[Josue]

Finally getting a good amount of work done to my car, figured I'd throw a thread up to share! Here's a little backstory...

My parents originally bought the car for me back in 1996 when I was 13, from my 8th grade history teacher, for $1,700! Interior was in very good shape and all original, body needed quarters, doors, and fenders, but everything else was solid, and the motor was original and untouched. We tinkered around with it for a few years, but I became more interested in lowered trucks by the time I got my license, so I bought one and they kept the Firebird for themselves all these years. It's still mostly original though, they had the body work done about 10 years ago, new fenders, doors, quarters, inner quarters, and the color is C5 Corvette Millennium yellow. Interior is still all original minus some A/M gauges, and the only thing the motor was taken apart for was a mild cam. Not that the WHOLE motor was "taken apart", I just mean that other than a cam, everything inside is still untouched. Other than that, just bolt ons; Holley 600, Performer Pontiac Intake, Hooker headers, Pentronix Ignition, etc.




It needed tires, so he bought a new set of Eagle II's along with these trailer wheels for it. They were like $50/ea at the time. lol



Out with the old, in with the new! My first car was this '72 Nova, but the Firebird was in better shape, so we sold the Nova in favor of the Firebird.



And today...





I was able to get a few things done to the car last season, swapped out the original powerglide for a TH350, and installed a 2nd gen Formula steering wheel. I also started playing around with timing and carb adjusting. We've always had to rely on other people for that stuff, but I figured it was time I knew how to do it with how much I'm going to be working on the car. These forums have been a great resource for me, lots of good info here! I also can't thank Sean/Squidward enough for all the help and advice he's given me directly!!

This season's list goes...

-BMR solid subframe bushings
-Hotchkis subframe connectors
-Hughes 2000 torque converter (the TH350 came with a 2600-3000 stall, WAY too much for my original 2.56 rear end)
-1992 Camaro steering box
-Nova 8.5 10 bolt with 3.08's (open for now, not sure if I'll have an extra $600+ for posi this year)
-C5 master cylinder and booster
-Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve
-C5 disc brakes up front
-LS1 disc brakes in back
-1/2" wheel studs
-US Mag Bandits; fronts - 17X8 with 235/45's, rears - 18X9 with 275/35's


Let's get started!!

[Josue]

I bought the wheels over the winter, but the tires weren't going to work for me, so I sold the fronts (225/50) to my brother to use on his drag wheel setup on his TBSS, and the 305/40 Nitto DR's got sold on craigslist. I went with Sumitomo HTRZIII's because they're really inexpensive, but still a good tire. I've ran them before, and was surprised how great they performed!

Old...



New...



Old...



New...



Amazing how wheels can change the entire look of a car!



Random pics now...

Formula steering wheel. It had the 2nd gen phoenix in there last year, but I was able to find a 1st gen, wings down phoenix over the winter, so I'm super pumped about that! haha



I have a thread in this section if anyone wants to see how I did it...

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=776536

8.5 10 bolt, torn down for inspection and cleanup/paint.




Again, LONG thread in this section about rear end talk, and how long it took me to find one! haha

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=776140

[Josue]

If ANYONE needs LS or Corvette swap parts, I HIGHLY recommend Cleveland Power and Performance!!! They specialize in LS dropouts, full Corvette rolling chassis, bumper wall art, all at great prices! I won't say what I paid for the things I got from them, but it was WELL under what I saw other people paying for the same stuff off ebay or craigslist.

http://www.clevelandpap.com/

Since they're local to me, I hit them up and wound up getting a complete LS rear disc brake setup, C5 calipers for the front, and a C5 master cylinder/booster. He even had no problem putting together a Lt/Lt set for my staggered shocks.



At the request of my wife (of all people haha) I ground down the raised "CORVETTE" lettering on these. She's like..."why do you want your brakes to say Corvette? It's not a Corvette, it's a Firebird!" Alright, alright....I gotcha. I also had to shave a bit off the ribs to clear the wheel weights. Then I hit them with a sandblaster real quick, to give it that texture again instead of something completely smooth. It was also to hide some grinder/sander marks that I didn't feel like working that much harder to get out. haha






Custom fittings to adapt original lines to the 3rd gen steering box. I can post the part numbers if anyone wants. Thanks to moparcolt for this swap!

[Josue]

Mocking up so I can check fitment and measure for stainless lines. Brackets are from Kore3, and the lines will be as well.




And, finally got over the hurdle of cleaning and painting everything that needed it! It feels like it's all downhill from here, like I can start putting stuff back together and cross that part off the list. We had some Eastwood Chassis Black from a previous project that did the trick just fine, and I used Duplicolor caliper paint on the brakes.








And, I can't get over the difference in how much better it looks from the back with meatier tires!! haha

[Squidward]

Dude! Nicely done! Those wheels and tires make it a different car totally.

I'll be tuned in to this thread. Love it.

