Nice work!

Entry 21: 6/2/2024

Finished up plumbing the fuel lines this weekend. I used line separators which kept everything tight and tidy - pretty proud of how it all turned out. All that's left to do now is to take everything apart and do very minor adjustments, run everything over with scotch brite and blow out the lines. I also need to vent the fuel tank...

Tanks Inc. mentions that the vent filter needs to sit at least as high as the filler neck opening. I mean, unless I'm crazy there's really only one practical place anywhere near the ass end of these cars where that's even possible...curious where other second gen guys run their vent.

Mounted the regulator high up and away on the firewall - sure is nice not running heat, a blower motor or A/C...so much freedom.

I also picked up the Detroit Speed steering shaft kit for the 1 inch 48 spline tilt steering column. I was going to splurge for a flaming river steering column but decided to refurbish my original tilt column and re-use it instead.

Car funds are basically tapped once I wrap up fuel and steering so I'll just turn my attention towards next year. I plan on picking up the Ls7 / T56 engine / trans. package from Blueprint next summer. It's absolutely crazy to me that that is happening this time next year. Blows my mind that my dream is slowly unfolding and materializing.

Nice and tidy. :thumbsup:

Congrats! You're doing good work and your dedication is impressive.

Entry 22: 8/13/2024

Fuel is essentially done. I ended up venting the tank using a roll over valve.
One annoying thing I have to point out about the Tanks Inc. EFI Tank kit for my car: It's a generic kit for 74 through 81 Camaros and Firebirds. It came with a 30 degree filler neck. There is no way that is supposed to come with the kit for a 74 through 78 Firebird. It clearly comes out several inches too low. Luckily, even though I bought the kit back in 2017 - Tanks Inc. sent me a 45 and 60 degree neck at no charge. The 45 degree neck is the one I needed.

I also picked up an Ididit steering column and used Detroit Speed's lower steering shaft. Super nice set up. Photo of that.

Finished the corners this past weekend. Went with the Wilwood Superlite kit (P/N 140-8921) up front. Out back, the Dynalite rear kit (for a Big Ford flange) (P/N 140-2115).

I also placed an order with Weld Wheels. Lead time is 6-8 weeks. Ended up custom ordering a specific offset for the front. 15 x 11 in rear and 18 x 10 in front.

Car is getting manual brakes and a hydraulic clutch and I want to use three canisters on the firewall - so some more firewall work to do over the fall when I mount pedals.

Been a pretty productive summer so far. Over the winter I'll plumb the brakes and finish the firewall / pedals etc. Might turn my attention to the dashboard - and get this thing back on the ground. Will be awesome rolling it out to see the stance once the wheels show up.

Entry 23: 11/7/2024

I finished up the brakes at the corners back in late August and never posted about it. Some photos of that. Still have to run lines.

Eventually realized two of the wheel studs were stripped. After getting that sorted out and finalized I placed an order with Weld Wheels, the S76. I think they came out back in 2008 and I have always wanted a set since first seeing them back in 2010. Finally pulled the trigger and got them mounted in early September.

They are absolutely perfect. Exactly what I've always had in mind. 15x10 in rear and 18x9 out front.

Entry 23 (2nd): 11/7/2024

Playing catch up here: I want to convert over to a hydraulic clutch and manual brakes. Have always wanted a very purpose-built looking engine bay. No power brakes, no heat, no A/C etc. Everything to encourage and amplify the driving experience.

Ended up finding the below clutch / pedal bracket from Wilwood and wrapped up the pedals this week. Glad I got that all done before the cold weather rolls in. I'm not the best fabricator so getting everything to line up and look 'factory' took me longer than I'd like to admit. There are two pictures to try and demonstrate how much work this really was.

Will try to run brake lines before it gets too cold in Western NY.

In the spring it'll be time to start running the wiring harness and getting the dash and new gauges in there. Firewall is basically done - just have to decide where /how to route the harness / fuse box.

Looks good to me!

Just found this thread and love it !!

Entry 24: 12/28/2024

Although the pedal assembly has a balance bar I decided to run a proportioning valve as well:

When I was plotting out the fittings, brake pressure switch and the route to the bulk heads I'd need - quickly realized how little space I was dealing with. It really came down to practicality. The Wilwood prop. valve has the pressure switch built in and with it I won't have to run a T-fitting to split front R/L. The alternative was to make a separate bulk-head to mount everything off of and split from there. Plus, all the added fittings to run the pressure switch. The prov. valve solves all those things, adds some fine tuning and looks trick too.

Wilwood however does not sell a prop. valve bracket for their individual master cylinders so I had to improvise. Some 1/4 steel did the trick as pictured.

It's officially cold out and finishing the brake lines sounds more and more like a spring project.

This car is just incredible


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Thanks! Itching for it to warm up so I can finish up a few things.

I'd like to be able to claim fuel and brakes 100% complete by mid may.

