Eric cut down the bracket that came with the Lokar cable and welded it back together, moving the cable to the bottom instead of the top. We are both a little concerned with how the gas pedal feel is going to work out, and it's also still going to be close on the air cleaner base, but we can cut that a little if needbe... :)

Here are a couple of pictures:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps79ab9243.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psc3a1596b.jpg

Midweek update...

I spent last night wiring. 2.5 hours, I think I connected 5 wires. Sheesh! Good thing I'm not trying to make a living wiring cars! :)

Eric trimmed and covered the kick panels. These turned out great!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps51d8dd35.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps53948cb2.jpg

Exhaust is going on today, dash panel is cut, and we're going to temporarily wire in the gauges and wrap up the electrical system this week. Fingers crossed, we MAY try to fire her up this weekend!

The kick panels went in today, so I snapped a couple of pictures before they were wrapped up:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psb0f67196.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psd2a38929.jpg

Instead of attaching the speakers to the kick panel, Eric made an aluminum plate and attached that to the metal structure, then attached the speak to that. So the kick panel is just housing the grill...

And now for some money shots!!! :G-Dub: :G-Dub: :G-Dub:


Got the rear tires mounted finally today (fronts tomorrow, I could only fit 2 in the car at a time!). Damn I love these things! I took a bunch of shots at full suspension compression and at the expected ride height. The fitment turned out perfect with just a finger's width to the fender lip and a finger's width to the lower control arm...

(pardon the crappy pictures, I didn't have my Canon so these are just from the cell phone)

Full compression:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf6b18f1d.jpg

Ride height:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps63e05eb1.jpg

And from a few different angles:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps92a578ec.jpg

Compressed:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps5271b4dc.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps6cfadfb3.jpg

you will love those rims.

Oh yes, I'm very happy with that choice! :)

Those wheels just look spectacular!

Nailed it! Can't wait to see it sitting on the ground outside. How much tire did you go with? Rear end specs and BS on the wheels?

A couple of shots with all 4 shoes on now... I wish the Falken's were available in a 285 or 295 width, it should have fit ok. But I love how it looks with these wheels/tires!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psaf952b93.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps151318be.jpg

That looks killer. Which tires are you running and what sizes?

Thanx! Those are the Falken Azenis RT-615K. Sizes below:

Front: 275/35/18 on an 18" x 10" rim

Rear: 315/30/18 on an 18" x 11.5" rim

Nice.... by chance are you at Eric's today? I'm fighting the urge to take advantage of the Bonspeed wheel sale and was thinking to move to 275/315's as well. Unfortunately I'd rather now mini tub so I was curious if I could check out the clearance on your back tires.

I'm not, but I imagine that Eric would be there and wouldn't mind if you stop by...

BTW, on my old project, I ran 17" x 11" wheels on the back of that car. I did not beat on the tub much, but they did rub. Particularly on the fender lip. Rolling it would help (which I did not do), but I don't think you could really have the car sitting 'low' without some rub. It's just too tight in there. Of course, beating on the inner tub would help some too. ;)

I'll stop by and see if he's around on my way home. I was under my car measuring the other day. I was thinking to try cutting a little out of the floor, the back seat supports and remove the hump in the front to stretch the inner wheel wells a little to make them fit. After seeing your setup I've also been talking to Jake and Speedtech about a new torque arm setup. Hopefully after I see your wheels in person I don't decide I have to purchase some Forgelines next......

Sounds good. I know we'll be there tomorrow as I'm determined to finish the wiring and plumbing to try and fire the engine!

Good luck on not wanting a set of wheels... They are like crack! :confused59:

I won't be around tomorrow, I'm headed to SA for an autocross with the SA Camaro club. I'm sure you'll get it all ready tomorrow so I'll stop by to hear the beast roar on Sunday.

She's alive!!!

https://www.facebook.com/video/embed...00465166844820

(I can't figure out how to embed the video, so you'll just have to click the link for now)

I'm exhausted right now, but just had to share... Very happy, and very RELIEVED to hear it run after sitting for over 2 years!

Good job and congrats! :thumbsup:

Let's try this again... :)

Here's a little wrap-up of the day yesterday.

I was determined to fire the engine yesterday, knowing we had a lot of work to do to make that happen. I got to the shop early, and Eric and I set out on a mission.

I finished up the interior wiring of the ECU, transmission, and hooked up the gauges in a temporary fashion. I wired them up to the headlight switch to make sure that the lights all worked as well. After all of the wiring work, I connected the battery and had Eric looking for smoke. None came, which was the first big relief of the day.

Then I turned on the ignition switch and saw the gauges move as expected. I started running through the systems that I could, and everything seemed to be ok.

The last step for me was to install the Rick's gas tank filler neck. It's a little tight to do that with the tank installed, but I got it on and tightened up. All good!

