Brendon's '67 Firebird thread

[Tuske427]

This weekend I notched my frame to make room for the 17x9.5 rims to fit in the front and have a full range of steering. To keep my frame from becoming fragile, I reinforced the frame inside with 2 ribs on each side. I was able to recycle & re use my old corssmember plates I had cut from the frame when I modified it for the LS engine. I also added two tubes on the passenger side to provide additional support for the idler arm. I also feel good knowing that I've already reinforced the frame in this area in preparation for my engine mounts. With the tubular mounts installed they will box this area in so I think with all this in place the frame should be OK.

[Tuske427]

Here are some additional pics of the passenger side.

I also spent the day today applying the KBS coating to my axle and underside. I had previously purchased their 3 step kit. It looks like good stuff and they'll sell it to me here in CA. (Eastwood won't sell their rust encapsulator to CA residents anymore) It's a little glossier than I wanted, but, it's the bottom of the car and it'll eventually get dirty when I drive it.

[waynieZ]

I'm no engineer but as usual it looks very well done. The bottom of the car and rear look great.

[Tuske427]

Thank you, Wayne! Wow, time does fly. I'm still alive. I had a last minute trip to Hong Kong and China for work for 2 weeks (3 weekends, though), and now it's a month later. I was lucky to get 3 days this weekend to work on the car. I took it off the rotisserie and put it back on the body dolly. I also set the engine back in and mocked up a little more accurate tube layout for the engine mounts, as well as roughed out my adaptor plates. I had bought some in a kit, but I'd like to take advantage of all the bolt holes on the block as I'm locating my engine farther back. I'll draw up a pattern in Illustrator and use it to trim out the plates to give them a little style. I have something in mind... I also bought some DOM tubing today and dropped it off at a local tube bending shop to have parts of it bent. I'll also need to purchase a tube cutting tool so I can make some clean cuts for welding.

Since I'm on hold for that I started to mock up the rear inner wheel wells as I'll be making my own mini tubs. I have the driver side set up, now I just need to slice up a strip of metal and start fitting it in place. Fortunately for me since I'm going to flare out the quarter panels I'll need to modify the outer wheel wells too. This will allow me to correct any imperfections/ errors I might make on the inner wheels wells.

It might be a few weeks again before I get any time to work on this. I am booked this weekend, and the following will be my anniversary. Summers sure are busy...

[ssick chevelle]

awesome work so far. ill be tuning into this project on a regular basis for updates.

[Tuske427]

somehow I missed posting pics of my pvc tubes mocked up...

[Tuske427]

I was able to get a little work done this weekend on the driver inner wheel well mini tub project. First- I got the tubes for my motor mounts back from the pipe shop that bent them. Since there was a price minimum, I had them bend a couple extra just in case. 2 are bent at 37º and the other 2 are at 45º. Even with that I still over paid. Time to buy my own pipe bender... I'll start that project after I receive my pipe notcher from the Eastwood co.

So I was able to weld up the strip of metal I cut to fit the inner wheel well and have it roughly welded in place. It fit pretty well. I had only one area that bubbled out on me and a quick slice to the side fixed that. I still need to go over some areas and then do some trimming on the inside, but all in all I'm very happy with the result. I also made a frame rail piece that follows the contour of the mini tub- wow, it was amazing how much that strengthened up the back end of this car. It's been in pieces for so long I have forgotten what a solid car feels like. Every time I'd roll it in and out of the garage it would shake and rattle like jello, and it's finally doing less and less. A good feeling of accomplishment...

Next weekend is our wedding anniversary so I won't be working on the car.

[waynieZ]

Nice job it looks great.

[Tuske427]

Thank you, Wayne!

This weekend I was able to resume on the car. I was able to finish up welding the driver side inner wheel well and I started the passenger side. I ran out of welding gas today so I was not able to finish welding it. I'll have to do that next weekend. I used the remainder of the day today to start cutting the tubes to make my engine mounts. I had to shim the body dolly and then shim the engine to get it centered and level, but the lesson I learned today was that I should have located the car in the garage farther so I could shut my garage door without disturbing it. I didn't- so I will have to do all that again next weekend.

The last pic I took shows a gap from the tubing to the dr side frame rail. When I position the tube correctly, that gap goes away. It was the only pic I had in this view...

[Tuske427]

This past Friday and Sat I worked on my car. I was able to finish up the passenger side inner fender and get some progress on my engine mounts.

I was able to use my new Eastwood tubing notcher and it worked quite well. Of course, it makes a big mess as I'm using a lot of oil to keep the blade cool.

It took a lot of grinding, test fitting, grinding more, etc. to get them to fit. I first welded them with that "worm bead" and it looked more like gummy worms, so I went over them with spot welding for a cleaner look. I also made some gussets for added strength. Now all I need to do is make the plates that connect to the tube I'll use to trap the engine mount bolts.

What's funny is the pvc tubing I used still fit. I guess I made them accurate, or consistent, to my mock ups...

I also need to make a little more trimming for the engine before it goes back in.