Project Frankenbird - 1968 Pontiac Firebird
 

Here is my project car. It's a 1968 Pontiac Firebird 350 car. No engine came with it, which is OK with me. It has a 3-speed toploader transmission, which is not going back in it. Here are my plans:

Lots-o-metalwork - new floor pan, fenders, inner fenders, fender extensions, valence, outer rear wheelhouses, mini tubs, and at least one rear quarter. Worst case, also the roof, trunk pan, and other rear quarter. Still debating to put a 69 T/A hood on it. We'll see.

New floor pan is the first thing I want to get done. After that, I'm tempted to have the car acid dipped and epoxy primed. There is a company right nearby that does this, albeit a bit pricy at $2600. This will tell me exactly what else I need to replace. I figure this will allow me to make a full judgment on what metal needs replacing.

After that, I'm hoping for an Art Morrison front clip and DSE Quadralink rear for chassis.

As for drivetrain, somewhere between an LS3 and LS9 (depending on funds left at that point), attached to a T56 Magnum 6-speed. Rear end is TBD, but I plan to mount black-chrome ZR1 wheels on the end of it!

The interior is still unplanned, but I plan to keep the dash with only the 2 5" gages set in an Anvil carbon fiber dash. 4 more gages set in the console.

Still a lot of details to be ironed out, but I expect this to take 2-3 years as a minimum as I want to do as much work on my own as I can.

First priority is to get 230V to my garage, buy a welder, and get a bigger compressor.

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By the way, lots of parts for sale!

Seats (driver, passenger, and rear)
Hood
Front Subframe with everything you see attached in the latest pictures
Rear End
Transmission (3-speed top loader)
Dash and gages

.... just ask.

Pure awesomness...:thumbsup:

Looks like a good start.

Awesome! Your project and mine have a lot in common. Almost too much, ha ha I look forward to seeing your progress

Sweet another firebird for me to watch. I'll be interested to see what you decide about dipping the car. I've read a lot of mixed feelings about it.

I've nearly finished taking the car apart. Everything is off the firewall, front subframe is off, and interior is taken apart. I need to take out the passenger rear glass, take off the doors, and pull a few more interior bits out. Then, it's just the rear end and glass.

I'm still debating next steps. Obviously it needs a floor pan. It also needs inner and outer wheel wells and some portion of quarter panels, amongst other repairs or replacements. Even so, I'm leaning towards doing a chemical dip and e-coat dip before starting in on the metal.

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I looked into that chemical dip, eCoat place in Michigan. yep - 2500 for the bare body. I believe - and I could be wrong - they said do all the metal work before bringing them the car. Just a thought...

I'm not so sure it's worth paying for the chemical dip. Have you read this project thread:
https://lateral-g.net/forums/show...t=26338&page=3

Hopefully him not being in California will allow him access to shops with stronger chemicals.

Long time and no updates. Work got crazy and is just starting to normalize. Anyway, car is fully disassembled. Quarters are partially removed. MIG welder is here. Car is just temporarily braced. Full bracing should be in place in the next week or 2. Since I'm new to bodywork, I'm struggling with a game plan. While the quarters are off, I'm going to do the mini tubs. After that, I'm kind of stumped. Should I replace the quarter before removing the floorpan? Should I buy the trunk lid first and use for quarter fitment? There are a few dents with creases in the roof. Should I replace that while I'm at it? What about shaving the window gutters? I guess that's the fun part about the first time.

Anyway, based on the recent Art Morrison video, I'm thinking about going full AME chassis (triangulated 4- bar rear). I was always planning on their front clip, so not too much of a change. I love the new Dakota Digital VHX Analog gauges. Those will be going into the Anvil dash. Remaining dash will be wrapped in CF vinyl and black leather. Transmission is still up in the air. Since I work for ZF, I'm going to see if I can get a 2nd gen 6HP or maybe even an 8HP in their. The 6HP in my previous car shifted so fast I think it would better fit my intentions as a uber high performance driver. We'll see. T56 is not a bad fall back plan. Good news is I don't think I'll need a new trunk floor pan. Bad news is I probably need a new cowl.

As for final color - I'm between two. Since I'm planning to do CF hood and trunklid, I would love for some to show through. I think pearl white with Scuderia style stripes would look awesome. Otherwise, I'll probably go midnight metallic blue like I did on my last 'Bird. Always loved the color. That's a long way off, so I'm likely to change my mind several times before I actually get it painted.

My goals are as follows:
1.) Metalwork done over winter (except AME rear fab work).
2.) Chem dip with e-coat done late winter / early spring.
3.) Buy AME chassis (at least rear but hopefully front as well) late spring
4.) Finish bodywork / paint next winter
5.) Purchase engine / transmission (next spring)
6.) Finished (fall 2012)

Given that I have about 30-40k miles of flying planned by end of year, we'll see what happens.

