[Judge273]

Fenders too.

[weranc55]

Originally Posted by Resto70TA

Now are you saying the front rubber grill is 73 or the complete front clip? Fenders and front grill area is 73?

It looks like a complete 73 front clip. Fenders rad support inner fenders nose.

['ol Pinion head]

Definitely a '73 up core support, nose and fenders. The top of the '73 and later 2nd Gen Firebird core supports will have a date stamped in them. Easy to read. that will give you a good idea, if the nose & core support pieces were both sourced from a '73, or whether the front end was pieced together. On the fenders, if they are solid, the rails can be replaced with early ones, or the rails can be modified to give the appearance of '70-72 fender rails. While '70-72 noses are not extremely hard to find, in really nice shape, they are tougher find than most realize.

[72projectbird]

As said above it has a nose off a 73. Even the support bars that tie into the fenders are 73 specific (I believe one year only?) Whoever did the nose swap did a good job, but its not correct for a 70.

The inner wheel wells are 73+. The 70-72 should be smooth without indentations.
The fenders are 73+ due to the mounting points for the rad support bars.
The running lights are amber colored which are 73 (I believe late 72 had them also)
I cant see the bottom of the hood, but I would guess its a 73-76 hood and hinges.

The hood release should be in the grill on 70-72's. It'll be up on top of the grill basically and they'll be a small square opening in the grill for your hand to grab it. The actual release lever is made out of metal bar. The 73's used a one year only release that spit out through the driver side opening in the lower valance. It used a more complex system with a steel cable.

The clutch pedal is right for a 70-72 as its the same size as the brake pedal. I believe in 73 the clutch pedal got smaller.

The floors aren't all bad. As for the toe kick you can either buy the whole piece and section it up and only use what you need, or you can find someone parting out a bird and have them cut out what you need. For the rest of the floor just by whatever panels you need.

They do reproduce the lower spoiler. I have the fiberglass ones on my 71 and they fit good.

[Resto70TA]

Wow thanks for the replies. I will consult with the original owner on what he want s to do and ask when it got changed. He did sell the car once and bought it back maybe that owner did the front nose change and the original owner doesn't even know. Won't that suck. Just trying to get enough info as I can on the car. Just really fixing a couple mechanical things then a re-paint. But fixing all the problem areas I see. I did order the AMD lh half floor pan it has the toe board. Which I can make work with some small modifications. I will post pictures as I go through the process.
Jason

[Judge273]

I Imagine that a small restoration growing is not uncommon...

At least you have parts to swap that are good.

[roundportponchos]

Is it a Van Nuys car? Noticed vaccum canister

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by roundportponchos

Is it a Van Nuys car? Noticed vaccum canister

The charcoal canister is likely the original 73....70's were different....when equipped...

Alternator looks like it may be a "open face" original....that's bonus.

[2manyT/A'S]

We're just a bunch of fussy "old farts" here .......having fun...

Time to pop the trim rings off and see if the original wheels are still there.

[Resto70TA]

LOL I'm all about numbers to. But this owner just wants to drive the car. I would love to do a nut bolt restoration on the car. Just not his cup of tea. He wants it to look nice so he can get in it and go. Which I fully understand. I'm a Chevrolet guy. I have restored a 68 L78 nova 1 of 901 cars built with the L78 option a 1968 L79 Nova 1 of 1274 cars built with the 325hp 327. I also did a 67 chevelle convertible SS clone and just finished putting a survivor 65 L79 chevelle back together. I enjoy building them more than driving them. Some people enjoy looking at them and not driving them. Then some people just want to enjoy them at shows once a week. I guess it's what makes the world go around. Looking forward to sharing the restoration with everyone here.

Jason

[71GP76TA]

I would at least change the front bumper and grilles so the car looks correct from the exterior. That '73 front bumper is worth a few $$$ to the right guy since it was a 1 year only. You might be able to wash out $$$ wise.

[OCMDGTO]

Awesome car! Until I saw the floorboard I was going to say give it a killer drivetrain & burn some gas. There's something nice about driving a car you don't have to worry about getting dinged in a parking lot.

[Resto70TA]

Originally Posted by OCMDGTO

Awesome car! There's something nice about driving a car you don't have to worry about getting dinged in a parking lot.

Ya that's what I do with my 52 Chevrolet truck I put almost 4 thousand miles on it this summer 327 3 speed.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by OCMDGTO

Awesome car! Until I saw the floorboard I was going to say give it a killer drivetrain & burn some gas. There's something nice about driving a car you don't have to worry about getting dinged in a parking lot.

That's always a great option!

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

I would at least change the front bumper and grilles so the car looks correct from the exterior. That '73 front bumper is worth a few $$$ to the right guy since it was a 1 year only. You might be able to wash out $$$ wise.

To be honest that's probably what I would do. Obviously having correct everything will increase the value, but if the owner just wants a car to cruise and take to shows just swapping the nose should be enough.

[Resto70TA]

Well I got the gas tank and exhaust out last night. I must say you really can't tell what a car needs until you get into it. I cleaned the passenger side floor pan, I'm most likely going to replace the passenger side front floor pan and fix a small hole in the toe board. It's not through yet but real thin metal around the drain plug. Now's the time to fix it.

Once I dropped the tank I found someone has already patched the trunk floor pan. From the top it was questionable weather it needed to be replaced. I also got a better look at the drivers side quarter while on the lift and the exhaust out of the way. The outer wheel well isn't even attached to the quarter. Someone hung a skin and didn't even fix that area. So if it was my car I would hang a new quarter replace the outer wheel well and drop off on the drivers side and most likely do the same on the passenger side. The passenger side quarter is original and the outer looks good but it has rot in the back and front of rear wheel. They make patch panels for that area but I think I can save time and just replacce the whole quarter. Time to give the owner a call so he knows what needs to be repaired. So much for fixing a gas leak repairing a floor pan and just painting the car.

Has anyone used the goodmark full quarters? I really don't want to use a skin.

Jason

['ol Pinion head]

Full 1/4's are only way to go. they only been out in repro form for last year or so, there is only one mfg. Do a search for weranc's thread on installing a pair on a '71.

The long avail hip 1/4'a are Junk, do not have correct fluting at the bottom of the rear lwr 1/4. Many folks have been unhappy with the hip 1/4's over the years, imho, they're fine ona budget racecar, but anything nicer needs better. Good luck on getting this '70 back to where it belongs.

[RAJ7395]

Both front fenders, the radiator core support, and the front nose are all 73 pieces.

The front crash standards changed for 73 thus GM added two large steel bars the run between the front core support and the fender side bracing and seriously beefed up the steel in the nose cone.

So...to be correct for a 70, you'd need to convert the fenders to 70 style (70s do not have the two bolt holes on the braces for the two large flat steel bar), replace the radiator core support with a 70 piece (does not have the indentations for the two large flat steel braces), and get a 70 nose cone that doesn't have all the extra steel reinforcement and correct grills.

The lower chin spoiler is reproduced but does not match the one year only 70 original shape underneath. Original 70 spoilers are very hard to find and very expensive. I've been trying to find an original for mine for a quite a while now. The 71 and up chin spoiler will mount and look correct from the outside.

[Resto70TA]

The owner has decided to leave the 73 front clip on it. He plans on driving the car. I just finished the drivers side floor pan. Onto the passenger side.

before



After

[weranc55]

Nice work

[Norwood]

Agreed, keep those pix coming