What do you guys think? It's just about ready to go back in the car.





Specs to date are in the signature. The car is purple pewter metallic with red writing so I really felt like the red complimented that.

 

there is alot of red on there and it looks good! Get er in and get some video!

 

I hate red but it looks clean, will be looking forward to some vids when its done.

 

Looking good man..

 

i usually do too....

 

A lot of red for a purple car.. I wonder how they will blend with each other

 

nice nice

 

looking forward to see the red and purple together...could be interesting

 

Im not so sure the red and purple are going to look good but that's just a personal opinion and it could be nice. We will see.

 

I don't know about that red, but I hate the front of the motor; mostly just behind the water pump.

 

looks good, that's a lot of work to clean and paint the stock kmember and the control arms. hope it stays clean!

 

Well calling these cars Purple Pewter Metallic is almost being deceiptful, although thats the official name of the paint by GM (according to the kid who sold me the car 5 years ago). The car itself is very Dark Grey/Silver in most light however a quick glimpse during a good sunset will show some purple undertones. That paired with the red badging seemed to make painting my suspension pieces red (I would have powder coated but it was cheaper to do it myself and I don't know a single powdercoating place in the CT area) a good idea.

@Henry172: Unfortunately a 24x kit was not in the budget.

While on the subject, does anyone know if the paint color is in fact, Purple Pewter Metallic and what years was it available. I did some googling and couldn't seem to find a reliable answer and the kid who sold me the car told me its super rare and because it has t-tops and its a six speed that makes it even more rare. I'm skeptical but I do believe there is some credence to this being a rare paint color because I can only find one other guy on this forum who has it. Additionally, not sure how to find the paint code on my car either. I'm sure there is a body guy out there who could throw in their two cents. Greatly appreciated.

 

The paint code is on the sicker in the glove box and/or on the driver door any paint shop can look it up

 

Best of luck! Hope that badboy fires up on the first turn of the key!

 

@defaultexistence: Does it fall in under the RPO codes?

 

From what ive seen its called Grey-Purple Metallic. I only have the actual gm color code information packages from 95'. Looks like it will work pretty good... now get it in there and lets find out!

 

true true, I think it will look good in almost all lighting, you can hardly ever see the purple in PPM. its the only purple I'd ever rock
nice job man!

 

Isn't it Purple Pearl Metallic?

 

WTF?! I can' t believe I actually agree with gregrob! Maybe he's not as big a tool as I thought? He speaks the truth...I should know as I've owned a purple pearl metallic formula for 14 years now (it's now 2010 Dodge Plum crazy purple). Here's some interesting facts about colors/options on Firebirds and confirms this: http://www.pontiac-club.com/history.php FYI....Bright purple metallic is WAY more rare and way cooler looking IMO....didn't come out till 97 though.

 

Ok, well I suppose a little update will do since I've been asking a few questions and the last time I posted pics was with the motor out of the car still.

Pacesetter LT's installed before engine installed


Here was the fun day... putting it back in... lots of pucker factor




Motor back in here, some wiring harness hooked back up.



I kick myself because I always get that "I'm getting close to starting it up." feeling and then there is three more things you wanna either check or forgot to do.

My to-do list is slowly dwindling but working 50-65 hours a week its tough to find time to work on it and not be tired while doing so LOL. Here is what I gotta do still.

-Brakes/Lines
-Fuel Pump/Tank Clean (racetronix kit)
-Rear End Swap (got a rear out of a 2002 SS with 4.10s that is going in)
-Rear Suspension Bushings (sway bar/panhard/tq arm)
-Clamp hoses
-Figure out the A/C (yes, I kept it)
-Pick a catback and then find a cat to work with it and my pacesetter lt's (leaning loudmouth with a random cat but I'm open to opinion, I want it loud, not a daily driver)
-Re-prime the oil system (motor has been sitting almost 2 years now and the last thing I wanna do is pull the motor again)
-Reinstall cruise control
-Reinstall power steering reservoir and fill
-Fill coolant
-Couple more wiring connections
-Button up air intake
-Reinstall driveshaft
-Install PCM (getting it flashed this week from PCMforless)

Then when all of that is done, I have to bleed the brakes, clutch and cooling system, get an alignment.

For breaking in, I've read the mototunerusa guy's guide and talked to my builder and read just about every forum regarding the matter. Ultimately, I think I will start it up, warm it up, check for leaks then drive it. Drive it moderately. 3/4 throttle and less and if it sounds and feels good make some long pulls on the highway in 4th gear up to redline. Drive it for about 500 miles then change the oil. I'm just worried about spinning a bearing or galling something and the rings not "seating". I'll keep dino oil in it til 5,000 miles, prob 10W-30, just watch the oil pressure and engine coolant temperature.

The motor is a 355 (.030 overbore) running about/near 11:1 compression. I have to laugh because the 290HR-12 grind is basically a CC306 and have been reading forum posts for the last 2 nights about the CC306. What a love/hate relationship but I can see from the dyno graphs with that cam it really shows its teeth after 5K rpm. I'm still deliberating what I am going to do for a new redline. It's all forged internals, balanced, stock heads(ported and polished to capacity), upgraded valvetrain (see sig). I've been deliberating with 6800-7000. Wondering if that's too high or a safe bet.

All things considered I'm hoping for upper 300 low 400 rwhp and same tq and 12's at the track (even high 12's would be ok). Doesn't seem all that unreasonable.

That's my update. Thanks everyone, particularly shbox for the input when I need it most on figuring out what goes where.