GARY!!! I was wondering how you were doing. Just last wekk Art Stevens was asking about stroker motors and I told him to talk to you about it. I love what you are doing to your car. I wish you had done it on speed channel though, so we could have all watched you every week.
Thanks guys, some weeks it seems like I can move mountains, other weeks I am lucky if I can move a rock!
Lookin Good Gary .... what blasting equipment are you using ...it looks like its work real well.
Ron
Ron
Ron it's just a generic blaster from Harbor Freight. It is about like cleaning metal with a magic marker. What you see cleaned is 9 hours of blasting with some of it done ahead of time. Keep in mind the paint had already been removed by soda blasting. Between sitting, the metal work done and the soda blasting it still needed to be lightly blasted. The soda blasting removed the paint but not much of the rust and it did not rough up the metal.
I just did a resto job just like this on my '67 Firebird convertible. I used a painless wire kit and it went smooth and easy, has anyone treid to adapt a painless kit for a cat??... I mean for 335 bucks you can just pick a spot for the fuse block and run the wires?.. Say if you got a harness for a large car with all options, the wires would be plenty long, there would provisions for all option??.. Mine even door servo, elec fan..etc??... Has this been done???...
quote:Originally posted by PLT-1:
I just did a resto job just like this on my '67 Firebird convertible. I used a painless wire kit and it went smooth and easy, has anyone treid to adapt a painless kit for a cat??... I mean for 335 bucks you can just pick a spot for the fuse block and run the wires?.. Say if you got a harness for a large car with all options, the wires would be plenty long, there would provisions for all option??.. Mine even door servo, elec fan..etc??... Has this been done???...
I was not only thinking of a painless wiring kit but I was also thinking about mounting it in the front trunk instead of under the dash.
Let's see photos of the Firebird:
Gary
I love photos! That car was pretty light those years weren't they?
I don't know what this thing weighs??... A drag racer would know... I would be surprised if a coupe was heavier then this car. This thing has a bunch more stuff on it...
When I was 17 I had a $500 car (1972 4-door Chevy). I was looking for a descent car. Dad felt after a year of driving I could get something better. I saw a 1973 TA just like the one I have for $2k. It was a gorgeous car! I came home and told Dad about it. He asked what it had in it. I told him it had a 455. He said "Son, ain't no way in hell your getting a car with a 455 in it!" That car was ingrained in my head. It's like a duck that forms on the first thing it sees when it is born. It may as well been my first girlfriend who got away and I wanted one every since.
I got this car a couple years ago for 10X what I could have back then but I finally got it. Funny thing was the guy I bought it from kept taking about how fast it was. It has a bigger cam, bigger heads, etc. When I got it home and got a chance to drive it around, I told him if he though it was fast, he should hop in my Pantera, it would re-define what he thought fast was. I think he took offense to that! LOL
The TA is not that fast but it's a lot of fun. It is our family drive in car and pizza car. Ironically out of 7 cars (one is a truck) the TA is one of 2 automatics. The other automatic is the 76 OLDs (455). The auto is actually a nice break form the other cars; especially my Ford F-350 which is probably got a master Cyl on the way out.
I got this car a couple years ago for 10X what I could have back then but I finally got it. Funny thing was the guy I bought it from kept taking about how fast it was. It has a bigger cam, bigger heads, etc. When I got it home and got a chance to drive it around, I told him if he though it was fast, he should hop in my Pantera, it would re-define what he thought fast was. I think he took offense to that! LOL
The TA is not that fast but it's a lot of fun. It is our family drive in car and pizza car. Ironically out of 7 cars (one is a truck) the TA is one of 2 automatics. The other automatic is the 76 OLDs (455). The auto is actually a nice break form the other cars; especially my Ford F-350 which is probably got a master Cyl on the way out.
