68 firebird build
 

I'm working on a 1968 firebird. this is my first every build, so I'm learning as I go along. She's been sitting on jackstands in the garage since 2005, the kids are older now so now its time start this project back up. Long story short, I just don't have the space to pull the front clip off, the motor out, and the subframe out, I have a really small garage, but hey it beats working in the rain. oh, and I'm working on a pretty tight budget. progress so far: ( I apologize if the pics are kinda crappy, I use an iphone camera)

the wife was starting to use it as a shelf, didn't like that too much,
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q.../firebird2.jpg

took the control arms off
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q.../firebird3.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q.../firebird4.jpg

took them to work, blasted them, primed and painted them with eastwood chassis paint, installed poly bushings, new ball joints, and new upper shafts.
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...ndog/upper.jpg

Did the Guldstrand mod to both sides
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/gmod.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/3.jpg

covered up the front end and cleaned the subframe with flap disks, wire brushes, anything that would help me do the job.
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/1-2.jpg

painted the top of the wheelhouses since I had the front end masked up
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...enderwell2.jpg

once the frame was as clean as I could get it, I hit it with a couple coats of eastwood chassis primer then a couple coats of eastwood chassis paint.
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...og/painted.jpg

Now its time for reassembly, just put the control arms on last night on both sides
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...reassembly.jpg

so that's where I'm at right now. I've got hotchkis/bilstein shocks, hotchkis 2 inch lowering springs, global west subframe connectors and solid body mounts, and hotchkis sway bar yet to be installed. I'll be ordering some disk brakes over the next week or two to tie this front end up. More to come....

Nice progress. It looks good.

Hotchkis sway bar finally arrived today, I installed it (after I went to my local gm restoration shop to get the sway bar bushing bolts which I had tossed, thought this came with new bolts), then I just mocked it up on the endlinks for pics. this thing is huge, way bigger than the stock piece.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...og/swaybar.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/swaybar2.jpg

Looking great! It's always good to see a Firebird being built up.

One tip for the next time you paint an engine bay or other irregular surface- use aluminum foil for masking off the areas you want covered. it's cheap (buy the generic) and conforms to many shapes. It can save some time versus wrapping up the paper and reduction in tape. I hope this helps!

That's actually a great tip, I'll use that idea in the future, thanks

Nice progress and welcome to lat-g. I was following your build on p-t as well. Did you have any issues with drilling the holes for the g-mod? I just did it on my 'bird last week and was wondering about the curved section on the rear hole. It gave me a little trouble.....

It went pretty well for me, second side was easier because I used more drills and stepped up more gradually than the first side, other than a drill bit getting caught up here and there it went ok. I think it was more of a pain to cut the old holes off, plus that was the scary part, no turning back after you've cut those bad boys out, LOL. what kind of problems were you having?

Update: as of now, I'm pretty much at a stand still on the front suspension until I get my brakes ordered, which should be within the next two weeks. so I'll direct my attention to the interior until then. I had started changing everything over from that aqua color to black before she went into hibernation. I bought new carpet for the doors, used the primer and paint for interior pieces and what not, started cleaning everything up, etc...... I'll post up some pics of the interior later on tonight of where its at right now.

[QUOTE=68firebird;286005]It went pretty well for me, second side was easier because I used more drills and stepped up more gradually than the first side, other than a drill bit getting caught up here and there it went ok. I think it was more of a pain to cut the old holes off, plus that was the scary part, no turning back after you've cut those bad boys out, LOL. what kind of problems were you having?
QUOTE]

I guess I did not use a very good drill bit to make my pilot hole, because it slipped a little. I was able to get it going in correctly, it just took longer than I thought it would. I'm using Global west upper control arms, so I did not need to cut out the stock holes on mine...:cheers:

Last night I was able to hang the centerlink, tie rods and sleeves and the steering arms. NOW I have to wait to order brakes, definitely in a holding pattern on the front suspension until then.

