Photo #1: The windshield cowling on the passenger-side boxed in and ready for some Por 15.

Photo #2: The former location of the passenger-side fenderwell hood strut mount. I will hit the divots left from drilling out the spot welds with some Bondo at a later date.

Photo #3 & 4: I ditched the plastic rear inner bumper & fabricated one to replace it. With the tank relocated, I wanted something a little beefier. I plan to attach brackets to the bumper to hold the rear bumper cover in place.

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ November 24th Update]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]



Got home from Thanksgiving Dinner a little early, so I took advantage of the nice weather. Plus, my brother handed off the side flame graphics that he'd just cut for me this week.

Photos #5 & 6: I sat down at my art table to assemble all the graphics. They'll be added as time and weather allow.

Photos #7-10: Show the application of the driver's-side flames. I moved two of the flame licks from where I'd previously planned to put them. One went up onto the hood/fender to help blend the transition of the graphics from the hood to the sides better. The other was the tiny flame lick I'd originally planned to have land right underneath the door handle. I moved it to just in front of the door handle.

Vinyl creates a lot of trash. Just the graphics for the hood & driver's-side has generated two kitchen trash bags worth of transfer tape, backing paper & excess vinyl weeded from around the graphics. My brother was able to place all the graphics onto the vinyl in such a way that it saved as much vinyl as possible, but there's still plenty of waste.

 

More..........

 

Car looks great!! You've been busy!!

 

Thank you! You've been coming along nicely with your Camaro as well!

Nothing done on the car since my last post other than moving it around in the driveway. We've had some extremely mild weather here in Indiana, and this weekend we're supposed to be in the mid 50's. I'd like to get out there and do some work on the cage. I'm a much better welder than I was four years ago, so I'd like to go through and do some rewelding. Plus, I've got S&W Race Cars subframe tie-ins on the way to weld in. Figured I might as well since I'm gonna be welding in the engine bay and the interior area anyway.

I took advantage of Lingenfelter's "Black Friday" Sale back in November, and picked up a 2-step launch control.

Today, the carbon fiber door panels I ordered from a guy on Yellowbullet came in. Plus, I ordered a fiberglass dash from VFN Fiberglass today as well.

I have a Burkhart Chassis lightweight steering column to install that I picked up at the LSX Shootout in Indy, a hurst shifter, and several miscellaneous parts.

This Spring my goal is to build a 2-car garage onto my existing car-and-a-half, so both 'birds will have indoor shelter & I'll be able to work on the '95 more! It'll be nice to be able to leave stuff apart instead of having to pack it in each time I'm done working on it outside.

 

 

We had an unusually warm January day here in Central Indiana, so I took advantage of my day off by doing some work on the car. When I welded my cage in back in 2008, I used a very low-buck Harbor Freight flux-core welder. Well here it is 2012, and I have a much better welder along with much better welding skills . So, I started trying to redo some of the welds to at least make them a little more presentable.

Photo #1: Shot of some parts that have arrived this year. The S&W Race Cars Subframe Support Bars will go in once I get back to working on the engine bay this coming Spring. I'll have the dashboard out when I swap it for the VFN Fiberglass dash that I have on order. I need the dash out to do the manual brake conversion & for the lightweight steering column to be installed, so I figured why not just take advantage of all that and put those bars in . I also got a couple extra pieces to do some bar additions to the roll cage. Also I'm going to rewire the entire car, so I ordered a 12 circuit wiring kit from Hot Rod Wires.

Photo #2: Well this photo is somewhat out-of-order. I like the look of gussets. I don't care if they add weight, aren't needed, you don't like them, etc....I like them, and that's why I'm using them They are also from S&W Race Cars. Also in this photo you can see the upper brackets for the S&W Race Cars Swing-out Bars Mount. I'm just putting a swing-out on the driver's-side.

Photo #3: Working through the holiday shutdown at my job afforded me the opportunity to purchase several parts for the car. This box recently arrived from Jegs.