And I am jealous of the shop and lift. Making me feel poor and trashy! It makes me miss the Midwest, where I could build a pole barn and become a class A-1 automotive hoarder!

[Josue]

Haha, yea....thanks to my parents for putting the barn up a few years back! We always dreamed of having a big space to work on this car, but it took 20 years before they were able to build one. It's working out great!

[grivera]

Great thread and love the progress pics! sub'd...BTW, what's the story on the orange '69?

[convgto]

Nice car, gives me hope for my 67 fb at body shop now, sometimes it feels like it will never be done. Thanks

[Josue]

Originally Posted by grivera

Great thread and love the progress pics! sub'd...BTW, what's the story on the orange '69?

It's my old man's, they bought and had it shipped up from NC last winter. He bought a 1969 Firebird convertible project back in the fall of 2009 for $1700, but it was literally torn down as far as you could possibly tear a car down. No clue why the kid did that to the car, instead of tackling one item at a time. Maybe he wouldn't have given up on the project!

Our case was a little different, but the same outcome. I was a collision tech for over 10 years, so the plan was for me to restore the car for them, and they'd give me a good deal on the '68, to keep it in the family. Sad to say though, that we got in over our heads too. I KNEW what it took to restore a car from the ground up, but I wasn't prepared for life to get in the way as much as it did, as well as some of the obstacles of classic car restoration. I'd go over there, spend 3-4 hours cutting, grinding, screwing, bending, tweaking a 1/4 panel, and it wouldn't look like I did ANYthing at all to the car! It was pretty discouraging...

In that time, I also got married, had a kid, got hired 3 years after college for what I went to school for (Air Traffic Control), moved back home to be closer to family and the new job, then I spent 3 months in OKC for training while my wife held down the fort with our daughter, another 2yrs worth of OJT to become fully certified, had another kid, bought a house, and tried to keep the peace between my wife and I, who is now a stay at home mom with a very small friend circle in this new place for her, so I have to be her social life so she doesn't go mad and drown these kids or something. My dad and I finally agreed that it was going to take me a decade to restore this car at the pace I was going, and it'd be best to just buy a driver quality car that we could tinker with here and there, but he could still enjoy in the meantime. It also created problems between my parents and I, them not thinking I was working on the car enough as I could/should, me getting pissed off at them for thinking I have all this free time to restore a car, it was a mess.

He actually sold the car for about what we had in it, so that was a plus. Found this one on auto trader classics, hired an inspector to check it out for us, and made the deal sight unseen. It's been a pretty good car, it's got some flaws, but it checked all the boxes of what we were looking for in his new car, so it's hard to argue those points vs. what they paid for the car. He drove it quite a bit last season, and I did a bunch of little stuff to it here and there; fixed a 1/4 glass that was off the track, Oil/water temp gauges, new core support bushings, air shocks to level out the ride height, and buffed the whole car out. This year we need to figure out his rear axle ratio so we can get the right gear for the trans to correct his speedometer (car was originally auto, now it's a 4sp) install headers, and have a shop bend up an exhaust for it.

They're loving having a convertible they can actually drive! haha



We were living an hour apart at the time, and I had the car in my garage, so I made 1 big push to get it rolling so it would be easier to move back home.

[Josue]

Originally Posted by convgto

Nice car, gives me hope for my 67 fb at body shop now, sometimes it feels like it will never be done. Thanks

Ah yes, body shop jail as they call it!! haha

It's funny, as a body guy, you figure I'd prefer to buy a car that was mechanically sound, but needed body work. But, I'd MUCH rather buy a car with a near flawless body that needs mechanical work! Body work is such a pain, incredibly time consuming, and expensive when done right!

That was another plus with this car, the body is done, minus some floor work needed, but it's not a pressing issue. I can just focus on the mechanics and making it drive better. This car will be my daily driver anytime there is no rain in the forecast!

[Donovan]

Good work!

Those rims look better than most of the others offered and are affordable as it gets. Nice

Clean work all around on the brakes and rear diff.

Thanks for sharing

[Josue]

Thanks!

These wouldn't have been my first choice in a wheel purchase, but I was giving them some thought after seeing 1 or 2 first gens with them installed. My dream wheels are the Year One billet honeycombs, but I'll never be able to swallow spending $3,000 on wheels and tires! I'd much rather spend less than $1,000, and use that money elsewhere.

Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time when these popped up on another forum back in December, so I picked them up as soon as I could.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering how he mounted the PMD center caps, I'll put this here too...

[Josue]

Here are some gratuitous parts shots I took today. I plan on getting over there tomorrow, Tuesday, and a bit on Thursday morning this week. Starting off with getting the old master cylinder out of the way, then getting the steering box in, then the front brake assemblies.

Thursday morning will hopefully be for getting the rear axle in and put back together. I'm waiting on a set of leaf spring pads from Classic Industries that should be here on Wednesday.

