[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by tom s

Are you going to drag your butt to Fullerton on the 28th?Tom

I hope so, but I've had so many trips to Mayo, there's no telling. I'm there on the 25th, and again on Feb 1st. Lately a one day trip has turned into a whole week. That's why I'm not on an airplane to Kauai right now, as a matter of fact.

[Qball]

Heck yeah!!! That red top kicks ass!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ScumOne]

The New Vintage gauges I bought for the Bird have had significant challenges, things not covered in the installation manual. I'm helping them revamp the install manual. The gauges do look great in the dash (unmounted as of yet, but should be dialed in around mid February).

I had to ditch the SMI 800 cfm Stage II Q-jet from SMI. It ran great at sea level in So Cal, but it got a serious aversion to 5500 ft elevation. Put in two different sets of jets and rods, nothing made it idle. I'm guessing it's something simple I can't figure out, but I went with a Holley 4160 750 cfm dual fuel feed with vacuum secondaries, and now it's stable...go figure. I'll put it up for sale with all the rest of my stock parts I replaced soon. The engine looks pretty tight with the new KRE heads, Performer intake, Holley and Ram Air manifolds along with the new AC compressor.

I'm sure the Wilwood front discs with the new Power Stop Z26 rear drum brakes will help it stop. All I need is the NV gauges fitted (wiring is already done), and get it tuned for 5500 ft elevation and I should be ready to rock.

Updates as they happen in the 2nd week of February.

[jhein]

Very nice looking setup.

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by jhein

Very nice looking setup.

Just hoping it runs as good as it looks. Everyone at my mechanic's shop are dying to hear it do a burnout. They're tired of hearing it run so well, on a lift. LOL

[bhill86]

I’d be curious to know if you get any belt flutter out of the AC compressor when it’s on. I have the same setup and have been struggling with flutter

[kingbuzzo]

noob question; do you get in trouble for changing the odometer gauge? I thought it was a federal crime or something?

Does it have to be calibrated to what the old analog was @?

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by bhill86

I’d be curious to know if you get any belt flutter out of the AC compressor when it’s on. I have the same setup and have been struggling with flutter

Well, when I get the Bird on the road, I'll let you know. It didn't with the old Harrison AC compressor setup (which I kept just in case!).

When I post my mid February updates, I'll get that tested. The alignment looks good, hopefully it's ok.

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by kingbuzzo

noob question; do you get in trouble for changing the odometer gauge? I thought it was a federal crime or something?

Does it have to be calibrated to what the old analog was @?

I don't know, but since the whole car has been upgraded, updated, and modified, it's damned near new right now. The PO put the Trans Am/stacked gauges in it, I remember from the build pics he started it at 2222 miles. I got it around 6k, and I've now made it up to 11K, 8 years later. I think that a car dealer may have to toe that line, but I'm not going to worry about that.

I doubt the Feds give a crap about what you do with upgraded parts on a 54 year old car (55 since it was built in late 68). I'm going to set it back to the current mileage if I can, otherwise it'll just 0.

They come with a calibration setup, but it's using a GM "Hall Sender" instead of a speedo cable to match the gauges. So it gets recalibrated for the upgraded sender to the speedo.

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

He was probably going for a complete deluxe change over - then found out the interior door handle mechanism is a whole different animal between the two.
= No Go on the door panels.

Wild that he picked that color combo !
I would have thought it was an eclectic original owner choice that was kept in allegiance. Bit it smacks and pops no doubt.

According to the PHS docs, it came with a deluxe interior, not the standard. Maybe they were trashed, who knows. He rebuilt this to match the one he had in high school, so I guess it was deliberate. Go figure. He stuffed those seats until he couldn't fit any more in. It's really cushy, I know that much!

[ScumOne]

I'm on the shakedown cruise for a week. I have to replace the NVU gauges, they stay stuck at 65 mph and 3500 rpm. The fuel gauge isn't calibrated or it's bad as well. It read a 1/2 tank, I got 2 miles from the shop and it ran out of gas. Sigh.

There's some carb tuning ahead. It had 73 jets stock, went to 69, it's just a hair lean now....but for now...

http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/69bird/feb23idle.mov



I'll update this in a week or so after I identify all the kinks and get them ironed out.

Jim S

[dpoltzer]

Very nicely done! Let us know what you do about your gauges as I will have to decide on gauges for my 1969 in a few weeks. Car looks great and nice panel gaps..

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by dpoltzer

Very nicely done! Let us know what you do about your gauges as I will have to decide on gauges for my 1969 in a few weeks. Car looks great and nice panel gaps..

NVU sent out a new gauge package to replace the ones that are stuck. They get here Tuesday, so hopefully that's the end of the gauge saga. Pic of the gauges in the dash (stuck at 65 mph) attached below.


