1971 Firebird455 - Project

[OLDFLM]

Looking good my friend! We used RobbMc for my entire fuel system!

[LeighP]

I've got a Carter electric pump and a RobbMc pre-filter to go on tomorrow..just have to find a couple of fittings to suit my set up.

[LeighP]

Carter electric pump and RobbMc pre-filter went in today along with the plumbing. Add some more hardline tomorrow then move onto the radiator support for a bit...mock up and build the radiator mount to hold the alloy rad and twin thermo fans.

[Taman]

Great to see another 2nd gen. Good luck with the project. Been working on mine for 17 years. Never done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEDPuKNofQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4hlIeToDmM

[LeighP]

So, I've been doing little stuff while I'm waiting for my mechanic friend to get home from his trip to help me sort the engine.
Finishing off the brake hard lines - have to fit up the calipers so I can get some hoses made up - a couple of people running the bigger brake rotors mentioned they'd like a little more length in the flex lines than the stock ones give you.
Also fitted up the trans cooler......I set up the mount so I can add an engine oil cooler easily on the other side if I ever think its necessary. I put some rubber vibration dampening mounts between the cooler and the frame....just in case.






Next job is to mock up the alloy radiator in position and design a mount for the radiator that lets me fit the twin thermo fans easily and neatly.

[LeighP]

Been sorting out the front brake calipers.....a couple of small issues to resolve. If you're using new GM B body spindles to convert to 1LE 12" rotors, the caliper bolt holes are drilled metric, not 7/16" UNF like the original spindles.
I couldn't locate a suitable metric caliper bolt, so I had the mounting threads helicoiled to UNF to suit the bolts.

The Wilwood calipers are drilled and tapped in NPT, so a conventional banjo style fitting won't work (also the area around the hole is not machined over the whole circle for a crush washer to seal). I had new lines made up about 1" longer than the factory lines and an adapter which is NPT to screw into the caliper, but has a brake line flared seat in it for the line to screw into.




Caliper paint is drying at the moment, but I should have it all together tomorrow.

[LeighP]

Heres the finished install on the calipers...I painted them just to help with cleaning issues, you can't really see them through the wheels I'm using much.




The flex lines clear everything on full lock in both directions, so hopefully everything will work OK.

[LeighP]

So I bring out one of the AR500 wheels for a trial fit.....looks good and clears everything nicely.



Then I try the 15x7 Rally II......seems Wilwood GMIII calipers will not clear 15" rims when used with the 1LE mod B body stubs....they just scrape on a few points, noticeably the edges of a couple of the allen bolts that hold the calipers together.....I'm going to file them off so they are flush then see how that goes.

[tazzz25906112]

Leigh I haven't taken note of your rim/tire combo closely but you may want to consider a small set of spacers if wheel well clearance is there..... Running things that close to the line has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass buddy...

[LeighP]

yeah...thought that myself. I ground off the high spots on one of the calipers (just the edge of the allen bolt sticking out really) and it still just touches on part of the inner rim of the Rally II....I've ordered some 3mm spacers so I'll see how that works.
The 15" wheels are just for the occasional show when I want it to look a little more stock....normally it'll be running the 17x8" AR500's in the pic, and they have no clearance issues at all. I'll try the Honeycombs (which is the 15" rims I'll be using) when I get the spacers.

[LeighP]

Well, I'm a bit annoyed.....
I wanted the option of running the set of 15" Honeycomb rims I have here...for the odd occasion when I want it to look stock.
I just found it can't be done.
The spacers I picked up will let me run the Rally IIs OK, but it appears the Honeycomb rims are like the early second gen Rally IIs...they use 14" centres with a step down 15" rim....theres no way they'll fit.
I guess I'll refinish them (got some correct Honeycomb paint on the way) and add the new centre caps I bought and get my money back on Ebay...hopefully.
Looks like I'll be getting the Rally IIs refurbished and using them instead.

[LeighP]

Next little project is to get the radiator and fans set up.
Last time (on my 77 T/A) I cut up a factory shroud and mounted the fans into the back of that....worked OK, but I thought it could have been nicer to look at.
This time, I wanted a more compact radiator/fans mount....so I'm building it from scratch.
Some folded alloy sheet top and bottom, with the sections for the rubber radiator mounts set up using some bar stock welded on...all measurements taken off the original shroud.
I've set it up to put the radiator at the same angle in the support as the factory shroud does.....air flowing through a radiator set at an angle slows down, thereby exchanging more heat.
I'll be making up the side sections next, where the fans will bolt on using the factory mounts molded on the fan shroud....should be a 2 minute job to pull the fan pack anytime I need to.

Bottom mount


From the front


Top mount - note the factory angle of the radiator


From the rear


And with the fans in place

[WS6]

Looks good Leigh. I basically did the same thing using the factory 4th gen fans out of my Formula. They worked just fine on what limited driving I was able to do before I moved. I have a DeWitts aluminum radiator in place of the factory brass radiator as well so there should be no issues.

[Dons67]

Leigh - Project looks amazing - great job!

[LeighP]

Thanks.

[CrossRamRich]

Very nice! Love attention to detail. Wish Gen 2 made those bars for first gen!

[70TWO NOVA]

Wow, great detail in your work. Alot of projects lack that. Looking awesome.

[LeighP]

Thanks very much.

[LeighP]

The heads arrived...finally out of customs.
SD Performance 6X heads....CNC ported, alloy filled crossovers, 93-94cc chambers with Crane 99893 springs.
I worked out this should run me a shade over 9.5:1 compression, which is where I wanted it.
Flow chart shows with my cam's lift converted to running 1.65:1 ratio rockers, there should be 251CFM on the Intake and about 208CFM on the Exhaust side.

[rohrt]

Man SD does nice work!