[Dave from England]

In 1995 I purchased a 1967 326 convertible Firebird knowing nothing at all about them!
The idea being to drive it and restore it as I went along. But, you know how it is, having no knowledge of its previous history I decided I would tear down the engine and have it re-built. I am very good at pulling things apart, but not very good at putting them back together!!!!
Good job I pulled the engine apart, as one bore was very badly scored. Then engine was re-built using new everything except the castings including hardened valve seats and valves to run on unleaded. While the engine was down, I thought "well let's do the rest of it, it will only take a couple of years, at best!", but when you are relying on other people to do the work even being paid to do it, they seem to take their time. So, to cut a very long story short, I media blasted the body shell which resulted in replacing the floor panels front to back either side of the transmission tunnel. New trunk floor, new inner wheel housings, new wheel housing, and rear quarters, plus re-skinning the doors. All the upholstery has been re-trimmed, new door panels and still to fit new carpet.
I am now at the stage where by the whole car has been re-painted albeit in seperate components. Front and rear bumpers have been re-chromed and I am about to start the re-building process. I have been buying parts ever since 1986, having visited Carlisle on 9 occasions, Hershey on 3, and swat meeps in Connecticuit, Massachussettes, New Hapmshire, Vermont, Pensylvania. I have dealt with Chris at Performance years all this time, also Ames, Year One and Classic Industries. During this time I have learnt a great deal about '67 Firebirds and recently stumbled across this Forum about two months ago. During which time I have read every single page, and learned lots of things that I never knew. For instance, I didn't know that not all Rally II wheels were not the same having bought a set at Hershey many years ago and new red line tyres to fit, I am not sure if I can use these wheels. So, with the help from you guys ( I hope!) I shall be asking lots of questions and will hopefully be receiving lots of answers and advise.
Restoring an American car in England is not one of the easiest restoratioin to undertake, but I have brought every single part back from the USA including the sheet metal myself as bagage!!!
So, as you can see, I am quite determined to finish this project.

[Dave from England]

Information PLEASE!!!
I bought what I thought was a complete wiring harness. Upon starting to install same, I find that there is no wire from the drivers side door jamb switch, to the switch on the passenger side. Can someone tell me should there be one or is it something I have to provide?
Also, could someone tell me or provide photos of the installation position of the courtesy light brackets?
Thanking you in advance, Dave.

[Birdguy]

Dave, welcome to the PY forums, where you'll find some of the greatest guys in the world to help you whenever possible. Like you, I spent countless hours on this board reading and learning all that I could before even starting my '67 Firebird OHC6 convertible project. It has made all the difference in the world for me.

Check out this wiring diagram and see how closely your repro set matches. If you know someone with a plotter or large-format printer you can print it out to its largest legible format and hang it on the wall for reference. Good luck!

[Birdguy]

Here are photos of the courtesy lights prior to their removal. May be these will help you also. So far I've only taken 734 photos to help me along.

[Dave from England]

Thanks for that Birdguy the pic of the passenger side had me standing on my head wondering what angle it had been taken from until I noticed the banana shaped bracket for the glove box. The hole for the srew on the passenger side looks on the large size do I use a speed clip here. Dug out the original wiring harness (Ive thrown nothing away as yet ) lost a few bits mind you. Checked out the passenger side courtesy light wres & it looks that even on the original there was a wire spliced in for the door jamb switch so I guess this was missed out by manufacturers M & H Electrical in fact the wires from the drivers side to the passenger side that goes across the firewall dont even have any harness tape covering them so I ll have to do the job properly & splice in the missing wire and tape them. Can anybody out there tell me was the trunk painted with spater paint before the cocktail shakers and the cover for the fuel pipe or after Ive seen pictures with them painted & not Painted which is correct
Dave

[Birdguy]

I may have been standing on my head when the picture was taken! Here are a couple more to help you out. The diagram only shows the passenger side light assembly, but I would bet that the driver side is the same. The trunk photo shows the coctail shakers removed, but they did have splatter paint on them originally.