Photo #4: I used my reciprocating saw to cut the door bar out. I need to remove the lower mount for the window net since my new window net will mount in a different location on the bar. I'm going to spin the bar around so that this old mounting location is on the bottom, and out of sight.

Photo #5: This photo shows the lower swing-out mounts tacked into place.

Photo #6: A close-up of the upper swing-out mount. You can also see my crappy welding job on the main hoop that will be redone.

Photo #7: A close-up of the lower swing-out mount.

Photo #8: The swing-out brackets that are welded onto the top of the bar needed a minor modification in order to fit properly.

Photo #9: This photo shows all the swing-out brackets tacked into place & the door bar sitting in place.

 

Photo #1: At the 2011 U.S. Nationals, I made sure to get a good look at one of the Emmons' brothers Firebird Super Stockers. The one I looked at had a swing-out on the driver's-side, so that's really what helped me to decide to go ahead with it on my 'bird.

Photo #2: Hard to believe that this is January 9th in Indiana.......usually have the car covered up, and it's usually covered with snow.

Photo #3 & 4: The previous seat mount that I had fabricated for the driver's seat wasn't working as well after I switched from the Summit to the Jegs seat. I whacked the old one off, and fabricated this new one. I will also be adding one to the passenger seat. Originally, the passenger seat was just going to be for looks (and class requirements). Well I decided to make it functional for an actual person to use.

Photo #5 & 6: I am much happier with the looks of this weld job that with what I'd previously done here. It's not as nice as it could be, but I didn't want to dig into the bars too much with the grinder & flap wheel.

<><><><><><><><><><>February 22, 2012 Update<><><><><><><><><><>

Photo #7-9:More S&W Swing-out bar photos & some welding do-overs.

Photo #10: My VFN Fiberglass Dash arrived! Can't wait to get this trimmed & mounted so that I can begin installing the gauges and switches into it (continued in post #149).

 

What kind of power do you expect to put down with your 4.8 with that cam?
stock heads?

 

No real goal in mind, so I'm not expecting any certain figures. I'll have to get back to you once it's done

The displacement is my attempt to continue a family tradition, so that was the main reason I went with the 4.8L

Thumbnails added 02/22/12:

Photo #1 & 2: The VFN Dash is a good fiberglass replica of the original. I plan to fabricate mounts to fasten it down with dzus fasteners. Not shown is the VFN upper dash pad that is also fiberglass. I like the fact that it doesn't have the defroster vent in it.

Photo #3: Pulling the factory dash that I'd previously gutted. The plastic was just as brittle as the factory upper dash pads get on these cars. I broke the dash into several pieces while taking it out of the car.

Photo #4: A mix of factory wiring (that remained after the first round of removal in May 2007) and wiring that I'd added. It's all coming out and being rewired. I'm using a Hot Rod Wires wiring kit to rewire the entire car.

Photo #5: Let the wire pile begin...

Photo #6: As well as pulling the dash & removing wiring, I'm also pulling the factory steering column. I have a Burkhardt Chassis lightweight steering column to install.

Photo #7: The steering column itself wasn't hard at all to unbolt. The hardest part was pulling the column out of the steering shaft knuckle. A little persuasion from a hammer did the trick.

Photo #8 & 9: The original '95 Firebird Brake Booster & '98 LS1 Master Cylinder was removed. I will be replacing it with a manual brake master cylinder from Midwest Chassis. That large bulk of wiring coming out of the firewall is also gone now too.

Photo #10: Not much left under there...

 

Photo #1: The '95 Firebird Brake Booster & '98 LS1 Master Cylinder that I removed from the car. It's for sale if anyone is interested.

Photo #2: The big box of wiring that I removed from the car. I'll be selling it at the local scrap yard.

Photo #3 & 4: I ordered a new custom-made window net from S&W Race Cars to better fit my cage. I was able to modify & reuse the install kit that I'd purchased with the first window net. I wanted it to be level this time, so I cut & relocated the buckle clasp & added a roll bar gusset.

Photo #5: The new window net mocked into place.

