Newbie project 93 Firebird Firehawk w/ 383
09-05-2011, 12:25 AM
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Newbie project 93 Firebird Firehawk w/ 383 Hi guys,
I picked up a 93 Firebird Firehawk w/o a tranny or converter. I got a motor but it is in pieces(i'll provide details a little further down). I don't believe the car is a true Firehawk, but i do believe it to be a Formula Firebird. The car only has 69K mi on it and the body is straight. It has been repainted the paint is decent though if you look closely its not the best. Looks good from 5ft away though. It has new struts/calipers/rotors and poly suspension bushings. The rear has 373 gears. The interior is in good condition too.
Now to the motor...i got a 4 bolt main block that has just been bored .040", mains line honed, new cam brgs, new brass freeze plugs. Also got a new Eagle 4340 forged steel 3.75" crank, new Eagle Sir I beam rods, new Speed Pro Hyperutectic .040" over pistons w/ coated skirts(-12cc dish) w/ floating pins(rods match), and new Speed Pro rings. The rotating assembly was bought as a balanced assembly(or so it says). I also got a nice set of MTI Stg II ported heads(2.0 intake/1.56 exhaust valves) and dual springs along with a MTI ported intake. Other tid-bits include ARP main studs, ARP head bolts, MSD Pro-Billet Opti distributer/MSD wires, 30# injectors, Hooker super comp shorty emissions headers and Y-pipe, Borla cat-back. The car has a 255lph intank pump and an adustable fuel pressure regulator and a BBK 52mm throttle body.
The motor needed a cam/lifters/pushrods and rockers. Thats how i got the car which was a few months ago.
Since then, i've purchased a freshly built 700R4 w/ lockup supposed to handle 550hp. I also picked up a FAST Classic EFI setup w/ wideband with wiring harness for use with the opti ignition. I did this to allow tuning w/o trying for a mail order chip in the 93 ECU. Plans are to leave the stk ECU in place and only use whats needed for the guages/cruise/speedo to work. The FAST will control injection and ignition.
The MTI ported heads are VERY nice looking and look to be ported VERY well. They were cleaned and assembled with new seals and are ready to bolt-on...but, i'm not sure what they flow. Been told a stg II head typically flows 265-275cfm. These heads are the 561 casting which flowed great stk but are slightly limited for max porting. I'm wanting to break 400 to the wheels through the A4 so i have a set of LE Stg II heads and matching ported intake on its way. The MTI heads may have been able to reach my goal but i figure i may as well get what i know will work. Could have had the MTI heads flowed but that would cost $$$ to ship back and forth as well as the cost to have them flowed. I figure i'll save time and not be out much more $$$ going with LE's stuff.
I picked up a LE cam(23X/24X duration, .56x/.56x lift, 110 LSA) which is what Lloyd recomended for my setup. I've since listed to a few sound clips/videos with simmilar cams(w/110 LSA) and i'm not sure i want that choppy of an idle. Thinking of running the Comp XFI 280 cam.
Goals for the car is for it to be a daily driver that i can hop in and go anywhere at any time with the A/C blowing. I won't get to the track but maybe 3-4 times a year(if that), but i want it to perform well when i do go.
On the converter, i'm thinking of running a good quality 9.5" unit with a 3000 stall. Might would go higher but i don't like it to rev much when leaving from a stop light. I don't mind a little but don't want it to rev alot. Its gonna be a daily driver after all.
I'm also thinking i may need to upgrade the injectors to 42#ers or so instead of the 30#ers i currently have. Lastly my plans are to run a good long tube header and corresponding Y pipe. Will prolly run a good high flow cat. Thinking i may benifit from 1 7/8" primary tubes.
What do you guys think? Anything in my plans that i should avoid? Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated and welcome. I only wanna do this once. I'm very limited on my time and $$$ to spend, so i like making it count.
Thanks,
-Mark
I picked up a 93 Firebird Firehawk w/o a tranny or converter. I got a motor but it is in pieces(i'll provide details a little further down). I don't believe the car is a true Firehawk, but i do believe it to be a Formula Firebird. The car only has 69K mi on it and the body is straight. It has been repainted the paint is decent though if you look closely its not the best. Looks good from 5ft away though. It has new struts/calipers/rotors and poly suspension bushings. The rear has 373 gears. The interior is in good condition too.