I'll focus my attention on the interior for a bit until the brakes come in. 4 years ago this was pretty much how I left it, time to get back at it. I had swapped the aqua colored seats for black ones with some guy I work with. I think I'm gonna use the stock back seat, but use better seats for the front, recaros or something like that. I have been changing the whole interior over from that aqua color to black. all panels have been primed and painted with the GM interior paint, I had started putting the new carpet on the door panels.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/int.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/dash.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/backseat.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q.../doorpanel.jpg

Well, I changed my mind with what brakes I'm going with. I was gonna get a complete kit, new spindles, single piston calipers, 11 inch rotors, etc..., but I've decided to go with LS1 brakes off a camaro. I figure it'll be easier to replace pads or rotors in the future this way, as well as it'll stop better with 2 piston calipers. I bought a used set of complete calipers tonight for a good price. so I guess you can say that its an official move at this point, LOL. can't get the pic bigger with it pixelating too much.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q94/rayndog/tn-1.jpg

and this is the kit that I'll be buying to do the install.

http://i.ebayimg.com/09/!B,!C-2Q!Wk~...gS8lLQ~~_3.JPG

So I've already blasted, primed and painted the drivers side spindle, I'll do the passengers side tomorrow, and I've looked into a machine shop to turn the hubs a bit so the LS1 rotors will fit over it.

haven't posted in a month or so. Here's where I'm at:

Suspension is in...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/bc470cbe.jpg

Disc Brakes are on:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/12866dcb.jpg

These are the rims I'm using, 92 camaro rims, I painted graphite and put some firebird logos.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/4a4f33e9.jpg

started putting the global west solid body mounts in last night, the radiator support ones are being a pain to get the old ones out, I might try and tackle that tonight. also trying to fit tires on this.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/e7dc29ae.jpg


Its been a while since I visited and posted progress on this, mainly because its been a while since I worked on the car. money ran dry for a while, so I kinda got disgusted and stopped for a bit. BUT, I've started working on it again!! thanks to my 6 year old daughter for giving me motivation (she wants to go to cruise nights in it, LOL)

back in '10 I had picked up a pair of tires for the camaro rims labeled front, put them on and realized they weren't gonna work.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/c8fbe4ef.jpg

so after figuring a bunch of the backspacing out I though that the front rims would work better in the back and the back rims better in the front with a tad smaller tire on them ( the rims labeled "rear" stuck out to far, so the tire was hitting the lip of the fender) thats where I left off it '10. this past week I ended up picking up a pair of tires off craigslist for $50 to finally see if my theory will work, and I actually think it will. wont' know till I get it on the road, but from how it sits it might just make it.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/79a7eb3f.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/fa015fda.jpg

I'm also needing a new master cylinder since I put disk on the front, hopefully be ordering that in a week or so.

In the meantime, I would really like to get to a cruise night with my daughter this year in this car, so I'm gonna put some new gaskets on and some fresh fluids and start her up. I know its not the prettiest motor out there, but it sure runs good! maybe over the winter I could pull the motor and clean it up and rebuild it. I would love to drop an LS motor in, but on a tight budget that is nearly impossible.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/d5db136f.jpg


OH, and now I need a new low profile jack to get under the car. since it sits so low I can't get my old craftsman under the subframe, LOL.

Rene great to hear that you are making some progress on the Bird! Aweosme your daughter wants to go for a ride so get the car running :)

Thanks geberhard.

Engine is going back together, once it's running and the brakes are fully working I'll pull it into the driveway and PowerSpray the bottom half of the motor.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/4b7214db.jpg

Had the motor running today! Super excited! Just have a few things to fix, like leaky fuel filter, leak at a power steering fitting, and new belts, other than that it's running great, even with the old fuel that was in there. Gotta get the brakes fix ASAP, really gettin the bug now!!!

good for you, remember a running project car is better than a nonrunning one!!!!

Rene, awesome progress man, keep it coming!! I need some motivation too :)

Here's a small clip of it running, i'll post a link up in case the video doesn't show up.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4tj-HRsZKh8

Also mounted the autometer tach into the stock bezel. I now need to pick up a speedometer for the other side. Also ordered a new fuel filter to replace the leaky one on there now.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/061b6da1.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/2845ab01.jpg

Fixed it for ya. Dave and Curtis are too busy today...

Thank you;)

Out of curiosity, you guys that use autometer guages in place of stock how do you wire in your turn signal indicator lights? do you just put an LED in and wire to that? same with the high beam indicator? One thing that I am very scared to screw up is the electrical, definitely not in my wheelhouse, and wiring in these guages is got me a bit nervous, LOL.

small update, got my hotchkis/bilstein shocks in today. also took apart the rear drums to put new shoes and hardware in, but I don't think the drums and wheel cylinders are good enough to use, I'll have to pick some up.

is that a glass fuel filter, you should replace it, with plastic one,

sounds great, smooth, nice and quiet!!

