Well I didn't know much about this site, I have lurked in many places over the years, particularly the Performance Years site as there a lot of knowledgeable folks over there. When I started the project (~1995) their were not nearly as many resto parts and info available for Firebirds, especially my H.O.. The web was still young and few even knew what an H.O. was or had seen one. Even PHS couldn't tell me much about it.

I was inspired by seeing Jim Mattinson's 'bird at the TA Nat's one year, mine will never be that perfect (I am throwing around the idea of a Dynacorn body for it) and I used the HPP magazines articles about it for many parts of my resto.

The head pounding was due to mostly not knowing what resources were available to me or how to get around some of the problems I had. Things like how to get those convertible headers on damage free or what to do about the traction bar bushings.

I managed to find an NOS Muncie 3-speed shifter for it by accident as those were common throw-away items back in the day. Parts for the 326 seem rare nowadays too since most opted to upgrade to a 400.