Some aftermaket replacement wire sets may not be 100% correct, so wiring diagrams are essential. I have more under-dash photos of everything before I even touched anything, so if you need more just holler mate.

[notime]

Welcome to the board Dave. I have a restoration shop in ohio and just picked up a 67 400 4spd convertible for a customer and are getting ready to start tearing it apart on monday. It is somewhat original and unmolested, so maybe we can work together cause this is my first complete resto of a bird, although i've owned several, i've never done a full resto, i mostly do gto's. We will document the teardown process, so if you need some pics, let me know, i'll try to get them and maybe i can pic your brain on some of it too. I'll see if i can keep up with you in the process, although we are scheduling to be done by june 2010, so in a few months, we'll see if you can keep up. I would add a smiley face to the end of this, but i dont know how.

[Dave from England]

Hi Birdguy,
Where did you find that exploded view of the dash its great.I have most of the relevant books & manuals but its not in any that Ive got. What would help also is the list of part names to the relevanr numbers if you have it.The cover for the fuel pupe that I was asking if it was spatter painted is the one that is missing on your photo of the trunk. By the way have you finished your restoration Dave

[Dave from England]

Thanks for the post NOTIME it will be very interesting to see if we can keep apace with our restorations I have a head start on you be youll soon make up this time as youll probably be spending more man hours on it than me.If I can help you out in anyway I ll be only to pleased to do so Ive gleaned a lot of information during my 15 years or so ownership but more importantly lots of contacts.But there are still lots of technical restoration points you can help me with as regards correctness. does the car have rally stripes if so can you give me the width of the stripes & the spacing I have a plotter & can make enough Stripes to do four cars for around $30 rather than pay the market price plus shipping plus import duty plus tax BIG saving eh! also can you settle a long running argument as to whether the gas filler door should be flat or should it have the finger pull if your restoration car is pretty much original Ive somehow manage to loose mine and bought a flat one as a replacement but now Im not so sure Ive bought the right one my car has a build date of 31st march 1967. I past through Ohio on my way to Clear Lake Iowa this February callig a Jim werger the Chevy guy to pick up some parts for my 59 2door hardtop do you by any chance Know Jim I dont think he,s to far away from you Many thanks DAVE

[notime]

Sorry, dont know yor buddy Jim. The build date on this one is 04 C. Here are some pics we took, maybe they will help. 400 4spd. factory hood tach and posi, supposed to verdoro green white top and black int.

[Dave from England]

Thats a great start NOTIME you answered three of my questions in one shot & confirmed what BIRDGUY said about the spatter paint on the cocktail shakers and fuel pipe cover & you also answered my question about the fuel filler door but Im sure
there s gonna be more my bird also has the hood mounted tach its Starlight black with parchment deluxe interior & ivory top

[Birdguy]

Originally Posted by Dave from England

Hi Birdguy,
Where did you find that exploded view of the dash its great.I have most of the relevant books & manuals but its not in any that Ive got. What would help also is the list of part names to the relevanr numbers if you have it.The cover for the fuel pupe that I was asking if it was spatter painted is the one that is missing on your photo of the trunk. By the way have you finished your restoration Dave

Hey Dave
I can't recall exactly where that diagram came from, as I've spent the last 15 years collecting everything I could lay my hands on to assist me in my restoration. The reference sheet for that drawing is attached. The rubber fuel pipe sleeve did not have any splatter paint on it when I dealt with it a couple of months ago.

My restoration is a total every-nut-and-bolt job, and I am finally at the point where it is a reassembly instead of disassembly and refurbish, so I am getting some positive reinforcement.

Also including a few moreo photos.