But before I can do that (brakes) I need to purchase the right length flex lines. Fuel is easy, I just need to take the fuel lines apart and blow them out with some air one final time. I didn't make things very easy for myself with how I routed them from what I remember smh.

Entry 25: 4/16/2025

Finished up brake lines to both front corners on Sunday. Will route to rear with hardline, use a 14 inch flex line to rear axel and split with a T-fitting to rear calipers this weekend.

I found a really nice union that has a 1 male -3AN, 2 female 1/8-27NPT and a 3/8 inch hole that you can mount the whole fitting to the rear axel to.

My wife and I are expecting our next son to arrive on May 21st. Getting excited.

I was also quoted $4,200 to apply a ProShield Flake Flooring System (675 sq feet) to the garage. And that includes a Penntek NX300 clear polyaspartic clear coat.

Doesn't sound too bad all things considered.

Entry 26: 7/18/2025

I managed to carve out some time the past few weekends. Decided to paint the cage, floor pans, and trunk pans.

I didn't know what product to use so my local body supply shop recommended SEM corrosion control. I made it pretty clear that I wanted to use it on the cage and pans. I sanded the entire cage with 80 grit...by hand, masked everything up in the car and primed. What a pain. I then applied SEM corrosion control as directed (without the hardener or any) since the shop didn't suggest it. I opted to apply by brush; it was probably 80 degrees out and very humid.

Well, it went on like complete garbage. I have no idea why I did the whole cage KNOWING it was going on like crap. I think I was hoping it would smooth out overnight. After 5 solid days...it was still tacky, nowhere near smooth and I got worried. This is not a show car but it was god awful and there was no way my mind could deal with putting foam over the bard to hide just how absolutely horrible it was. So, I needed to strip it, again. I even called SEM and spoke to tech support to figure out set times and verify ratios etc..

I'm embarrassed to say I should have applied hardener and a reducer; what an idiot. SEM tech rep directed me to add hardener (8:1) and add in up to 20% reducer. I ended up having to sand the entire cage for the second by hand...again. Except this time was even worse than the first time because THIS TIME the SEM corrosion control was STILL tacky...even after letting it hang around for 11 days.

I finally got everything to bare metal and found that 8:1:4 was the magic ratio (8 parts SEM corrosion control, 1 part hardener and 4 parts urethane reducer). After the cage was where I wanted it to be I moved on to the interior pans. Some photos of that.

I then added FatMat to the interior pans and rattle canned Rest-oleum flat black and a satin clear coat over the wheel wells.

I still have to give the trunk the same treatment (paint, FatMat, etc.)

Turned out great in the long run; but boy o boy was this a much bigger project than I had intended.

Edit...I also finished the entire brake system a few weeks ago.

Holy do do sanding the cage had to be horrible and I am positive that you said hundreds of cuss words while you were sanding.

In the end I am happy that it turned out nice.

Entry 27: 8/13/2025

More progress: I got in my new steering wheel and horn assembly. I had to modify the horn cap (I had to shorten it on each peg by 3/8 of an inch to allow enough travel of the horn button). I also had to add two washers between the horn cap and steering shaft in order to aid in horn button travel. Without those modification the horn was sitting right up against the formula adaptor. I also finished painting the trunk pan and laid sound deadening.

I then turned my attention to the dash. I first patched a cut near where the radio resides that resulted from when someone tried to steal the stereo in the mid 1980s. I then did a deep clean with magic erasers with diluted pure simple green on the dashpad and aero bezel. Wow was there a lot of old Amor All absorbed in to that dashpad! I then painstakingly went through each switch with a combination of DeoxIT, and 400 grit sandpaper on each terminal. I also used clear plastic polish on the factory gauge crystals and did a general clean on everything before final assembly.

For a moment I was going to purchase Dakota gauges but I absolutely hate the look of LED lights. They are too modern and emotionless and look strange to me.

Instead, I salvaged each connection from the original harness (incase for some reason American Autowire doesn't supply those once I get the new harness). I also purchased a SW Trans. temp. gauge and SW Oil Temp. gauge. I bought an EGT gauge from Westach and kept my dad's SW Vacuum gauge around from 1972. It's a shame I couldn'tr find everything I wanted with the same bezel color (black with silver ring).

I made a radio delete panel from 16 gauge aluminum and a switch panel that mounts where the climate control used to be. Both switches on the switch panel are rated at 50 amps (one will override the electric fans and the other, the fuel pump). Each switch has an incandescent blue light that will illuminate when the switch is on. The other blue light will light if oil pressure dips below 15 psi.

The final blue light (nearest the oil temp gauge) will illuminate if oil temp gets above 190 degrees. I kept the red firebird and moved him down to the radio delete panel.

I also got all the exterior lights back on the car. I need to order up the truck lock so I can get the trunk back on the car, all hood latch hardware, new splash shields (since the ones I restored are for a 78 and not correct). I will also get the glove box back in there and probably call that good until next spring.

Then, it's Ls7 and T56 time.