[cnc]

Chris ......Fabulous lookin machine................love it

[LeighP]

Love the colour combo....already looks great!

[keith k]

Wow, Chris... getting really close! Still love that color - it really pops.

[eaglesan13]

I'm almost to the point where I can start up the car. I would have been there a month ago if not for the fitment issues I have had with the Pypes system I bought. As it stands right now I will need to take the car to a muffler shop for final fitment, but that is a story for another day. Everything on the engine is ready to go. I hooked up an oil pressure gauge in the engine bay so I can monitor the pressure during cam break-in. I primed the system with a drill and I have 60 PSI, so I'm good there. I poured the coolant in this morning and filled the block through the temp sender hole in the intake. The distributor is in and the plug wires are on. I just need to drop the car down and put gas in it. I bought a cheap fluid pump to prime the fuel lines and I intend to hook it up at the fuel pump so I can get gas all the way up to the carb. That way the system will be fully primed (and the carb bowl full) when I crank it over. If I did everything right it should start right up. A good friend of mine is coming up next Friday and we will go ever the car together to recheck everything. If all goes will, it will be running then.

[eaglesan13]

More pictures. The last one shows the open face alternator. I bought it off a guy on ebay who rebuilds alternators. It cost me about seventy bucks shipped, and as you can see, it is rebuilt and in nice shape. It does not have the correct rear case, and there are no numbers on it, but on first glance it appears correct, and I see no need in using my 1100902 on a non-numbers matching car.

[OVERULD]

Wow - looks great! Get Kenny (Getridaone) to tell you the story of starting up his formy for the first time! Good luck with it - I bet you break out in a big grin everytime you look at this car now that its back together...congrats!

BJ

[eaglesan13]

I finally started the Formula up today. I had some trouble with the fuel lines, for some reason the metal line from the middle of the car up to the fuel pump is completely plugged. I couldn't even clear it with 100 psi of air pressure. I bypassed it with rubber hose in order to start the car but I'll need to replace the metal line. It would have been easy with the engine out, but now I expect it will be a real pain in the a**. Anyway, the car started right up and ran fine during break in. (Sorry, no video since I had my hands full, but here is a picture of it out in the sun). The engine had good oil pressure and the temp never went above 190. I have some things to take care of before I take it for a drive, but it sure was nice moving it back into the garage under it's own power instead of having to push it.

[blue71ta]

Looks great, nice work! Bet you can't wait to take it for a spin.

[Pepi]

Looks really sharp. It's always something like that with the fuel line,. good ole hind sight.

[RicksGTO]

congrats on getting the motor running, the car is looking great!

[LeighP]

Car looks great. Congrats on the start up going well!

[wwilder9]

Great car!!!!!

[FirebirdScar]

Car looks Great, you have really done a nice job!

[eaglesan13]

I towed the Formula to the exhaust shop yesterday and had them "massage" the Pypes kit. It took them three hours to get it to fit correctly. I'm real disappointed in the overall cost of the exhaust system, but that is a story for another day. I have been slowly getting the little stuff taken care of. I fixed the gauges, tail lights and flashers, installed the rear window trim and trunk weather strip, etc.... I had hoped to take it for a drive today but there is something wrong with the carb. I'm not getting a pump shot. I've had the top off and blown the passages out but to no avail. as soon as I come off idle it falls on it's face. I'm going to try a known good carb before I do anything else to this one. It's always something, but at least it looks good sitting in the garage. Anyway, here is some video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Dt0b73Zrc

[unruhjonny]

nice!

So (at the chance of repetition) what's going on with the interior?
I saw no carpet, missing console, a nice stock dash, and some nice (albeit customized cloth covered) seats...

[eaglesan13]

Those were the seats that were in the car when I got it. I don't recognize those seat covers as being from a Pontiac so I assumed they were custom made (or maybe from a camaro?). A previous owner had rattle canned the interior in saddle but I intend to return it to deluxe sandlewood. I don't have the money to do the interior right now but needed shelf space so I stuck the seats in the car.

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

nice!

So (at the chance of repetition) what's going on with the interior?
I saw no carpet, missing console, a nice stock dash, and some nice (albeit customized cloth covered) seats...

[unruhjonny]

oh no, those are 1970 Firebird seats ~ but they were recovered an the inner section was replaced with a cloth;
other than that, they're done correctly (as in pattern)...
I've seen some terrible recovers - and I wouldn't put those in the terrible group...
also, if your rear seatback & seat bottoms are a wire seat with burlap materila, you're set ~ because after 1973 the seat construction changed and the seat width actually changed;
if you have the right seat backs, then you're going to be good with a set of repop covers should you ever decide to go that route.... otherwise you're going to need to get a set of corresponding 1970 front covers and later back covers...

I found out all this the hard way;
I threw out my original rear seat back (back in 1995);
then upon purchasing seat covers ended up stealing the seat back out of my '73 for the '70 (otherwise the repop seatcover I had bought would have been useless - later seats are thinner);
I just recently acquired a correct replacement seatback for the 73.

[damannhw]

Originally Posted by eaglesan13

I towed the Formula to the exhaust shop yesterday and had them "massage" the Pypes kit. It took them three hours to get it to fit correctly. I'm real disappointed in the overall cost of the exhaust system, but that is a story for another day. I have been slowly getting the little stuff taken care of. I fixed the gauges, tail lights and flashers, installed the rear window trim and trunk weather strip, etc.... I had hoped to take it for a drive today but there is something wrong with the carb. I'm not getting a pump shot. I've had the top off and blown the passages out but to no avail. as soon as I come off idle it falls on it's face. I'm going to try a known good carb before I do anything else to this one. It's always something, but at least it looks good sitting in the garage. Anyway, here is some video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Dt0b73Zrc

Looking good Chris. The paint sure looks nice out in the sunlight !

[RicksGTO]

looks great Chris! Ride height is coming out nice too. I'm finishing up the install on the same exhaust system that you used and had to bend the passenger over the axle pipe a good bit to get it away from the driveshaft/u-joint and to line up with the legs of the X pipe. No way would it have lined up right out of the box. The sound on yours is great, congrats on reaching this point and look forward to hearing about your first drive in it.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by eaglesan13

I towed the Formula to the exhaust shop yesterday and had them "massage" the Pypes kit. It took them three hours to get it to fit correctly. I'm real disappointed in the overall cost of the exhaust system, but that is a story for another day. I have been slowly getting the little stuff taken care of. I fixed the gauges, tail lights and flashers, installed the rear window trim and trunk weather strip, etc.... I had hoped to take it for a drive today but there is something wrong with the carb. I'm not getting a pump shot. I've had the top off and blown the passages out but to no avail. as soon as I come off idle it falls on it's face. I'm going to try a known good carb before I do anything else to this one. It's always something, but at least it looks good sitting in the garage. Anyway, here is some video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Dt0b73Zrc

Love it! Congrats!

Which muffler did you choose with the PYPES system, by the way? It sounds fantastic at idle!