rickpaw]

One week before the move, I installed Hotchkis SFC onto the car (one less box to haul down to Houston)





The SFC fit great. I did have to cut a notch in the pass side sfc to clear the factory traction bar.