Now to the motor...i got a 4 bolt main block that has just been bored .040", mains line honed, new cam brgs, new brass freeze plugs. Also got a new Eagle 4340 forged steel 3.75" crank, new Eagle Sir I beam rods, new Speed Pro Hyperutectic .040" over pistons w/ coated skirts(-12cc dish) w/ floating pins(rods match), and new Speed Pro rings. The rotating assembly was bought as a balanced assembly(or so it says). I also got a nice set of MTI Stg II ported heads(2.0 intake/1.56 exhaust valves) and dual springs along with a MTI ported intake. Other tid-bits include ARP main studs, ARP head bolts, MSD Pro-Billet Opti distributer/MSD wires, 30# injectors, Hooker super comp shorty emissions headers and Y-pipe, Borla cat-back. The car has a 255lph intank pump and an adustable fuel pressure regulator and a BBK 52mm throttle body.
The motor needed a cam/lifters/pushrods and rockers. Thats how i got the car which was a few months ago.
Since then, i've purchased a freshly built 700R4 w/ lockup supposed to handle 550hp. I also picked up a FAST Classic EFI setup w/ wideband with wiring harness for use with the opti ignition. I did this to allow tuning w/o trying for a mail order chip in the 93 ECU. Plans are to leave the stk ECU in place and only use whats needed for the guages/cruise/speedo to work. The FAST will control injection and ignition.
The MTI ported heads are VERY nice looking and look to be ported VERY well. They were cleaned and assembled with new seals and are ready to bolt-on...but, i'm not sure what they flow. Been told a stg II head typically flows 265-275cfm. These heads are the 561 casting which flowed great stk but are slightly limited for max porting. I'm wanting to break 400 to the wheels through the A4 so i have a set of LE Stg II heads and matching ported intake on its way. The MTI heads may have been able to reach my goal but i figure i may as well get what i know will work. Could have had the MTI heads flowed but that would cost $$$ to ship back and forth as well as the cost to have them flowed. I figure i'll save time and not be out much more $$$ going with LE's stuff.
I picked up a LE cam(23X/24X duration, .56x/.56x lift, 110 LSA) which is what Lloyd recomended for my setup. I've since listed to a few sound clips/videos with simmilar cams(w/110 LSA) and i'm not sure i want that choppy of an idle. Thinking of running the Comp XFI 280 cam.
Goals for the car is for it to be a daily driver that i can hop in and go anywhere at any time with the A/C blowing. I won't get to the track but maybe 3-4 times a year(if that), but i want it to perform well when i do go.
On the converter, i'm thinking of running a good quality 9.5" unit with a 3000 stall. Might would go higher but i don't like it to rev much when leaving from a stop light. I don't mind a little but don't want it to rev alot. Its gonna be a daily driver after all.
I'm also thinking i may need to upgrade the injectors to 42#ers or so instead of the 30#ers i currently have. Lastly my plans are to run a good long tube header and corresponding Y pipe. Will prolly run a good high flow cat. Thinking i may benifit from 1 7/8" primary tubes.
What do you guys think? Anything in my plans that i should avoid? Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated and welcome. I only wanna do this once. I'm very limited on my time and $$$ to spend, so i like making it count.
Thanks,
-Mark
09-05-2011, 07:59 AM
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You sure have thrown alot of extra money around .. Seeing how you say it's limited... I'd change to a forged piston for sure just get the same piston only forged so you don't throw off balance.. And sell the extra heads you could have used and saved $$ ... Pm me what you want for them if you decide tO sell em'
09-05-2011, 08:57 AM
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Sounds like you seem to do things twice. Getting the MTI heads then the LE. Then the LE cam to comp. And now shorty headers to longtubes. You could have saved a lot of money if you did things right the first time. But great looking build
09-05-2011, 10:21 AM
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Heh! Yea, I seem to have gone back and forth. Lol. The MTI heads came with the car(as did everything else motor wise except the LE cam, FAST Classic EFI and tranny). I do plan to sell the MTI heads and intake, which will recoup a good deal of what I've spent. The FAST EFI was actually the cheaper option to be able to tune a/f and spark due to what I paid for it. The car also came with the hooker shorties/borla cat-back. I will prolly just run that for a bit since it's what I have and it's not hard to swap out. From my searching, it seems I may gain a fair amount of hp by running long tubes.