Meanwhile, Eric finished up the few remaining plumbing issues. He had to remake the oil and power-steering cooler lines. He remade them this time with stainless, and he was able to reroute the lines to not touch each other.

Next we poured some gas in the tank and turned on the switch again. I saw pressure build on the fuel pressure gauge, which was a good sign that the pump, lines and gauge were all working! We crawled around under the car, and only found one very slight drip at the hardline to AN line fitting. A turn of the wrench, and that drip was gone.

At this point we poured all of the various fluids into their respective destinations, and again started looking for leaks. Radiator, check. Power Steering, check. Oil, check. Transmission, check. Differential, check. Woo hoo!

Then the step I was worried about. Because of the LS setup, I don't know of a good way to prime the oil system. This engine hasn't run for over 2 years, and it's been drained, and we've added the oil cooler, thermostat, and lines, so I knew it would take a while to get oil through all of that. Scarily, it took longer than I would like for it too. Spin, spin, spin. Finally, I saw the oil pressure gauge move a little bit. Then a little more, and finally it crawled up to about 20psi. Phew!

Now for the moment of truth... We reconnected the coils and the injectors. I crawled into the car, pushed down the clutch, and turned the switch. After about 3 seconds, she fired to life! What a sweet sound. I was watching the gauges, and we were both crawling around and under the car looking for any leaks or other signs of problems. But none were to be found! We ran it until the fans kicked on, meaning the temps were up to running temp. Then we shut her down, and let out a collective sigh of relief.

We started it up a couple more times to make sure it was still all good, and everything seems great! No leaks, started right up both times, and the ECU looks to be good. I know it's not tuned well for idle / part throttle (the IAC is definitely off), but she runs!

Now that we are past this hurdle, we should be able to make some quick progress. This week, Eric is going to tackle assembling the front sheetmetal, and I am going to work on wiring the gauge wires. I purchased some connectors to allow quick disconnects, so I need to install those. Then the dash, back seats, and console. I am taking the dash panel which Eric made to be powder coated, and once it is back, we'll get the dash finished up.

It's getting close! I'm getting excited. :)

Congrats Bryan. Vid looks awesome! It's been a long road and you guys have done a great job. :cheers:

I stopped by and checked the car out on Friday, it's looking really good. Wheels and tires look awesome on the car in person. Wish I could have made it by this weekend to hear it roar but couldn't. Glad everything went well getting it fired up. Car sounds great. Should be on the road in no time..

More progress this week!

Eric has been busy assembling the front of the car, and it's amazing how much different the project looks and feels with the front sheetmetal on again! It's as if I can 'feel' the end of the project in sight now! As seems to be the case for all of these assemblies, there has been a lot of adjusting and tweaking to get to this point, but the gaps are looking great around the front, especially considering these parts were just painted and assembled without any actual bodywork on them...

He also replaced the RB hood pins with the Aerocatch units. I love these, and I'll be a lot more comfortable driving down the road and not watching the pins wiggle their way out of the RB units. We had to mount these sideways due to the inner structure of the VFN hood, but I think they look just fine this way.

I'm trying to determine which of the available drop-shaker bases will be the closest to working for me. Strangely, I'm having trouble find some simple dimensions for the couple that are available. Eric and I have discussed it, and we may just have to buy one and cut it as needed. I need to get something on the way...

As for me, I continue on the seemingly endless saga of wiring this car. I'm really sick and tired of laying in the car on my back and side trying to cleanly route wires. Hopefully I'm finally done under the dash. We stuck the VA evaporator setup in for the last time this week, and I made the used a pair of 15-pin Painless Wiring disconnect connectors for my gauge panel. I had the panel powder coated this week, and I was able to stick the Speedhut gauges in it too.

Then I had to take the painful step of cutting up a brand new reproduction Firebird dash. I bought this piece 2 years ago, and it's been sitting in wait for this day. The Firebird dash has a lot of plastic structure behind the gauges where the heater control, dash vents, etc were mounted originally. With my gauge layout, all of that stuff was going to be in the way. Out came the air saw and the drum sander, and I started cutting. I tried to leave as much as I could, and I still have vertical support across the opening.

Then the perhaps even more painful step of cutting the radio opening for the head unit. The Firebird dash has the radio opening cast into the ABS plastic, so again with the air saw and drum sander. It's a tight fit height wise, but it's in there...

After all of the cutting, I put the dash and gauge panel in the car to check all of the fitment. It looks GREAT in my opinion. :) I sadly had to take it back out since we still have a little under-dash work to do on the AC ductwork, but I was glad to at least see it in place.

Then I started wiring up the gauges and lights. I'm almost done, but needed some small gauge wire to wire the turn signal, brake, high-beam, and warning lights. I picked that up this afternoon, so on my next trip to the shop I will wrap all of that up. The dash should be in place next week.

