1971 Firebird455 - Project

[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!

[LeighP]

Yeah, better than new.

[cdoggy81]

Dave really knows his stuff & is a true Pontiac guy. They have several good cnc programs for Pontiac & aftermarket heads!

Did you ever get those Year One door panels? I'm curious as to their quality/fit.

[LeighP]

The 2nd gen Year One door panels look good.....but I haven't tried them yet. I'm told I will need to get a heat gun to slightly form the panel inwards aroung the manual window cranks.....and there is some fitting required around the edges for a nice finish. Overall, they look really good, I'm very happy with them. I got the engine turned trim panels to match the dash.

[LeighP]

Finally talked to the machine shop.....I'm going to drop everything off next week for the machine work.
Had some spare time this morning so I removed all the casting flash from the lifter valley area and smoothied it out....people tell me thats a recommended thing to do and it doesn't take long. Better now before the block gets tanked and cleaned.




Spent some time late last night (am - couldn't sleep) going through the workshop manual, good reading for explaining the interior of the engine. I recalled that you can screw up and get the pistons put on the wrong way as they have off-set pins.....so I just wanted to refresh my memory on that.
Rods get fitted so the tangs on the bearings face the cam.

[cdoggy81]

That's good to know. Do you have any pics of them? The turned aluminum inserts bumps the cost from like $350 to $600 right?

[LeighP]

No, they came down on price.....they were like $450 or so with the turned inserts...they started off way more expensive whe nthey first came out.

[PonchoJohn]

Leigh- make sure the machine shop knows they are NOT working on a Chevy engine. Pontiac V8's have the front cylinder biased opposite the Chevy, so if they aren't paying attention, they'll hang the rods backwards!
Looking good!

[Doug1]

Leigh- make sure the machine shop knows they are NOT working on a Chevy engine. Pontiac V8's have the front cylinder biased opposite the Chevy, so if they aren't paying attention, they'll hang the rods backwards!
Looking good!

Though I have read that some people have made the mistake of having the rods facing the wrong way, I find it odd. All the builder needs to do is put the chamfered side of the rod towards the outside edges, where the surface is also chamfered. It is really a hard mistake to make IMHO, unless the builder is a complete newbie. I have seen a more common mistake being that the builder doesn't realize their is an inner oil gallery plug nearest the distributor. I like to have all the gallery plugs tapped and a "squirt" hole drilled in the plug closest to the distributor to help with oiling there.

They figure out something is wrong as soon as they see no oil pressure. LOL