'69 Firebird Convertible Project.

[Josue]

So, I'll be embarking on a nice little project for the next few years. My parents already have a completed 1968 Firebird coupe, but they just bought this 1969 Firebird convertible. 350 Pontiac (numbers matching) auto, power steering, power disc front brakes, A/C.

And when I say project, I mean PRO-JECT! hahaha

[Josue]

The sub-frame isn't bolted on, we just slid it under there for storage.



And dad thinking ahead...lol



The dude we bought it off of got it when he was 18 and still in his high school's auto body program, so he bought this car to play with. It was complete when he got it, but he saw fit to completly tear the car down so that every single nut, bolt, piece, part were spread out ALL OVER a 1 car garage. lol So, needless to say he lost interest with the car in it's current state.

My dad actually came to me with the idea to buy this a while ago, but I veered him away from it because at the time, I was unavailable to help him with it, he has limited automotive knowledge, skills, and tools to try and do it his self, he's already got his '68 that he could be putting the attention into (he barely drives it), so I was sure mom wasn't going to be too keen on him buying another car, and we didn't have anywhere to work on it, the 68 is on 1 side of the garage, and mom gets the other spot.

BUT, in talking/thinking about it more in depth, we decided that we'd be able to swing it this time. I currently live an hour away from them, but I'm waiting to get hired by the FAA, so when they do hire me, hopefully it will be at the facility my mom works at up by their house and I'll move back towards there. We'll probably live with them for a year or 2 while we save up money for a house anyway, so that'll make it easier to spend a few nights a week out in the garage.

Even though the car's in a million pieces, needs the amount of work as it does, and they'll probably have $20K spent with this thing by the time it's said and done, I still think it was a great deal. Hell, it came with $2000 worth of new parts already! And you can't put a price tag on all the quality father/son time spent in the garage, not to mention the fact that they'll KNOW they have a perfectly restored car, and not just somebody else's problems that they've masked with bondo and undercoating.

They could've just as easily sold their 68, bought a decent convertible driver for $15K or so, and been driving it in the spring, but like I said, you never know what you're getting with these "restorations", so it's better to DIY. Plus, since they've grown quite attatched to the 68 through all the work and money put into it, and the 12-13 years we've had it, they'd rather see it stay in the family. So they're going to hang onto it untill I have the cash to buy it off them for what they have in it! Or, if their cash flow gets low for this project, I might start picking up some parts bills here and there, and they'll just take the money I spend off the tab.

Here's their/soon to be my 68 for reference...





Already have the wheels spinning in my head!!!

[Josue]

And we're already lucking out on the parts search. As I said, the kid saw fit to completly tear apart EVERYTHING that he could possibly tear apart, so the rear end was scattered all over the place. Housing was sitting outside, rotting away, and the only thing he could dig out for it were the gears and axles, nothing else.

So, I found a complete axle assembly on Detroit craigslist. They literally unbolted the driveshaft, the brake line and 4 leaf spring mounts and rolled the entire assembly out as a whole. PERFECT for us since it has everything we need! (we needed leaf springs too) Just have to spruce it up a bit with some paint, change the fluid, and service the brakes a little bit with some shoes and drum turning.

But, we get up to MI (3 hr drive) and it turns out the guy selling this axle, has this shop....

www.bbclassicsinc.com

Absolutly BLEW OUR MINDS to see that type of work being done in person. Deffinatly gave me alot of ideas on how I want to take the '68!

[dropit69]

sounds like a great project and car looks to be in awesome shape..i think you scored very well keep us updated..

[Josue]

I think so too. It was a little intimidating at 1st, because it's in a million pieces, and will cost alot to restore in the long run, but it was still a good initial price and will be well worth it once we have the end result!

I just need to do some more research on some products I need so I can get started!

[68400BIRD]

You already have a template of what it is suppose to be with the coupe. That right there will help you a lot with all of the nuts,bolts, and clips. The big parts are pretty easy to figure out. LOL I keep saving pics of others peoples cars when I see something that will help me when putting my 68 back together. Good luck and have fun.

[Josue]

That's another thing that made this decision alot easier, how primitive these cars are! haha I'm confident I can do the metal, body and paint work, then put the car together, since that's what I do all day at work, but my concerns were with the mechanical aspects of these restorations, since I have limited experience...

Stuff like..."Why won't my speedo work?" "Why does my battery keep draining?" "What's that clunking in the tranny while shifting?" But I think with the amount of new parts we're going to have to throw at this thing, it should leave little room for problems. Or at least I would guess. lol

[rohrt]

Thats what I call a project.

