[johnta1]

I'd probably go with #1 while saving for #3?



With #3, there is only an engine install on your side, while the individual parts would have its own installation fee.

[Yater]

Why not.

Looking forward, what's your view on an upgraded engine with my current driveline ?

Just an example: would for instance a mild 461 aimed towards low rpm torque make any sense while keeping a 2.41 posi ? or is this totally stupid ? or maybe a more punchy 400 fresh build... still makes any sense?
(again, taking into consideration my drivers and usage, as well as typical driving and roads here... as stated in my earlier post)

Thanks for the advice.

[johnta1]

A 3.08 or 3.23 rear gear would make the car feel pretty peppy compared to now.
(with no engine changes)

With the higher torque/HP additions, it would really wake it up.

But not sure what the cost would be for all of it.
(I'm the kind of cheap guy )

It gets to where you have to decide what is more important.
The gears, engine stuff will make the gas mileage to go to heck.
The perceived ride may seem worse with more noise and other stuff.

So, docile street cruiser or kick arse beast?

[johnta1]

So, thinking more about it, the first thing may be to change the gears to around 3.08/3.23 with no other changes.

Drive it like that and see what it does.

May surprise you and be all you would need.

Then you could go to making more HP if you get the bug.
(and probably will)

[Formulabruce]

If you dont want to put in an O/D transmission, to "wake it up" a bit, or change gears,the easiest way I can see is to buy a set of #13 heads all done from the US, with BBC screw in studs,( makes valve train easily adjustable like a chevy) stellite valve seats and bronze guides, This will bump your Compression ratio up to over 9, and would be fine, You should put a Smartphone scope ( under 20 quid) in your spark plug holes, and have a look at the tops of your pistons. A Compression check can tell you a Lot about that engine as well. You would need premium Petrol, but you would be having more "spirited" drives !. Cheers

[bird72]

I am in process next few days of having gears put in my bird. 2.73 open axle now and going 3.23 Safe-T-Track. I have had non-OD 4.11, 3.73, and 3.55 rears and while fun, am looking for highway fun also. My wing ding computations put 3.23 as a great compromise gear. Pontiacs make enough torque that high winding gears for street are not needed. Your driving experience will be totally different ditching your gears, they are way too high / tall for enjoyment.

[Yater]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

You should put a Smartphone scope ( under 20 quid) in your spark plug holes, and have a look at the tops of your pistons.

Hey, that's really a nice idea, fairly simple !!! thanks for the tip !

[Yater]

So, thank you all for your inputs.
I see many advocate for swapping the gears.
But sorry to insist (I guess I'm stubborn......) for the moment being I will keep the 2.41. What's the consensus considering this? anything worth doing to the engine? I thought I higher torque could help quite a lot even in moving a lazy rear end at 2.41. Not looking for stoplight to stoplight drag.... but for some more push. Wonder if there's something simple and cost effective to do about it with my current set-up. Or if rather you believe that nothing would make sense while keeping those gears.
Thanks again guys. Your opinions are of great help to me.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by Yater

So, thank you all for your inputs.
I see many advocate for swapping the gears.
But sorry to insist (I guess I'm stubborn......) for the moment being I will keep the 2.41. What's the consensus considering this? anything worth doing to the engine? I thought I higher torque could help quite a lot even in moving a lazy rear end at 2.41. Not looking for stoplight to stoplight drag.... but for some more push. Wonder if there's something simple and cost effective to do about it with my current set-up. Or if rather you believe that nothing would make sense while keeping those gears.
Thanks again guys. Your opinions are of great help to me.

#13 heads . thats is the best thing I can think of , for the money and time to do it.
That WILL wake up your car, and thats a fact!

[Scarebird]

I would leave it as is and keep it in tune.

I have those Hyperco springs too: do yours squeak slightly?

[Yater]

Hi,
I am waiting to get the car from the shop to drive a bit and judge on the new leaf springs.
So far we only did a short test drive and my initial impressions were very good.
No squeak that I noticed. Rather the opposite, my old steel leafs, despite being almost new, did make noise and also were sometimes a bit "shaky". With the new ones I felt good behavior of the car, good damping comfort and no noise. Will need to test it more though.
Mines came from Ridetech and I added their delrin bushings for the front and rear spring eyes.

