My ‘70 Formula 400 build!
 

It rested for way too long! She sat on blocks in the garage for 22 years… waiting patiently for my attention.

I purchased in 1994, all original CA car. Had just been driven all the way from LA to Cedarburg WI, It was parked on the street with the for sale sign in the window! This was the day that I brought it home, couldn’t believe my luck!

I drove it and restored as an original survivor until 2001 when the motor finally let go. Oil pump failed, and spun a bearing! Yikes… life got busy, but I knew I would always get some time to resurrect it.

Here are some garage pictures as a final started, tearing into it. Very little rust, just done the corners of the front and rear windows and a little in the trunk.

More pictures of original cond. I even found a second build sheet strapped to the top of gas tank!

More pictures…

The interior was pretty toasted from all the Arizona and California sun. I had already decided that I was going to do a restomod, and I have a really nice black 73 deluxe interior out of my other Formula as a donor!

Nice car! What type of modifications are you planning?

Wow, nice starting point!

Was it triple green?

Buildsheet says yes.

It must be nice to have a Van Nuys Bird.
Don't know of too many Norwood Birds having a buildsheet. (at least the early 70's)

:)

Thanks, yes she’s a very clean palate to start a build for sure! I have a better build sheet at home, will have to attach a picture of that when we get back.

I have a 400 out of my 73 car that I had rebuilt back in 1981 that I pulled and refreshed. I will go onto more detail, but I’m also switching it over from an automatic column shift to M21-4 spd.

Deleted the vinyl top, was never a fan. Also took the rear spoiler from the 73 and adding front spoiler as well.

My plan is to try and add the updates here I’ve already done, as I have time. It’s been an excellent adventure, going headlong into this once I retired. I stripped and sent to body and paint in Jan of 24, so I’ve got a lot of catching you all up on the steps here soon! :)

Great build and following along! Can't wait to see the build sheet too. Is the new paint VooDoo green?

Denins

Great, I’m glad you like it as well!

Actually, the paint color is Donnybrook Green, a one year color for 1970 Corvette! My very talented body and paint guy recommended it. He was going to paint his 66 Chevy C10 project he was building for his daughter that color, but changed his mind.

I’m so happy he pointed this color out! It just glows in the sun! When I saw this pic I was hooked!

You can see how tired and baked that ol Palisade green paint was, on the hood especially.

A couple more pics of how clean the underside was before restoration began. So nice working on disassembly without rusty crud falling on you!

Here you can see the one area of Jeff’s shop, getting set to start stripping paint of the front end components. Nose had its share of cracks and bruises, but he did a fine job of restoring as you’ll see in later pics.

Now starts the heavy lifting stuff! No more messing around! So nice to be easily rolling around on nice casters and then splitting subframe from chassis! He’s very well equipped obviously!

I took on the subframe, axle and suspension system while Jeff started the bodywork. Next its time to do some pressure washing to remove road grime and grease!

This was in Feb., very fortunate to have warm enough weather in WI to do pressure washing outside at my place!
Yeah, obvious signs of oil seepage from pass. side engine or trans under there… super clean for a 55 year old car though!
Nice to be spinning that body like a chicken on a rotisserie. The media-blasting went super also, more pics to follow soon! :)

Pic of the Earl Schieb paint job covered tag, soon to be restored as well!
I had two 12-bolt rears to choose from, I rebuilt the original and sold the one I bought that I had pulled from a 70 TA back in 1980. Paid $80 for that!

The two YS 400 motors resting comfortably in my garage for decades! Originally built that one on stand on the right in 1981 for my 73 formula. More details later… original 400 from this 70 on the crate on left.

The sled trailer worked great for driveline transport! Off to sandblast after some scraping & wire brush detailing.

Have the shifter opening and console mount transferred from 73 here.

Starting to clean up nicely after sand blast! Nice to reveal next to no bondo, other than sine dings on rear tail panel and pass front fender.

The nose looked pretty clean and he cleaned up the firewall with the filler panel there. Going with Vintage Air system so don’t need the big hole from original AC system.

