Update: got my manifold back and installed. Now to get a look at that oil pan. I bought the one-piece gasket BOP engineering makes, but the pan looks like it needs a little persuasion and work on some of the holes to get it to fit right. Why can't anything just bolt on with no mods anymore?

Loving the build especially that you are keeping it Pontiac powered!

Thanks; I got the oil pan all mounted up. The gasket gave me some issues, but I got it to fit. Hopefully it was worth the $50 I paid for it and I don't have to deal with oil pan leaks.

I'm almost ready to mate the Pontiac Motor to the Viper T56, pics soon. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the hydraulic setup. I want to use the Viper CSC and the Camaro T56 master and lines. The problem is that the connection on the Viper CSC is slightly different and won't connect to the Camaro hydraulic line. I know that the fitting is removeable, but can't find a source other than buying a Camaro CSC and removing that fitting.
Does anyone know where I can get just the fitting? Or better yet, a used Camaro t56 CSC that I can buy cheap to remove the fitting?

Take your line --- and the fitting that is slightly different - to a hydraulic shop -- show them what you need and they'll make you one. It isn't that expensive and most will do it while you wait.

Some of the fittings are JIC.... don't ask me what that is - but they're basically AN- stuff but used in the hydraulic industry.

JIC = Joint Industry Council

Hey, Greg "Voltage-Drop" Weld.... It was great seeing you at SEMA.


--Eric

Good to see you too Eric!

I always figured that the guy "jic'd" me out of something....:lol:

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion. I guess I need to pick up the Camaro hydraulic line so I can bring that in along with the Viper CSC. I know that there are at least one or two hydraulic shops around here I can try :thumbsup:

Minor update:
I went to a hydraulic shop and they were able to make me a hose. I lose the quick disconnect, but that's not a big deal for me. I also just got the bellhousing and spacer from Mcleod to mount the transmission to my motor. Pics will follow soon.

Thanks :D

Long overdue updates. The motor and trans are now in the car. I've started getting the front sheet metal bolted up, sandblasted and painted all the little brackets that are needed for that. I used Eastwood underhood black for the parts. Well, here are the pics.......

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSC_0016.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSC_0018.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0004-1.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSC_0015.jpg

A few more:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0016-1.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0017-1.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0018-1.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSC_0019.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSC_0020.jpg

Good progress:thumbsup:

Awesome!

Great build.

Back in 1980 to 92 I had a 69 FB. Love the Poncho powerplant HO racing used to build some great 400ci stump pullers back in the day. I didn't see in your thread is it a 400 or a 455?

Thanks for the comments :thumbsup:

To answer your question, it's a 400 stroked to 461. I used a forged rotating assembly and 87cc Edelbrock heads with some mild porting. I also switched out the springs and running a Tomahawk solid cam @ about .525 lift

Sounds really nice. I had 400ci, stock iron heads with a good valve job and bowl work, a crane copy of the RAIV cam with the 1.65 ratio steel rockers (grooved rocker balls comes to mind), a set of off the shelf hooker headers, recurved HEI out of a 76 and a holley street dominator intake and recalibrated quadrajet. With a munncie, 4.33 and 255 gatorbacks it was an exciting ride.

Yours will be better in every way. I can't wait to see the finished project.

Looking Good.

Thanks for the comments :hail:

I've been working on the gap between the bumper and front-end. I know that from the factory, this gap was pretty large. I'm trying to get a uniform and closer gap here. Right now if you look from the top down, the gap is tighter towards the center of the hood and wider as it goes out to the fenders. Can anyone offer any tips or advice on getting this as close and as uniform as possible?

I've also been thinking of buying a new fiberglass bumper. My reasoning here is that it may be easier to work with and fit the fiberglass bumper. If I keep the metal bumper, I was planning on painting it body color anyway, so the fiberglass would work out in my plans. Any thoughts on this or experience with the fiberglass bumpers for this car? I found a company named UP22 that sells them. Anyone deal with them?
Thanks

Please keep me/ us posted on the front bumper update. I too will eventually be dealing with this same issue, so I'd like to see what you find out. Thanks!

I worked on it some more this past weekend and got it much closer. I had to tweak my bumper a little, basically just bent in the outsides a little. I don't think this is the original bumper because there are no holes in it for the pontiac emblem. From what I can tell, the 400 cars had this on the bumper. Also, who knows what happened to this bumper over the years.

Currently, the gaps are much more consistent. The only issue is that the gap is a little closer towards the middle (center of the hood) and gets slightly larger as it gets towards the fenders. I'm still trying to decide if I can live with it. I'll try and take some pictures this weekend.

Cool, thanks for the update. Yeah, the original 400 bumpers had two stamped (5/8" ??) holes on the middle for the emblem. Most people just drill out the non 400 bumpers to attach the emblem. I have an original 400 bumper if you need a template. I can make one for you- just let me know.

