Hello from South Florida

[Warpath Pontiac]

Hello everyone, my name is Matt. Ive been lurking here for a while just admiring over some of the cars and fabrication work here. Ive been a pro-touring car fan for a while, I just never really thought about making a car that could turn (I was happy with going in a straight line). After I got to drive my buddy's '69 Camaro (Pavell on this forum, im sure he'll chime in) that could handle I saw what I was missing.

So here is my '69 Firebird Convertible I restored roughly 3 years ago, doing all the mechanical work, body work, metal replacement, and even painted the car myself. Its a 350 4-speed car about to recieve a healthy 400, toughened wide ratio M-22 and a bunch of new suspension mods. I dont want to make this a full blown race car, but a nice car that I could occasionally take to a track or do some autocross on (ill save the fast stuff for another car, with a roof preferrably).

[jy211]

welcome from Dade/Broward...

[Romulus]

hey. there are one or two of us down here.

[NOT A TA]

Welcome! from Delray Beach

[Warpath Pontiac]

Cool to see some others from South FL. Im in West Palm Beach. I try to cover a good portion of the state with car events and car shows, so maybe one day we might run into each other.

[pavell]

here from west palm beach area too!.........

post some more pics of the metalwork/paint. it's pretty nice.

[A.ROD]

That is a fine 69 conv love it, welcome I am new as well but these guys have been great have not run into any big egos yet.

[Ron Fox]

Welcome Matt. Nice Bird you got there. Mine is a hardtop but I've always wanted a convertible with a manual trans. What type of suspension do you have in mind? Is the engine original?

[Warpath Pontiac]

The engine is the original 350 I had rebuilt a few years ago. I do love the convertible 4 speed, but i've always wanted a coupe just to build into a car I could take to tracks and run all day long (its probably best if I dont let my "young, fast, indestructable" mentality take over).
As for the suspension I have two ideas and I cant decide on either, but I am still open to suggestions. The money for both wont be a factor (hooray tax return and selling off a car!).

Option one: global west tubular upper and lowers, hotchkis front sway bar (thinking 1-1/8), new front and rear springs (unsure of manufacturer, but leaning towards hotchkis), hotchkis subframe connectors, and new shocks (still looking around for info on those. I'll gladly take suggestions).

Option two: Instead of getting new control arms I would rebuild the factory control arms and then use the extra money and build a new rear end for the car. A new rear would be nice, but I dont mind my 2.79 gears (I do a lot of highway driving).

I like option one because it involves less downtime. I could probably drop the suspension and have all the new toys back in the car in a weekend (also I never really liked pressing out/in ball joints and control arm bushings).

[Ron Fox]

Hey Matt how's the Bird coming along? Which option did you go with?