Any input / feedback / thoughts would be appreciated.

Moving along...
 

So I'm plugging along as I get time. Most panel removal is complete. The problem is that the more I pull off, the more I want to replace. Ugh. Drip rails weren't that concerning, but now I think I'm going to replace the trunk pan. It's solid, but pitted way more than I expected. I went at it with a rust remover pad on my grinder, made a big mess, but not much progress on the rust. The main problem is that I want to do a AME rear suspension and am starting to worry about getting the panels lined back up. Especially as I keep pulling off panels! Anyone have any experience with this? Any input would be much appreciated.

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As I'm doing my car, I'm trying to fix one area at a time. This way, the rest of the car is still there to support and align things.

Because most of yours is apart, I recomment a lot of cleckos and sheet metal screws to temporarily put it back together before you weld everything up. The current and last month's issue of Car Craft covers a shop rebodying a 68 mustang coupe into a fast back. Many of the technical "how to" may be of help for you.

I hope this is helpful

Keep the pics coming!

Doesn't look like they braced too much, just fit everything with screws. Makes me feel better as I want to get the floors and mini tubs done while the car is apart.

I'm starting to wish I just saved and bought a Dynacorn shell. Although I'd still end up hacking it apart to do the mini tubs and rear suspension. I hope once I'm finished, I feel like I made the right decision.

Looks like you got your hands full, whatever you do, don't give up.Try to weld braces to keep the rest of it in shape. Post more pics of the progress.If you need a good deal on AMD sheetmetal,let me know, I'll hook you up.:cheers:

Got the roof and quarters from Classic Industries thanks to the 20% off coupon. Roof appears to fit good just loosely placed. Likely not going to get far until the new year. It's off to Germany tonight for the 8th time this year. Ugh. Got some naval jelly to start rust removal but now it's too cold too rinse off. May go back to the acid dip route so I can start hanging sheet metal. We shall see.

Happy holidays to all.

I held mine together with screws so I could adjust if i needed. I used a laser level for ceilings to make sure my panels were all in the same plane as my rockers and then measured side to side and square then welded it up slowly with a bunch of tacks to start and then when it all fit just right I did the final welding. The laser showed me where to raise or lower the rear of the panels to keep them from sagging dowm wich they wanted to do naturally it seemed. The shape of the rear quarter even looked better when it was lifted in the rear to make the body line all the same.

I never used any bracing inside and the measurements never changed, I didn't use a rotisserie which definately requires bracing. When all of the gaps and lines look right it doesn't matter if the car shifted the way I see it, the car could have been off from the factory and cause you problems trying to line things up that will never be right till you shift the car.

I would replace that trunk pan if it was me, but if not you better get something on it like POR or something to stop it forever.

:cheers:

Last business trip of the year is done! A new record for me though. 129k miles on Delta. Hopefully next year isn't quite so hectic.

Anyway, on to the car. I got the drip rails and roof test fitted. Just sheet metal screws for now as I wasn't sure how to position the drip rails. The drip rails seem to be in pretty much the right spot (driver side may need to slide forward just a touch). The passenger side roof corner at the A-pillar doesn't seem to fit too well. Maybe some trimming is in order? I can squeeze it down flush but it is TIGHT. Also, the roof to drip rail support on the driver side is a bit off it seems. I'm hoping that sliding it forward helps that and putting in a few more sheet metal screws to really hold everything in place.

I also threw one of my G8 summer wheels under there for some inspiration. Looks good!

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Adjusted the drip rails a bit and I'm pretty happy with the roof fitment. Also, first VERY ROUGH placement of drivers quarter. Still cleaning up around rear panel and filler panel before it will fit correctly and hopefully relatively easily.

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I also ordered nearly everything else I need to put the back half of the car back together. After it's all installed, I'll probably pick up the rear suspension and install that before moving on to the floorpan / front end.

Got a nice delivery from Classic Industries today. Inner Cowl, DSE Firewall Fill plate, outer wheelhouses, tail panel and brace, rear valence, full trunk panel and side panels. Nearly everything I need to have a complete shell from the firewall back. I feel like a Firebird parts warehouse!

Still need floorpan, Anvil trunklid, and dash panel to finish the shell. That will be ordered after the Speedtech rear suspension I'm planning to order late February timeframe. Trying to get as many parts around me as possible so that I'm never waiting on them. Now it just needs to warm up in my garage!

Looking good! Firebirds are popping up on here more often now

Nice Project! :thumbsup:

Keep up the good work.

Yup. This is my second 1st gen 'Bird. I thought I posted my original one, but I guess not, so here it is. I miss what a solid car that was. Didn't have to deal with all this damn rust!

