Purchased my firebird last august. I have always wanted one since the mid 80s when my uncle gave my cousin a '67 326 coupe as a wedding gift. I remember that beauty sitting at the end of the culdesac to this day. As a car guy who searches the ups and downs of the internet for the next great auto purchase, I happened upon a horribly rough orange 68 firebird and happened to show it to the wife. She agreed it was cool. The rest is history, although that particular rust bucket was not purchased. Not but a few days later a guy locally listed a older resto which he traded for while building a guy a house. Turns out he was more of a boater and the car was wasting away. He knew little about it, but i realized immediately it was a original 400 /400 car, still color correct green and original blk interior with upgraded wheels and SSBC . PHS got me the documents hours before sealing the deal to confirm. Whoohoo. So off I went in my dream car. Got my first speeding ticket (in 10 years) almost immediately. 49 in a 35 mph zone. Got off for improper equipment. Car seemed to a be a squared away example minus a few things to make her roadworthy... like dimmer switch, turn signal corrosion, better guages and wipers. Ran good but seemed to lack the pontiac punch. We knew something was rough, but I took a chance on a road trip. I did run out of gas driving it to Good Guys in charlotte. (so happens the gas tank is empty at a 1/4 tank on guage). Other than that hiccup she was perfect for a 5 hour drive at 70. However, once in charlotte we noticed a good bit of blow-by and she was mysteriously using a lot of coolant. Hum. Well, my buddies concluded she needed to be opened up and long story short I will be receiving her back soon. Full up stroker (butler 462) build, hotckis CAs and sway bars/chassis brace, new springs/leafs, bilstein Drag shocks, steel brake lines, new steering everything, new exhaust, doug's headers, 62 heads, old street dominator intake...should be fun, rebuilt tranny w/ stall. 3.23 gears. my favorite: the motor as it came out. I was glad to get rid of the green motor. forge pistons had some damage - reason it was a weakling when i purchased it.
here is one next to my friend's, the guy building mine, firebird with a 428 motor built for the strip.
Here is a trip around lowes motor speedway with my friends. Red chevelle is the same friends also. he was itching to go and couldn't wait for me to get up on side to gun it (580ci) His brother blue chevelle (496)ci is trying to catch him for some friendly racing. I was really babying the car at this point because of all the problems it was having. I didn't need any more. good part starts at 1:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZGRfs2ZvWU
That is one beautiful car. I am not a fan of the color green but after seeing your car, I may consider it when it's time for my body paint job. I also like the stance on your car. Did you lower it? By how much front and back? What size rims and tires?
Thx for the compliment. I totally agree with the statement about green. It was a tough decision. I wanted orange. My wife and I were pretty split on the color until we saw it. Bam. Love at first sight. it has many different looks to it in different light and we like it is 1) original to car and 2) unique by today's standards.
As far as the stance goes; that setup rubbed on the sidewall in the back going over bumps pretty bad. To answer your question: I believe stock front and rear springs. Rear had 2 inch lowering blocks and new leafs. Shocks unknown. Wheels: not sure. They are wider in the back but not sure. I will update the thread when I get a chance to look. Remember I haven't seen the car since nov 1 last year. Tires: front...IIRC 225/40r17 Rear: 245/45r17 Here is the car with airbags...which were immediately taken off.
update: I posted here and then created another thread (link below) related to my block casting number where I did put some updates; however, I think I will bring the focus back to this thread. I picked up the car about 2 months after the previous post. I took the car home as is and drove it rather conservatively, always confused at why it pinged at WOT only in the 3200-3500 rpm range. I bought it home and took it to get fine tuned hoping ping would go away. I was convinced I had enough carb based on some 'expert' advice and online CFM calculations and countless number of people who ran big block chevys and other similar CI motors with a 750 cfm. After quite a lot of Dyno Chassis time (fall of 2014) and an upgrade to 800 edelbrock 800 AVS in the configuration below, AFR at cruise was shown to be 14:1 and at WOT ~ 12.5:1. Power was ~ 330whp and 380 ft lbs. However, it still pinged at WOT and was told my CR was probably higher than 9.5:1.
Details on motor: CR goal was planned for 9.5:1. I was told by butler my planned carb, 750 edelbrock wasn't going to be big enough and it would ping.
Specifics: 400 block bored 0.40 butler stroker internals (kit w/ dished pistons 6cc) and steel crank #62 heads (74cc)/hardened exhaust ports (not ported) XE284H Comp Cam Mallory Unilite Dizzy (no vacuum) w/ new cap and button; told 30 degrees total (not confirmed) no vacuum advance Edlebrock 1813 carb - 800CFM (w/ 116 secondaries) Holley Street Dominator (300-9) intake (single plane) MSD coil (blaster High vibration) Accel Spiral Core 8.8mm spark plug wires NGK V-power XR4 spark plugs TH400 w/ 2500 stall converter 3.23 gears New Edlebrock Fuel Pump
Summer of 2015 my status was this: the shop that did the dyno testing was convinced the CR was too high and taking it to them was worthless because the 'knew' the problem. The other shop wasn't capable of tuning carbs but had gotten my pulleys system all straightened out, and was really not excited about tuning a carb (and verbal about hating edelbrocks). At last, I was able to get into a local shop to have their expert look at it. Highly recommended for being the 'carb expert'. When I picked it up he hadn't really done much (changed accel pump hole and put in AFR gage) and said my timing was at 12 and 28 total. I knew this was low but being a newbie wasn't sure how he was getting those numbers when I was seeing something different with my timing light. He said it was still pinging but wasn't worried about it. I drove the car but still avoided WOT. It was a decent performer.
So last fall (2015) I developed a bog above 3500 rpms. As if I needed another issue. AFR gauge showed the car was going full rich at these times. So I started trying to tune ping out and the bog. IT was an Edelbrock AVS. I changed to richer metering rods, lighter springs...then heavier springs. Still pinged. changed spring tension on secondary air flap. I went from 116 jets to 107 jets for secondaries and it still bogged. I was at wits end. I called a friend who might help. As in the other thread, '557 is terrible' he borrowed me his 850 mighty demon which based on his setup should work the way it was. Fired right up after install and drove so much better. The ping and bog was gone it seemed on 10 min drive. However, I discovered a stumble off idle.
Yesterday, I got it all squared away. OMG I hope. I drove an hour in 55 degree weather (sea level). Ping is barely there and stumble off idle is gone. Car feels much better, quick and responsive. It will spin drag radials on street from a stop in drive (it wasn't with edlebrock or mighty demon last week). Also, the run on (dieseling) is gone even when really hot. Car also seemed to run about 5 degrees cooler.
Changes made to the timing confirmed at 19/34 backed off from about 22/37 4 corner idle screws out another quarter turn to 1.5 turns total (vacuum 5 at idle) turn idle screw out (idle at about 750 800 now) was about 1000 when warm 5.5 PV jets 82 and 92 squirters 31 spark plugs are stock heat range AC delco 43s
to be continued...
I hope this helps someone with a similar setup in the future.
