..........

 

Well guys, car is back in action!! Fired it up tonight after replacing the 2 pistons with 2 take out units I found along with some new GM rings. Fired right up on the first crank, and once the lifters pumped back up with oil, she ran smooth and purred like a kitten. Got it up to temp and took it out for a 10 mile drive varying the RPM's and breaking in the rings. Then gave it a quick 3rd gear rip which instantly sent the back end sideways and fighting for traction lol. Feels strong as ever. Oils clean, antifreeze looks great, no smoke, no noise. She's good to go.

I have plans to re-do some parts of the turbo setup to make it more efficient, so I'll be adding to this thread to show the changes. Give me a nice simple winter project to keep me busy. I also have some pics of the old piston carnage that I'll be sure to post up soon.

And also a big thank you to all who helped me to make the thirdgen.org November COTM!

 

You're welcome But seriously, congrats man! You & your car deserve it! You did an amazing job on it! I'm glad to hear you got it fixed and back on the road again without too much trouble.

 

Seriously - you should consider alcohol injection. It will save you the problems in the future.

 

I will be adding a water/meth injection system to the car when I change the turbo setup around...and probably cranking up the boost as well. Shooting for 600+ rwhp next season!

 

Nice!

 

Awesome car and you know that--but I've got a bone to pick with you--

The wheels. Ditch those, they look cheesy as hell like something they'd have on the wall at Tires Plus. The wheels are killing the overall look of the car. Some NICE high end wheels will really finish off the car.

 

I'm crying inside right now. I felt like I was on top of the world, and you just crushed me.

LOL, only kidding man. But I semi-agree with you in all honesty. The car surely needs a nicer set of wheels, like some HRE or fikse forged wheels. Actually, my dream set of wheels are Fikse FM10's which I plan on having at some point. But with that said, I also don't think the current ones are that terrible either. I mostly like the overall style of them, and have had quite a few compliments on them since the car has been done. Problem is they stay clean for all of about 2 hours, and then look like crap haha. I do plan on changing them in the future, so they will not be a permanent part of the car, if it makes you feel any better LOL. But I do appreciate the honesty!

 

Congrats on winning Car of the Month, bro! IMHO it should be car of the YEAR, if not the decade.

 

Haha, thanks a lot man. I'll take what I can get though, and car of the month works for me!

 

Forgeline just released their Grip series and they have some really sick designs...

 

Time for Vid 15... Thing of absolute incredible beauty...

 

Love the car looks awesome great color but I do agree about the wheels as well, could definetly benefit from something better but just my oppinion.

Great Job!

 

One thing I've learned is pictures never tell the whole story. Wheels that look bad in a picture more often than not look better in person and I bet those look killer in person! The picture just doesn't do the rims justice

 

I agree. I do like the look of these wheels on the car, and the pics definitely do not show the way they truly look. A lot of people I know that have seen the car in person say the rims are perfect.

 

I think the rims look awsome, the only ones that would look better are the Torque Thrust 2s that I will be putting on mine in about 2 months !!

 

One last time, congratulations on your accomplishments. Taking a car from rags to riches is not easy or cheap and from everything I have seen on here and youtube it looks like you did a job second to none and have rightfully earned your place in c.o.t.m., I even feel justified in t3rd gen of the decade.

 

Wow, thank you very much! It was a long road, but I don't regret any of it, and I still walk into the garage and get a good feeling inside when I look at the car. I plan on really starting to rack up the miles next season, and make it to plenty of shows with it too!

 

My fav 3rd gen trans am ever

 

Really hope I get to see this at the New England Summer Nationals this summer! It'll be at Thompson Speedway this year, guess the city of Worcester MA finally drove them away! You might want to put up a rope around the car to keep the drool off the paint!

 

Hmmm...I haven't been to the summer nats in quite a while. Where is Thompson Speedway?? Never heard of it before, but if it's close enough I may make the trip.

 

Just stumbled accross this on facebook. haha

 

LMAO, a kid in a third gen FB group I'm part of made that as a joke...apparently it's been making it's way around!

 

Hahahaha im sure all of our women agree with that photo.

Its called compromise; lets f *** on the creeper

 

Dude your car is just sweet! Great job on the build!

 

Well, bringing this thread back since I've made more progress. DOOR PANELS! Or should I say...door panel for now. Only got one side done today since I ran out of sunlight, but the other side should go quick!

Anyways, the door panel's were custom made by "covergirl" AKA Princess. They are excellent quality, and fit was very close to original. The upper molding and window sweep is the aftermarket replacement that can be purchased from 1A auto. Got to say, the fit on that was ok at best. You really need to FORCE it in there to get it to hook around the top of the door. Also, the little nuts that come with it to fasten it to the door panel are absolute garbage. They would screw on, and then just pop off with the smallest amount of force. Thankfully my brother works at a restoration shop and had a variety of them in different sizes, so I grabbed some that fit and they held it nice and tight. Now that it's on though, it looks great, and lined up pretty well compared to the original.