Originally Posted by Scarebird

I would leave it as is and keep it in tune.

I have those Hyperco springs too: do yours squeak slightly?

[funkybird]

Hi Yater

I also run a 1973 Firebird in Europe (I'm in the UK) and I have very similar experiences & difficulties as you regarding shipping/import costs and lack of knowledge on muscle cars over here.

This forum has been a god send and I really don't know how people managed before the internet. Ive used all the big parts houses and Ames and Summit have always been good with fair shipping costs. Classic industries and Rock are Ok but not shipping is not so cheap. And The Parts Place are great for hard to find stuff.

I love your car & personally my advice is if youre not racing it, do you really need to throw money at making it faster? Don't be the guy with titanium golf clubs who cant hit a ball straight....

My other motto is 'if it aint broken, don't fix it'. If your engine is shot then I would agree that a crate engine is a good way to go. Maybe controversial in this forum but I would look at Chevy unit as they are plentiful and relatively cheap, and your car is not stock anyway.

If you want info on engine mods, try posting your question in the 'street' section of this forum. Some very knowledgeable people are here.

All good advice so far in your thread on a low cost engine wake up. My opinion would be to add headers and a cam change. Even this is a minefield of options. For headers check the ground clearance! I have Hooker super comp headers and speed bumps are a nightmare, do your research. Keep the cam sensible and don't get drawn into arguments in this forum over old school vs asymmetric profiles. Again without knowing your current build spec, you're guessing.

The gearing is an easy win, so I would go with that 1st

And don't change the inlet manifold from current aluminium to stock iron as the weight increase will drop your front ride height, your cars current stance looks just right to me.

Enjoy your Poncho now spring is here!

[Yater]

Originally Posted by funkybird

I also run a 1973 Firebird in Europe (I'm in the UK) and I have very similar experiences & difficulties as you regarding shipping/import costs and lack of knowledge on muscle cars over here.

Yeah,... quite terrible for the costs & shipping....
BTW Glad to see some other european poncho guys around !

Originally Posted by funkybird

I love your car & personally my advice is if youre not racing it, do you really need to throw money at making it faster? Don't be the guy with titanium golf clubs who cant hit a ball straight....

My other motto is 'if it aint broken, don't fix it'.

Agree, wise words. And love the golf analogy !! LOL !!
In general that's my approach too and try to remain pragmatic, although not always easy...

Originally Posted by funkybird

All good advice so far in your thread on a low cost engine wake up. My opinion would be to add headers and a cam change.

Thanks for the reco.
As for the headers, has anyone tried the "Shorty" ones ??
I know they are not as good as the long ones, but I have a pair new, selling for quite an affordable price very close to where I am.
Wonder if they make sense at all. Also I've heard that they're a PITA in terms of frequent maintenance required?
With the Shorty I guess that clearance is not an issue. Should have downpipes built though I think.

Thanks again.

[Yater]

And short update:

The FITECH install is officially completed now.

So far it works great !
No issues with the Fuel Command Center at all with the few tricks I explained in the dedicated thread.

We went for a 1 hr. test drive yesterday and the car feels very good. Quite responsive compared to the old carter carb.

BTW, the composite leaf springs really work amazingly well, very happy with the result !


A few pics of the final Fitech set-up (just need to put the radiator overfill can back in place next to the FCC):

[njsteve]

You still have to tell us what color blue you used on the body! :-)

[Yater]

Originally Posted by njsteve

You still have to tell us what color blue you used on the body! :-)

Hi,
Sorry I didn't reply earlier.
Not willing to keep any secret whatsoever :-)
I know for sure it's not a GM standard color.
This was back in 2015. I remember spending quite a lot of time trying to find a color, I finally decided that I wanted it blue and again spent quite some time looking for different shades.
I looked in many catalogs and getting samples from current paints from different car manufacturers.
One day almost by chance I found a shop close to my place here that do design and build "cafe racer" motorbikes.
I talked to the owner who happened to be a former lead designer from Alfa Romeo and Audi. I showed him pictures of my Firebird I(it was red back then...) and he recommended a blue from some Ford (sorry !!) race cars from the 60's or 70's. I can't recall the model now, and my local paint shop found the color. I can try to ask them if I pass by because I moved to a different place since then..

