Need a really nice one for the 68 Firebird conv. I am working on. Putting my stroked 400 together for a friend's bird and need a few things for it. I need one that is really nice!

PM me...

Well, a quick Google search put an end to that hunt. I didn't know BOP Engineering was casting brand new 8-bolt covers and selling them for $169! Done deal, ordered and on their way!

I'll post pics when I get it but it sure looks nice on their web site! This motor should look really nice, hoping to have it all together and painted by the end of the week. LBMs and all, I'll be sure to post pics!

Heh Joe,

Looks like you've been talking to yourself again...lol

LOL Sure seems that way!

Joe,

Once it's all together but before you install it, please email me a ton of picts from every angle. I won't be getting mine back together for a year or two and it will be nice to have the reference picts. Especially the LBM and oil filter areas.

thanks, Craig

Oh, go ahead and keep talking to yourself. We're used to it.

Ha ha. my wife says the same thing! Yes, I'll be sure to take several pics. I'm really looking forward to getting the car down here. Looks like it will be here this fall. My friend retires this Nov however, he will work an additional 3 years as he was just promoted this past week to foreman and he can work 3 years after official retirement for the state in what they call a "drop program". Now that he has been promoted it makes no sense for him not to work the 3 extra years.

The good news is however, he is going to buy a home down here now and bring his cars down here etc. and we may live in the home he buys. This will help us out as well and give us a few years to save up and hopefully someday maybe buy a home ourselves again.

Anyway, no matter what happens the 68 conv bird is the first thing to make the next trip down in the fall when he comes back and that will come here to my shop unless he does have a place by then. Then I will begin to build the car for him. It will be one killer ram air conv that will get pretty much the best of everything and will go through a complete rebuild correcting anything I can find to make it appear "correct". Oh I love this project!

Whay not put a snowplow on it 'just for fun'?

Yeah right! LOL Might as well have a rear Camaro spoiler on the trunk lid as well. Neither of those two Camaro parts will EVER be found on a Firebird parked in and or near my shop! EVER! Oh yeah, put white letter tires on that list as well! LOL

Wow are those brand new 8-bolt covers ever nice. Sure beats getting screwed over by people selling you crap old ones for crazy money! This thing is flawless!

Where's that 'this thread is useless' banner when I need it??

The pictures you posted do not do it any justice at all

LOL Ok pics later on. We are mixing Bill Hirsh Pontiac Blue paint in the gun right now. Once the engine is painted will get some pics and post them!

Know what you mean.
Tossed 2 out just because the radiator and heater nipple was corroded.
Took me years to finally do it.

Eating lunch now and then going to shoot the first coat. Had a slight set back on installing the oil pan. Using the one piece BOP steel reinforced gasket, THE ONLY way to go!!!!

Ok, all painted. Bought a cheap HVLP gun from Harbor Freight ($35). WOW, works awesome! Uploading pics now. Post them once upload is complete...

This motor is going to be a beast! I'm sad to see it go and not going in the LeMans. But the fact that a good friend is getting it and the fact that it is going back into a 68 Bird does make it a lot better to accept. It's been fun putting this motor back together, we will be painting the LBMs and bolting them up as well maybe over the weekend. We have an all Pontiac show tomorrow so we won't get to do anymore on the motor until Sunday and my friend heads home on Monday...

Looks good. Thanks for the pics.

Note that this has been painted with the correct Bill Hirsh Pontiac engine paint. Let me tell you, if you have never seen an original Pontiac engine with low mileage, the Hirsh paint is 100% dead on! In comparison, the Pontiac engine paint in the spray bomb cans is NOT EVEN CLOSE to the original Pontiac engine color. Again, not even close! Funny how everyone has pretty much accepted the spray bomb cans as being correct. Although I guess there really aren't too many other options as not everyone is going to order a quart of Hirsh paint and spray it themselves etc.

Thanks, keep in mind a blind guy is putting this thing together and painting it as well! LOL amazing that the buyer has put so much faith in me! It's this hobby any my friends that have kept me pushing forward...

If you were my next door neighbor I would trust you to help me with me car any day of the week. But I know you would not like some of the things I have done to my car. Keep having fun that's what is important.

Thanks Robert. Hey man, it's your car and what ever makes your happy, that's all that matters my friend!

Hey, hey, let's not let him off that easily! Guess I'll need to double up my effort now...

Well, guess I'm getting easy in my old age! Ok, a few people have asked so here are a few details on what I did as for prep on the block.

The block was blasted after it was sonic tested. Then when I got it back from the machine shop I primed the block myself with spray can self etching primer by Dupli-color. Although it is not really a heat temp type of paint, what we have found is that as long as you put in on as light as possible, barely enough to cover the surface, it seems to hold up well.

Then, the key it seems with the Hirsh paint is to put the coats on light and to let the paint cure as LONG AS POSSIBLE BEFORE actually firing the engine. In fact if possible, let the engine sit for weeks/months and the paint holds up like you would not believe!

Also, we have never heated the block prior to painting and or during the painting process. I'm not sure what that might gain if anything at all.

Also, the Hirsh paint they say you do not have to reduce, however, it does NOT spray for crap if you do not reduce it and it does not hold up as well!!!! We have found that reducing it with Xelene(?) by one ounce to say 12 oz of paint works well. It almost seems the thinner the Hirsh paint is reduced, the better it sprays and the better it seems to hold up down the road as well.

The HVLP gun that I bought from Harbor Freight works exceptionally well. I will post a picture of it later. I know absolutely NOTHING about painting and I was able to get this thing to flow like a pro! Not only that but you only need 30lbs of air pressure and you get basically ZERO over spray in the air. I sprayed this motor 3 feet away from my LeMans and there was NOT ONE SPEC of over spray on the car anywhere! So definitely impressed with the whole experience.

Oh yeah, we JUST walked in the door from the Wide Track Warriors 20th Annual Car Show and the LeMans took 3rd in the 60-69 all Pontiac class. We were very pleased!

Here is a pic of the HVLP gun from Harbor Freight, for $35 I don't see how you can go wrong for basic misc. painting esp. if you don't want to make a mess in your shop!

Oh yea, and it even came with the small regulator that is so nice to have right there at the gun. This way you can leave your compressor pumped up and then just regulate the pressure right there on the fly so to speak!

Why anyone would use headers when these are available is beyond me. The fit, the flow, the sound is so far beyond anything headers have to offer, then, in some cases headers are more expensive! IMO there is NOTHING like Pontiac factory headers! one of Pontiacs many greatest ideas ever...