1971 Firebird Build ("The Other Woman", a.k.a. Project "T.O.W.")

[GrabberGT]

Originally Posted by Gscherer78ta

Hey Bryan,

I too hope to see TOW again but, I will see you at the workshop! If the weather is good, I'll bring my TA. Are you sticking around thru the weekend to autocross at GG's? I wish they would allow my '78 in and I could run with you guys!

Greg

I've been informed that Goodguys has arranged to have a band playing at the host hotel Thursday night. So bring your lawn chairs and coolers. We'll sit outside and watch the cruisers pull in for registration and packet pick-up. Im sure there will be plenty of discussion on how our cars have been set up allllll wrong all this time.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Gscherer78ta

Hey Bryan,

I too hope to see TOW again but, I will see you at the workshop! If the weather is good, I'll bring my TA. Are you sticking around thru the weekend to autocross at GG's? I wish they would allow my '78 in and I could run with you guys!

Greg

My plan is to be there until Sunday, although I will only run Friday and Saturday. I agree on the year limits, but you can run on Sunday, right?

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

if not fast just plain Fabulous

what spring rate are you using B?

450# now. Dropping from a 700#. Should make for a little more comfortable ride up the highway.

[carbuff]

First time in a while I've seen this!



We have had a long weekend, but we have made a lot of progress. I would have preferred things to have gone quicker, but I know that we've done them right by taking our time.

I managed to start the engine today with no problems at all after the cam swap. That was HUGE sigh of relief for me. It's the first time I've been inside of an LS engine, and while most of the work was familiar, it's still a bit worrisome doing it the first time. The Holley ECU made things pretty easy: set up the new fuel injectors, made a couple of tweaks, and spun her up. She fired right up, just didn't want to idle well at first. An adjustment to the throttle body adjuster for the primary blades and everything was good. I had to pull a good bit of fuel out of the tables, and I have a lot less vacuum than before, so I have some tuning to do before I hit the highway.

Eric recreated the carpet pieces for the trunk to clear the sway bar tube. He did a great job as always! I did a lot of little things today to wrap up the project: rewired the Accusump, cleaned the air filters, cleaned up my mess from all the fluids under the car, filled in a few rock chips, attached the axle and gas tank vent lines. Just stuff I had to knock out.

At this point, Eric will bleed the brakes and wrap up a relatively short list of remaining items. He expects to get those done tomorrow, and I'll go up after work and drive for a while. If we find any problems, we'll address them tomorrow night. Then a bolt check, and a serious bath, and my tuning, and I should be ready to hit the road Wednesday.

It's been a crazy stretch to get this together, and I can't thank Eric enough for sticking in there to get it done. He is planning to take a few well-deserved days off later this week.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed work:





Trunk mounted panel with amp, cross overs, and VaporWerks controller:





Perfectly tucked (although we're going to adjust the spacers a bit):







New Watt's link housing mount:

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by carbuff

450# now. Dropping from a 700#. Should make for a little more comfortable ride up the highway.

Originally at 700/500 I think?

[GregWeld]

Glad you and Eric are getting it done Bryan!!


Wish you all the luck!

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Flash68

Originally at 700/500 I think?

Correct. Then Ron flipped it to be 500 (front) / 700 (rear). When I received the shocks, I remember calling him to confirm that I didn't have them backwards. Never expected that high of a rear rate, but without the rear bar, it worked. I can't wait to try this new setup out!

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Glad you and Eric are getting it done Bryan!!


Wish you all the luck!

Thanx! Wish you were making it back to FW again. I'm looking forward to this coming week, but admittedly will enjoy taking the next week off myself...

[waynieZ]

That's a sweet setup.

[gerno]

Where's the video of the engine running with the new cam????

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by GrabberGT

I've been informed that Goodguys has arranged to have a band playing at the host hotel Thursday night. So bring your lawn chairs and coolers. We'll sit outside and watch the cruisers pull in for registration and packet pick-up. Im sure there will be plenty of discussion on how our cars have been set up allllll wrong all this time.

The Marriott is the host hotel, right? If so, cool...we are in!!