The unorthodox budget Firebird (-74)

[Ripper]

Thanks!

Regarding chassis setup, I think there is a cultural difference in the springs vs. sway bar philosophy in Europe and US. Not sure if it is because of differences in the pavements at the tracks or if it's just cultural, but most of the cars here are running high spring coeffience and soft sway bars (well, relative at least).

I'll elaborate on the coefficients for swaybars and springs next year. It won't be upgraded until late next year I guess - so many projects and so little time ;)

[ryeguy2006a]

I love seeing updates on this build!! Great to see it out and about, even if it's not completely legal.

[Martin71RS]

congrats on the succesful test drive! :-)

[Ripper]

New door handles!

I wanted something flush, but not too modern in the looks. Have been looking at Fiat Barchetta handles for years now, so it was really not much to think about when it finally was time to do this swap.

The problem is though, that the push linkage is working in diferent planes compared to the stock Firebird door handle.


The stock Barchetta handle pushes the lever straight down when the handle is operated, but I needed something that pushes inwards when handle is used. Ended up using all of the original parts, but printed an adapter that was pushed on the stock plastics and locked using the original C-clips. Still compact enough to slide the handle inside the hole in the door.
3D printing really is the future for all low volume designs. Prototypes here in pics are PETG, but final version was printed in PETG-CF.




I'm taking the easy way here since door skins in the future either will be composite or aluminum, so I didn't spend very much time on the sheet metal work. A little challenge to weld that ultra thin italian sheet metal to the heavy guage door skin since I don't own a MIG.




Degreased parts from 1974. Well conserved under all grease and dust.


Universal central locking devices.

With 3D printed forks to suit the 70s design


Printed some parts for the lock linkage too. No mods here, it was just quicker to do than to buy online and wait four days for shipping.

[ryeguy2006a]

Love your updates. Always so creative. I need to get a 3d printer.

[Ripper]

Aaaaaaand it's road legal! ROAD LEGAL!!!
Undescribable feeling right now. I tore it down 21st May 2009 and it was approved for public roads again the 22nd June 2023.
I started this project estimated it would take 7-8 years to finish it. Haven't added anything to the plan, nor have I deleted any (larger stuff) from the plan. But you know, life, career, apartment renovations, house, family kids are always higher priority than your hobby. No matter, the car is suddenly legal to drive so let the fun begin now! Next weeks, months, years will be about sorting it out, making it reliable, fast etc. and... maybe some paint too.


It's registered as a modified vehicle now, meaning that all the mods are in the papers. If I get pulled over, the car is 100% legal.
Car was all approved, except for the e-brake which almost didn't work at all. Wilwood kart-calipers... Need to fix that within the next four weeks.

Soooo happy right now! IT'S ROAD LEGAL!!!!!

[ryeguy2006a]

Huge congrats to you! I've been following along with this build almost since the beginning and it's amazing to see you out driving it again! What are your initial impressions of the car now that you can get some LEGAL road miles on it?

[Ripper]

Thanks!
Impressions so far.. The really first impression is that drive train is far behind the chassis right now. Exhaust with drone, engine map not 100%, sloppy ebay T56 gear lever etc. Things that can, and will be solved of course.

Chassis is way beter though. Still don't know what spring coefficients needed - just took what I had home and no sway bars at all. Haven't really explored the limit of the Kuhmo V70 tires yet - it's far beyond what I can manage on public roads.
Had a small play in the steering, but after that was fixed it's really tight and nice. Brakes are good too - measured 1,05G on a cold november afternoon on a slightly wet road last year 60-0 during a pre-inspection which the guy doing the inspection was really impressed of.

Prio now is fixing the e-brake (+improved engine map and fixing the gear lever), then a wheel alignment, a corner weight and then drive. New springs and swaybars this winter and hopefully good chassis setup during next year.

[Gil]

love it ! keep the good work Anders !

[Ripper]

Shakedown at a local AutoX meet yesterday (with the local MX5 club, me as the only foreigner 😂😂)

[ryeguy2006a]

Love the video! Looks like she gets around the track just fine. Sounds amazing!!

[Ripper]

Thank you very much! Yes, what a blast to finally drive it!

As I wrote in the previous post - there are no swaybars and springs are just what I had laying around and my Kuhmos are from 2011! But it's quite OK to drive anyway. Reacts really fast when turning the wheel.

A proper chassis setup is high priority this winter. Along with start cutting the weight, now when it's registered. Looking for light weight doors where you can keep the OEM glass windows. Anyone got any ideas?

[Ripper]

Fall didn't go as planned. Got covid (for the first time) early fall, and a couple of weeks after I finally got rid of it... ...and then I got the flu.

But a little has happened at least. Finished my hubstands-project the other evening. It has been high on my prio list since car was road legal. With 100% fabricated suspension, I wanted to make sure that it is 100% square and even though I measured it probably 50 times during it was built now is a great chance to verify it.
It also needs a proper corner weight, plus camber and toe. So they will be perfect for this since I already have scales.

Having your own cnc-mill is really a great way to come up with nice-to-have projects. :D


Finished:


And my new springs and knifes for the swaybars arrived this week too. So much work behind this picture... I contacted a chassis engineer here in Sweden and we have been spending summer and fall on discussion a good setup for the car. Many hours later, we agreed on spring and swaybar-coefficients. Gonna build some swaybars for those knifes later this winter.

[ryeguy2006a]

I'm not sure what most of that means... But I love it!!