1968 firebird 461ci stroker project

[lucky13firebird]

Thanks, yeah i'm really digging it. Hoping it helps at least a little with stability at high speeds...

[lucky13firebird]

Slowly making progress

[lucky13firebird]

Got the rear spoiler installed to match the front. Car as real stable at speed now, pretty happy with it. Best $175 anybody can spend on a first gen they are planning on racing with later.

[lucky13firebird]

Took this old bird on the wildest 7,000 mile roadtrip ever. Loved it. Had issues, but nothing i couldn't handle.

[Hammered]

Wow - that's determination. Reminds me of bumper towing my '67 almost 1300 miles from Colorado to Ohio non-stop. Lost a lot of tires on the way and the pinion gear went out somewhere in NE. I solved that problem by turning the rear end around so that the pinion was facing rearward. That way the pinion was forced away from the carrier so that there wasn't any interference. My trip was a cake walk compared to yours.

[Nicks67GTO]

I don't think anyone in America drives their vintage muscle more than you do. How many miles do you have on the Firebird?

[lucky13firebird]

I don't think anyone in America drives their vintage muscle more than you do. How many miles do you have on the Firebird?

You may be right bud... i bought it with 119,000 miles and the speedo stopped working at 136,000 .... since then i haven't bothered making it work and just kept driving it. Best estimate is its rounding 400,000 miles.... because the 461 i put in after blowing the 350 pontiac is already eating 1 qt of oil every 1,000 miles... and has a bunch of blow by.

Doesnt smoke yet and still hauls ass like it should, so i'll just drive it into the ground and then rebuild it as needed...

[camarodude87]

Love this! Roadkill to the extreme!

[lucky13firebird]

Love this! Roadkill to the extreme!

Yes, I would say so. BTW .... electric cutouts on a daily driven muscle car aren't the best idea... the aluminum and stainless just can't take the abuse. Both of mine have left this earth. I am now back to the reliable manual wing nut cutouts.

I have left the army after seven long years, and am in the process of moving out west. So enjoy our cross country haul in our 68 firebird, with a 240z on a trailer behind it, and a 67 tempest behind the moving truck.

[Gil]

Awesome !
I love your Mad Max convoy style...
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Took a spare nascar 1350 u joint driveshaft, shortened it, and installed my 1977 F150 toploader 4 speed. So now I have decent first gear and an overdrive.... although I already have a set of 2.56 gears in the car....

[Josue]

Nice.

I can't wait for an OD swap. Even staying high with 3.08's, my RPM's are still way higher than I'd like them to be for longer trips and highway speeds.

[lucky13firebird]

Didn't think that OD would make a difference on 2.56 gears but, holy cow, what a world of difference. I can finaly do 200 or more miles per tank of gas. Just drove 1,650 miles to nebraska, and driving 1250 more to grab my 69 charger, then turning around and heading straight back to try and catch a few days of power tour... OD is the way to go.

Its only a 15% increase in fuel mileage but that makes all the difference sometimes...

[lucky13firebird]

Shredded my 4 speed. The cluster gear on these isnt as strong as the regular toploaders. Plenty strong for towing, but a clutch dump and burnout at 4,000 rpm while pulling a trailer with the charger on it killed it. Grabbed another but its dead as well. Going to fix one, then rebuild the other one with the proper wide ratio gears.

[Gil]

Come on your sooooooo crazy awesome... Was just laughing out loud behind my screen... Thanks mate !
(If I do less than half of it to my wife she kills me... three times...)

[68400BIRD]

Those were two great videos. I may be assuming here but between your natural ability and the millitary it seems there isn't much that phases you. Great job.

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, not a whole lot can stop me... not even losing a header tube and running on 7 header tubes for over a thousand miles, jackknifing a trailer badly, and having my brother overheat the engine in the middle of nowhere...

[dobie6982]

I want to be like you when I grow up.

[Fbird]

Always enjoy seeing this evolve. However, Id much rather have the T1 but the bird is still cool.

[lucky13firebird]

Rebuilt the shattered overdrive 4 speed with the heavy duty wide ratio guts. No more overdrive, but man, it hauls now. Going to use my other busted overdrive trans for my 67 GTO