[Dave from England]

In october of 96 I went to Hershey & bought a set of 5 rally 11 wheels & white line tires from a Mr Crane of Brick NJ he told me they had come of his sisters Ventura which had been totaled I duly paid him & asked could he keep them until I was ready for leaving which he agreed to do.At the end of the day when it came time to leave I realised I couldnt fit the wheels in the car as I also had three passengers & we were all going back to Massachusetts so I asked Mr Crane if he would kindly take them back home with him & Id get them freighted from Brick to Mass .This he kindly did and they arrived in MA from where I crated them up & air freighted them to the U.K. & I followed. On arrival of the wheels 7 over a period of time I removed the tires had the wheels blasted & powder coated in the correct gray for the reverse side then had the fronts painted with the correct charcoal & silver argent & in February of this last year 2009 I brought back as my baggage the last of the BF Goodrich 205/70/14 redline radial tires which I had fitted to the rallt 11 wheels using the correct valve stems & caps had them all balanced .So far so good. Then I discovered this forum & that there are rally 11 wheels & rally 11 wheels dependig on wheather you have disc brakes or drum brakes.Well My car has drum brakes & the problem Ive got is that I cant find a code number on the wheels the powder coating has all but filled in the stampings on the front near the valve it looks like this 11 yes just two number ones so I had the tires taken off again to see what was stamped on the inner rim 7 what was there NOTHING. on the reverse of the rim is what looks like G G 7the words made in U S A . So Ive made a great effort to get the correct wheels & tires for my car & the wheels maybe of no use & Ill have to start over again can somebody PLEASE help as to wheather these wheels are suitable fo my car.Also I still require dimentions for rally strpes as per my previous post .Dave from England

[Birdguy]

Dave, try this link for Rally wheel info...

http://firstgenfirebird.org/FAQ/whee...axle/rims.html

Good luck!

[Dave from England]

Thanks for that BIRDGUY but Id already checked it out before I wrote the post because none of it makes any sense out of the little information Ive got because none of it coresponds but thanks anyway guess Ill have to rely on someone very knowledgeble to read my post Im sure theres someone out there that has an answer without having to rely on code numbers stamped on a rim its got to be more technical and accurate than that

[guccieng]

are you looking for the correct stamp, or size? many wheels of different stampings from different years are the same size.
http://www.pontiacserver.com/wheels.html
it seems contradictory to me to be concerned with codes for originality, but finish the wheel in a non-factory manner (just sayin'). i'm a huge fan of powdercoating, but don't think wheel codes are a big deal, either. you will have to remove the powdercoat (which isn't cheap) to know beyond any doubt of what the code is.

[Dave from England]

Hi GUCCIENG Maybe I didnt explain myself too clearly Im not concerned about having the correct stampings for the year I just want rally 11 wheels that I can use on my all drum Brake car the wheels are the correct size 14X6 and as far as the powdercoating goes its the reverse side that is poder coated gray the fronts are painted in the correct charcoal & silver.But isnt there something different about wheels for drum brakes as against disc brakes

[guccieng]

oh, i see. the wheels for discs have more clearance on the inside. any disc wheel can be used on drums, if the backspace and widths are correct. it's only the drum wheels that may not work with discs. hope this helps!

[notime]

What confuses me is i thought a JC wheel was a drum brake wheel, but there are 4 JC 14x6 wheels on my disc brake 69 lemans?

[guccieng]

from: http://firstgenfirebird.org/FAQ/whee...axle/rims.html

I've inspected several original unrestored '68 Firebird's and found "JC" wheels on all of them. There is a different wheel if you had wheel covers. That is "HK" comapared to the standard "HG" rim. I have an original '68 Firebird that came with Disc Brakes and Rally IIs. The rims I have are all "JC" and I don't see any clearance problems. Sure, you can pay the extra money for the "JA" wheels but you don't have to and besides, they're not even correct. Even the latest "FIREBIRD DECODING GUIDE" by Thomas DeMauro (HPP) lists the wrong code. Infact, they don't even come close as they list "HK" for the DiscBrake Rally II wheel. So, for '68 Firebird's with Disc Brakes, look for the "JC" rim. It's documented as correct and it's much cheaper than the "JA" that all these used parts dealers sell thinking it's the Disc Brake Rim for all '67'/'68 Firebirds/GTOs

the wheels should fit all drum brake cars. the '67 and '68 disc brakes had larger 4-piston calipers. the calipers got smaller in '69 with the single piston, and some of the drum brake wheels fit around them. so, all wheels will fit drums, but may not fit discs, depending on the year. clear as mud?