[njsteve]

It sure looks like a modern metallic blue color from some type of foreign car with the purplish/dark blueish tint to it.

Or maybe 1965 Gaurdsman Blue Pearl on the GT40s and Shelbys?

http://sw-rodandrestocustomcolor.com/colors/PCCL31

[Tazzz2]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

interesting.
I have never seen a mono-leaf spring like that before in a second gen.

thanks for popping in to share this

They are a nice riding deal... Ride Tech does a total suspension package that is a really nice balance of stock positioned parts with improved handling called thier "Street Grip" solution...

[Yater]

Hi there,

Quite some time since I last posted, quite some work before summer, although I keep quickly following the board.

Taking some days off now, so I thought I could update you on the progress and news from the past weeks (or even months?!) :

- Fitech: runs amazingly well (Go EFI 600 with the FCC set up). The install made was extremely clean. Very happy with the system. Not a single problem.

- I installed a Vintage Air A/C system, very nice upgrade. The only minor thing is that the condenser masks quite a lot the radiator (I run a Ron Davis aluminum radiator with twin Spal electric fans, controlled through a DCC FK75 PWM unit). Noticed that the temp was a bit higher than it used to be in the past extremely hot and humid weeks here (just a few degrees over the 180 F reference temp). I repositioned slightly the temp probe from DCC and problem solved, only the fans tend to remain on operation at low speed even when cruising in really hot days. I may "shave off" a bit the condenser flanges in order to minimize the masking of the temp probe.

- new brakes ! Awesome. I had already installed new discs in all 4 corners as well as new pads, everything from EBC. However my single 11 booster and unknown bore MC was not giving me the right braking I wanted. I upgraded to a dual 9 booster + wilwood 1-1/8 MC and prop valve... And I can only say... Wow !!!! Brakes as good (if not better) as my modern daily driver now. Great pedal feel and stopping power.

- suspension: very happy with the Ridetech composite leaf springs. On the front, I have QA1 upper and lower control arms with Koni reds in all 4 corners. I just think that my spring rate in the front coils (likely stock one) might be a bit too soft, I think I might be occasionally bottoming up. May eventually upgrade to a pair of Moog 8002 coils. Not sure if anyone has a better suggestion.

- over the next week I will have my formula hood redone (there was an old fiberglass repair in one corner that was not very well done) and have it repainted.

- I also plan to take advantage of that period in the shop to install a set of Energy Suspension body bushings.

- At some point probably in September I will also further improve the sound and temperature insulation. I had Dynamat installed under the carpet and door panels, but I think it could have been better done. Also I will probably insulate and carpet the trunk for less road noise and hopefully less drone, also for better sound out of the subwoofer installed in the trunk.

- maybe in september too I may finally swap my rear 2.41 posi for a 2.73 with series 3 carrier. I hesitate between 2.73 and 3.08, I will do quite a lot of cruising and don't plan on hard launches not racing. We'll see...

- big question is around the engine. The fact is that it runs so well and smooth that I tend to apply the "if ain't broke, don't touch it" principle. Said that, I am tempted by some potential slight upgrades to wake it up a little bit. Still need to think about it and I read a lot of good info on the forum. Some members have also provided me with valuable advice that I am considering.

- apart from that , before the summer the car won a prize in one of the biggest events in around here, with more than 400 cars ... So really happy to see some hard work, time (and money) invested being appreciated.

That's about it so far .... Will try to keep updating from time to time when work and family allows.
Meanwhile, enjoy your summer !!

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by njsteve

It sure looks like a modern metallic blue color from some type of foreign car with the purplish/dark blueish tint to it.

Or maybe 1965 Gaurdsman Blue Pearl on the GT40s and Shelbys?

http://sw-rodandrestocustomcolor.com/colors/PCCL31

My paint guy says its ford "Deep Impact Blue" . hope that helps