Rudy99Firechicken

Hello all, I am brand new to the forums here but I have spent quite a bit of time reading and learning here on the forums. This thread will be dedicated to the transformation of my 99 Firebird. My goal is to do a little at a time and hope to do all the things I have planned in the next 12 months or so (Budget will decide the time frame).

As it sits now, it is a bone stock 1999 Firebird v6 with 139,*** miles on it. Only thing that has been done to it was a complete paint job going from the original red, to Lazer Blue.

Here is a short list of the things I plan to do over the next 12 months or so:

All-New Upgraded Supsension
All-New Upgraded Brake Package
New Wheels & Tires (Beefy)
Convert to Power Windows & Locks
New HU & Speakers
New seats, carpet, racing harnesses & Harness Bar
Tinted Windows
HID Fogs & Low-Beams
K&N Intake w/ Ram air Hood
4.11 Gear
Possibly a Body kit (Not a ricer one, lol)
Brand New Paint job (Some flaws here and there as of now)
Last but not least-LS1/T56 Swap with Long Tubes and True Duals
(Not going radical on the LS1, maybe LS6 Heads and a mild cam)

I know this is a pretty ambitious task and I know it will be a lot of $$$ compared to just buying an already LS1 Camaro/Trans Am, but it was the first car I ever bought myself, and I need a hobby and I finally decided to do this after a a couple years of thinking about it. I have pretty good mechanical skills plus lots of people wanting to help, all the resources, and connections, haha.

Like I said I am not in a rush to do this all at once since it is my daily driver so I plan to do weekend jobs for right now. Found a place I can get a pretty good deal on an LS1/T56 that I plan to acquire in the next month or two and rebuild and plan to do the swap in the Spring. My goal is to turn it into my own idea of a badass daily driver that will pass inspection yearly and not hurt me too bad gas.

The way I look at it, it's like leasing a TV or something at Aaron's or Rent-A-Center, much easier for me to buy a little at a time over the course of a year or so, than it is to buy everything straight up.

I'll be trying to post as many pictures of the process.

Now I just gotta decided where to start, haha So many options!!!

Blackpanther99

iTrader: (8)

Welcome to LS1 Tech! Keep us updated on your project! As I read you want your Firebird for a daily driver. When I bought my 99 Trans Am about two months ago my plans were pretty much like yours, to have a nice clean daily driver car, I decided to fix all the performance stuff first than fixing anything that has to do with the car's looks, such as paint, new bumpers etc because I just want to car to take me to point A to point B at the moment lol. Defenitely you will need to have good tires, well running engine, good suspension, and more stuff that has to do with the car running good for you. That also depends on your budget but thats just some advise for you, im not an expert but some little info from could help lol

Rudy99Firechicken

Thanks man, Yeh Right now the car is pretty well up-kept, still has plenty of life in it, vody is in great condition minus some fading on the driver's side and some paint cracking on the front bumper, interior is still all intact as well, just needs to be "refreshed" as I would call it. Has maybe a year old tires on it so it is definitely a comfotable car to drive and still gets 25+MPG to and from work but now Im looking to turn it into the car Ive always wanted. Car means a lot to me since it was the first car I ever actually bought myself a couple years ago.


Well my budget looks like this:

