1969 Firebird Project - SR71

[vannatta20]

Awesome build! I have been thinking about changing my interior to white as well. I bought camaro 4th gen seats that are white leather and i think it will turn out all right.

[Josh69]

I've got some updates coming so I'll post up pictures as I go.

The car is getting the following:

KRE 260cfm Aluminum D port heads, bowl blended and port matched, 2.08/1.66 valves
Isky 224/232 @ .050 cam, .528/.533 lift with PRW Stainless steel 1.65 Rockers
Quick Fuel 735VS carb w/gasoline tune
Vintage A/C
Covan's Thunder Road black ABS dash insert
Auto Meter American Muscle gauges
Alpine CD player, 6.5" components in a set of Screamin' Performance fiberglass kick panels
DSE Wipers
Modo Innovations pedal cover set

I decided to get rid of E85 in order to run an aftermarket EFI system when my budget allows


WOOT!

[67rstbkt]

Awesome car Quick question about the steering. You said that you would rather go with the Camaro setup over the Firebird. Why? I ask becaus I bought a Camaro subframe last year and it came with all new components. I was thinking about using the steering setup, but noticed that the Firebird center link appears to be lower. Can you provide more details? Did you use the Camaro tie rods and the Firebird center link?

Thanks

[Josh69]

Originally Posted by 67rstbkt

Awesome car Quick question about the steering. You said that you would rather go with the Camaro setup over the Firebird. Why? I ask becaus I bought a Camaro subframe last year and it came with all new components. I was thinking about using the steering setup, but noticed that the Firebird center link appears to be lower. Can you provide more details? Did you use the Camaro tie rods and the Firebird center link?

Thanks

I did so because it's easier and cheaper to replace the tie rods with Camaro parts in the event of a failure. I used a '69 Camaro centerlink, idler arm, and tie-rods. I used the stock Firebird steering arms and spindles (s/b the same as Camaro parts, the arms could differ but not likely). You will also need a '68 Firebird pitman arm because it's curved to fit around the headers. The Camaro pitman is straight and will hit the exhaust. The Firebird centerlink is not serviceable, meaning the balljoints cannot be repaired, you need a whole new centerlink if it fails. The Camaro part is just a bar with tapered holes for the joints, so much simpler. Plus, the Pontiac part is crap and was designed terribly. There is what is referred to as a 'tight' joint on one end of it to give it just enough play to not bind, but is not actually a balljoint, and that is the reason it's not serviceable. Using all new parts, the cost is about the same. I had the used Camaro centerlink and my steering arms and spindles powdercoated. Everything else was new. The '68 pitman wasn't cheap at around $130, but spending $300 on a '69 Firebird centerlink was less appealing, much less so dealing with a repair. This car is a driver, so it was worth it to make the change IMHO.

It sounds like the only change you need to make is the pitman arm.

It clears my stock as well as an aftermarket stock replacement oil pan. I am a little nervous about the Canton pan, but we'll find out soon enough.

[Warpath Pontiac]

Those upgrades sound pretty solid. I've heard a lot of good things about those KRE heads. I'll be interested in hearing how they turn out since I'm looking at doing a major overhaul to my 350 (stroker kit, Edelbrock or KRE heads, and other upgrades) sometime in the future.

And I would second the camaro steering setup (Thanks Josh for helping me out with that one). I'm just swapping my stuff over now and getting rid of the 20 some odd year old suspension rebuild.

[Josh69]

Originally Posted by Warpath Pontiac

Those upgrades sound pretty solid. I've heard a lot of good things about those KRE heads. I'll be interested in hearing how they turn out since I'm looking at doing a major overhaul to my 350 (stroker kit, Edelbrock or KRE heads, and other upgrades) sometime in the future.

And I would second the camaro steering setup (Thanks Josh for helping me out with that one). I'm just swapping my stuff over now and getting rid of the 20 some odd year old suspension rebuild.

Thanks, and you're welcome! I'm planning a trip to a dyno to find out what this thing really puts out. At this time, I think there are only two aluminum headed 383 Pontiacs in existence, so I'm real curious. The other one is in Iowa, he hasn't dyno'ed his either.

I'm hoping for somewhere close to 475hp. I really wanted to see 500hp out of a 354 Pontiac block, and I probably could with the cam I already have and a spacer on this intake...but it's pushing it on the street. I went with a smaller cam for better driveability at cruise and in traffic since I commute with the car on nice days. I went with 1.65 rockers though to net a higher lift than before to take advantage of these heads, which should support 550hp.

