Hi everyone, my name is Philip, located in MA. I am still new to the forum, thought I would introduce myself to everyone. I bought my second firebird in october (my other firebird is an 89 GTA which is my first car and still have it) and have been working on cleaning up the underbody since then. I drove it for 2 weeks in October and then Winter arrived so it is in the garage now. So far besides all the fluid changes, I had the rally gauges and hood tach restored at redline gauge works. I've sanded down the frame rails and repainted with zero-rust. The car has minimal rust, just flakey paint on the underbody which I am trying to remove and finish repainting before spring so I can drive it. I also have to install the radiator x-panels, lower filler panel, and change a differential cover gasket and identify which posi is in there to put in the correct fluid (moser unit). The car is definitely not all original but I really just wanted the feel of a first gen firebird. It has a 455 from a 1970 GTO and thankfully does not ping using 93 octane gas.

I must admit, right now I am pretty tired of doing underbody work, 3 months of scraping, grinding, working in the cold. I am also using the eastwood internal frame paint and trying to get into everywhere I can snake the nozzle. I am a perfectionist too so I like things done a certain way. I know if I go the extra mile that I will enjoy driving it more knowing all those areas are protected, but it feels like a love/hate relationship sometimes. I have the car on 4 stacked 2x8x12 wood on each side. Anyways tonight I plan on painting part of the drivers floor pan and rocker panel.

Here are some quick progress pics:
Scrap book photos

Looks nice. And welcome to the site!

Yes, welcome. I remember all those weekend days on my back cleaning up the underside of the body. But I was in Phoenix where the garage is usually pretty pleasent during the winter.

Welcome Philip. Please tell more about your bird. What model was it originally? What engine is under the hood? What mods has been done.

Details man....

Thank you for the welcome guys! It was originally a red 350 H.O. car with A/C with deluxe interior, I have the PHS documents from the owner. It was in a barn for 20 years. It must have been pretty dry in there because the rust is minimal and really I am just flaking off old underbody paint. Although it was an A/C car not sure why the x-panels, lower filler panels are missing and masticated rubber, but I have the parts now.

It still has the original M21 which was rebuilt about 2k miles ago. The motor is from a 1970 GTO 455 and was also rebuilt at the same time. 1970 was the only high compression year of the 455 which makes it somewhat rare. I need to adjust the idle and timing because the owner could put things together but not great at tuning. It has hooker long tube headers, dual exhaust, no cross-over and no 3rd muffler.







The rear spoiler is molded into the trunk which I think looks ugly, I will change that. The hood was redone by the previous owner, he added the slight cowl to the original hood. I know it's not original but it's not too aggressive, I kind of like it. I have seen much worse cowls that are raised too high.



It did not have power steering before and that was added by the owner before me. It was also painted viper blue pearl. I think that color compliments the white H.O. stripes and interior pretty well.

There are still many things that need adjustment but I want to have it ready to be driven (at least by my standard) and fix things along the way. I don't want to drive it without doing the underbody because I don't want to worsen the condition as I drive, so I'm working on the essentials. Especially since I think I'm lucky to have not much rust, so I'm using it as an opportunity to make the job easier instead of driving it until it really needs to get addressed and the job would become much worse.

Drivers window does not roll all the way up, 1/2 inch short so I will fix that.

I replaced the gas tank and sending unit before I stored it for the winter as it leaked gas when I filled it to the top from the welds on the metal lines coming out of the sending unit going bad. Here is a pic of that




The differential (Moser 12-bolt muscle pak), although almost brand new, is leaking from the gasket and the previous owner does not know which posi unit is in there, and each posi has its own oil, some need additive, some don't, some synthetic, some not. I already changed it out and assumed it was an eaton but now that the gasket itself is leaking I get to take the cover off and identify which posi it really is. I shouldn't have changed the diff fluid to begin with.

Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting. Your car was an original 350 HO with AC and a 4sp. The is what Rocky Rotella has been trying to debunk. There is documents from Pontiac that a V8 with 4sp was not available in 68.

What is your build date?

I have to let Rocky know about yours. Rocky is one of the researcher and writers for High Performance Pontiacs by the way.

I'm not sure off the top of my head. I can take a picture of the build tag when I get home from work tonight. Does this make it any more rare? Even though the original motor is gone...

Also Harold I must say, I saw pictures of your restoration. It is amazing! How long has it taken you so far? I would have a hard time driving it in such perfect shape. I have to get back to remodeling the bathroom after I finish the underbody and filler panels. How do you find the time to work and restore? Weekends are not enough...

