1969 Firebird Convertible T/A Tour

[M1 Bully]

Hey All,

I've got a 69 Firebird Convertible. Originally a green/black/black 350 2 bbl car.
It is now Silver with the original black interior. It has factory A/C and power windows.

Original motor and trans are long gone

It now has a 350 crate with 380 hp and a TH-350 built by Joel's on Joy in Detroit. Awesome builder of race transmissions.

What are the plans?

Going to stay silver with the black top and interior.
Adding 69 T/A hood, spoiler and fender extractors.
Doing a customized version of the original T/A stripes in black.
Blacking out the grill and rear tail panel.
Changing white pontiac emblems to red, making front arrowhead emblem partially red as well.
Removing firebird emblems on fenders, adding in Trans Am script with cu in designation under it.

Sourcing an original 69 400 firebird short block to be built to roughly 475 HP using Holley Pro-Jection. Gonna have to add a 125 shot kit so I can keep my neighbor Jamie at bay with his 600 hp 468 Chevelle.

Painless wiring 18 circuit harness
Installing a 5 Speed Keisler Perfect Fit system
Air Ride 4 Link Rear Suspension with Shockwaves
Air Ride Front Suspension with tubular a-arms and shock waves
Custom subframe connector kit
Front and rear disc brake conversion kit
17" Wheels, not sure which ones yet

Also a fully operational ramair system

[ProdigyCustoms]

Very cool, we have a similar project penciled. I wanted to mention that the hood presently available, the steel frame with a fiberglass skin, is the biggest POS in the history of the world. We had countless hours in blocking and molding the drop in scoop inserts that were to crappy to bolt in. But the biggest problem was the fact the hood was a 1/2 longer then the opening it fit in. It looked hot when we were finished, but damn the time!

Here is a link to some pics I just posted

https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=5721

[M1 Bully]

Hmmm, that was the hood I was supposed to buy for my project.

You think there is only one supplier for that hood? I was trying to avoid going for the full 'glass hood because I don't like hood pins. I think they disrupt the whole flow of the front end. Only way I'd do them would be the Ford style twist pins, but only as a last resort.

How many hours you think you put into the hood?

BTW very cool project you posted. I hadn't seen the 69 hood retrofitted to the 67-68 birds. Looks cool.

[x-sprint]

I was also going to run a T/A hood on a 68 LS1 vert. Where did you pick that one up from? I've seen it bolt ons advertised from US Body, Glastek, some Canadian company, and Year One. Any one have any comments / experience with these companies hoods. I've worked with a couple of Glastek cowl hoods in the past and they were pretty straight. Only one shortfall, there was no reliefs on the edge for the rubber hood bumpers attached to the front fenders.

[ProdigyCustoms]

This one came through Parts place. We have 60 hours in the hood! And that is probably light not counting all hours. There was another problem also, the fiberglass skin was bound to a warped frame, so when the right front corner of the hood was pushed down, the left rear corner tried to rise. I have a lot of pictures and even a short low resolution video of some of the problems so I could show my customer what I was dealing with, but I am out of attachment space here. Sufice it to say it sucked

Here is where the problem comes in with the external dimensions of the hood. They use restored original steel hood frames. Now picture a steel hood with a steel frame and steel skin. The skin wraps the edges of the frame about a 32nd of a inch and is spot welded to the frame. Now picture a fiberglass hood needing at least a 1/8th to 1/4 inch of material wrapping the frame edges. The hood gets to big. We ended up grinding the hood edges till they were very thin, added material to fenders, fudged the cowl panel back a bit. We split hairs and made it fit, but when all the dust settled it still was not great.

The scoops should bolt it and were HORRIBLE. not bad, HORRIBLE. Did I mention the scoops were not to nice? God they sucked!

Otherwise, it was like every other glass hood I ever used and needed filling and blocking. We ended up spraying tons of polyester filler on it and blocking till our arms fell off.


I am not aware of other options.

[M1 Bully]

Holy Crap!!!! 60 hours on a hood!!!!

Hmmm, maybe I can just get a flat steel 69 hood and add a cowl scoop, like the 69 camaros have.

Or maybe I'll just make the 400 hood I already have functional.

60 hours....

[M1 Bully]

I talked to the guys at Early Birds in Ontario about the quality of their T/A hoods with the steel frame. They said their hoods come with brand new steel inners and that prep for the hood shouldn't take longer than 6-8 hours max.

They did say there was a company out of East Aurora, NY that does these repro hoods, but instead of using new steel inners, they spec used frames. That might account for a difference in quality.....

[clill]

I think the East Aurora is Bob Harris at Camaro Specialties.

[ProdigyCustoms]

No, this is not a used inner / new inner issue. This hood was only supposed to need 6 to 8 hours prep to, and i guess it would have if it did not have to be real nice. See if the guys in Canada Sell to parts place. i think these are the same guys that make the rear spoilers also for 67 / 68. Parts Place did tell me they came out of Canada. I only assume the inners are used though, so I could be wrong. Either way, it's a piece of ****.

If Bob Harris is making them, or having them made, I am sure they will be a better piece. Bob would not produce a part like this

[M1 Bully]

Hey Frank,

You think it might be a better idea to go with a full glass T/A hood, retrofit the hood latch and then use light duty springs?

It's not like this car is going trying to win the Ridler. It just has to be nice enough for me and for local car shows.

Also, so noone gets upset, I wasn't trying to say one company makes crap vs another, I just didn't want to get into a 60 hour hood.

Ray