Nice! How did it go with the car at work?? They must have loved it!

Thank you for asking. Yes, it went well. I had a lot of people checking it out, and complimenting the bare metal color. I think it was unanimously said to keep it that color. "don't paint it"... Of course, many folks didn't realize all the work that went into it. I had some boards nearby with a snap shot of my build showing what I did to it. Some people still didn't get it, ha ha.

They video taped me as well. However, I think this was more for them making a video of the event and using this to support that.

No exhaust update this weekend, I wasn't able to get the 309L welding wire I need for mixing SS and mild steel. So it's on order and I assembled my taillights. My electronics engineer buddy was building a set for me, but got lazy and ended up ordering a "Digi Tails" kit for me instead.

Great work
 

I love how its all coming together!!

Oh my, time sure does fly by. Had a last minute trip to China (for work), and a bunch of other things come up. Not much progress on the 'bird. I was able to muster up getting my exhaust welding finished, painted and hung back under the car, as well as I made some front license plate brackets. Progress is progress....

Look at this guy's fab skills coming out! Nice job. I think you welded the exhaust crooked in that third picture, it looks bent. :D

Thanks, Wayne! Yeah, I may have had a little too much egg nog before hitting the garage that morning. It'll hammer out :p

I think everything you did looks good!

Rear seat delete
 

Happy 2015 everyone! After another month long trip overseas I'm back and I immediately hit the garage. This weekend I made some panels for the rear seat delete. I used sheet metal to also act as a rear firewall and covered it with vinyl. I also started on a panel to close the gap between my radiator and core support to help force the air through the radiator.

That will get it done.

Lot of work in that thing!
 

Bet you cant wait to see it done.

Very much so!

Still alive. Just saving money for expensive parts and have been busy with other events. In the meantime I ran across a thread about rollbars/ cages so now I want to modify mine to connect to the frame rails. Fortunately, I have enough extra metal around to not have to buy anything for this little project. I made some plates and welded them into the floor using many plug welds and around the edges. Not sure if it shows but the area is double layered. Next will be the tubing itself.

I also modified my welding cart with heavier duty wheels, a frame on the bottom for strength, and a handle. The 200 lb tank was too much for the stock cart.

They fit nice. Should be a ridged mounting spot.

I've been wondering what happened to this build. I'm glad to see your still moving forward. You've bought a lot of the major items already, what's the other big ticket items?

Well, it didn't help that I was out of the country for a month with work and vacation combo, only to come back and crash my motorcycle on the freeway/ my first day back to work. Minor rash, fortunately. I even got back on my bike to continue on. So a little time was spent healing up, and I have had other events like family parties, other work trips to Vegas, etc. Buying other things around the house. As for parts these need to be in order:

1 - rims. I went with US Mags forged (Bandits). these take 4-6 weeks to make. Should be ready soon.
2 - once I have the rims, then I'll buy tires and have them mounted
3 - then, I can install and measure to see how much my axle needs to be narrowed and take it out/ get it narrowed. I should get some lugs, too, ha ha.

BTW this is the downside to changing my mind mid build as my axle was originally ordered extra wide.... Extra cost and time as a result. Such is life.

This is the larger part of it. The rest can be bought whenever/ in any order:

- driveshaft (will be 4th on my list as this needs to be custom made/ ordered. thinking CF)
- radiator hoses (thinking silicone universal ones for a clean install. I need something custom anyway with my engine set back)
- battery. Optima..
- seat rails
- window glass
- Air filter/ intake tubing

I did score some used Corbeau A4 seats off of LS1tech.

Without my axle narrowed and reinstalled it's a waste to add brake fluid, rear axle fluid, etc. So it's a waiting game for me.

In the meantime I'll work on the cage mod and save $$ for the remainder parts. I just don't want to accrue credit card dept while building this. I've been able to avoid it so far.

That should be the number one rule Keep the balance low on the C-card. Glad to hear your OK after the accident. Carbon fiber Drive shaft Nice!!

The seats I picked up... It wasn't my intention to go with leather (I prefer cloth) however, the price was good and they are clean.

They will need modification for the 5th belt slot.

Thx, Wayne. I hope so. I did my best to get it on top of the frame rail, and there is actually two stepped pieces of metal I added to help disperse the load.

I was able to add the additional tubes on my roll bar this weekend. Next will be to sand down the mess/ burnt paint, and repaint it.

Still waiting for my wheels...

There won't be any flex in that area.

Totally dig this build! Those BMW lights look amazing, I was really thinking about putting Halo lights in my 68... Hearing your build attempt kind of scares me off a bit though, however they look bad ass! Nice job overall though

Let's hope not. Or worse, should the car find its way onto its roof that the cage won't poke through like that mustang did (pics of it made the rounds on the internet).

Thank you. Please keep in mind this is just how I did it with what I bought. The "halo" in these lights are lit with incandescent bulbs. Perhaps there are other brands of lights that are smaller, use LED's and would fit in the stock buckets? I also went into it blind not seeing how anyone else had made them fit. At least you can see how I did and know what to do/ not to do...

Wheeley tired
 

So my rims and tires came in this week. I'm very happy with them. I did a quick mock up to measure for my axle trimming (although I am digging the '70's look with them sticking out. Maybe I should just add some flares and call it a day, ha ha) and to make sure the fronts would fit. I have a tiny bit of rubbing on the backs of the wheel openings against the allen bolt heads. I could just take the bolts out, ha ha. The top of the wheels are a bit close to the fenders but the front end isn't aligned yet. They look to have + camber right now... I also painted the cage modification, started on my air intake assy (need more parts to finish this) and I wrapped my windshield trim in flat black 3M wrap. It was a productive weekend.

