I got side tracked on this Firebird project by working on my 67 Camaro. What started as a small project of replacing the rear springs and shocks quickly developed into cutting out the whole trunk floor, drop offs, frame rails, torque boxes etc. due to rust. I knew the back of the car would eventually need attention because of rust but once I started cutting out the old springs and found the torque boxes rusted out where the spring pockets bolt in I knew I was in much deeper than I wanted to be but reluctantly ordered new sheet metal.
While working on the Camaro as time between customer projects allowed I had a heart attack which stopped progress on both cars completely. Had an operation to install a couple stents in my heart and the docs said I better take it easy for a month to let the heart muscles heal. So the bad news is both car projects came to a temporary halt but the good news is I'm still alive and someone didn't have to come post about my demise in this thread. I've been expecting a heart attack due to my age and family history so it wasn't a surprise. I have older and younger cousins who've had up to 9 stents and others who had quadruple bypass surgery. No disruption to Lab-14 and no shipping delays. All items (including some new ones) are currently in stock
www.lab-14.com
I did get a small project done for the Firebird before the heart attack I can share. I blasted and painted the headlight assembly parts which is kinda boring by itself if they're stock but since I have special headlights and protective screens they're a bit different and even if you saw pics of my car before I took it apart for this project you probably didn't see the light modifications so I'll share them now.
About 10 years ago I decided I wanted to use the front parking light/turn signal openings for brake ducts. So I bought some plastic halogen headlights with built in LED park/turn lights from a hot rod supplier. This was back before all the crazy headlight options we have now. The lights themselves required modifying the headlight mounts and wiring, they're not a simple swap. I also wanted to avoid having to put blue tape over my headlights for road track days as required by some tracks and like the look of screens. So I bought some stainless headlight screens made for off road Jeeps and modified them so I could use them on my bird. Then I cut pieces out of some extra stock grills to use in the park/turn openings so they'd appear kinda factory looking.