Photo #6 & 7: I found this Moser 12 Bolt for sale in the Midwest Classifieds, so I jumped at the chance to get it. Just a couple hours from my home, it was a nice little trip for my fiance and I to go after it.

Photo #8: I have never liked the way GM designed the front supports for the front bumper cover. When I purchased a Moroso Oil Accumulator, it was apparent that I was out of room to mount it in the engine bay. After giving it some thought, I realized that I could kill two birds with one stone....fabricate new mounting brackets for the front bumper cover & create a space for the accumulator. I kept the front metal crash bumper since I'll be street-driving this car some, and that gave me an excellent mounting base for the brackets.

Photo #9: I used a floor jack to keep the bumper cover in place while I removed the factory mounting brackets.

Photo #10: Gone to the trash & to the scrap yard.

 

Photo #1: With those two brackets gone, it opens up a nice area for the accumulator.

Photo #2: The front metal crash bumper is the perfect place for welding the brackets I fabricated.

Photo #3: The center bracket partially-welding in place.

Photo #4: All three brackets support the factory bumper cover mounting locations.

Photo #5: The center bracket welding all finished up.

Photo #6 & 7: The accumulator brackets that I fabricated out of angle iron.

Photo #8 & 9: All the new brackets welded into place.

Photo #10: The Moroso Oil Accumulator mocked into place. I plan on trying to get another decal so the wording isn't upside down.

 

Photo #1 & 2: Another couple of shots of the accumulator mocked into place. I have a remote opener that I will be installing at a later date.

I contacted Moroso about obtaining another decal for the accumulator so that it won't be upside down when viewed from the front of the car. They got right back to me, and are mailing me one! It pays to ask!

 

Awesome. You should throw in the tweety bird floor mats for some first run luck!

 

Ive never seen this thread before...this has to be one of the most well executed build threads in existence...very, very nice...SUBSCRIBED!

 

Damn... this is inspiring. I've been pondering building a race car now that I have a large enough shop and you sir, have proven that it can still be done by the average guy in a backyard shop/driveway. Nice work.

 

Ha ha Sorry to disappoint you....those went to the landfill back in 2007. No plans to replace them either.

Thank you for your kind words. It helps that I have a mild case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that requires I be meticulous about stuff.

This response put a smile on my face when I read it today on my phone while at work. I do appreciate others taking an interest in my thread. I've learned a lot from others on this site, so if someone can take something from what I did (be it good or bad) that's cool! I myself have taken steps to build another garage on my property the past two years, but other circumstances have prevented it from happening both times. Yes, the car sits outside in the harsh Indiana weather, but it's been a source of good times since I began it in March 2007. I have learned countless things by doing all the work myself. My favorite being finding something that I truly enjoy, and that is welding. Not only has it helped me on the car, but I've been able to do a lot of welding for my employer. People tell me I'm good at it, so I guess I'll have to believe them I certainly could have bought the best of everything (as far as parts) for it, but I'd never get it done. Plus things like the home paint job won't hurt my feelings too much when it gets a scratch here and there.

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Today I pulled the brake pedal so I can drill it out for the Strange manual brake booster that I bought as a kit from Midwest Chassis. Once I get that installed, I can mount the lightweight steering column that I bought from Burkhardt Chassis at the LSX Shootout last year.

 

Looking great man!!! You will have it done soon!!

 

The car is coming along great. I really respect that you've done it all yourself too, I try to do as much of things as I can myself but at some point I draw the line (safety stuff, like the cage) and have a pro do it, and the parts that I worry I can't fix if I screw it up (minitub cutting was a little more then I wanted to tackle)

You'll have a nice car when you're done, and you won't have fort knox into it.. it will for sure be alot of fun.

I do hope that you'll get that garage built though, once you finish it you're going to want to keep it inside, just so that you don't have to worry about someone wanting to steal it! I don't know how your neibhorhood is but if I left that car outside at my house it would likely be gone already.

 

Looks good bro!

 

One of the best build treads on tech!