Broken Wing Project. The 'Bird

Wet at factory it was almost 3800. not sure now.
It's pretty well gutted. Power windows, trunk, locks & power steering stuff. Wiper motor, wiper arms, heater box and AC stuff are gone. Almost 70 pounds worth of bumper is gone. Gas tank was replace with cell, wheel wells, sway bar, radio, all insulation and interior is gutted. 'glass hood. 79 to 81 was really nose heavy. I never cut the body up. Just the stuff I could replace easy.

Hey Steve i talked to Bill the other day and he cut that reaend out and he said 250.00 with the traction bars

I pulled out some goodies and did a little work on the 1/4. No you don't use the big hammer. LOL. I use it for a dolly in some spots.

before

after




I still have alot more to go but the metal is working out alot better than I thought it would. I will have to make me a spoon or a rounded off flat bar to get to the bottom of the crease. The trunk floor drops about 3 inches above the lowest part of the dent. I can't get my hammers in there to it. I will get it though with a little home made job I am going to make. The crease over the top of the dent came out with just dolly work. It will get better after I get the paint off and can work the metal a little more.

lookin good

I knew you where always good at using your hands but now with tools. Wow I think I better keep you. Just kidding I love to watch you work. (on cars) for all the non pg rated people...

Lady rebel wrote:I knew you where always good at using your hands but now with tools. Wow I think I better keep you. Just kidding I love to watch you work. (on cars) for all the non pg rated people...

Uhhh... no comment.

I've seen this trick a million times before, you show the un-dented factory 1/4 in the last pictures, then dent it and post them first... uh huh got you figured out STEWART, you think your slick don't ya!

Ya got me. lol

I've been thinking of making the Fire Chicken more streetable. I've been running around for the last few years with slicks on it. Knowing we was going cruising tonight I went and bought some radials. 10 1/2" foot print. I'd have to say at first I liked it but they don't hook at all. I've grown use to those slicks on the street I guess. I'm not sure how fast I was going maybe 30 mph or more in 2nd gear and let it rip on the bridge from Covington to Newport. It walked the backside a little and just went up in smoke. I guess I can't have it both ways. It's not going to be a slug but I'm going to slow it down some. After all the driving tonight there will be some changes. 456's are coming out as well as my 90/10 shocks and the automatic. 4 speed is going back in along with the sway bar and power steering and the interior.
Thanks Corey for switching the wheels today.

Got my 342 gear today in the mail. I need to catch up with Terry and see when he has a free day.

sounds like we mite see the bird fly on the 25th ???????

ss 383 wrote:sounds like we mite see the bird fly on the 25th ???????

Not sure yet. Not too far off and I have alot of stuff to do still. Either way I will be there to watch and help if anyone needs it.

11 pages on the bird. Now that's progress...

Lady rebel wrote:11 pages on the bird. Now that's progress...

just chatter. It's the same as it's always been.

did ya get it runnin with the new set up....

magicman_1968 wrote:did ya get it runnin with the new set up....

No I went today and grabbed my parts that I ordered through Advance. I may go out in the morning and finish it up. I'm going with the family to the Reds game so I'm not sure I'll get it going. Should be able to but we will see.

Last week I dug our some window trim and had them powder coated black. This is the first time I have had anything powder coated. They say it holds up well. They came out pretty nice. It was a little scary sending these off. It is getting hard to come by this trim that is not all dinged up. Pics came out bad but you get what I mean.

I'm not sure why I got the bug to work on the Bird this year. The night we went out running around pretty much set it in stone that I was going to be working on the Bird this summer. It's been sitting idle for way to long.

Years ago I was bit by the blower bug and always wanted a 671 blower in the car. When the 871 started popping up the bug got worse. There is no way right now I can afford a 871 so I bought a tunnel ram. Maybe driving around a few years with the carbs sitting in my face will save me 4K if I don't like it. If I do, which I know I will maybe down the road I'll buy the 871 blower for it.

One of my big mistakes in life. This hood! I wanted a 5" cowl hood. Why a 5" ? Because the engines sit high in the bay on these F Bodies and with the aftermarket intake, NOS plates ect I run you couldn't get a hood on it. This was years ago and you couldn't buy a 5" cowl hood for a Firebird. So what to do??? Give a Unlimited Fiberglass over 800 bucks to make a mold. Yeap you guessed it. This goofball paid to have the mold made. You can now buy this same hood, years later for less than 300 bucks. Because of my mold. What a waist of money..


Off with the old set up.

One of the last hoods I have in stock. This one has sit around so long that it looked black. I washed it once before this picture. It took about 4 wash jobs with Ajacks to get the grime off.



It doesn't matter where I work. In the garage, dirt floor barn or on the sidewalk. I think everyone on the street thinks I'm nuts by now anyway so what's it matter. lol

I cut it out close enough to get an idea of where everything needed to be cut. I marked everything out and then tossed the hood in the truck and drove back out to the barn to use the plazma cutter to cut the final cut. Working my way around all the gas lines, linkage ect ect. I'm not going to do any bodywork on the hood yet. I still need to get my Hilborn Scoop and put it on so the hood will have to be cut again to clear it.

looks good bro i like the 2 fours