Replacement build thread. 1999 firebird.

[zeeman]

I should have just done this from the start. So I have a picture of the car. It was delivered to me after I drove to troy to meet the fella bringing it up from Kentucky, that's where his mom lives. It was her car. He bought it for her in Tennessee. There is a little rust on the drivers side rear quarter but the underside is pretty nice, a bit of surface rust, nothing bad, believe me I checked!
It needs a drivers door, the skin is debonding from the inner shell. the quarters have a couple of dents. needs interior work, a dash pad, and a dash. Has a cracked door panel. Its a v6 car and the motor is junk, wont turn over. The list goes on and on.....
I cant wait to dig into it! I will be installing a 5.3 lsx motor and possibly turbo ing it. Its an auto. I already have a c
xmember and motor mounts lined up.

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[zeeman]

So tomorrow I will load all the 3rd gen stuff into the shell and call the scrap guy. weird, no real interest in anything, so screw it! off to the scrap heap with it! and good riddance!
A big thank you to Gols1go, Ken C. he not only sold me a k member and engine mounts, but dug up a maff and iac for me with an intake too! Thanks Ken! Ill be picking that stuff up this week.
Another guy to call tomorrow also for a door and some other parts. its really nice when a plan just comes together.

Now onto the car itself. the left rear quarter has been repaired, and poorly. I have found a rust hole behind the gas fill door. Both quarters are dented pretty good in several spots. So that will have to be addressed at some point. The car has over 240,000 miles on it. I will likely rebuild the entire suspension as time and money dictates.

I am thinking about a turbo build on the 5.3 platform that I already have. 4L60E trans with a stall. The turbo would be fun, but I do like the simplicity of a N.A. build also. I have a set of 4.8 flat top pistons that I bought to do this build . So that is something for me to think about.

[zeeman]

I went out parts shopping today. I looked at another silver bird for parts today, specifically a drivers door. the skin is coming off mine, its debonding. friggin' donor is exactly, I mean exactly like mine. The door would bolt right on and be a perfect match. But..... theres always a but... The guy wants $100.00 for It, and I cant get it till he sells the interior. I can get a red door at the salvage yard for Half That with the door panel, then I need to get it painted. Decisions decisions......

The other part of this is, The donor car is one I tried to buy 2 other occasions. Im sure its the same car as it has a distinguishing characteristic. So that's got my radar going to.
.

[zeeman]

Decided to go with the junk yard door. Its White, the red one was all blown out around the regulator, its in good shape and has a very new window regulator and motor in it, Scores!. $55.00 complete door with panel/no switches. picked up the other panel for an additional $15.00. These new panels match the seats I picked up a while back to put in the '86. Guy tossed in the drivers mirror shell for nothin'. Scores again! I think I am going to have it painted to match before I put it on the car. I cant stand the thought of a multi colored car. Im to old for that stuff.

Does anyone know how the door mounted part of the ground effects are installed, is it tape?

[Atrus]

Bummer the 3rd gen didn't work out. You seemed pretty frustrated when I stopped by a couple of weeks ago.

Awesome to see that you're bangin' away at making progress on this one though! Good luck!!

[white97z28]

Do you still have the purple camaro joe?

[zeeman]

Kevin, you picked up on that ,huh? I had just found a bunch of "new" rust in the pas. Side cowl. After untold hours of cutting and welding. It was dishartening.

Nick, hell yeah I still have the purple Camaro. I just wanted to do another build. So I picked up the Firebird. But yeah, Shes not going anywhere. Had the rockers and bumper fixed along with gettting the wing blocked out.

[zeeman]

And since we are on the subject. I picked up my crossmember, engine mounts, and cold air with maf and iac today. so I need to do a bit of cleaning. Perhaps some sand blasting and painting. Ill know better once its all cleaned up.

[white97z28]

Kevin, you picked up on that ,huh? I had just found a bunch of "new" rust in the pas. Side cowl. After untold hours of cutting and welding. It was dishartening.

Nick, hell yeah I still have the purple Camaro. I just wanted to do another build. So I picked up the Firebird. But yeah, Shes not going anywhere. Had the rockers and bumper fixed along with gettting the wing blocked out.

Just making sure =)

[MONGO]

Damn Joe. I have 2 sets of doors in the garage attic. Lots of interior plastics and other parts to fit this car too. The door delam is the same thing that happened to the wifes 98. Easy fix. Panel bonding adhesive and a couple of clamps. I did both of hers and you cant tell there was anything wrong. Best part was NO painting involved. Let me know if you need any other parts and I'll tell you if I have them or not.

[zeeman]

Thanks Fred. It looks like someone already tried to fix it with epoxy. Its a.mess. I picked up a nice door already and am waiting for a quote on paint. Im going to get it sprayed before I install it. It wont be perfect but itll be good enough for now. I am looking for honey comb tail lights, maybe we can trade?
I need the usuall stuff. Dash board, upper dash, console top , T/a wing hatch. Hatch side plastic, Windshield, normal wear items lol.
One thing I thought was really cool. The sun shades for the t tops were still in the back of the trunk. Never used the adhesive pads for the velcro still have the paper on them.

[zeeman]

Alrighty. The door is off to the painter. I started removing the lower control arms for blasting. Good thing too the bushings are toast. I might take the6 cyl arms instead they look to be in better shape. Im going to use my Monroe shocks in the front and a set of Gabriels in the rear. They're all from the camaro. Should I use the springs from the bird that had the 6 cyl in it or a set of z 28 springs that I have? The bird has a suspension package from the mfr. So I dont know if the springs will work with v8. I am going to use the stock rear end from the 98 camaro, probably gear it down the road. 3 73 or.better.
Something weird.occuredto me.today, I havent thought about a stall converter! Im thinking 3500 or maybe a bit more. Depending on gear and motor

You see, this is what a build is supposed.to be like. Not endless hours of futile.welding! Im pretty excited about this car!

[zeeman]

Alrighty. I had some time.today, so I decided to start the engine ectomy. Things went absolutely fantastic. So I decided to see if I could pull the engine without a hoist. I started by getting the front end as high as I could.

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Ihad about 12 inches of wood on top of the jack. That got me.just high enough.

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[zeeman]

Wasnt a real bad job,Im getting pretty good at it,lol. So now I am going to steel a few pieces.from the trans. Tail cone and shifter rod, dipstick and tube. Then airconditioning pump and power steering from the motor. And thats it for that drivetrain. 250,000 miles on it. Motor is seized trans fluid.didnt look too good. But if anyone needs.anything off of it lemee know.
The suprise of the day was discovering that its throttle by wire. So now I will deed to source a gas pedal and cable from le bone yard.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Put the rear tires on top of some old wheels, then get the front as high as possible.

It really helps with the install