I had plans for this weekend.....the faltered due to weather, between the thunderstorms and rain I lost all my motivation to work on her. Bleepster the new tips look good, curious how hard was it to change the filler panel bird?

 

blackbyrd - filler panel was easy. My wife actually did it. we used one of those headlight restoration kits. it comes with varying grades of sand paper. just follow the directions. came out real good. even took out some scuffs that were on the filler panel originally.

thanks for the comments on the tips.

 

^ thanks

reason I ask is I was looking at buying one on ebay that was already blank, I want to get a rear decal that says Blackbyrd to match my door badges. Ive been torn between doing it myself and buying the blank

 

its super easy - you can probably use your existing panel and just put the new decal on that. Its worth a shot - especially if you are already considering buying a new (used) panel anyway, you dont really have anything to lose

 

just me being lazy is all hahah.

now I just need to get in touch with the guy that made my originals for a rear filler.

 

Installed MWC K-member, LS brakes and LS rack and pinion. I'll let yall know how it drives after the alignment.

 

Thanks for the reminder. I fixed mine too!

 

Contemplating selling it.

 

Lowered rear end due to high perch of 9", much better stance now. Wax, polish interior, door gaskets etc and oil change to get her going for the season. Then smoked a 2 valve mustang with bolt ons and 150 shot. Need a good dash cam!

 

Been playing with my fueling and ignition for the last few days and found a happy home for my fuel regulator.

Runs cool and while it has the typical Pontiac low end it really turns on when you get above 4K. There is something magical about a poncho spinning 6300 rpms

 

What did you use for brake hoses? I bought the LS hoses but they seem a bit short. That's all I have left to do in the front.

Today's efforts:

 

^looks good!

 

Since I couldn't sleep and had nothing else to do anyway I decided it was a good idea to clay bar the Firebird. First thoughts being Turtle Wax detailer sucks and isn't even good for claying, went through pretty much all 26 oz to do the car because it wouldn't keep the surface slick unless it was just soaked. Oh well figured was worth a shot and would be ok for that but again Turtle Wax proves how useless they are. Second thoughts being after claying it revealed at some point someone didn't know what the **** they were doing with a rotary because there are burn marks everywhere, and if I had to guess the clear peel is actually burn through... Sad because the paint that's not fubared is still nice, just after claying:


Also while claying I remembered how much I like the front end of the early fourth gen birds, so I took a picture:

For now it's time to sleep and will decide later if it's even worth bothering to do buffing and polishing, or just say **** it and go straight to wax since it's beyond saving anyway...

 

After waxing:


Now to sit down and die.

 

That side shot of the driver's door is stunning! Nice job!!!

John

 

Thanks! I guess it was worth it afterall, just a shame there are those spots burned through ruining it. Oh well it's 21 year old paint on a daily, can't get too upset about it I guess. Up next I need to refurb the wheels and figure out how to get rid of the Corvette logo on the center caps, thinking I'll paint the inserts of the rims either anthracite or black then polish out the lips really well.

Also I noticed in your signature you have my ideal LS car, well BPM is my favourite colour but NBM is a close second. It's so hard to find hardtop 6-speed LS cars, was hard enough finding a LT-1 hardtop with the 6-speed.

 

Yeah, I ordered this car new and specifically wanted a hardtop. This meant that I couldn't get leather seats! When the cloth seats wear out, then maybe I'll get them recovered in leather.
Years ago, I was on a Skyline Dr. Cruise with about 60 F-bodies and I didn't see another LS hardtop.

 

Personally I was ecstatic to have cloth seats in mine, but I hate leather seats in a car I'll be taking corners aggressively in.

You see the Camaros with the hardtop a lot more often, even though I greatly prefer the Firebird I considered getting a Camaro just to have a hardtop. It all worked out though.

 

Noooooooo! The bird is classy, don't get rid of it

 

I already had braided LT lines so I just used those. Since my new k member doesn't have brake line tabs, it wasn't a big deal to just bend the hard lines.