Project R begins 04.26.08
 

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Resurrectionsmall.jpg

We launched Project R (reserrection) Saturday 4/26/08. This project is a little different than most. The car is a 1968 Firebird. Nothing unusual there. However, the project team is made up of a bunch of families from our local church as part of an outreach ministry.

Temporary website here:

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/ProjectR.html

This car will be built by donations and volunteers. The car will tour for a year after being finished and then we will give it away for free. How cool is that? If you or anybody you know has any 1st gen Firebird parts or resources that might be interested, please let me know. The car needs everything!

We have had a pair of Gale Banks turbos and waste gates donated as well as a Richmond six speed. Looking to stay under 600 hp.

I have vowed not to cut my hair again until the car has made a substantial mile post and wrapped up tear down day with a buzz and head shave. That gives me a reminder everytime I look in the mirror to make sure things are moving along. I have a great build team made up of a local mechanic that is first class in his field, a family that owns an upholstry shop, and an excellent fabricator. I'm still looking for one of our members to step up and take lead on the suspension and body work.

Let me know if you have any questions...and follow along as we make progress.

Wow That's a pretty sweet idea you guys have.:thumbsup:
I will definitely enter to win it :)

Thanks for sharing

Al

Very cool!

I love the idea and the car! Paint scheme is really cool. The cross in the R is an excellent idea! Lovin it!

That truely is a great idea Chris! Best of luck with the build and most of all enjoy every minute of it!!

That's a great idea, can't wait to see this all come together. Make sure you keep the updates coming. How will it be given away?

More details on that as it takes shape. Our group is really excited. It was so cool to see people that had never worked on a car like this before jump right in and start working on this thing with us. I had been a skeptic before of TV shows where they tear a car down in such short time - but not anymore. When everybody works together it is amazing what you can do - even when people don't know what they are doing - but are willing to learn.

Carter Hickman came up with that. We just cast the vision to him and he ran with it. It is amazing how some people are gifted with the ability to put things together that when you see it you just say...WOW---that is exactly what I was thinking, but I just couldn't actually put it on paper.

Very cool:thumbsup: . Are the youth going to get involved? Add some faith and possible divine intervention to a car build and it might be miraculous what happens.

That's really cool, Chris. The name really ties in with the Outreach program AND the project.

Keep us up to speed please. :cheers:

If you are going to tour it for a year you might as well sell raffle tickets, give it to the winner and use the money for a charity. Maybe that is what you are doing but didn't explain it ?

No plans to use it as a fund raiser. I know that sounds strange, but we will be asking enough of everybody along the way to donate to it, that we aren't going to use that for additional cash. We want to shake that stigma off. I think this will also help encourage others to get involved.

We will have to run some fund raisers to get it moving. However, things have been happening. Had a 1985 Firebird donated last night just out of the blue. We will evaluate this donation this week and see if we use it for parts, or sell it. It isn't running (appears to have a bad fuel pump), but has perfert T-tops and other goodies that would sell well.

Just keeping the faith people will provide.

We have some of the youth involved and they are pumped.

:thumbsup:

Sounds like a good plan. Have fun and hope your air doesn't get too long LOL.

Thats the first time I have heard the plans of a build say that! lol
Sounds like a great idea though!

That is an awesome thing you guys are doing! Just curious though why not do a raffle and then donate the money recieved to a charitable cause or help fund some missionaries? I thought about building something in the future and then giving it to the church to have a fund raiser to help raise some money for the church. They could use that money to reach more and more people and help those in need better than i could. Anyways great project and look forward to seeing it completed.

God Bless!

Josh

Josh, Good input. We are actually hammering out some of the details of how this has to be done due to tax implications to the receipient, etc. We have a little bit of time to sort it out...so stay tuned, and keep the suggestions coming.


Sounds strange...I know, but keeping it more than reasonable keeps the total cost down and keeps things living longer mounted behind the trans. The weakest link is the ROD 6 that can't support a whole lot of power as well as a T56, etc.

You Tube Video
 

One of our members put this video together using Jeremy Camp's "Take My Life" song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqF8jDB20gI

Updates....
 

I added new pictures to the webpage.

We have a floor pan in the car now...as well as a restored sub-frame and will soon be putting all the steering and suspension together. The A-arms are being powder coated this week. NPD stepped up and gave a huge shot in the arm with the floor and misc. parts to get this front end in order.

We had a 1985 Firebird dontated that we were able to sell. The funds from this plus other donations will help us move forward on the rest of the rear sheet metal.

The front fenders are 95% done.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/ProjectR.html

This project sounds great. good luck

any progress on this yet? i'd love to see some pics

Yes...the floor pan is in the car and the magazine article has been prepared and pending at Pontiac Enthusiast. We had a cool fund raiser and put enough cash together to order the trunk pan, rear body panel, left frame rail, and inner wheel houses. Those are set to be installed on 8/16.