I would think so. I'm going to see what Rocky states about it. Maybe it was only 400 cars but the bulletin states v8.

Cool, well I will take a photo of the body tag tonight and post it here.

A picture of the PHS would be more helpful. Thanks!

Welcome Phillip,

Nice car dude! Love to have your body! Took a look at your pics. Love the colors. Car is in great shape.
Not fun working under there. I used some strong tall 2-3 Ton jack stands under the rear diff and stacked timber under the front A-frames to safely get the car up in the air. The timbers will keep the car from rocking. 4 jack stands will hold the car up but the body will rock and make your nervous if your tugging on the car. Also, this will enable you to take off your tires so you can get at the wheel wells.

Eastwood has some really good stuff as I see you have been using. Make sure you do a lot of wiping and cleaning the bare metal with a non-toxic degreaser liquid. Then use Pre to get any wax etc. off. Never wipe with a dirty or used rag otherwise you just spread it around.

Consider using the "After blast" on the clean bare metal to etch and properly prepare for primer. Then you can prime and paint the area.

Proper prep will ensure the paint stays stuck to the car!

Good luck!

Brian

Sure I can do that.

Thanks Brian! I have been using prep step which is a degreaser and prep agent to promote adhesion of the zero-rust chassis paint.
Prep step
I thought about using phosphoric acid but when I heard so much talk about the debate of whether or not you should rinse the acid off before painting or not just discouraged me and I ended up using the prep step which has a neutral ph level and states not to rinse before paint, it was less steps and I like less steps! The underbody starts off simple but next thing you know you're picking at things you originally were not going to touch and then it feels overwhelming.

Thanks for the support guys, maybe I will just keep taking pictures and post them to keep me going strong at this. I wonder if I should start a new thread for updates?

That product looks great. Save some steps for sure.

This is what I started with ...


https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/10590...=CMehycnCytCeLA

And this is where I'm at now...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105908860112140983297/albums/5938437005804731585
Cheers!

Wow, definitely more work than what I'm doing, I really shouldn't be complaining at all. It looks awesome. I notice as I get older, I just want to drive man, and spend less time under it.

Welcome. I’m the resident troll who pops in on occasion.

For a rust-belt car, that’s a solid car. I’m impressed! Is it a native MA car or a transplant? Mine is a native Texan, transplanted to MD in ’93. It was completely mangled when I got it, and if you look at the pictures I posted at Nash’s post, every piece of metal you see in the pictures is still mangled. As for rust, or lack thereof, I lucked out on this one.

A few winters ago, I put it on stands, and cleaned the grease-grim mix from the undercarriage. I didn’t ‘clock it,’ but it took about 3 months to complete. My guess is that I spent at least 200 to 300 hours, possibly longer. And cleaning it was a hell of more work a hell of a lot more work than “restoring it.” As you and others know, it’s an incredibly miserable job

I tossed one in from a bygone era when the car looked much better.

Thanks to Harold for putting me on the thread. As stated, according to Pontiac-printed info, there was a restriction on V-8 with M/T and A/C.

Phillip, I'd love to see a copy of your PHS invoice! If you can't post it here, you can email it to me at jamesrotella@cox.net. I'd also like to see a picture of your cowl-mounted data plate if possible.

Amervo, thanks for the motivation All I know is that it sat in a "dry" barn or warehouse in MA for 20 years according to previous owner. A lot of spots I keep scraping to find no rust under and makes me question if I should even remove some of the oily grime, it's probably protecting any rust from forming and just more work. I spent about 5 hours last night after work doing more scraping in the areas that I thought I already finished but decided wasn't good enough, actually the very same spots that your pictures show. Unfortunately I got a little discouraged when I found medium amount of rust behind the lip of the rear quarter panel wheel well area. I completely didn't see that when I bought the car and not much I can do for it now except scrape and spray and hope for the best. The car does not see rain so I hope even with that rust it should stay as is, I hope. I'm sure when the Spring comes along and I get on it a couple times and smoke the tires I'll feel much better. And one thing I totally agree with is that it is definitely miserable work, sometimes I find myself talking out loud, swearing at everything. After I spray the driver side with paint and rubber coat the rocker panels and part of the floor pan, I have to do the passenger side scraping and painting and I'll be done. Your car looks great by the way, definitely more intact than mine!

Hi Rocky, sure I will try to send this info to you tonight. I got caught up with the car late last night but I will try tonight when I get home.

Did we hear any more about this?

Hi Rocky, sorry I've been meaning to send you the PHS document for a while, but got caught up in finishing the underbody work (which is done now finally!) I'll try to scan it and send it to you this week.