T56 Rebuilt Tranny-$900 (got a buddy that has one from a 96 Camaro with 40k miles
LS1 $3000 (Found a few 99+ engines in my area with decent mileage for a good price) The $3000 includes a full rebuild, new valvetrain, rings, gaskets, & bearings
Tires & Wheels $1500 (Looking at the AR Torq wheels, probably 17x9's in the front & 17x10's in the rear, not sure about tires quite yet but going sorta beefy in the rear
Interior $1200 (Consists of Tinted Windows (35 sides, 20 rear), New Carpet, handmade seat covers and door inserts (Switching from cloth to leather) Fixing the one crack in the dash and one small crack on the top of each door panel, resurfacing any faded panels) Going to just go for a clean stock look and be as frugal as possible, haha
Exterior $1000 (Trans am Front & rear bumper From a guy I know, Ram hood, Touch up on paint, right now the only sore Eye spots are the Front bumper, one spot on the front of the hood, and there is some slight fading on the LF and LR quarter panels (the guy before me did an excellent job when he painted it several years back, was originally red and you would never guess that, not and inch of red on the car, all lazer blue now
Rear End $800 (all new bushings, shocks, seals, bearings, limited slip with 4.10 gears, complete rebuild)
Front end $1000 (New K-member (for LS1), struts, bushings, tie-rods, steering rack (for LS1))
Brakes $200-Not going to go performance, just going to get All ceramic pads and new rotors from work and clean and paint the calipers
Extra $2400-this will be for new radiator, engine wiring harness, everything else I will need for the swap, any small upgrades I find along the way.

Right now the budget is $12,000 over the next 14 months, I am going to cut as many corners as I can by cleaning/rebuilding as much as I can at home, have some pretty good guys I know that can get me some pretty sweet deals. I know I will prolly go over my budget on a few things but hopefully I can make that up in other areas. Will I get to do every single thing I want? probably not, but that doesn't mean Im not going to try, this is going to be my hardcore hobby for the next 14 months and can't wait to get seriously started. Already got a lot of things lined up just a matter of choosing what to do first. I will be able to do pretty much everything at home while keeping it as my DD. Pretty much everything I plan to do I can do on a weekend (Start on friday morning, have car ready to go Sunday night and I can drive another car on the weekends. Only time I plan to not have it as a daily driver is when I do the swap, going to take the V6 out, spend a few days cleaning and painting the engine bay, and take my time putting the LS1 in it, aiming for a week. Goal is to work on a few inexpensive things for the next souple weeks while I try to sell my 20' Enclosed trailor then get the Motor and Tranny and start collecting all the parts I need for the swap. Goal is to do the swap somewhere between March-June of next year, that may change but that is the plan right now. Hope this helps, haha. I need to stay away from some of the threads on here though, I seem to keep finding more ideas, haha.

WarShrike

iTrader: (5)

You're gonna need to do a bit of work to get that LT1 T-56 to work with the LS1.

Rudy99Firechicken

You mean V6 to LS1? and yeh, I know, haha. I already have a LONG list of parts I need for the swap. The nice thing though will be that once I get the Engine (Hopefully in the next few weeks) I can drive my car to class/work everyday, and work on the engine doing everything I want to it and when I finally have everything I need, motor the way I want it, etc. I can prep for the swap and park my car for a week while I do the swap.

WarShrike

iTrader: (5)

No, I mean LT1 T56 to LS1 block. That won't bolt directly together.

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com...n/viewall.html

Rudy99Firechicken

Ahhhh gotcha, didn't even cross my mind. Well dang, that kind of screws that deal up, haha. Guess I will go back to my original plan of getting a reman through work.

I did start on some small projects today, pulled out the seats and console after work and cleaned it up a bit for now while I perfect my sewing skills, haha. Also pulled off the side mirrors, fixed the mount on the Drivers side and Filled a crack in the Passengers side, sanded and primed for now. Now that I got the ball rolling I can start tackling some of the projects I have planned

Rudy99Firechicken

Finally got the ball rolling and figured out what to do first. Upon stripping out the seats and some of the interior, I found that the Car was orginally Blue (the LR Quater panel was red as since it was replaced a few years back). I am having trouble finding the stock color, the paint code is U532 which I cannot find anywhere. Not to worried though, I think I am going to have it completely redone in GM Bahama Blue Metallic. Goal now is to get the interior done in the next few weeks, get new rims and tires around Christmas/New Year's, and have it repainted shortly after and begin building my LS1 at the end of January and start acquiring all the parts and pieces I will need to do the swap. Still shooting to do the swap in the spring. Ill be posting some pictures Tomorrow evening so you guys can see what I have to work with. Going to be wiring in a new HU Friday and finish gutting the interior (Minus the Dash for now).