79 Firebird Project TigerHawk

[LeighP]

lol...colour choice is soooo hard....I've spent the last 18 months going all over on colours. My 71 bird is i nthe shop now...and I've settled on a nice deep green metallic.

[shepherd1]

I was actually thinking off painting my car white with the graphics all done in green. I have never seen one with the same combo. Also thinking of O.D. green to go with the name of mine of Warbird. I live just south of Toledo,Oh, would be nice maybe to make a day and come see yours in person if you didn't care. I like seeing things up close to get a better perspective on them.

[bhcustomdesigns]

I was actually thinking off painting my car white with the graphics all done in green. I have never seen one with the same combo. Also thinking of O.D. green to go with the name of mine of Warbird. I live just south of Toledo,Oh, would be nice maybe to make a day and come see yours in person if you didn't care. I like seeing things up close to get a better perspective on them.

Yeah that would be great your welcome to come by anytime I live in Ironton Ohio its located on the Ohio river on the southern tip of the state I would like to check your project out as well sometime.Maybe we can meet up sometime and go to a autocross event.

[bhcustomdesigns]

Well its been awhile since I last updated anything,between work and the holidays I have not had any time to get any work done on the car.I did get a chance today to get some work done,I finished welding up the rear wheel tubs and removed the section of floor under the rear seat area made some new panels to go back in,I am raising that area of floor up around 2.5 inches cause that is where my mufflers will be mounted under the car,this will allow me extra room to tuck them up further under the car to allow more ground clearance.I hope to get the rear floor pans welded in this week so I can get started on the trunk floor next,I am running a fuel cell in this car so there will be some modifications done in the trunk area to make that fit as planned.Here is a couple pics of the tubs and the rear floors the floors still have to be welded in.

[surreyboy]

Nice project!

[MonzaRacer]

I was wondering after seeing the front end and engine and did it have a Buick V6? If so whay not build up a nice Grand national V6 OR find an older Buick 350 or 455 and do a turbo version of the same engine but V8. Something different. Or give me a shout I could build you a killer Pontiac! I love old Pontiac iron, make mucho torque and then apply for a BFG credit card!

[bhcustomdesigns]

Yeah it had a 3.8 v6 in it,the engine only has 59,000 actual miles on it the car ran great before I pulled the engine,I thought about looking for a buick body to put that engine in and build me a grand national clone.I have a 400 sittin in the garage I originally planned on putting in this car but I also have a ls1 sittin there so I am kinda torn between the 2 lol.The 400 needs rebuilt and the ls engine dont,if I go with the ls engine I will be selling the 400 and put the money towards the build.

[LeighP]

Nice idea raising the floor for the mufflers......just in case, you may want to think about either running some swages in an X over those panels, or maybe stich welded some tube or box section across them. Flat panels have an annoying habit of resonating, and those will be right over your mufflers.
Just a thought.

Nice work...I wish I could tub my car and go for some trick rear end gear, but it makes registering the car a lot more of a hassle here when it's modified like that.

[bhcustomdesigns]

Nice idea raising the floor for the mufflers......just in case, you may want to think about either running some swages in an X over those panels, or maybe stich welded some tube or box section across them. Flat panels have an annoying habit of resonating, and those will be right over your mufflers.
Just a thought.

Nice work...I wish I could tub my car and go for some trick rear end gear, but it makes registering the car a lot more of a hassle here when it's modified like that.

Yeah thats a good idea,I am thinking about spot welding some 1 inch flat bar on the top of the pans and box it underneath around the muffler.Wished I had a bead roller,it would make the panels look better.

[LeighP]

That'd probably work OK... I'd love to have a big workshop with all those cool tools like a bead roller and power guillitine etc, the sort of stuff you only use once in a blue moon, lol.

[bhcustomdesigns]

Well I had some time to get alittle work done on the trans am today,before I weld in the rear floors I cut out a section of floor to install a 2x4 steel crossmember with driveshaft loop.I mocked up the crossmember today I still have to install the driveshaft loop and figure out exactly where my exhaust pipes will be located so I can cut and sleeve the crossmember for the pipes to pass thru.After I get all that installed then I am going to sand blast all of this rust inside the car and the framerails then I will go ahead and weld in the raised rear floor sections I made,seen in the previous photos.I still have to run the rear floor sections thru the bead roller,I decided to brake down and buy one the other day,being that I will be making most of my panels it will help with the finished product.

[gator1505]

Nice looking build. Have you thought on what wheels you're gonna go with.....I think the modernized honeycomb and snowflakes would look killer on it.......I'm not to far from where you live I'm in Zanesville

[bhcustomdesigns]

Nice looking build. Have you thought on what wheels you're gonna go with.....I think the modernized honeycomb and snowflakes would look killer on it.......I'm not to far from where you live I'm in Zanesville

Thanks,I am still trying to decide on the wheels the 17" honeycombs and the 18" snowflakes do look good.I already have a new set of bfg kdw 18" tires that I won from a drawing here on protouring,so I will be going with a 18" wheel.Your located in zanesville thats not that far away from Ironton.

[bhcustomdesigns]

A few weeks ago Tim Strange from the tv show Search and Restore contacted me and wanted to know if I would be on the build team for the first show of season 2.So in 2 weeks I am going down to RTM productions in Nashville to help with the build for season 2 of Search and Restore.The next month or so is going to be a busy one not going to have much time to work on my trans am,I did get some time today to cut out the area on the top of the dash were the speaker grille was and smoothed it in,looks alot cleaner now.Here is a couple pics.

[bhcustomdesigns]

After looking at several different wheels I am thinking of just going with these wheels in a 18",the color on the car is going to be stimulus blue but it really looks grey when its on the car,the Ring brothers did one of there mustangs in this color.

[bhcustomdesigns]

Well I had a change of plans on the build instead of going with the stock rear frame rails and frame connectors I decided to go with a full frame.I have been thinking about this for acouple months now I also drew up the plans for a really cool frame that I am going to build for the car,I am going to build the back haf in the car then the front half.I went ahead and braced up everything and removed the complete back half section of the car today,still have to get all the edges cleaned up then I will start building the rear frame section,here is a few pics.

[craigs73]

gonna be a sweet ride

[bhcustomdesigns]

gonna be a sweet ride

Im never going to get it finished if I dont stop changing things during the build LOL!

[craigs73]

hopefully i see it in person one day

[bhcustomdesigns]

I plan on taking it to several events when its finished.