Great Build..

In the early 70's, I had a Buddy with a 68 400 Firebird 4 speed. Thing was like 4 years old and brand new... Man what a car..

Good Job on building the Firebird..:cheers:

I'm still undecided on this bumper; it's been through a lot and will need some work to get it to look good. Thanks for the template offer, I'll definitely let you know if I need that. :thumbsup:

Thanks; I wish I could have seen that thing. Where I grew up, you hardly saw 60's cars on the streets. They were either locked up in a garage or rusted away.

Love the work you've done on the Firebird.

Sorry for the delay on these, been busy with a new job. Here are the pics after I messed around with the gaps. It's not perfect, but it is much better than it was. The sides use some sort of urethane filler pieces that cover that gap. Ames has them listed in their catalog. I also picked up some doug's headers since Classic was having a sale. I am very pleased with how well they fit.

Anyway, here are the pics:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...8/DSC_0049.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0003-2.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0002-2.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0046-1.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0045-2.jpg

and here's one of the cowl panel that I cut apart and welded back together because it was sitting too high:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...DSC_0047-1.jpg


And the after fitment:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...8/DSC_0048.jpg

Thank you :thumbsup:

Cool, thank you for posting these pics! This looks good. I'll definitely have to go this route. Of course, it looks like it's a lot of work... :)

I just went through all 11 pages. Nice progress, it seems all to famalier. Looks like the gaps are coming out pretty nice. I noticed that a lot of the problems that you have had are the same as me. LOL JUst makes you wonder how some of this stuff fit when it was new. Keep up the great work.

Great build keep up the good work, it gives us guys who are just getting started a lot of inspiration to keep moving forward.

Thanks! I noticed the same thing, maybe they're not problem areas after all, lol. Just how they were originally put together. Fit and finish is so much better nowadays that I forget it was not always the case. I'll add some new pics when I get a chance. I've got the electric fan mounted, fuel lines run and picked up some nice fittings and line for the final 2 feet to my regulator.

Thanks; it sure is a long process, especially when the budget is tight and you just want to go out and buy the best of the best.

I hear that!! super tight budget here too. She's coming along nicely. keep up the good work. the motor looks really good. its nice to know there is another person on here with a tight budget, LOL

Thanks :D Here's a few more pics of what I've been up to. Reading through several posts spread over a few forums led me to using a 98-02 F-body Clutch Slave to actuate the Viper part in my transmission that in turn engages the Mcleod clutch. I took it apart and cut the stopper in half to get the extra throw. I also started on making my original clutch pedal engage it.

Long overdue for an update so here we go:

Fuel system: complete (used a Tanksinc pump setup, ROBBMC regulator, 3/8 stainless feed and return

AAW wire harness, installation underway

Pedals refurbished, modified to work with new clutch, and old butchery welds cleaned up

Lincoln Mark VIII fan installed

Bought an American Powertrain x-member that was supposed to fit.....of course it did not, so had to modify to make it work

Ordered a RideTEch 4 link and coil-overs, waiting on getting the wheels and then I'm going to attempt to narrow the Ford 9" I have in waiting.

I've also been continuing to work on the body and will be attempting an initial start of the motor real soon to get the cam broken in and make sure nothing leaks :excited:


On to the pics:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...10059424_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...88066058_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...92718722_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...19928446_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...07034331_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...50268101_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...58811773_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...94356304_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...00581752_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...29012148_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...20918469_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...71556384_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...45294515_n.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...29176705_n.jpg

That's how they get done --- one step at a time! Looks good!

Keep pounding away at it!



:thumbsup:

Thanks, I appreciate the words of encouragement:thankyou:

Got the motor started for the first time. Found 2 issues:

1: I will need to rethink the fuel pump setup, maybe reposition or cut and weld in a small sump section for the bottom of it. With 4 gallons of gas, it started cutting out on me, so I put in another 5 gallons and it was good to go.

2: Little oil leak that I need to investigate. It looks like it's either the rear main or the oil pan. I'm kind of pissed about this because I used the high-dollar BOP seal and followed the instructions exactly (if that's the cause). The other possibility is the oil pan. It's the Canton pan and it was way off out of the box, so I had to massage it into shape. I thought about exchanging it after I got it, but at the time, my machine shop was using the same pan on a Pontiac and it fit exactly like mine did. It's like it got warped a little when they welded to bottom portion onto it.

Anyways, here's a video of it running. This is after I ran it for about 20 minutes at around 2000 rpm. It's idling at about 1000 in this video

sounds awesome! I guess you'll be driving it soon now

Thanks! Still a lot of work to do before it sees the road. I'm going to be removing the front sheetmetal for paint. I wanted to make sure that everything is ok with the motor before I get to paint and re-assembly. Depending on where that little oil leak is, I may have to get the motor back out.