Replacement build thread. 1999 firebird.

[Jmt23]

I just got mine painted as well haven't put it on the car yet


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[zeeman]

nice, my Camaro had a similar hood on it when I bought it. I found a Harwood and swapped it out. How tall 3"?

[Jmt23]

Yeah 3" I traded my stock hood for it


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[zeeman]

Got a little more accomplished in the last couple days. I dropped off and picked up my heads from the machine shop. Had .010 milled off them, and lapped the valves in. They were in real nice shape so I elected not to get a valve job done on them. I need to swap out the seals and reassemble them and they are ready. I did a bit more work on the intake bowls. They all had this weird spot in them that was like a flat angle. I was a bit leery of it and had previously just blended and smoothed it. But it still felt like a lump So I went back at it. Opened the bowls up a bit more and removed this lump. Im pretty happy with them now. Did a bit more on the rocker stud lump too. I cant seem to get them as smooth as I would like, but I am calling them done.
I picked up my rebuilt rack and pinion with new tie rod ends. So now I can finish the rag joint elimination.
I am going to be borrowing A ball hone from gols1go. Then the reassembly will start.
2 things are going to hold me up. Painting the bottom/ engine bay of the car and the fuel system. I need to get the harness going also but that's about it. we are getting there!

[zeeman]

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[zeeman]

My polishing bits showed up. I used them to polish the exhaust ports to a damn near mirror finish.....problem is I can get the phone to take a picture of it. Lol it either blinds the camera or looks like a black hole. Oh well. I want to do the combustion chambers but I need a set of Dummy valves to protect my valve seats from the cutters. Can't find any anywhere.
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That's about the best I could get. Bowls look the same

[zeeman]

Here's the first set of combustion chambers
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I finished the second head today but it needs a bath
Next, the valves. Going to polish the heads.

[zeeman]

Ok, update. I had to redo the entire exhaust side of the heads. I was too conservative in my approach. I neglected to shape the area under the valve guide in the bowl. So, I backed up a step and did it. And since I was in the bowl again I decided to open them up and get rid of the weird lump in the front of the bowl, making them round. That opened the bowls up bigger than the port. So I had to open up the ports. So more blendin...sanding...cussing...swearing.... culminating in more buffing pads being ordered. And buffing and polishing.....
They're done! No...I mean it....done. reassembled and painted. I also managed to get the rods and pistons back together and only did one piston backwards.. oy vey!....smh. I'm hoping to wash the block down tomorrow and get it painted the correct color. And maybe check a few rings for size.
I also drove out to flat rock today to Parts Galor. I managed to get a steering shaft. Yesterday I got a good set of driving lights and a set of brown visors to recover.

[zeeman]

Oh, I also painted everything beside the block old school Pontiac blue. I had the block painted the blue aluminum pontiac color but next to the silver car it was too much.
I'm going to go look @ paint for underneath it tomorrow tio.

[C2YT]

Sweet! I literally live 2 miles down the road from Parts Galore lol

[zeeman]

^^^^ lucky ^^^^.......

[zeeman]

Block got scrubbed and repainted today. If your machine shop ever offers to paint your block for you, say no. I had a hell of a time getting the loose rust and old paint off before repainting it. Plus you cant see what kind of cleaning job they did. Next time I paint it myself.

here are some pics

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[DynoDave]

Looks nice!

[zeeman]

I have been thinking about the fuel system quite a bit lately. I think I have come up with a better plan.
My first plan was to install a walboro 255 in place of the v6 pump. Buy the I would need to run a corvette fuel filter/regulator, Because The V6 reg. Is on the fuel rail.
With that comes a fist full of a.n. fittings....
So! New plan. Order a v8 complete sender. Use the factory style filter and lines. Put a "T" in the fuel line just after the filter. Run that line back to the tank on the return side. Done. No a.n. fittings... couldn't be simpler. Everything will plug right in. Should be a piece of cake.

[zeeman]

Ordered the fuel pump sender today, and have a buddy looking @ flare fitting "T's" for me. So friggin simple this way!