New guy from Belleville

[camerjeff]

New guy from Belleville, just picked up a 67 Firebird Sprint. California car with A/C & a 4-speed. It was just delivered to my house yesterday, and as life usually works I am out of town for work until Wendsday!

So my wife and her Father took possession of it for me. Its pretty well equipped for a Sprint, with the Custom interior, gauges with a hood tach, rally 2 wheels, powere steering, and rear mounted antenna. Look forward to seeing it, and meeting everyone this spring!42ff77ba-56ed-4df7-9f57-a5096ab7c7f6.jpg

[MP81]

That is fantastic!

There is something to be said for relatively loaded California cars with a 4-speed and AC!

[DynoDave]

Welcome aboard!


Great looking car. Sprint....is that an OHC six?

[camerjeff]

Thanks Dave, yes it still has the original 230 OHC-6 with what is supposed to be the original Saginaw 4-speed. But I won't know that for sure until this weekend. 3.23 posi rear gear due to the factory A/C. It even still has the California emissions hooked up. I have never actually seen 4 V-Belts under the hood of a Sprint Firebird before. As 67 was the only year you could get A/C with the 4bbl version of the OHC-6 in a Firebird. I can't think there are to many of them left around.
Paid to much $$$ for it IMO, but I could not pass it up. I hope it looks as good in person as it does in the pictures.

[MP81]

Wow, I guess I had no idea you could get the I6 with a 4-speed. I'd have assumed all were 3-speed manuals. I suppose I didn't know they had a 4-barrel option either...but then again, the 230 was a pretty hot engine for an I6.

I'll bet it sounds pretty fantastic too, being an I6 is basically the most inherently balanced you'll get.

[DynoDave]

As 67 was the only year you could get A/C with the 4bbl version of the OHC-6 in a Firebird. I can't think there are to many of them left around.

That I did not know. I would agree...not too many built, a whole lot less left.

I hope it's as nice as it looks.

[DynoDave]

Wow, I guess I had no idea you could get the I6 with a 4-speed. I'd have assumed all were 3-speed manuals. I suppose I didn't know they had a 4-barrel option either...but then again, the 230 was a pretty hot engine for an I6.

I'll bet it sounds pretty fantastic too, being an I6 is basically the most inherently balanced you'll get.

It's a cool engine Kyle. DeLorean wanted something special and European in nature. GM wouldn't cough up the budget for Pontiac to do a whole engine (surprise, surprise), so they made do with what they could get. In the end, little was used directly from the Chevy 6, but much is derived from it's design. They added a head of their owner design. It came in more miserly 1 bbl. versions, and wilder Sprint versions with 4 bbl, hotter cam, better breathing...all the usual hotrod tricks.

There's a good site HERE about them.

[camerjeff]

Kyle,you are not alone in knowing nothing about OHC-6 Sprint Pontiac's. So no worries! They would run with small 2bbl V8's & usually beat them. I have owned at least 10 of them in the past and they have all been fun quick but not fast cars. The engine does not pair well with the 2 speed automatic that Pontiac used (not a power glide) and probably around 75% of them were sold with automatic's. The car I just bought will be slower than most manual trans Sprints, as not only does it have A/C that ads about 200 lbs to the car, and drops the standard rear gear ratio from 3.55 to 3.23. But the CA emissions system ads at least 20 lbs and robs 10HP or so.
They would normally run a high 15 second 1/4 mile. I would think this car would run mid 16's. The stock exhaust system makes them sound very much like a straight 6 Jaguar E-Type, But my car has a generic replacement exhaust. So I do not expect it to sound like I remember them to. But that gives me something to hunt for, Original muffler & resonator.

Looking forward to putting faces to user names next Spring/Summer. I hope the weather hold out this weekend so I can drive the car up to Plastieners Book Shop in Royal Oak Saturday. As long as they don't salt the roads.

Here is a picture of it parked in my Driveway with the other toys. I got sent out of state in the middle of me redoing the garage to fit all but the Solstice Coupe inside. If you know anyone looking for a manual trans Solstice coupe let me know, as it needs to find a new home. To nice a car to sit outside even if it is covered.