Thank you, Yea I already replaced it with an aluminum one by Russell. The glass one had started to leak. It is pretty quiet considering it has headers and a flowmaster exhaust. I have to adjust the carb, exhaust smells like its running rich.

cool, I've heard of them leaking, I never had it happen to me, but I heard stories, and of course headers and gas don't mix well,

couple of carb adjustment you'll be good, sound good,

like i said in a different post, running project beats a nonrunner, next week I'm going to try t get my Nova running,

yep no doubt, the stupidest thing I could have done was take too much of the car apart and not be able to drive it over the last 6 years!! I read a post a few years ago after I discovered the forums, I believe it was by mary pozzi, and she said to never take your car off the road for a length of time, most times it stays off the road, and she was definitely right in my case. Now I've been struggling to get the money and time to put everything back to get it running again. Hoping she'll be at least road worthy by the end of summer to hit a few cruise nights and car shows.

Just placed a small order with summitracing.com:

5 inch autometer phantom in dash speedometer
2 1/16 inch phantom fuel level guage
2 rear drums.

quick $270 gone LOL.

when your looking for parts, watch the fourms here and pro-touring, the high rollers let some good stuff go for cheap when there plans change trying to keep up with the Jones,

HAHAHA, I love how you put that!! thanks for the tip!

summit order will be in thursday night sometime, after that I can put the rear brakes together. last night I started into something I've been not wanting to do, try and fix this mess!!

this is the mess of wires I have to figure out, some of it I know what its from because I had put the 3 gauges in, but I have to put black wire for the negative wiring, I didn't do that on initial install a few years back. The nest behind the radio I have no idea what's what yet.
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/5ebd0102.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/0cc16597.jpg

all that was on this pic below was some electrical tape, and it wasn't even a good tape job, kinda scary LOL, and of course of the course of a dozen years the tape started to fall off. I'm not that best at this and I could have done it better the first time around!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/0206c998.jpg

and there's some wires that I had just thrown some blades on for the gauges a few years back and wedged them on the side of the glass fuses, I have to figure out whats the best wires to splice into for the power to these gauges now that I have a tad more knowledge than I did back then.

should be fun!

Is there a company out there that just makes a blade fuse block to put in place of the glass fuse block? I'd love to get rid of the glass fuses.

ahhhh, but its true,

I have bought almost everything for my car from here, minus the Ricks Tank, Fikse wheels, and the G-bar rear-end kit,

you'd have to update the harness, to change the fuse box, just find a switched power wire, and get rid of the wire under the fuses, get yourself some butt connectors and heatshrink, put them together,

out of curiosity, why would the harness have to be updated?

nothing really too exciting, but I got the rear brakes together, waiting on the drums which come in thursday. still have to order the master cylinder, should be very soon. I wanna pull this out of the garage and into the driveway to do interior work, lighting sucks in the garage!

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/2d9528ec.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/c363ae12.jpg

i used leds in my buick with aftermarket gauges in the dash, worker pretty good.

out of curiosity, why would the harness have to be updated?


I personally dont know a way of intergrating a new style push in fuse box to the old style GM harness,

Since I'm going LSX motor in my car, I'm getting a www.americanautowire.com harness, but that would be down the road for you,

I'll worry about the fuse block at a later date, I want this on the road by sept.

Ordered gas struts and ball studs today to do the trunk mod that someone linked to me on teamCamaro.com. My torsion bars are crap.

Here's the link to the thread for the gas struts. http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=169354

Great Plan, been doing a little work to my Nova, cleaned up the interior, prepping the floor to fix a couple holes, one is where the 4 spd shifter came thru, add some dynamat xtreme, installing the old carpet, and mounting the Scat Procars, Like to get it running in August, then update to the Wilwoods on the front,

Yes!! sounds great. I'm sick of having this thing sitting in the garage instead of taking it to cruise nights!!! shipment from summit arrives tonight, very excited, LOL.

and thats what we call "Christmas in July" !!!

got the speedo and tach in, they look good. I've figured out how to run the led's for the signals, just gotta find the best place for them, not much room here for that, LOL. also got the drums painted and on. The fuel level guage will go in once I get a chance to make a 4 gauge holder. can't seem to find one, the biggest I can find is 3.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/0e37acfe.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...g/1a6205e9.jpg