Got the rear caliper brackets/backing plates put back together. I was able to switch one of the ebrake levers so they'll both pull to the front like they did from the factory in '68. Just gotta get the cables figured out, and make brackets I saw on another forum that should work great!




C5 on the left, LS1 on the right. (if it wasn't obvious lol)



These went in with 2 strikes of a hammer, so I'm going to tack weld them to the hub to make sure they're not going anywhere.



The size difference really is amazing! Rear studs on the left, front studs in the middle, and new on the right.



And some rear axle hardware. I also got a chrome cover from Summit, the original was all pitted and nasty. So for $25, I figured it wasn't worth my time and effort to restore!

[rexs73gto]

The E-brake backing plates & shoes ,,, what did those come off of. I'm wanting to add disc brakes to my 73 GTO this year. I got some brackets from a Camaro that hold the calipers on but I've been told the E-brake shoe set up you have showing is a better way to go. Just trying to find out what I need to be looking for in the junk yards when i get out there. ?? Any info would be helpful, thanks in advance.

[Josue]

Everything in the rear is from a LS1 F-body, so 1998-2002. GM never really changed their bolt patterns on these 10 bolts, so the backing plates bolt right onto this 43 yr old axle! All that is needed is a small spacer between the backing plate and the axle, to center the caliper over the rotor. Just need to adapt the ebrake cable to work between new and old, but those that have done it say it's not bad at all to DIY. Or, you can buy the lines pre-made if you have the cash.

These LS rear disc setups are really easy to come by in junk yards and/or eBay. I've seen people get them off craigslist too, someone parting a LS F-body out and whatnot. With how easy the swap is, and the fact that you get a 12" rotor, I'm not really sure why more people don't do this swap?!

[Josue]

Had a pretty good day! Another parts store run, stopped by Lowe's to get some bolts for the rear caliper brackets, and over 6hrs of wrenching. It's nice to be knocking stuff off the list, feels like real progress!

Got the steering all wrapped up, just need to add fluid and pray for no leaks. lol




Guy at Napa had one of the Lee's style adapters laying around that he gave me to try, but it was too small, so I had to cut the original fitting off the new pressure hose and reflare it with a 3/8 fitting.






Got the axles drilled, all the studs pressed in on them and the other front hub, and tack welded all of them on the back side. Rear end is back together, and rear brakes done.

BRP Hot Rods rear disc brake adapter plates...








Fronts are all done too!










I'll get the rear end bolted down once my leaf spring pads come tomorrow, then that will probably be it for the week. Also going to order the stainless lines from Kore3, get those coming since they take 2-3 weeks to make.

[Josue]

Little by little...

Got the conversion u-joint installed in the drive shaft. Napa #372 worked for me and this swap. 1 1/16" pinion side, 3 1/4" wide, 1 1/8" drive shaft side, 3 5/8" wide.



Got the leaf spring pads in, and I also ordered a 5pc set of stainless steel hoses from Kore3, all 4 corners, and the axle drop hose. Rear end is finished, minus filling it up with fluid, and bolting the shocks on.



I bent the hose brackets up a bit to follow the contour of the axle, and bolted them under the u-bolts.





Old hard line fitting got all jacked up removing it, so I put a new 7/16X24 fitting on and reflared the line...

[Josue]

Question though....

The leaf spring pads were WAY too big for some reason? They were too wide, and also the circle "pegs" that go up into the rear end and down over the bolt that holds all the leafs together to center the rear end were way too big too.

So, I had to shave a bit off to get them to fit, and basically just cut off the pegs all together. I did my best to line everything up on the old marks on the leaf springs, but I'm worried that the rear end isn't centered, or square? The passenger side looks like it sits centered in the wheel opening, but the driver side looks like it might be too far forward.

What's the fix for this? Just use a measuring tape off the same points on the body and rear end and call it a day? I'd hate for that thing to be crooked back there and chew up my brand new tires or something...

[Squidward]

I used the Energy Suspension polyurethane pads. The pads come with metal inserts that fit up into the pad recesses, but I didn't use those because the inner diameter was too small to fit my spring center bolts/nuts. I had new bolts put into the spring centers at a spring shop, and those bolt heads/nuts fit into the spring/pad locator holes.

So in summary, my spring center bolts lined up with the recesses in the pads, which lined up with the holes in the spring perches and shock plates.

[Josue]

I thought about taking the leafs out, to clean them up and paint them, but the shackles and bushings are in such terrible shape, I didn't want to open up that can of worms right now. haha

Someone suggested squaring it up off measurements from the front hubs. Looked at it last night, and hub to hub was a 1 1/4" difference between the 2 sides, yikes! I'll see what I can do next week, this week is drawing to a close since Fridays are my Mondays. Had some stuff to do around the house, so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Tried to mount the master/booster, but I don't have the booster brackets on my car since it's manual brakes, so that will be next weeks job.

Going over now to get the converter in, header on, exhaust back in, swap drive gears inside the tail shaft due to the gear change, driveshaft, and maybe fill up the rear end if I have the time.