My 1978 Firebird

[Zapper2003]

Has this car been on the road at all yet?

I drive it more than I work on it, that's for sure.

[pajeff02]

Here's a before and after of the transmission:

[35th-ANV-SS]

I've had the privilege of seeing Blue Dragon in person. Looks even cooler. Nice work on the tranny (figured you'd be good with those)

[0rion]

I've had the privilege of seeing Blue Dragon in person. Looks even cooler. Nice work on the tranny (figured you'd be good with those)

that's solid right there......

[Wagonmaster2]

ou may have a Buick block with Pontiac heads.

No way, they don't interchange.

Okay. So will summit/jegs/whoever have it 'correct' when I punch in 1978 Firebird with a 350ci engine, would it be safe to assume I'll receive the parts for the correct engine?

You'll have to order parts for a ;78 Camaro to ensure fitment, headers and other stuff is all out there!!

[Zapper2003]

Little bit of progress. I have removed the front suspension in preparation for installation of the tubular upper and lower control arms, as well as lowering springs, a full steering rebuild (sans steering gear box), new motor mounts etc etc. The biggest reason for the destruction and teardown (initially) was to get the engine bay cleaned up and the firewall looking a little better than it currently does. On to the pictures...






I had the radiator support and inner fenders sand blasted by a local paint shop, and I had them powdercoat the inner fenders. This morning I epoxy primed and painted the radiator support black. I don't have pictures of the support yet.



Here's a picture of the lower control arm bolts. I cannot believe that this car, being 36+ years old, is coming apart this easily. I removed the rear LCA bolts by hand, only because I was unable to access them with the impact, not that it was entirely necessary. The bolts came out with zero hassle and zero lubricants. They weren't even rusted to the steel inserts in the rubber bushings.




Last weekend at Spring Carlisle I picked up some wheels, and this last week I ordered through Discount Tire Direct some Nitto NT555 rubber in 275/40/17 and 245/45/17.






And the wheels are US Mags (a division of MHT Wheel) Bandit, in 17x8 front and 17x9 rear. They are a diamond-cut machine finish on the face with the rest of the wheel being finished with a black powdercoat. The center caps are missing in the pictures because I have a little something special planned for them.

[Knight]

Nice!

[pajeff02]

Double nice!

[SMWS6TA]

These would have been better Zap but I forgive you.






She's coming along nicely, I always get a little nervous too when bolts come off easier then they should or expected. Makes you wonder if someone installed it correctly or something else/

[pajeff02]

It is kind of amazing -- our '70 Cutlass came apart pretty easily, '66 Buick wasn't too bad, but the '74 Corvette was a real bastard. Figures that the newest car gave me the most trouble.

[SMWS6TA]

Probably because of the lack of robotics back then. Robotics was starting to come on line about then, right?

[Zapper2003]

Scott, I like the YO snowflakes, but I noticed at last years GM show they were becoming the next Torq Thrust II's. I just can't have what everyone else has and be happy.

[SMWS6TA]

I'm the only one in my tri state area....


Only thing that sucks is that I'm restricted to a 275 tire. I was hoping to put on 295's this time around. But oh well.

[Zapper2003]

They'll squeeze

[0rion]

car is gonna be bad ass when you're done with it......you gonna do anything with at least the front of that frame while it's tore down? You have it that far.....may as well do a frame off.

[Zapper2003]

subframe off haha. I'm not going to take it all the way off for alignment reasons. I do have solid body mounts and subframe connectors to put on though, so essentially every nut and bolt attached to the front subframe will be off at one point or another. I've got it this far, once I get back from vacation I will be cleaning the firewall and subframe up and painting both.

[Zapper2003]

A little pictoral update..



























And finally the front of the car back on, minus the hood of course. You can see how much lower it sits now as compared to before.

[0rion]

you did a nice job on that....trans am valve covers were a nice touch

[Zapper2003]

I still have the entire rear suspension to do, but right now I'm fighting a steering problem with part incompatibility. The valve covers I've never seen before, gotta love ebay.

[Firebirdjones]

Wow I just got an email about this. I haven't seen this thread for 2 years.

Nice to see you're still pecking away at it. So many projects on older cars never get finished due to lack of interest or lack of funds.