[MP81]

These things have always intrigued me because I knew so little about them, so I appreciate all the info (from both of you) regarding this. There's a late 2nd gen Camaro in my sub that appears to be bone stock, and I'd highly expect it to be a V6 car. It appears to be as basic as they come - single exhaust, none of the ground effects like my '81 Z28, and it's in great shape. Because of that, it's likely not something most people see anymore. Things like that just interest me so much.

I definitely look forward to seeing this car out on Woodward next year, and I hope for your (and the car's) sake, they do not salt the roads on Thursday...they should be warm enough not to need any anyway...but that's not stopped them in the past.

[DynoDave]

Look at all the Pontiacs! Are you a POCI (Pontiac Oakland Club International) member?

Salt...they might be throwing some soon at that. The roads were icy up here yesterday morning.

[camerjeff]

Dave, I am a former POCI member, but it has been at least 20 years sense I have been active. The cars in the driveway are a Brown 78 Sunbird Safari (sold the owner is supposed to pick it up this weekend) The one under the grey cover is my 2006 Mallet Solstice, LS2 powered with a Tremec 6-speed manual, the car under the blue cover is a 71 Catalina Freeway enforcer, future resto project, and the the blue parts car next to it is a 78 Catalina Safari that donated its Pontiac 400 to replace the Buick 350 in my fathers old 78 Catalina Safari.

Yes way to many cars thats why the orange Solstice coupe needs to find a new home. But I used to have 13 cars including the daily drivers, now I am down to 9 with the addition of the new to me Firebird.

[DynoDave]

I joined POCI when I bought my T/A. My neighbor got me into it, and the local chapter. We have a Spring Dust-Off show open to all...you'll ave to bring the Firebird up for that. I love the national magazine. With NO Pontiac magazines left in print, it's a great source for Pontiac history. Last issue or two back they did 6-8 pages on the Firebird Spring Jay Leno bought and is restoring. Hemmings has a story on that car here. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/202...ign=2021-11-23

[DynoDave]

This older story from Mac's Motor City Garage popped up this week too.

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/...pontiac-ohc-6/

[camerjeff]

Thanks for the links Dave, I have been busy going over the car. The good news is it does seem to be in original paint with an original interior! The Interior is actually almost perfect considering it is a 50 year old 104,000 mile car. Little things like the female front seat belt covers are broken, and both sill covers have seen better days, but the seats, dash, headliner & even the carpet are in remarkable shape. Things I have noticed that don't work (all little items to me) The High Beams but the dash indicator does work, could be as simple as bulbs seeing they are all still T3 bulbs! The AM Radio, it will give me an excuse to upgrade the radio either this one or an older AM/FM unit and add an aux feature . the A/C & Heater work, the blower motor sounds horrible though, and all the window channels need to be cleaned and lubed as all 4 windows do roll up and down but need some assistanc, probably have some worn rollers in there somewere.
The engine starts right up, idles well and has over 30psi of oil pressure at idle, also runs at around 180F both readings are near perfect, Happy there! I only got a chance to drive it around the neighborhood, so only up to around 40 mph but it drove straight, didn't pull, and the clutch and 1st 3 gears felt good. The Brakes are another story though, I used to own a 69 Sprint FB with 4 wheel manual drums so I know how they should feel. Coming out of the driveway I thought the brakes were weak, and there was way to much pedal travel. The 2nd stop the pedal went to the floor but the car stopped the same, by the time I made 2 more stops the brake light was flickering and the pedal would just go to the floor. Stupid me had not check the brake fluid before driving it, I checked all the other fluids. Found the rear resivior of the master cylinder empty. Investigation found the right rear wheel cylinder leaking. So ordered up 2 new cylinders & shoes. Good news is all the brake hoses & hardware look new!

I will post some pictures soon. But so far happy with everything except for the brakes!

[MP81]

I can only imagine how terrifying 4-wheel drums are in repeated stops - are they at least power-assisted?

My buddy had an '88 Ranger, which we called "The Danger Ranger" - it was built with a 2.3L Turbo (with a single cherry bomb that dumped right under the passenger seat) and a T5 5-speed, so it was absolutely hilarious - and extremely confusing to most people as all you heard was constant turbo spool.

I drove it a few times and it was an absolute blast, but boy was it different - manual steering, manual brakes, manual transmission. I miss that truck, it was a blast.