1969 Firebird Project - SR71

[Josh69]

Along with the DSE 2" drop rear leafs, I went with a set of Hotchkis 2" drop BBC front springs. I probably could've used SBC springs, but figured the Pontiac mill weighed about in the middle of the two. I went for the firmer rate and could probably stand to cut a half a coil out, it sits a little higher in the front than I'd like but still has a bit of rake to it. I chose not to use coilovers because there just isn't enough spring to do the job with these heavy motors. I chose Speed Tech's tubular upper control arms with del-a-lum bushings and performed the Gulstrand mod in conjuction with these. Since I wasn't doing coilovers, I had the original LCA's powdercoated and installed del-a-lum bushings as well. I also used Koni single adjust shocks front and rear. I've had good luck with these in my past BMW's. To round out the front suspension, I picked up a 1-1/8" hollow Hotchkis sway bar.

Since I wasn't thrilled with the design of the Firebird steering linkage, I switched to a Camaro set up and had the center link powdercoated, along with the steering arms. I picked up the complete front end rebuild kit from DSE with all the MOOG goodies, etc. I painted the stock drum spindles with cast iron paint after the local machine shop drilled and threaded them for the Wilwood brackets. I also picked up a reman'd Iroc Z high ratio steering gear from the local parts house and a set of Lee's hose adapters to use the original rebuilt power steering pump.

I got one of the initial sets of 6-piston Wilwoods with the 12.2" rotors from Frank and had them shipped out in Red. I used a matching set of rear 4-piston Wilwoods with the Explorer style E-brake and the Wilwood billet manual master cylinder. I used stainless hard lines from Inline Tubing and braided lines with the Wilwood prop valve, and finished it off with a Lokar E-brake cable set.