The RetroRadio Hermosa 2 is just getting dialed in, but my USB stick with all of my classic rock sounds great through the rear speakers (upgraded). When it's all dialed in I'm going to play DP Highway Star, then I Can't Drive 55 in succession...not sure what's in line after that but I'll get some other driving songs going...maybe Rocking Down the Highway?

Kudos to Prescott Auto Body (AZ) for the panel gaps, and matching my paint to bring the Bird together.

Updates as they happen.

[ScumOne]

Picked up the Bird today...sigh. NVU gauges are still being a PITA, but at least they move freely. Holley carb ain't quite getting it for me acceleration wise, stumbles off idle, speedo reads in km, not mph, but I did get the tach dialed in. The Ames Performance 3 point conversion seat belts continue to be a royal PITA, and the instructions are totally worthless. I now have twice as much money in this Bird than my supercharged 04 Vette.

But I'm not bitter. No, really! I'm not...(anyone buying that one?).

Back to shop tomorrow with a list of "fix its"...

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by ScumOne

... When it's all dialed in I'm going to play DP Highway Star, then I Can't Drive 55 in succession....

I like the way you think! Heheh!

Sweet ride!

.

[ScumOne]

Originally Posted by dpoltzer

Very nicely done! Let us know what you do about your gauges as I will have to decide on gauges for my 1969 in a few weeks. Car looks great and nice panel gaps..

The new gauges are working, but my fuel sending unit has malfunctioned. New one comes today, but I have to drive the car to drain the fuel before they drop the tank and install the new one.

But once you get past the setup stage the gauges seem to work fine and look great. One note on the NVY gauge install manual, they have one button that does the setup on the tach, the other one does the setup on the speedo, but they failed to note that in the manual. I only found that out by pressing buttons and turning the car on to figure out they were setup separately. The speedo calibration was simple, you have to set the tach to SPORT to get the most accurate RPM readings.

The water temp, oil pressure and volt meter all work well, you have the option of showing them digitally in the LED screen or not, while the analog pointers still work. When I get the carb dialed in with the 2004r TV cable, I'll go test out the 0-60, 1/8 and 1/4 mile timers. Should be pretty slick once it's all dialed in.

And now I wait...some more...LOL

[HWYSTR455]

Sadly, my direct fit for the 70-81 firebirds didn't fit correctly, and going to have to just mod the bezel so I can drop them in. Eh, so be it. But if I were going to do that anyway, I would have gone with the Speedhut gauges. Plus, I paid extra for the 'direct fit' brackets. I tried to work with them but at one point they just went dark on me.

I may put a thread together on that so people know going into them. I have detailed pics of all the issues.

The NVU speedos only go to 140, which is a bummer, since even the OE one went to 160. I could get the 'custom' one with a readout in any range desired, but it was like a 12+ week wait. And yes, I go over 140.

270 degree or 'full sweep' would have been more desirable too, but eh.

Holley has a fuel sending unit that uses LiDAR technology, which would be great, but it is a PWM signal, and doesn't support straight Ohm gauges.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...s/parts/19-250

Fuel senders are a problem if you don't use a GM sender, most of the ones that fit the Tanks Inc EFI tanks are far from 'granular', and the level is pretty much just a 'guess' with them. (They use a 5-hole bolt pattern for the sender). They do have some that work 'better', like the marine ones, but it's just a pain to deal with overall.

EDIT: I went back and determined the Holley sender does work with an Ohm sender, but on the 240-33 Ohm type.
.

[ScumOne]

Since it's all wired up for the 0-90 ohm sender setting, I just ordered an OER sending unit to simplify installation. Not trying to reinvent the wheel on this, I had enough fun with the gauges. And yes, I had to modify the spacer by shaving one corner flat since the stock gauges have a 45 degree mounting plate angle to set the gauges correctly.

Once you shave off that 1/8" tall 1.5 inch long piece, the gauges fit fine...but it wasn't in the NVU manual, nor was notching the brake pedal support bracket. When this is over I'll be working with NVU to update their manual so it's easier to install.

The gauges do look pretty slick now that they're mounted correctly with the necessary mods.

[ScumOne]

One thing at a time....got the gauges dialed in (waiting on the fuel sender install after I drive all the gas out of the tank).

Looks like the old 400 can make 6003 rpm, and it's not fully dialed in yet, although the 2nd gear scratch today was a first with the new Holley 750.

Gauges look pretty decent, I must say.



Back to the shop Mon or Tuesday, hopefully the last little details will get fixed up.

[KSZR]

Originally Posted by ScumOne

One thing at a time....got the gauges dialed in (waiting on the fuel sender install after I drive all the gas out of the tank).

Looks like the old 400 can make 6003 rpm, and it's not fully dialed in yet, although the 2nd gear scratch today was a first with the new Holley 750.

Gauges look pretty decent, I must say.



Back to the shop Mon or Tuesday, hopefully the last little details will get fixed up.

What governor do you have in the 2004R?