jpsnow6

Hello everybody, I figured I would start this thread to tell the soon to be (tomorrow morning) epic saga that is the 2002 Firebird I picked up today.

A brief history on the car.... I got it for FREE... yes FREE an old army buddy got ahold of me about a week ago and said his 2002 firebird was just sitting infront of the property he owned here in missouri and was wondering if I was interested in giving it a new home. I asked him what he wanted for it and he asked me to throw together a website for a new business venture he is starting out and we would call it even. So I gladly accepted developed the website in a couple of days and my old buddy made the drive from Virgina to Missouri to check on his property and bring me the keys and title to the car (and a bonus case of yuengling... jackpot) He picked me up to take me out to see the car and on the ride he was talking about how nice the car was and was explaining the problems he knew about. When we arrived his jaw dropped apparently some neighoborhood kids had stolen the hood,front tires, headlights, altenator,throttle body, speaker and smashed the passenger side t-top. My buddy was embarased but It didnt bother me too much because im an optimist...ie. missing firebird hood=fiberglass ws6 hood? But I told him I was still interested and we filled out paperwork shook hands and parted ways.

So today I arranged a truck and trailer, and another old army buddy and I went to pick her up apparently the trailer I borrowed for the cost of a couple of beers was first used to carry the crucifix that Jesus carried.... floors were rotted out gate needed welding and it was probably about a CH bigger than the firebird itself. So I placed the spare tire on one side no problems except it was flat... I picked up a cheap 5X4 3/4 wheel and tire to throw on there and I didnt think about the size of the calipers. So I strung up my caliper to the spring and the tire mounted just fine. We started pulling her onto the trailer and we blew the bead on the spare.... oh well were 60 miles from knowwhere lets muscle this thing on the trailer.... wait one of the tires in the rear is now flat as well... pushing is no longer an option. We borrowed a come-a-long from a neighobor and started muscling her up.... 3 hours later sun is down and she is now infront of my house wating for me to clean out the rain soaked interior and depending on how cold it gets maybe give it a wash.

Tomorrows goal- Clean out interior and exterior, new alternator and battery,
Will post some pictures tomorrow when its sunny nothing to look at now but I guess a running forum will be motivation enough.

What I need: anybody know a good place to pick up some lights and a hood?
any posts, comments, suggestions, are appriciated im hoping to keep up with this thread until its done but im not going to reveal my intentions until im done(dont want to say im gonna throw in a 6spd ls1 settup because it will probably stay a 3.8 until somebody wrecks a WS6 or Camaro SS in my front yard) Im not intending on turning this into some crazy firebreathing race car... if it gets me to class and work thats cool, if someday I find the funds to make it a crazy firebreathing race car then maybe but thats a ways off. This is going to be an ebay,Craigslist build for now. Thanks for reading

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

base model firebid hoods should be easy to find on craigslist under a hundred bucks (atleast in georgia they are), same with t-tops to get that one replaced (if you don't have one lined up). local pickup is always better, shipping on ebay just makes things cost to much.

jpsnow6

I actually found a guy about an hour away from me who is parting out a base model firebird and he will let go of both headlights and the hood for 130 bucks. Ive been finding the t-tops all over the place out here in MO so im not too worried about it. But im debating on the hood for now Im no purist I like what i like and why not throw a WS6 hood at it. Ill be the first one to tell somebody that its not a real WS6 so im trolling ebay and craigslist for a WS6 hood if I have no luck by WED im just gonna go pick up the base model hood for now.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I was just suggesting the base hood for a quick cheap way to get the car on the road, but if you have the money I would go for a SuperHawk hood from Roger http://www.ebay.com/itm/Superhawk-hood-98-02-Firebird-Trans-Am-by-U-S-Exotics-/301010222949?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item46159b7f65&vxp=mtr personally I like it better then the ws6 hood and you would get it cheaper then what a OEM ws6 hood sells for.

jpsnow6

That is a good looking hood ill definately watch his ebay store for a while for one that goes fairly cheap. Do you know anything about the duraflex hoods Ive heared different takes good and bad on them.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

i've not had any duraflex stuff but in my honda days I did have some fiberglass panels from ExtremeDimensions (the company that makes duraflex brand stuff) and there fitment was ok on bumpers but the fenders sucked.