Definitely subscribed to this thread. Looks like a great start for sure. my untrained eye didn't see any previous repairs in the body which is a bonus!

Your color choice looks really nice as well.

Well, there was some previous body repairs… I mentioned the rust spots along the corners of windshield & rear window.
He did an excellent job with removing this cancer and filling with new metal. I couldn’t ask for quicker more efficient repair there! Wow!

This pass corner of windshield was probably the worst. Nice new, solid metal in there now!

There was some pitting from vinyl top rot, but he did a great job of cleaning up with media blast and spreading a rust preventative compound over it to smooth out nicely.

Next, it was my turn to get cracking on this subframe and cleaning up 12bolt rear axle. So glad that I picked up a new Dewalt impact gun, that thing rocks! Fringe benefits of big projects, new tools! :)

And then it was back on the trailer on to the sandblaster!

Couple pictures of spinning the rotisserie to try and get all the sand out of the body channels.

Then it was fitting the Vintage Air system under the dash. He welded a ¼” stud inside, so not to have to drill or have a bolt head protruding on the firewall.

And I was charged with removing a broken fender bolt, seeing I was the guilty party there!

I understand that you're trying to catch everyone up on your cool project, but exactly how far along you? The reason I ask is that folks might not chip in with ideas/suggestions about something if you're already beyond the point in the project where their input might be helpful.

Very good point Gator67! I had posted a recent pic on “Let's see those pictures of '70 - '73 birds“ and it was suggested I start a build thread… forgot everyone else may not have seen this.

Body & paint are all complete, engine is built & almost ready to drop in. Working on fuel & brake lines soon here.

Interior work has started… just finished upholstery of buckets and carpet has arrived!

Current picture from the other thread.
It actually looks like it could pass for a Verdoro Green variant.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...2&d=1747970966

I would say it’s similar, but perhaps a hint more of bronze metallic hue to it?
Here’s the color chip that sold me that day at the paint shop! I also chose to go with satin bronze powdercoating on the wheels and other components (like grille surrounds) for accents. Turned out great I think!

The next pictures are from return from sand blast with subframe and rear axles. So incredibly clean!

Gotta get em costed quick, before they start to rust! Off to the paint booth we go!

Jeff had made amazing progress already, having the underbody coated in satin chassis black and the trunk sprayed with textured black coating.

Busy spray booth there for sure! :)

Now things are starting to happen in my garage again also! Got the 12bolt back from rebuild, new posi unit with 3:73 gears! I don’t know if the dog was more exited than me? LOL

Nice to be able to blast and paint dozens of misc brackets, components and bolts for this as well! Helps keep costs down and makes you feel good about having a hand in it at the same time…

Decided to go with an aftermarket front valance, original had a load of bondo from kissing parking barriers I’m sure!

I bought a Willwood 4 wheel disc setup and it was pretty cool having that arrive! Feeling like Christmas again in Spring at this point!

I didn’t realize I had to modify the stock spindle units to mount calipers, but I made it work. Felt very fortunate to have guys back at the shop gladly step up, even after I’d retired from there! I mounted the units on wooden blocks to keep things square and make for safer cutting in bandsaw. I’ll follow soon with that assembly process with the new RideTech suspension system went with.

Time for some serious suspension upgrades here! I purchased this package from RideTech and can’t wait to bolt it up to the subframe!

Started with the rear axle setup first. New Eaton springs and shackle/bushing kit from Energy Suspension. ;)

These new control arms fit great and looked fantastic! Not really too difficult at all to do this assembly.

Started assembly of steering as well, but was still waiting for backordered Center link from Ride Tech. Mounted the new Borgeson steering box.

The new Willwood, six piston front calipers and four piston rear calipers really looked amazing on there! I thought I was going to get shiny zinc coated rotors according to the catalog, but I actually really liked the look of these black ones!

You can see the area on the back of the front spindle that need to be modified in the third picture. They fit perfect!

Couldn’t admire them for too long, needed to break this down to be able to get the steel wheels back on there and roll them back on the trailer. The big front rotors especially were real close to the inside dia of that rim! Off to the paint shop to mount them back up on the chassis! Yes!

