OLDFLM's (Ty) 71 Firebird comes to Fletcher's Customs!! Giving back for my Freedom!!

[fletcherscustoms]

As seen at SEMA 2009, PRI, Chicago, Indy, and on Car Crazy and PowerBlock TV!!!!!!

This thread has really taken off and the support and contributions from this community and its vendors, is honestly "unreal". You folks never cease to amaze me! I thought it would be best that I list sponsors up here as they are added. Keep reading through the posts to see all the new news as it happens!

Vendors/Sponsors

Inland Empire Driveline
They have offered to donate a complete driveshaft for the project!

Billet Accessories Direct
Jason donated a custom one off billet steering wheel that will match the wheels!

Modo Innovations
Shannon donated a set of their awesome pedal covers!

Hoodpins.net
An awesome set of billet hood pins!

Autorad Radiators
Custom built aluminum radiator, prototype 2nd gen core support and overflow tank!

Ben @ Hermance Design
Special thanks to Ben for all the hard work he has done on the design and layout of the car!

Morris Classic Concepts
Front 3 point retractable belts and matching rear belts!

Anvil Auto
Carbon fiber Formula hood, nose, lower valance, rear spoiler, rear bumper, tail panel, dash gauge bezel, console and other various pieces! Special thanks to Matt, Tyler and the gang at Anvil!!

Marquez Design
Custom interior door panels and rear pacakge tray! Thanks Pacual!!

AGR Performance
Larry with AGR graciously donated a Billet 12.1 Steering Box and one of there great billet steering pumps

Fesler Built
Chris has donated a set of his hood hinges and will be doing a ton of new parts for 2nd gen firebirds, with us getting the first sets! Tail lights, front signals, markers, along with a bunch of other goodies he is going to try and replicate, all out of nice shiny Billet!!

US Collision
Mario (DOOM) has donated ALL the paint materials for the car. PPG base, clear and all other needed reducers, etc

Pro-Touring F-Body
Dave has donated a set of their awesome G-braces for the car!

Phoenix Transmission Products
Greg Ducato has graciously donated:
- Special built version of there PT700R4SX 700R4 tranny
- Torque Max 9.5" 3000 stall convertor
- Ponitac adaptor plate
- TV cable system
- Dipstick and tube
- Tranny x-member

Auto Custom Carpet Inc
Donated a full custom carpet kit, with one of kind custom embroidered floor mats!
Thanks Julie!!

BMR Fabrication
BMR's contributing the first production version of their new rear torque arm suspension for 2nd Gen F-bodies!! The suspension kit includes the torque arm, Watts link, coilover conversion kit, coilover shocks, driveshaft loop, and transmission crossmember all wrapped up into one sexy BOLT-ON package!! Along with their tubular upper & lower control arms up front with one of their front sway bars! Special thanks to Allan Miller at BMR for jumping through hoops to make this possible!

Shiftworks
Herb donated a 4-speed conversion kit to convert the stock slap stick shifter over to a 4-speed auto to work with the 700R4 from Phoenix Transmission Products!

Hedman Hedders
Donated a set of #28150 ceramic coated headers to project CF-71 Freedom Bird!! Special thanks to Vic Wood for working this and helping us out with the project!

American Autowire
Graciously donated a complete “Classic Update” wiring kit to the build!! Special thanks to Donnie Bock for working hard on this for us and helping out with the project!

Kevin Swaney at TIN INDIAN Performance (TIP) has partnered with Jeff Kauffman at Kauffman Racing Equipment (KRE) to build the 400cid Pontiac engine into a 440cid-stroker! The new engine will feature ALL aftermarket parts with the only original piece being the factory iron block... topped off with KRE heads and TIPs custom engraved billet valve covers!

Pypes Performance Exhaust
Chris is hooking us up with one of their XVF13s 3" x-pipes and MVR16S 3" RacePro mufflers!!

MityMounts DynaTech donated a set of its patent-pending Lock-Up® motor mounts!

RobbMc Performance Products
Robb contributed a complete fuel system for the car; RobbMc 1100HP fuel pump, deadhead regulator and 1/2" pickup! Not to mention the 100 micron & 40 micron filters and all the needed adapters and clamps!

Wilson Muscle Cars
Special thanks to Ron Wilson @ Wilson Muscle Cars/WMC Design Engineering for creating the billet emblems for the car! Pieces of automotive jewelry!!

Holley/NOS
Bill at Holley not only hooked us up with one of their billet throttle cable brackets, he also supplied us with a NOS Top Shot nitrious system! Thanks Bill!!


Personal Folks, who have made donations be it money or parts

-camcojb-Jody
-SPchiv- Full poly bushing kit and stainless bolt kit
-70bird-Mark
-gearheads78-Richard
-2ndgenracer - Brett


Thread originating post from 10-16-2008:

Ty (OLDFLM) contacted me last week about the possibilty of rescueing his car from paint jail. Ty is a 23-year active duty enlisted member of the Air Force and had the all too famous trapped story. Car was dropped off for a simple scuff and shoot, suppossed to take 3 weeks, and when I picked it up it has been 14-weeks or so with very minimal work done. So I agree to do the car on Ty's budget. It's one of those "pay it forward" things. For over 23 years he's been doing things for me, and my fellow Americans, so I had to give back in a way.

So fast forward to last Saturday, I make the plans, hit the road and drive up to pick up the car from the local guy who has it. Get there to find the car sitting in the rain... not usually too bad... but the guy had already applied some bondo to the quarter seems, and in some places there was quite of bit of bare metal on it. So immediately I see that this is gonna turn into a lot more work... now I got to strip out all the mud he put on the car.

Anyway, we get it out "paint jail" and bring it back to my place. Where I jump on it and by midnight Saturday it's stripped and ready to start. A few days pass by and I jump back on the car last night. Me, Jerry, and new guy Micheal jump on the car trying to sand off all of "local guys" body work. And low and behold we start to find very old filler and repairs from way back before Ty owned the car. So we ditch the little sanders for 4.5 angle grinders with 3M pads and go to work. 4 hours later and lots of work we got a shop 2" in dust and bare metal on both quarters!

Way back when apparently the car got rearended and the shop who fixed it did some nice work!! You know, instead of pulling out the dent in the lower valance lets jut slap in 3" of mud and call it a day. Filler must have been cheap back in the 70's!!! Basically I had no plans of stripping the car to metal, but once I started and didn't find things I liked then I had to... This wasn't included in Ty's budget, but I just can't bring myself to leave crap!! Anyone who wants to help out let me know. Let's give back to our troops!!

Current Plans while at Fletcher's Customs:

Bodywork, bodywork, bodywork... did I say bodywork!! Lots of metal work, I don't like mud so there's gonna be a lot of time spent with a hammer and dolly to get things straight!
-Paint a nice Burgundy that pops
-Install KORE 3 brake kits
-Install 18" Rushforth Superspoke wheels and tires
-Install Autometer gauges
-fix some other little issues

Few pics from earlier in the year, with the Resto Mod look



Right after it got in my shop