his hoods don't come up often and anything under 400 plus shipping would be a great deal on it and cheaper then an oem WS6 hood, I wouldn't look at replica hoods from other manufactures because they tend to be really squared off and don't flow right.

jpsnow6

Alright todays update:
Cleaned all the crap out of the interior and gave it a quick vaccume job and armor all wipe down, Dash and center console are pretty faded so might look into replacing those... I sourced out my hood and headlights will be picking them up wed. I decided to go with the base firebird hood for now while I get her running right again and because its only 40 bucks. And I took a quick look at how the headlights are installed and was wondering if the front bumper needed to be removed for installation I have an old headlight/motor setup and i tried to drop it in, but it seemed like a square peg round hole situation. Hoping it dosent snow tonight because the pasenger t-top is still mia until tomorrow afternoon and I forgot to grab a car cover.

Sam Hadji

iTrader: (1)

Pictures!!!

BrainFreezE

iTrader: (2)

jpsnow6

Rear end needs nothing than god



Side isn't too bad



Wish I could say the same about this end



Engine is missing some stuff but it's all on the way



And here is the mess of an interior











Pulled the seats and ran the wife's carpet cleaner over them.... much nicer

jpsnow6

Now off to the parts store to get a battery so I can pull the drivers seat and test electronics. Any ideas on the length and thread pitch of the alternator mounting bolts and the throttle body bolts..... need to get some hardware to bolt those up

jpsnow6

Dead on fortune cookie at lunch today

McCall 94 Formula

Look like a fun deal. Looks like the body is solid. I get a lot of my interior stuff off of ebay and fix what I can with JB Weld kwik weld. helps salvage expensive parts. You going to upgrade the 3800 or keep it simple for now?

jpsnow6

For now the goal is get her on the road and running. If a ws6 or Camaro SS wrecks in front of my house I'll dispose of the driver and swap for an ls. but for now the 3800 will be fine I used to have a 2005 n/a grand prix that was pretty quick with a tuned pcm, full exhaust, intake, zzp intake insert, and msd ignition coils so I like the GM 3.8 but I'm keeping an eye on craigslist and the local salvage yard my question is will an ls from a Denali or Silverado SS work as a swap candidate. It seems those motors go for a lot less just because the words trans am, Camaro,gto, and corvette aren't attached to them.

McCall 94 Formula

Ill have to let one of the more senior members or at least an ls owner answer that lol im stuck in the LT1 world. I have heard a lot of good feed back on the 3.8 so if I was going to get a v6 that's what I would go with

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

Yes the LM7 (5.3) and LQ9 (6.0) from the trucks are becoming the swaps of choice, far more budget friendly a swap, but coming from a v6 you will have to upgrade the fuel pump (in tank) and get the LS1 k-member, LS1 headers, LS1/LS6 intake manifold and the accessories that bolt on the front of the motor from an LS1, all of which can be found on here in the for sale section. I'm sure there are other parts but I don't know all the details, just began researching all that stuff recently.

McCall 94 Formula

Not sure how the suspension is in the 98-02 models but I would believe all that would need to be upgraded to accommodate for a v8 also?

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

Swap? Check out my build thread (link in sig)

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

If your talking swap you should already be planning to replace springs and shocks with something better then stock, hell if you own an F-body that should be on your list.

IIRC different spring rates for the v6 but same shocks, I know by then the brakes where the same, also even before swap time look into the larger v8 (ws6, SS) sway bars, big help there.

jpsnow6

Im actually considering the 5.3 swap now, apparently a 5.3 ls is 80 lbs heavier than the 5.7 ls1 and is only 80 lbs heavier.... but to purchase a 5.7 will cost me 3-5K and a 5.3 will cost me 300-1000...... hmmmm i know i would need to swap the intake and accessories but i think I can create the missing 10 hp with some of that leftover cash. But like I said before..... this car needs to run first as a v-6 I will stockpile parts in my garage and make an engine swap a sunny spring saturday and sunday project for now I gotta focus on the basics.... Get the v6 running.... finish cleaning the interior possibly repaint the interior plastic trim....(i like that glossy fiberglass looking interior that people do with rattlecans) As for the suspension upgrades those are on my basic list after owning my 3.8 grand prix I understand big pontiac body roll and would like to have a more responsive firebird. But thanks for the tips everybody hopefully someday on this thread you can walk me throgh the steps