I picked up all of the bulbs for the rear of the car and installed those too. Thankfully, everything worked. :)

There are a few other odds and ends to be taken care of this week too... Eric is going to heat and bend the shifter stick once we have the console in place, it's a little too close to the dash as it sits now. I already mentioned the shaker, and the stereo amplifier needs to be mounted. We are going to switch the circuit breaker from a 120A unit to a 150A unit. We tripped it once starting the car last weekend, so on a hot day it may pull too much current. I also need to contact Fesler about a set of hood struts. The ones I have don't hold the VFN hood up, so I need to get another set...

Requisite pictures below...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscf337ccb.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0fb1c3b4.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps8a261a6c.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psbf08edc3.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps508b982b.jpg

Here was my temporary gauge setup when we fired the engine last weekend. :)

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps509c51fe.jpg

The blank panel after powder coating:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psfe8a488f.jpg

Panel assembled, without the LEDs:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psd96888d6.jpg

Dash pad after cutting the gauge area:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps7f1adc05.jpg

Stereo installed (I may do something to cover up the knob depression areas):

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps8f01d3db.jpg

Dash and gauges in the car (you can see how close the shifter handle is, and that's without the knob):

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps8a3f7ad1.jpg

And working on the wiring:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psd7263d2c.jpg

Looking good!!

How much work did it take to get the VFN hood to fit well?

Fricken nice. !!

Looking sick man! :guns:

Thanx guys!

Stephen, very little work was done to the VFN hood. Jake at JRS painted and installed it, but from the pictures that I have of the work being done, there were just a few little touch-up spots on it. Nothing was really done along the edges to work on gaps or fitment. All things considered, I think it's fit great!

The only issues with it are that it's not strong enough to force the shaker scoop seal 'down'. By that I mean, the seal is pretty stiff, and if it sits up high at all (which mine did before), the hood isn't going to flatten it out. My hood bulged a little in the middle because of it. And thus my need to find a drop shaker base...

Please tell me, Please.. where did you get vents.. I have the same dash..

Thanks

Kevin

The vents are from Vintage Air. Page 52 of their online catalog, part # 49053-VUQ.

Pictures of your dash setup? I'd love to see 'em. :)

Thanks.. Im going to order some Monday.. I love your Car..I have a 1972 Formula, Im going to build this year.. all DSE/ LS7 etc.. Im finishing my 75 right now..

It funny we are just today, getting ready to mount.. I bought the Year one Bandit set up.. with all autometer gauges. The panel didnt quite fit right so my Dad did some mods.. I will post pics up in the next week.. Its on pro touring.com

http://www.pro-touring.com/showthrea...ife&highlight=

Ah yes, I didn't make the connection to that thread. :)

You could return the favor for me! Which shaker base are you using? I literally need to order one tomorrow. I've been trying to find some measurements on the PTFB and the WFO units.

What I specifically need to know are 2 measurements, and they are related:

- the difference in height between the carb mount surface and the shaker ring lip?

- the difference in height between the carb mount surface and the bottom of the base?

I'm told the second measurement on the PTFB unit is 2". But I cannot find the first measurement for either.

I'm trying to fit my shaker / hood / engine combination, and I need to drop the shaker lip about an inch from stock. If there's any chance you could measure the above on your shaker base, that would help me a ton!

Thanx!

Tell you what, I will take pics with all the measurements.. I will show with a ruler, and I will put my WFO on and than I will put stock base on..

That would be awesome! Thank you... I'm almost certain I will get the WFO. Did you order it from Larry directly, or from Butler Performance, or another source?

From Butler.. Its funny, I have ANOTHER 1975 Trans am with a Similar LS2 set up as you, Fast TB and Edlebrock Intake, that I will have to do the same thing.. Yes, I have 3 Damn Trans Am's... I wish I would just finish one.. LOL.. I just ordered the vents from Summit.

I will also take pics with the WFO and stock shaker on my LS2 with the Fast TB too.. Im west coast time.. So I will post around 7 or 8 my time..Tomorrow

I wish I had the time, and space, for that many projects! :)

You don't have to actually mount them to measure. If you can literally lay a straight-edge across the bottom of the WFO and measure up to the carb mount, then up to the shaker lip and give me those 2 numbers, I would be all good. :) Don't want to cause you too much work, and those 2 measurements are all that I actually need.

Ahhh easy enough, I will straight edge it and measure.. I will get that for you tomorrow with pics.. so you know what and how I measured

Great!

I just reread your thread. I wish I could make progress that quickly. ;) You mentioned needing to change intakes in that thread, but the latest pictures still look like you're using the Vic. Jr. Did the WFO solve your height problems?

Look like it.. But I only test fitted..If I have to I will buy the WFO2.. Hell I will have all of them