Noob.
 

Hi guys,
As you can see my name is John. I have a 1968 Firebird that I have been flip flopping on the restorod or P-T route. I keep leaning with P-T. I have had this car for about 10 years now, three of which it was driven. Now I am just getting around to working on it, after starting a family and building a garage. This place looks to have a nice mix of car types and real friendly people. Hope there's room for one more!

http://thumb6.webshots.net/t/38/38/1...0iiOIuy_th.jpg

:thumbsup:

Welcome John,what are your plans with the bird?

welcome to the site man looks like a killer car, deff a great car to start off with.

Welcome aboard, John. That will be a great car. :thumbsup:

PLans right now...
I am building a 350 Pontiac engine myself to get the car back on the road. I figured a stock 350 rebuild for my first POntiac would prevent me from destroying a high dollor engine as a learning experience. Behind this engine will be a TH400. Not that I need it, it's just what was handy.
Future plans are for a 500-600HP Pontiac naturally aspirated engine, TKO-600, 17inch wheels, some sort of front subframe upgrade, 4 wheel discs, PS, Trans-Am spoiler, LED lamps all around, Halogen headlights, and all other good stuff.
For paint I keep trying to really describe it. I call it the 1:10:100 rule. I want the car to be dark. So dark that at 100ft you'd swear it was black but you can tell it isn't quite that simple. At ten feet, you can see that it's plainly a deep midnight blue, and there is something else that you can't quite put you finger on. Once you get close enough to see you reflection, you see the ghost flames across the front clip. I want it to be subtle, but bring then in like they were hypnotized.
From the looks of the cars here, I think I have found a great group of folks to learn from and realize my dream for this car. I just wish my original wheel choice was still available (Centerline Lexi 5-spokes in 17").
I like the corner carving route better than the 1380 club. I want to cruise, drive and enjoy the road, not wait 30 min for a ten second run.

Welcome. We love Firebirds, have done a few in the last couple years. Have a 68 coupe and a 69 convertible both in the shop as we speak. Looking over your parts list, I see we have everything you will need, so look forward to hearing from you.

welcome aboard, nice firebird indeed:unibrow:

:woot: More engine parts a rolling in the door. I Might be into final assembly by the end of the month. :thumbsup:
Then comes a quick engine bay clean and detail. This wont be the final build. Just the get it on the road build. In the next few years, I'll solidify my plans and start going from one end to the other. It will be winter projects.
I think I have settled in a new wheel though. I went looking at the budnick site and found the Shock. Now just need to get the rear suspension picked out and order some wheels before these get discontinued too (like Centerline did to me).

WOW! That thing is sweet as it is but once you PT that bad boy it is going to be AWESOME! I love firebirds! You should talk to Frank at Prodigy! He is a great source and can do or provide whatever you need, at a great price I might add, for your project. I was wondering, what are your plans as far as suspension for front and back?

John

Newest update is that I got a local quote on the wheels I want. For the wheels as they appear online, it will be $526 plus 8% tax per wheel. Looks like I'll be saving for a few months to get these.
Other news is that I picked up a M20 4 speed for it and hope to be throwing the combo in place within the next couple weeks. Still hunting parts and having fun. I'll keep you updated.
John

That car would make a great P-T car. I have not seen many Firebirds done that way, so I think people will definately be drawn to the car.

I had a 1970 Firebird in high school that had a 400 BB and a TH400 trans. It did very well at 140 mph, even with lousy air shocks and absurdly large tires in the rear.

I always wished the car had a manual trans, to make use of the monster torque produced by the big Pontiac motor. The TKO-600 is an excellent choice. The one in my 68 Camaro is from a Viper, and I am very happy with it. Its rated at 650 ft-lbs, so it would be just right for your application.

The other great thing about this build is that so many frame and suspension parts made for the Camaro are available. I think they will fit directly. (anybody know for sure?) There were more differences between them in the 70's.

I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

Thanks, I keep working on the car a little here and there, but am just not making lots of progress. The trans that I have is going to need a new input shaft and I might as well rebuild it while it's open.
The shifter I got needs a rebuild too and I'm not sure that the linkage it came with is the right stuff.
I got shamed into cleaning up the engine bay before dropping the new motor and the deeper I get, the more rot I find. My latest purchase was a Miller 140 mig setup and I have been playing with scraps of metal to see if I can do a decent job with it.
I still want the car to be a dark midnight blue pearl and I'm still leaning toward some ghost flames. The flames have to be almost invisible for it to look the way I want it. One other idea I have been toying with is to paint it the same color, mask off for some 69 Trans Am stripes and then pearl the rest of the car. It would really work with a TA spoiler. I know Podigy was working on one for the 67/68 but never heard back if it was finally being produced.
I'll probably get it rendered both ways to decide and to motivate me.
I'm still having fun and not giving up even while things have slowed to a crawl.