[67rstbkt]

Originally Posted by Josh69

I did so because it's easier and cheaper to replace the tie rods with Camaro parts in the event of a failure. I used a '69 Camaro centerlink, idler arm, and tie-rods. I used the stock Firebird steering arms and spindles (s/b the same as Camaro parts, the arms could differ but not likely). You will also need a '68 Firebird pitman arm because it's curved to fit around the headers. The Camaro pitman is straight and will hit the exhaust. The Firebird centerlink is not serviceable, meaning the balljoints cannot be repaired, you need a whole new centerlink if it fails. The Camaro part is just a bar with tapered holes for the joints, so much simpler. Plus, the Pontiac part is crap and was designed terribly. There is what is referred to as a 'tight' joint on one end of it to give it just enough play to not bind, but is not actually a balljoint, and that is the reason it's not serviceable. Using all new parts, the cost is about the same. I had the used Camaro centerlink and my steering arms and spindles powdercoated. Everything else was new. The '68 pitman wasn't cheap at around $130, but spending $300 on a '69 Firebird centerlink was less appealing, much less so dealing with a repair. This car is a driver, so it was worth it to make the change IMHO.

It sounds like the only change you need to make is the pitman arm.

It clears my stock as well as an aftermarket stock replacement oil pan. I am a little nervous about the Canton pan, but we'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for the info. My main concern when looking at the parts was that the center link seemed to sit higher up on the Camaro setup. I did not realize that the pitman arm was different; I'll have to check it out. My entire Firebird subframe is in my backyard with all the steering components attached so I can compare the two.

[Warpath Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Josh69

I'm hoping for somewhere close to 475hp. I really wanted to see 500hp out of a 354 Pontiac block, and I probably could with the cam I already have and a spacer on this intake...but it's pushing it on the street. I went with a smaller cam for better driveability at cruise and in traffic since I commute with the car on nice days. I went with 1.65 rockers though to net a higher lift than before to take advantage of these heads, which should support 550hp.

I think you should be able to get pretty close or achieve that. I saved this article HPP did a long time ago and got 462HP out of an iron head 383 pontiac.
http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...ild/index.html
I would imagine with the better flow numbers out of the KRE or Edelbrock heads 500hp shouldnt be too difficult.

[Josh69]

I have been working diligently on the updates, boy, some of this stuff takes alot longer than it should!

I got the the old heater out, and the new A/C unit mounted under the dash. I used a factory style heater delete plate on the firewall instead of welding in a smooth panel. I think it looks clean, like it could've came that way from the factory, so I'm really happy with it. I used the formed hard lines that came with the Vintage Air kit, and the block off panel that came with the kit that goes on the inside of the firewall to help with noise and heat control. I covered that with dynamat on the inside. That piece was thick enough that I drilled and tapped it for some small black allen head bolts to fasten the heater delete plate from the firewall for a clean look.

I mounted my relays and circuit breaker behind the glovebox and above the evaporator. That way I can easily access my electronics by simply removing the glove box. I also mounted a two post distribution block there from Jeg's. I have the small post wired to 12v switched, and the larger one to 12v constant from the battery so I can easily add anything to the system in the future in a central location....like my ipod adapter/charger for the Alpine that is coming in the mail. I powered my DSE selecta speed wipers off that dist block also, using a relay. I have the original harness/fuse block in the car so I wanted to have a separate fused power supply for all my new accessories and stereo, etc.

I mounted my Covan's Thunder road dash with American Muscle series Autometer gauges, my Alpine CDA 9813 and two round vents that mimic the factory Astro Vents. I used '68 style vent balls because I like the two horizontal lines better than the crosshair style on the '69 bird. The hvac controls are the black anodized 3 knob billet ones from VA. Can't really see them in the pic. I had John Covan send me extra plastic so I cut that out to fit the new, smaller controls and glued it in from the back side to fill the rectangle factory hvac control hole. The dash already had a nice beveled finish on that edge so it blended real nicely, can hardly make out the seam in the shadows of the interior.

My Alpine has a built in tilt function, so that allowed me to bolt the stereo in flush with the dash so it's neat and tucked up without anything unsightly around it. I can then tilt it up to my preference once it's powered up. It's really slick. The old center speaker mount had a clip and bolt in it after I removed that speaker and it lined up perfectly with the stereo so I ran a strap of metal from the bolt in the back of the head unit up to that speaker mount...may slow down a thief, but surely secured the deck from moving around.

Everything is currently powered up and appears to work. I have to run the RCA's and speaker wire through the car then I can re-install the interior. I also picked up a set of Screamin' Performance kick panels that are molded to run 6.5" components. I'll be using a set of Alpine tweeters and Coustic drivers, and an old school Rockford Pro 12" Sub I had laying around.

The motor is at the engine builders getting the KRE heads installed and new cam, etc. He'll break it back in on his test stand and I hope to have a running car within a couple of more weeks.

Here's some crappy cell phone pics of the new dash and firewall. I have better ones on my digital camera, but haven't found time to download them yet.

[68400BIRD]

Josh, it's looking great. Nice choice on the gauges, they really look nice with the rest of the interior. How long before the engine is complete? I might have to take a trip back out to see the car.