We had a 1985 Firebird donated and were able to sell it last week. We also decided not to install the twin turbo stuff on the car (was going to have to be heavily adapted from the small block chevy stuff to the Pontiac 350) and may have a buyer for it next week. That means we can buy the rear quarter panels in the next week or two.

The sub frame is done. We will focus on getting the rear axle prepped. We have a sponsor from Touring-Classics to do the C5 front brakes as well.

The plan is to have it sitting on four wheels by our large Church car show in November.

We will need to run several more car washes, fund raiser, garage sales...etc to keep it going. Donations are always accepted.

I recently cleaned out my garage through ebay and donated 10% of each item to the project. Every bit of cash helps.

Thanks for asking!

We'll have some picture updates with the trunk pan in soon.

Nice looking project.

i guess i shoulda read the thread before i asked if you had any updates. i saw your website, it's an awesome idea, and i'm a die hard firebird guy, i've got a 67 as well as a 79ta and 89gta. if i was in your area i'd love to help out

That's cool. We are also going to sell the twin turbo set that was donated as we have decided not to go twins and just go n/a for now. The donated system is new and had been purchased for a small block chevy and then the guy decided to go larger and isn't using them.

We are looking to get $550 for what we have. There is a pair of turbos, manifolds, waste gates, then some hardware to connect to a carb. While not new...because they are several years old...everything is new from the perspective the system has never been on a car. He said they would support 600 hp.

I will list those on ebay soon unless somebody here is interested. I can post more info then too.

Okay you've peeked my intetrest - any chance you have pictures ?

The housing says AR 60 Roto Master # 104330
The aluminum housings say Gale Banks
There is no marking on the waste gates.

UPDATE -----

Our friend Mike Knowles' Vintage Motion vintagemotion.tripod.com along with parts substantially donated from www.competitionproducts.com stepped up in a HUGE way and donated time, parts...and all resources to build a killer Pontiac 400 with full roller cam and 6x heads for Project R.

We had the original Poncho 350 and a spare one donated. However, there were issues that couldn't be over come easily using those mils. Mike and Rob located a 400 on Craigslist and after telling the seller about the project were given a 50% discount on it. With that in hand and the spare parts from the other motors they moved forward. Rob found a nice aluminum intake and Holley on ebay that nobody else bid on...so they scored it on the cheap. We have an HEI and a few other things to make this happen.

The engine will be ready to install very soon. The body is coming along. I have an amazing team of volunteers and generous sponsors - venders that have made this a possibility in a time of financial difficulties.

It is amazing how faith in action works. Our next land mark will be to display the car at a show in Bartow, Florida on March 7/8. We hope to have the engine in it then and the whole body in primer - hood and all.

ANYBODY with spare Pontiac parts (still need a driver side door glass) such as motor mounts, water pump...(CASH DONATIONS WORK TOO) - Please contact us.

Here is the motor:

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/1r_engine.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/2r_engine.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/3_r_engine.jpg

Missing update
 

I meant to put this in a while back.

We opted to sell the Turbos to move in a more traditional direction. Done...and done.

We also scored a sweet 3.23:1 2nd gen axle with disc brake (have to cut the spring perch and move them) off Craigslist a few weeks ago.

I have donated my C5 wheels/tires and adapters as they are very close to the rendering wheels. Touring Classics stepped up on the C5 front brakes kit and a local person donated the new RED Z06 calipers. The rear axle had red calipers already on it! Our stock axle was trashed and couldn't be uses at all.

ALL sheet metal is now on hand...and ready to go.

One of our members is out of work and an ex-body guy. He is using his unschedule time off to really move foward on the body.

He is OLD school and leaded the seams...etc. Very cool.

We have opted to go automatic on the trans and have that on the drawing board. We have a body shop committed to spraying it according to the rendering.

I also have some other HUGE news...but am holding off just yet to announce that.

This really is a great story and I cant wait to see how it all turns out in the end. Your time and dedication to this cause is very commendable and I bet the kids in the program are really having fun. You deserve a big :thumbsup:

Almost a year later...with 100% donations...volunteers, fund raisers...and just amazing people stepping up to make it happen.....here she is!

Yesterday we finished the engine bay prep and started the final front clip assembly...THEN....we topped that off by slipping in the warmed up Poncho 400!

We still need to find a suitable front bumper...rear bumper, and some misc outside trim to wrap up the body. The quarter to roof panel is done (in lead of all things) and the ONLY rust left to address is in the upper dash area.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Rbayprep.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/renginein.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Rhoodfit.jpg

AWESOME CAR! I have a 1968 firebird I am restoring, have my pics in my sig. Will be keeping track of this!

It lives!

I guess you could say it is born again....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xddkQMURZDk


The car makes its first "running" debut in Florida at the National Parts Depot show in Ocala this coming weekend. I'm going to fly down and be there with the crew. Very exciting!

Very cool Chris! You all should be very proud of how far you have come!! :thumbsup: