fuhry

Hey fellow forumites. Finally time to get going with some projects.

OK, so who am I. Username is my last name, personal website is here. TL;DR, 24 year old software developer turned gearhead in Connecticut.

metallicamaster3 is a long time friend of mine. His "Volvrolet" project has made rounds on the forums, in local meets and even on Car Throttle. He's the person who turned me into a gearhead, for better or worse.

Car history. First car (Feb 2011 - Sep 2013) was a 2000 Saturn SL1, 5-speed manual. Nothing at all special. The crappy oil burning 1.9L SOHC I4 lasted me 2 years through college in snowy, salty Rochester, NY. I did some basic customizations to it - radio + speakers, radar detector power, A/C inverter install. Enough to make the car comfortable as a daily driver.

Next, mm3 conned me into buying his Mk4 VW GTI 1.8T in September of 2013 for a cash-plus-trade deal for the Saturn. I say he conned me because I have no clue how that hunk of overenginnered German **** has made it to 165,000 miles without just puking every fluid onto the highway. Yet, somehow I still love it to death, even though three months in, the bolt holding one of the pulleys on the timing belt snapped off and the car skipped time and my pistons and valves had a make-out session. The car sat for about 10 months while I learned how engines work, sourced an OEM head from a different model with bigger intake ports, and put everything together. Today the GTI is in running condition and street legal, and acts as my winter beater, tool/parts runner and unique showpiece. I don't know why I love this thing so much, but it's been in the same circle of friends since it was new, has had a ton of mods and work done to it (including a "Jolf" Jetta front-end swap), and really still handles like a dream. Build thread on Vortex.

Following the GTI's piston/valve sexy time in December 2013, I needed a daily driver that didn't suck and had built some savings, so I decided on a certified pre-owned 2009 Mazdaspeed3. That remains my primary daily driver whenever the ground isn't covered in snow. She's mostly stock with some basic upgrades: intake, rear motor mount, TWM short shift kit, and OEM Mazdaspeed6 wheels with Hankook Ventus V12 K110 tires.

At this point, I have two cars, but both are front-wheel-drive, four-cylinder turbo hatches. Great for Connecticut back roads, but I want to experience driving as it was meant to be.

In March of this year, I was down in Houston, TX helping mm3 fix up some of his cars to get them ready to sell off. We finished everything we wanted to do and I randomly search Craigslist for Miatas. Bad idea. We found one from MY1990 an hour away in beautiful, pristine condition, unmodified and owned by a middle aged guy who had it for 5 years and drove it all of 6 times. For $2,500. Needless to say I bought it, and mm3 and I forfeited our plane tickets to drive the car up to CT.

We had one last snowstorm in CT the following weekend, and I took the Miata out playing in the snow in the parking lot at work, and experienced the magic of proper rear-wheel-drive drifting for the first time. Spent about an hour out there having loads of fun. I replaced the Miata's radio and speakers, ran ignition-switched wires for a radar detector and replaced the broken center bezel. With those three items, the car was literally completely perfect.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I loaned the Miata to someone at my church while his car was in the shop for a clutch replacement, and a few days later I get a phone call telling me the Miata is wrecked. For $2,500 collision insurance wasn't worth it, which basically means I'm fucked - especially because my friend barely has the money to fix his own car, let alone mine.

I was hoping to use the emissions-exempt Miata as a shell for a V8 swap, but now that it's damaged extensively and probably has permanent unibody issues, that hope is gone. The Miata will be repaired minimally and sold off so I can recoup some of my losses.

But, I just got a referral bonus at work and have enough additional savings to cobble together about $3,500 to replace the Miata altogether, and I found the perfect car to replace it with. Today I bought a red '91 Firebird with a... 305. Blech.

But, it's an F-body, which means there should be no problem bolting up a built LS1 5.3. Right? Well, that's what I'm here to find out.

Now, I've got a pretty solid idea on building engines, but my expertise is currently mostly in German cars - VW's A4 platform, specifically. So it's time to expand my repertoire and replace the turbos with some real displacement.

Currently in the process of title, registration and insurance on the Firebird. Once it's all registered and picked up, I'll be rolling my sleeves up and getting straight to work.

Pics:
Saturn - don't know where to find pics at the moment
GTI with her newly painted summer wheels
Mazdaspeed3
Miata (post-crash)
Firebird

TL;DR I hath seen the light and doubled my cylinders.

metallicamaster3

Here's one of the Saturn, in case anyone wanted to see it. lol. My LS Volvo next to it, SBC-powered at the time.

ws6turbo

Just cause it's a firebird doesn't mean the ls will bolt in. My car is a 97 and I needed new k member and mounts.the ls motor mounts are different than any other sbc