1970 Firebird - Pro Touring Project
 

Well guys, I finished the 1970 Trans Am and I didn't know what to do with myself. I was on craigslist about 3:00am the other night and this popped up. I immediately went to the bank the next morning, loaded the trailer, and drove up to north Georgia to buy it. The previous owner was a body shop guy with 29 years experience. He was planning to build the car for himself but ran out of money and had to move to Florida. He was unloading all his car stuff. He had already finished all the sheet metal work and the car was in primer. I have not been able to find any rust anywhere on the car and the original factory red oxide primer can be seen in a lot of places. I was really shocked at the condition of the car. Not to mention it still had the original numbers matching drive train, even though it was only a Pontiac 350 Esprit.

His plan was to restore it as a Formula 400 clone so he had an original 1970 Formula 400 hood on the car ($1000 by itself) and the rear spoiler. What a perfect car for a pro touring build!

My first plan of action.... DSE Tubs and DSE Quadralink :)... Then in goes the cage 8)

Enjoy the build



-JW

looks like a great pallet jw.

Welcome to the site. Glad to see another 2nd gen here. Where in Ga are you?

Looks like a great starting point. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Looks great! As far as 2nd gen's go, Formula is my favorite.

In the mid 90's I was lucky enough to buy one of those hoods from our high school janitor for $50. It's surprisingly heavy!

WOW!! That's a solid car!
400 stroker? You know you wanna.... Forged rods, crank, pistons, HR cam.... 8,000 rpm! WHAT??!!!

Well after countless hours researching rear end suspension designs and reading several chassis and suspension books I have decided to go with the Speedtech Torque Arm setup on the rear of this car and the Track Time package.

http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...prod/prd50.htm

Wilwood Aero 6 Big Brakes

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/Bra...%20Brake%20Kit

Speedway Mod Lite Ford 9 Inch Floater

http://www.1speedway.com/Floater_Rear_Ends.htm

If you order direct from Strange (recommended) they will have all the information that you will need for your brakes ( mounting flange and offset) and floater as not all are created equal. The pro- touring kit looks good.

Yeah good idea. I can just have it shipped to BMR so they can weld on the brackets for the Torque arm setup.

Just one thing to consider before you finalize this plan (from someone who has one). Make a plan for your exhaust routing before you commit. I run dual 3" pipes under the car and all the way out to the back. The Torque Arm prevents you from tucking the pipes into the driveshaft tunnel. For clearance on mine, about 1/2 of the intermediate pipes was re-made from oval tubing to add clearance.

Note that I don't have the BMR setup, but I don't think it will offer a lot more clearance in the tunnel. I also have a Watt's Link which added to the complexity. You will have to deal with some of that with any coilover setup as compared to the original leafs though...

This said, I like my Torque Arm setup. It just adds to the complexity of exhaust routing and ever having to remove the driveshaft...