Cool stuff .
Your dog seems to have a lot of enthusiasm about the project too.
Always good to have some family support.

Absolutely Baron! That hound is always hanging with me in the garage, sniffing around to see how things are going!

I cannot say enough for the family support on this project, my wife has often chipped in with me when I need an extra hand to hold something in place and that will come to light as I go through this. My grandson’s are beginning to get very excited about this coming together as well.

Now it’s time to pick this Bird up off the perch and get her back on four wheels! So nice having a great lift like this to get everything in position.

Unbelievable, how bad a couple of the subframe bolts had rotted with water, apparently trapped around them in the bushing. Thankfully, all new hardware and bushing kit firmed that all up.

Bolt up the rear axle and springs and we’re ready to roll! Pretty cool to have it back together again and pushing it through the shop. Back on the casters and into the booth, to get set to mask and bag to get set for priming.

Hi there, im just starting a rebuild on same car here in New Zealand, where did you guy your valance? are you happy with the quality?

That cool! They are such great cars!

I’ll have to look when I get home, out of town for the weekend. I think it was Ames or perhaps Classic Industries.
Yes, very happy with the quality.

Thankyou, i will follow your thread for sure!

About this time I was starting to finally crack into this 400 motor that I’d originally built back in the early 80s, it’d been sitting on a stand in the garage collecting dust since I pulled it from my ‘73 Formula about 20 years back!

It didn’t look bad at all, just needed some TLC. Time to tear it down and send to the shop for hot-tank and refresh. It had next to no miles in its original project home. That vehicle was just too badly rusted to finish restoring reasonably.

Was happy to see that things looked pretty decent. I did have some light scoring on bearings, due to some wearing of pushrods against guide plates. I had planned to replace all bearings and piston rings anyway.

The .040 over TRW forged alum. pistons and SD455 rods all looked very good. Decided to stay with that combination, along with the Crane Blazer camshaft that was in excellent condition.

Been a busy week, but thought I’d post a few more pictures here….

Mounting panels, fitting gaps and pinning each is one of Jeff’s special methods to get things back in place perfectly after paint. It works fantastic!

Nice little dent puller to straighten out dings, to limit final filler skin coat to as little as possible. Will be blocking and sanding soon!

Having a little bit of trouble with the website lately, as I’m sure a lot of you have been. I’ll give this another shot.

Pretty cool seeing the front quarters, core support, and nose going back on. It’s been decades since they’ve been there!

The black will come off the rotors once you start driving it.

Your car is turning out great! The period color looks perfect. I love pro-touring style cars...my '70 Formula (Detroit Speed, Baer, etc.) is an absolute blast to drive. Also finishing up a '79 TA with my son, on this one we went with Ridetech & Wildwood like you did. I have a friend up the road here who's done a half dozen or so pro-touring style second gen birds with similar set-ups and all have turned out great...(in fact, several just left this morning for the Bandit Run).

Thanks Gator, that’s great that we’ve got so many common factors on the pro-touring builds! I too have seen so many great projects like this, both Firebird and Camaro!

This 1-3/8 diameter muscle bar from Ride Tech looks very stout, should be a great improvement up front in handling from the old original. Interesting that bushing kit they have, has a fabric embedded in the material to reduce friction there!

Was pretty cool to see the rear spoiler from my ‘73 car go in there! Fit nicely and not too badly nicked up.

He was also using paint sticks for getting even panel gaps, good tip!

He used a heavy coat of rubberized filler to restore the nose, kind of daunting when you first see it caked on there!

Lots of block- sanding going on and even my wife and grandson got to visit and check it out! :)

Get a little dusty at times, that’s a given!!

In the meantime, back at the ranch, I was beginning to polish some of the trim work that was salvageable. Headlight and parking lamp surrounds were great! Lenses definitely were toast!

The new RingBros hood hinges came in, super excited about how nice they looked!

Lots of primer going down, and great to see this progress. Jeff was really pouring the coals to this project and at the same time being diligent about doing it right. It’s all about attention to detail to get final paint looking flawless!