[mc84_zz4]

Man! I kept scrolling thru the pics wondering: where's the car?!
Seems like the biggest thing will be get all the bits n pieces organized.
Good luck on the jigsaw puzzle...lol
I isn't that bad if you have another one as a template though, or if you've torn one apart.
A friend of mine restored nut-and-bolt a '69 and went through the entire car.
He has a lot of pics on his website, hope it helps/gives you ideas: www.1969fb.com

[litevette]

That's how I bought my '67 bird when I was about 18. My brother in law raced roundy rounds and had a great garage. I drug all of the stuff out there and stayed up nearly 20 hrs a day working on it.
I had never built a car before, and had no chiltons or anything, so the hard part was figuring out which bolts & which brackets went where. I can't beleive I pulled it off. Definitely too much for my plate these days!

[Motown 454]

Its a good thing he didn't charge you by the bucket lol. Look at all the time he saved you from taking it apart... Nice project good luck with it.

[Josue]

Man! I kept scrolling thru the pics wondering: where's the car?!
Seems like the biggest thing will be get all the bits n pieces organized.
Good luck on the jigsaw puzzle...lol
I isn't that bad if you have another one as a template though, or if you've torn one apart.
A friend of mine restored nut-and-bolt a '69 and went through the entire car.
He has a lot of pics on his website, hope it helps/gives you ideas: www.1969fb.com

Thanks for the website! Stuff like that will help us out alot when we're putting this thing together!

For the most part, I think it should go together fairly easy, we're just going to get held up alot with the small pieces/parts that we have NO IDEA we're missing. hahaha We'll be scratching our heads for days, wondering how to wrap something up, then I'll get online and find a new part we need, then we'll have to wait for it to come....fun time fun times!

[Code Red]

get busy man

[GM_muscle]

looks like you have you a nice project to work on .

[Josue]

Found another great deal on craigslist!!!

A pair of original 69 Camaro doors for $225. The shell's are in great condition, only light surface rust here and there, but the original paint is still visible on 90% of it! Outsides are dented pretty bad though, and will probably be skinned, just because Dad doesn't want anymore bondo in this thing than what's needed, but even then, we're still saving a few hundred bucks over buying brand new shells.

It's kind of silly though, but I'm not even absolutly, 100% sure they'll work on a Firebird convertible? I don't really see why not, and even tried to research it online before I picked these up, but I didn't find any hardcore evidence either way, so I picked them up anyway. Worse case, I can clean them up a little and resell them...lol

[ProdigyCustoms]

Welcome aboard. Stil love those Firebirds.

[Josue]

Thanks! I've seen what you can do, and like everyone else, I'm absolutly amazed...

I would deffinatly like to take advantage of the offer in your signature there for the 68, when the time comes. I want the pro-touring look, but I don't (and CAN'T really lol) want to spend the hefty price tags alot of guys on here have into theirs. I don't need to go ALL OUT with it, just a subtle mix here and there for the look and performance I want.

[Josue]

Some movement as of late, but it won't be much overall. lol

After we got this, I started browsing Craigslist religiously! haha Wound up FINALLY getting everything we needed to start the body work, and a few pieces for down the road. Got a real nice OE left fender a few months back for $100, and a header panel/bumper mount and brackets for $100 from the same guy. Went on a little 2hr road trip to someone who had about 25 years worth of parting out Firebirds! Got the passanger side door hinges, gas tank in nice shape, 2 front cocktail shakers, and the lower valance/turn signals for $150. And last week, I found him a nice OE right fender that wasn't far from him, for $150.

A few months ago, my fiance and I moved out of our 2br duplex with 1 car garage, to a 3br/2ba house with a 2.5 car garage...so now that I had the room, it was time to push for the body work to get done. This will be the 1st winter where her and I will both have a garage spot, so I'm going to try and get it at least in primer before the snow flies, that way I can take it somewhere else until the spring, maybe store it at the shop I work at. (I'm a body tech)




Went up a few sundays ago and built a dolly so we could roll the body around. When I was out of work (around the time we bought the car) I did the paint and body work for my parent's neighbor's 73 F100. He had the thing torn down to the frame, and he built a dolly to roll the cab around on. He was going to throw it away after we were done with the truck, so I told him we'd take it so I could modify it to fit our Firebird.






Hopefully it's sturdy enough to make the hour drive from my parents to me. lol That cab didn't weigh anything compared to this shell, so I had to do some bracing.

Another piece of the puzzle I needed to start, was a good air compressor. After weeks and weeks of researching and searching craigslist, I found one that would be big enough for my bodywork needs, for $450! Still need to get 220 ran to my garage, and get all the hoses, fittings, and a regulator to get the compressor going, but it's one step closer to officially starting the work on this project.



I was looking for a used 110v mig welder too, but funds are low right now (I'm getting married on Sept 26th, so I really shouldn't have spent the money I did have on the compressor and some of the other parts. LOL) so my parents neighbor might let us borrow his since he's towards the end of his race season (Supermodified/circle track). That, or I'm sure I could load one of the 4 we have at work up a weekend at a time, since there won't be much welding to be done at 1 single time.

So, I guess that's it for now! Again, not much, but we're still excited to see some action with this thing.

[Code Red]

I recognize those corn hole boards ;-)

[Josue]

Hahaha...:high5: