The 14 Car Performance Therapy Project Rushforths, Baers, Yokohamas, and more

[NOT A TA]

I'd prefer chrome, but thats probably not going to happen since the new ones I have are black and chroming them would be expensive.. Black pipes will make the car look like it's higher off the ground so I probably won't leave them black. It's an optical illusion. Those who were around in the 70's may remember the flat black rocker panel trend, I did it to my 68 Camaro and it instantly looked like it was higher off the ground. As you can see in the pic in my first post my car is not really very low at all as it is compared with the current drop & tuck trend in the PT community. I've even been told I have too much "gap" above the tire. I care more about performance and it seems fine as is on track and at the same time the sidepipes make it appear lower than it actually is because the bottom of them is lower than the rockers. The effect is noticable more in person than in pics so I'm thinking about painting them.

Because I care more about performance I'm giving up the chrome pipes even though I really like the look of them. As you can see below the front section is just a faux header with only one of the tubes flowing exhaust. When I originally installed them I had the stock 350 2V engine with a single stock exhaust system. So upgrading to actual "dual" exhaust was a big step up ! AHAHAHA Even using stock exhaust manifolds! Since then I installed a bigger engine which is limited by the exhaust and the small (575 CFM) carb I've been using with the chrome setup. Car runs great and drivability is good. Throttle response is great but I'm leaving a lot of available power unused because the engine is kind of corked up.

The chrome pipes are great for an around town cruise night car and I've run high 13's at the strip and up to 140 MPH on road courses and at land speed races, so for what I was doing before they were fine. Now that I've got all the safety equipment in place to run up near 200 MPH I'll be building for more power eventually and the new full headers will be necessary. You just can't easily push enough air through stock Pontiac D port exhaust manifolds to make 600-700 HP.

So anyway, here's my old setup. The front and rear sidepipe sections were NOS pieces when I installed them but were from 2 different sets. They were different diameters. I had aluminum spacer collars made close to size by a bud in a machine shop then hand sanded them to an interference fit. I had a local exhaust shop bend up the sections that run from the faux header sections to the stock exhaust manifolds. I fabricated some T shaped mounting brackets that get bolted to the pinch weld at the bottom of the rockers. I used sway bar end link bushings to mount the pipes to the brackets so the engine movement and flex of the car over uneven roads etc. wouldn't crack the pipes.

I'll have to determine a good way to mount the new ones which are longer and heavier. I may try the same style brackets to the pinchweld.

[70rs]

Good progress John.
I never knew the old pipes were set up like that. I just assumed you had full headers running to them. This should open things up quite a bit huh?

[NOT A TA]

Originally Posted by 70rs

Good progress John.
I never knew the old pipes were set up like that. I just assumed you had full headers running to them. This should open things up quite a bit huh?

Yes sir! More power!! .......well, in theory anyway. hehe

To replace the core support on this car everything from the firewall forward has to come off except one fender. On most old cars that's not too bad of a job but the early 2nd gen birds with a front spoiler have a lot of pieces and LOTS of bolts! So a couple hours here and there over the past couple days when I had time and it's all off. Since I will be pulling the engine/trans and running lots of new brake lines etc I figured there was no good reason to leave one fender in place so I just took everything off.





In previous posts you saw the new (to me) core support. These early 2nd gen Firebirds were notorious for rusted out core supports. The wide openings under the bumper with no grills allowed leaves, papers etc. to fly in and hit the radiator then drop when the car stopped only to slowly rot there because there was no place for the debris to get out. It just sat wet from rain and washing on the lower part that holds up the radiator. The core support was the worst part on my car when I bought it, and remained the worst until today, while pretty much everything else on the car was reconditioned/replaced.

Many, many years ago I made a sheet metal section from frame rail to frame rail to support the radiator and eventually found a pretty good core support to replace the original with. BUT, I knew how big a job it was to replace and procrastinated, year, after year, after year. AHAHAHA So here's the pics of the rusty one. Due to rust the only thing connecting the top and bottom is the latch support bracket which will be refurbished and moved onto the new core support.

[NOT A TA]

I pull engines fairly often and I don't like a big mess. The first thing I do is go to the local appliance store and get a large box from a refridgerator to cut up and lay under the car. If one piece gets all soaked with a fluid I've still got 3 more to make another mess! Siphoning certain fluids is another thing I do to keep things clean and neat. Most (but not all) radiator petcocks are not in a place that's both easy to reach and they don't usually pour the fluid in an open enough area to easily collect the fluid without it running all over suspension/steering components or the frame or core support creating multiple waterfalls under the car. So I siphon the radiator. Then I remove one end of the lower hose to drain the rest of the fluid into a bucket without the geyser that happens if the system is full. Then there's usually only a small amount of fluid that spills out when I pull the engine from whats left in the block. On this car I did this before removing the sheetmetal knowing I'd need the fluid out eventually.



Next is the Automatic transmission. Lots of stock trannys require dropping the pan to drain the fluid and it can make a big mess real fast if things go wrong. So I siphon the trans fluid out of the dipstick filler tube opening after removing the filler tube. Then the trans can be removed without dropping the pan and just refilled after reinstalling if there's no need to get into the trans.