This was my wife's six cylinder car right out of high school. We have had it ever since. We have been working on about three years, I'll be glad when it's done so I can throw away the catalogs, receipt files, shipping docs...lol... I'll be glad when I can drive it, wash it, change the oil...repeat...
My first car was a 68 Firebird 400. It weighed 3200 lbs on truck scales. I had a 75 Trans Am that I bought new. A four speed really perks up that car. It weighed more like 3500 pounds I think.
This bird has a warmed over 427 four bolt w/muncie and fab 9... it should be fun,...
This is a awesome thread! Since old cars to heart has been interjected heres one I still dream about. She sat in a families back yard for a long time. Stopped in one day when Iwas 18 and asked if she was for sale. The lady told me she wasnt sure because her husband was stationed in Korea for the Air Force and she would ask the next time they talked, when she called me a month or so later and said come see me she told me I could have the car for $2000. I said I didnt have $2000 well she goes just pay me something evry month until you pay it off. I said OK and started my installments. Thats when my parents started in on me about some fast car and I went my fathers way and dropped it. But it had a 429 CJ, auto, hideaways, power windows, A/C, deep sump Cobra oil pan (never have seen another one since),shaker, even a rollbar. Just think what that baby is worth now!
At that age, letting a car like that get away will forever haunt you. You will always dream of that car because you dreamed of it at 16.
Do you remember 16? I flew a trip to Cincinnati Saturday. I landed the airplane at lunkin and saw my passengers into their transportation to the evening baseball game. There was a yellow 2 place open cockpit Pitts Biplane. I commented to the line guy that it would be a fun ride. As I came back to the airplane (with nothing to do till the game was over) the guys said "I'll take you up if you want to pay for gas!". HELL YEA I DO! One thing, you can't make me sick. I got to fly these people back tonight!
I had a good time. I did 10 slow rolls in a row trying to get my rudder coordinated. Tons of 1/2 Cubin 8's, 4-point rolls, stall turns, tail slides, and on and on. It was tough though. I had not done that in a long time. I had to keep him toned down a little. We were pulling 4.5-5 G's in every entry of a maneuver. It's been a while since I have done that.
As I come home I think of how much fun it was but that it was not the same as it was when I was 16. At 16 one day I was driving a 1971 4-door Chevy 100+mph down an abandon highway with balled tires and 2 good shocks. I remember the wind and the adrenalin (and the car floating up and down and lane to lane). I remember saying to myself, "what ever this feeling is DON'T EVER LOOSE IT"
I had a ball in the Pitts and would do it again in a heartbeat, but it was not the same feeling I had when I was 16. Maybe it's family, common sense, self preservation, Anyone else ever feel that?
Do you remember 16? I flew a trip to Cincinnati Saturday. I landed the airplane at lunkin and saw my passengers into their transportation to the evening baseball game. There was a yellow 2 place open cockpit Pitts Biplane. I commented to the line guy that it would be a fun ride. As I came back to the airplane (with nothing to do till the game was over) the guys said "I'll take you up if you want to pay for gas!". HELL YEA I DO! One thing, you can't make me sick. I got to fly these people back tonight!
I had a good time. I did 10 slow rolls in a row trying to get my rudder coordinated. Tons of 1/2 Cubin 8's, 4-point rolls, stall turns, tail slides, and on and on. It was tough though. I had not done that in a long time. I had to keep him toned down a little. We were pulling 4.5-5 G's in every entry of a maneuver. It's been a while since I have done that.
As I come home I think of how much fun it was but that it was not the same as it was when I was 16. At 16 one day I was driving a 1971 4-door Chevy 100+mph down an abandon highway with balled tires and 2 good shocks. I remember the wind and the adrenalin (and the car floating up and down and lane to lane). I remember saying to myself, "what ever this feeling is DON'T EVER LOOSE IT"
I had a ball in the Pitts and would do it again in a heartbeat, but it was not the same feeling I had when I was 16. Maybe it's family, common sense, self preservation, Anyone else ever feel that?