Looking good!

Still slowly chipping away at this. I got the axle narrowed and back in, but the rear operating angle (aka "pinion angle") is too extreme (6º) so I will need to rotate my axle up to reduce it. Unfortunately my DSE arms are already maxed out in adjustment, so I'll need to do something more to rectify this. I underestimated this part of the build before (operating angles) and now it has caught up to me with a vengeance. Lesson learned. I spoke with Brett (Fab53) who has more experience with this kind of thing and he gave me some suggestions for relatively simple fixes. So my plan of attack is this- I will look at lowering my car 0.5- 1" all around to finesse the ride height and wheel opening gaps (which, btw, I realized my front end sheet metal is slightly off square so I need to adjust that, too), re measure the operating angles, and likely end up making a jig and new location holes for the upper control arms to clock the axle as needed. Then I can measure for a drive shaft and once installed, add some fluids, a battery and see what happens.

I finished the cold air intake assy, connecting my rad hoses, and RXS atch can. Only thing left in the engine bay is an IAT sensor. Rock auto is sending me one as I write this.

I bought one of those "Spoilers by Randy" and installed it. I like it. I wrapped it in black vinyl for now, as I opted for the brushed aluminum version and didn't want to paint over it at this time. I also had a glass shop come by the other weekend to install the front and rear glass in my car, only they brought a scratched windshield, so I sent it back and hopefully they will be back next weekend with a decent piece.

The saga continues...

I love what you've done to this Firebird! Keep the updates coming :)
Are those US Mag wheels? What are the specs on them?

Slow but steady counts too. I hope the axle fix goes easy for you.

Thanks, will do. Yeah, these are the US mags- the forged ones. I think it's becoming a trend ;) They are 18x9 front and 18x12 rear.

Thanks, yeah I hope so, too.

Very Nice! I wasn't aware they made them in Forged. I've got my set stored in the attic - almost forgot what they looked like.

Well one issue you won't have with the cast versions is what I discovered last weekend- that the inner halves of my rims don't match! whoever built them mixed and matched both soft lip and traditional lip on the inner rears. So back they went. It was a 3 lb weight difference, too. grrr.

quick update- in addition to sending off my rears to be rebuilt I do have the glass in now, I got the brakes bleed after having to make a new flare. It just kept leaking hard and after dis assembly it was cracked. Then onto the clutch to bleed that and that too gave me fits. I replaced the slave cylinder and that at least allowed fluid to pump through but it was still a dead pedal despite continuous bleeding. The solve was using a Mighty Vac unit and sucking up air out through the top. Worked like a charm. I had this tool for over ten years and this was the first time it proved useful. yay.

Also welded in tabs for the seatbelts, installed them and the seats, too. I had to lower the driver side a bit as it was too tall and I was hitting my head on the roof just sitting in the car. Sometime later I'll do this for the passenger side. Maybe when I take the seats back out to add the 5th belt slot in the seat. I won't need this until a track day, which will still be a while from now. With the lowered seat brackets I needed to make a special wrench to access the bolts. I may think about a better way to mount these as this is a PITA as it is.

I have a driveshaft on order, and that will take 4 weeks. Opted for a carbon fiber one. In the meantime I'll test the electornics as I can't really start this without the shaft/ fluid in the trans. So close now.

That's quite the wrench right there! I have a 9/16" wrench I ground down to install a starter in my 69 Z/28 in 1972 and it saved me many other times as well. As long as they work! That's something about the rim barrels. We're they both the correct back space? I hope you get them back quick.

Yeah, I'd like to redesign the seat rails so I wouldn't need such a funky wrench, and get the seats even lower. I'm thinking of cutting down the seat frames in the car itself, too.

RE: wheels- Yes, the dimensions were good (or at least I didn't notice any weird unequal fitment issues), but whoever built them just didn't match them up. And it was a 3lb weight difference, too. It is supposed to be ready this Thursday which means I could pick it up Friday after work.

Oh Snap! You've made some awesome progress the last few months! Looking good!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Car is coming along nicely......lots of great fab work! The wheels are perfect for the car...

small updates... received my driveshaft which is quite pretty, imo, and a shame that it's buried underneath the car. I also hooked the battery up this weekend and started testing the wiring. I had a few bugs (to be expected) and got most of them fixed. The real bummer is the car wouldn't start. After getting a little help it turns out I plumbed the fuel lines/ regulator all wrong (resulting in way too much fuel pressure) and need to add a return line after all. So parts are ordered and I'll be doing some revisions over the next couple of weeks. Live n learn. Stay tuned.

Finally.... it runs
 

After plumbing in a return line to get the fuel pressure right, and discovering that I had the 12v switched power line hooked up to a terminal that didn't have power when the key was in "start" it now runs. I even drove it, too. Next is to get an alignment and I ordered some new mufflers that are quieter as I want my wife to ride in this, ha ha

Nicely done!

Very nice build. I thought the pics looked familiar, seen them over on HWC. Glad I got to see more pics of the build.

Well, this weekend was a waste of my time. I spent most of it installing my "advance keys" keyless ignition and alarm, and the last couple of hours ripping it all back out. What a POS product. don't waste your money on it. From the instructions being inconsistent at best (at least 4 different errors) to incomplete instructions (had to "learn some things" it doesn't state in in the instructions) to the unit just not working (couldn't get my car to start with it, also couldn't exit out of 3 modes that just kept cycling back n forth- armed, alarm itself- door lock delay function). This is my nice evaluation of it. I will be a bit more thorough with them. guess I'll go back to what I know works- a simple ignition.