The plan was to have $5k total in the car with it ready to go. So far I'm still under budget(including purchasing the LE2 heads/intake).
My biggest problem is having the time to put it all together and to tune it. I tend to get carried away when building a vehicle. I would prolly be happy with a stk motor with bolt-ons, but upgrade options are easy when it's all apart! It must be a sickness! Lol
I've considered seeing if someone with a mostly stk LS motored car would be interested in a swap. Would save me lots of time for sure. It would not have the same hp, nor would everything be new, but it would be driveable right away! Hmmm....
The plan was to have $5k total in the car with it ready to go. So far I'm still under budget(including purchasing the LE2 heads/intake).
My biggest problem is having the time to put it all together and to tune it. I tend to get carried away when building a vehicle. I would prolly be happy with a stk motor with bolt-ons, but upgrade options are easy when it's all apart! It must be a sickness! Lol
I've considered seeing if someone with a mostly stk LS motored car would be interested in a swap. Would save me lots of time for sure. It would not have the same hp, nor would everything be new, but it would be driveable right away! Hmmm....
09-05-2011, 03:19 PM
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I wish you the best of luck on your build but that must be some kind of replica Firehawk. That hood is from a WS6 and the tail is from a TA.
FYI, there were only 250 93 hawk's built: http://www.firehawk.org/article/1352.html
FYI, there were only 250 93 hawk's built: http://www.firehawk.org/article/1352.html
Last edited by Rob94hawk; 09-05-2011 at 07:23 PM.
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09-05-2011, 07:28 PM
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Thus the "newbie" status! Thats what i was told when i got it. I'm new to F-body GM cars as well as the LT1. I doubted it was a real mainly due to the price. That part does not bother me. I did'nt know about these cars to know what comes with what. I do think it looks pretty good though no matter where the parts came from. It will keep most people guessing i suppose? lol
09-05-2011, 07:33 PM
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I wish you the best of luck on your build but that must be some kind of replica Firehawk. That hood is from a WS6 and the tail is from a TA.
FYI, there were only 250 93 hawk's built: http://www.firehawk.org/article/1352.html
FYI, there were only 250 93 hawk's built: http://www.firehawk.org/article/1352.html
09-05-2011, 07:46 PM
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I hear ya! The wheels will be changed. I don't like where the front plate is either. I would love to ditch it completely but the local PD and highway patrol will pull you over if you don't have a plate on the front.
09-05-2011, 08:01 PM
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I would LOVE the wheels this gent has on his car:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicle-c...-trans-am.html
Don't know anything about them, but they look SUPER IMO!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicle-c...-trans-am.html
Don't know anything about them, but they look SUPER IMO!
09-05-2011, 09:00 PM
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I would LOVE the wheels this gent has on his car:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicle-c...-trans-am.html
Don't know anything about them, but they look SUPER IMO!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/vehicle-c...-trans-am.html
Don't know anything about them, but they look SUPER IMO!
09-06-2011, 09:39 PM
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Well, it looks like my car is a Formula Firebird. No WS6 code so I guess it did not come with ram-air. Glad it has the hood now though!
Got my LE2 heads in today! Whoopie! They look nice. Surprisingly, the ports on the MTI heads look EXTREMELY similar and given the shape of the ports I'd wager they flow close. Still gonna run the LE2 heads though. They sure are purdy and I'm sure the LE's will have the edge!
Got my LE2 heads in today! Whoopie! They look nice. Surprisingly, the ports on the MTI heads look EXTREMELY similar and given the shape of the ports I'd wager they flow close. Still gonna run the LE2 heads though. They sure are purdy and I'm sure the LE's will have the edge!
Last edited by Birdoprey; 09-07-2011 at 12:05 AM.
09-11-2011, 10:28 PM
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In my searching around, it seems some are not fond of the XFI280 lobes. I believe it's mentioned they are aggressive. Wondering what the guys that have run it think? Any reason I wouldn't be able to take a 600-800 mi trip several times a year with it? I have the 918 beehive springs on my LE2 heads which should be ideal with the XFI280.