Heres the water barrier sheet I custom made out of a heavy duty recycle bag, lol. It actually worked out awesome.


All glued in place with 3M weatherstrip adhesive.


And there she is. One of the tabs was broken on the trim piece for the door lock switch, so I'll have to find a replacement. They came out amazing though, and I would HIGHLY recommend the covergirl on here for custom interior upholstery!

 

what seats do you have in there? they look awesome!

 

That door panel looks really good. I guess you're not planning to take your water barrier off again after using the 3M adhesive.
Doesn't the factory use some kind of tar for that? Anyway it looks like a good match for your interior.

 

Thanks man! Seats are corbeau LG-1's. Not cheap, but WELL worth the price.

Not sure what the factory used, but the 3M adhesive is readily available, and it'll hold anything haha. And no I sure am not planning on taking the door panel off again since almost everything was replaced! I absolutely hate working on doors! If for some reason something fails though, the water barrier is just another plastic recycle bag and some adhesive away to replace.

 

Couple updates for you guys. I don't post quite as much anymore because now I'm actually trying to enjoy the car, but I am still actively working on it! I ended up selling the old 18" chrome rims and tires. They were nice, but were not my ideal choice on the car. I was getting sick of them rubbing when turning hard and the fact that the rear tires had no traction kind of made the car useless.

I ordered a set of Weld RT-S wheels with the black anodized face in 17x9 front, and 17x10 rear. I already bought the tires and the wheels should be here sometime next week! Going with a 275/40 in front and a massive 295/45 M/T in the rear. Traction should no longer be an issue

Here's a pic of the car with a borrowed set of wheels on it. This is just to get a picture of the stance and tire fit, since I had to be sure the rear would fit!



And my new set, waiting for rims!

 

Also completely finished the interior! I was missing my door panels, and a few misc interior trim pieces, but it is 100% complete now, and I am SO happy with the way it turned out. Simple, yet elegant I like to think, lol. Heres a bunch of pics I snapped. I know a bunch of people wanted to see interior shots and had asked me a while back.











And you can be sure I'll post some more pics when the new shoes get here!!

 

Looks great rob! Man, i love those seats!!!!

 

lookin good man!!!

 

 

interior looks awesome! you firebird guys made out like bandits on your dash, simple and elegant! that 3 over 2 setup looks amazing, very fighter cockpit-ish.

 

and then some......

 

Funny you should mention, while I'll have to double check the source, Firebird designers did actually use a fighter jet cockpit as inspiration when designing the dashboard.

 

Thanks a lot everyone! The gauges are still one of my favorite parts of the interior, especially at night lol. Every time I put the lights on and they glow blue, I turn into a little kid!

 

That's what it's all about!

 

275 pshh should have gone with the 315s




all aside I love your car and mine is getting there too

 

LOL, thanks man. And in all honesty throughout my years of racing and tires, I find that width is not really the answer to traction, but instead sidewall is. When it comes down to it, a wider tire disperses the cars weight more and actually ends up being worse haha, even though they look do awesome. Think snow shoes. More surface area = less pressure on the ground. I have a few friends that run these 295/45/17 tires and they freaking dead hook on the street in a H/C/nitrous LS1 car!

 

ive ran the 315s for years and they hook great on bone stock suspension 1.4 1.5 60ft with a 6 speed i used the nittos before now the MTs

 

Sneak peak for you all on the new shoes...

Fronts (17x9, 5.25" backspace, 275/40/17 falkens)


Rears (17x10, 6.3" backspace, 295/45/17 MT ET streets) Currently have a small 5/16" spacer on the rear until I have some time to remove my bumpstops. I wanted the big tires to tuck in a bit, and with this backspacing they came out absolutely perfect! Just a bit too close to the bumpstop for comfort, so the spacers will do for now.




And sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, but here they are on the car. I'll get some better ones once I get it out of the garage! Like I said, they will sit about 5/16" more into the rear wheel well once I remove the bumpstops and take the spacers out.

 

Very nice bud! What about center caps though?

 

And what would project PITA be without some carnage pics, once again?? Here is the unfortunate result of UPS once again ruining expensive merchandise. Not sure how they're still in business honestly. Weld already said to send it back and they'll ship me another. Just sucks having to wait another week now.

 

I have them, just haven't put them on. And the fronts don't fit. They have two styles. Long, and short. The short ones are included with all wheels standard. Because of the POS design of the third gen front spindle, the short ones don't clear the hub. Short ones are 2.2", long style is 3.2" so I'll just have weld send me two of the longer style caps with the new rim.

 

center caps add weight.....screw them

 

you let a ford tow your car ? call me I brought my chevy truck

 

Wheels look great! About UPS- holy crap! What do they do? Throw the packages around haha, guess somebody had some trouble lifting that

 

Weight reduction is for those who can't build engines