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Just picked up an Anvil CF spoiler! :thumbsup:
Looking forward to it getting here. I hope this is the first of many CF parts. I would like to have CF trunk, hood, front spoiler, and inner fenders, but we will see. The hood is the big question mark as I'm not sure Anvil plans to make it anymore. We'll see.

Metalworking is going slow because it's too damn cold in the garage. Just accumulating parts it seems. Next up is rear suspension. Speedtech complete with 9". Should order in late Feb / early March. Hopefully by that time it's warm enough to pick up the pace in the garage.

Stay tuned.

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Diet Spoiler. :thumbsup:

Nice.... Like the G8 GT too!

Nice piece Brian! You are not gonna cover that up with paint are you?
I might be coming for a NTC visit here in Feb, hope we can meet in person.

Cool project.

Hey Aaron, I may or may not be here. Work travel is picking up again. If not, I'll be up in Lapeer every other week or so anyway.

Hope you're ready for the snow!

So I think I found a solution to get my car blasted and primed. I found a company that will pick up, blast, prime, and drop off my car for around $1200-1300. Not bad. Half the price of chemical strip and e-coat.

Anyone recommend a primer to use after blasting? They proposed Kem Kromic as a mid-grade primer. This is just really for the inner structure as I really just want something tough and that will seal well.

Great progress :thumbsup:

Brian, who did you find to do the blasting? I've been looking too. I talked to Ron at www.alternativemediablasting.com. He seemed knowledgable about automotive body blasting. Prices as around the $1k without priming. Think he is in Brighton area. You can shoot me a pm if you'd like.
Gonna make it to Autoramma? I'm planning on it.

Nice project !

Hoping to go to Autorama with a guy from work. I think I saw on here that some people were going to meet up before hand and have dinner in Greektown. May do that. We should meet up.

I found Michigan Sand Blasting. Guy said he's done about 1000 cars in the last ~ 30 years. They seem to have lots of options for media and primer. I think just blasting my car was $700-900. Keep in mind I don't have much car to blast right now! :lol: :lol: They are in Redford, and they guy also will pick up and drop off which helps since I don't have a trailer. They charge $60 / hr to pick up and drop off which isn't bad. I'm only about 25 minutes from them so about $60 each way should cover it. They need the car for a couple of days to do it, which will also allow me to clean out my garage! :thumbsup:

That place looks like a top notch place. Been to their website before, but didn't see much on autobodies. Good to know for more options. I am having someone put quarters on mine and he said he'd clean it up an prime after blasting. He uses a "wash primer" or something like that.
I hear you on the garage cleanout. Mine is trashed after cutting, welding, grinding on my frame when I narrowed it and boxed it. I need to get the LS1 and T56 in and mocked up so I can build the mounts now.
We are off on a snowday today, got hit pretty good last nite/today.
I'll let you know about Autoramma, not sure what day I'm going yet. Somebody told me early Sunday is a good time.

Blasted and primed
 

Car was blasted and primed at Michigan Sand Blasting. They came and picked up the car last Monday, blasted, primed, and returned the car today. It was blasted with Starlite and primed with Kem Kromik primer. Didn't go with epoxy simply because there is still a lot of metal to remove and the extra cost just didn't make sense. Very happy with the blast and prime - perfect for what I needed. Overall no real surprises except that the rockers are also swiss cheese.

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Looks good Brian. Happy with the service there? I may have to give them a call, gettin close to sending mine to Tony's. Hopefully in April. I can't wait until mine is all one color.

Back from your trip yet? Talking assembly machines tomorrow with your counterparts. :cool:

They did pretty good. They blasted to clean metal. Not sure ifiduse the starlite on a whole car with big flat panels as it's maybe a bit aggressive. They can use just about any media though, like walnut or soda. They can also do a combination like walnut then only starlite the rust out. They seem to know their stuff.

I may be up there tomorrow too. We'll see. Been a crazy couple of weeks.

renderings!
 

I am getting my rendering done by Shawn Mascoll and I just got some samples to share. The biggest point for me was to get an impression of the wheels (I love the way they look here) and get some guidance on color. I was debating whether to stay with the blue like my last Firebird, or go a bit wilder with a green color.

The blue will get darkened a bit for the final rendering, more like the old Fathom Blue Metallic color from 68 Chevy's. I am going with this and chrome trim for the final rendering.

The green color is Peridot Green Metallic from the new Porsche Cayman R. I love this color. Someday I will paint a car that color!

These are just the color samples, so the lighting / details are still being adjusted. Still, this is damn cool!

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Thoughts and comments welcome...

I like the 2nd green one

Greeeeeennnn, do it Brian, green, you want it eventually, why not now? Do it, green with the silver/brushed/chrome wheels. Go green, everybody's "going green", right?

Hey, I like the green.