With the fluids taken care of (no need to drain oil in this case) I support the trans with a jack and hook up the engine hoist with the chains just snug so the engine and trans can't fall and then remove the bolts holding the engine and trans together, the bolts holding the flexplate to the torque convertor, and the trans crossmember bolts. A slight tweak with a prybar between engine and trans housing slides the trans back far enough to remove the engine. Then remove the engine mount bolts and out she comes!

[NOT A TA]

With the engine out I moved the trans forward to clear the crossmember, removed the torque convertor, and dropped the trans down and moved it out of the way. I've got a T-400 that will be replacing the T-350 and I'm giving the 350 to a bud who needs one for a late 2nd gen TA with a mild Pontiac 400 he's building for his wife. He's a hardcore Ford guy and it's killing him to build the TA she wants AHAHAHA. Wait till the wife feels the tires chirp when it hit's second with the shift kit and the stock stall convertor!

So engine and trans out with no big muss or fuss other than a couple little drips of trans fluid on the cardboard from removing the torque convertor.



Once the trans was down and safely out of the way it was time to get the engine on a stand. For you guys reading to get tips, here's a few. Remember, engines are heavy. Keep yourself out of positions where if something goes wrong you could be be pinched against a solid object (including floor). Pick up all tools etc. and get them out of the way before putting the engine on a stand. Clean work area is a safer work area!
1. Don't forget to remove flexplate before putting an engine on a stand.
2. When choosing a stand for a big heavy engine with accessories like this one DO NOT use a stand with only one wheel in the front, they're more "tippy" and you'd be amazed how quick an engine can flip and crash (I've seen it happen). Use a stand with double front wheels for any big heavy engines.
3. Check the bolts you're going to use to bolt the engine to the stand (no, the bellhousing bolts will not work) to be sure the shank of the bolts will not protrude and bottom out on the block. Space the bolts with washers if necessary.
4. Bolt the stand adapter to the block while the engine is hanging with the bolts loose. Then center the part that slides into the engine stand. Tighten up all the bolts. DO NOT overtighten, nothing trying to pull the engine off the stand.
5. Pick up the stand itself, and slide it on the adapter. Insert the pin that keeps the engine from being able to rotate on the stand.
6. Gently lower with attached stand.



So with the engine and trans out and safe it was time to pick and move the car so I can get another one back in the garage also while I work on all the parts. I decided to try and combine two great ideas. Wheel cribs and wheel castors. It actually worked very well and is suprisingly stable.

[NOT A TA]

While most of you were watching football and eating leftover turkey sandwiches Thanksgiving night I went over to the machine shop to drill out my rear axles for 1/2" wheel studs. The race classes I plan on running in require 1/2" studs so that's what I asked Baer to send my set ready for. The fronts were already installed in the new assemblies. I called Baer tach support to be sure I got the same style ones for my Moser axles. Don't want the hassles others have gone through with different thread size or appearance of front vs. rear studs.The gentleman on the tech line that day conferred with a bud at ARP and they decided which studs I needed which I then ordered. The steps below are the old school way of doing this and modern machines can do this much more quickly but if you've got access to a big drill press like I do and want to do it yourself, here's how.

At the machine shop there's a big ole freestanding drill press that's rarely used. Many years ago the shop owner made an adapter to allow drilling out axle flanges which he told me about when I asked about drilling mine. Neither looked like they've been used in 10 years and I've been there 3 and haven't seen anyone use them. Anyway since I knew they were available I figured I'd use them.

First step drag out the press and shim it at the bottom so the drill bit would be straight up and down. I used a small square and a level on the drill bit at 2 sides 90 degrees apart. Shimmed the press at the floor with wood shingles till the drill bit was square with the world.

Next I set the table adapter that would support the axle flange so it too would be flat and square with the world. The table adapter has a couple holes in it that allow offsetting the axle shaft so the hole that needs to be drilled can be lined up with the drill bit.

First step is taking out the "little" 7/16" studs. Support axle flange on a vice and plink them out with a big hammer.



Next set up the axle on the press adapter and install a bit the size of the original holes (7/16" in my case) in the chuck. Then double check the axle flange and bit to be sure they are square to each other. Because I'm reusing the axle bearings I had to use apacers to support the axle flange because the bearings wouldn't fit through the axle hole in the table adapter. For each hole the 7/16" bit gets lowered and lined up through a hole to be drilled and then the flange is clamped in place. To be sure the hole is lined up perfectly with the bit after clamping, release the bit, then lower it again and make sure it slides cleanly through the hole.





With an intermediate sized bit the hole is opened up. Go gentle at the touch off and check the cut to be sure the bit is centered. Use cutting oil to lube the bit. After the intermediate hole is finished repeate the process using the final bit which should be sized for a 10 thousandths interference fit.



Once all the holes are drilled use a flat file on the flange to clean off the burrs from drilling. Then Install the new studs by supporting the axle flange on a vice and using the big hammer to plink them in. If you did everything right the studs should all be parallel. Check out the size difference in the studs in the bottom pic! I'll put a spot of weld on each stud when I get a minute during the next couple days, it was late by the time I finished so I figured I'd do that later.
.

[NOT A TA]

So, after a year I'm finally updating this thread. I've been busy working on other peoples projects and some of my own other projects however it's time to get some work done on my bird and get it back together! The only part of the prizes I hadn't ordered yet were the Rushforth wheels.

I decided that figuring out the backspacing I think will work for the new wheels and ordering them would give me incentive. So I ordered 18 X 10's with 6" backspacing up front and 5.5 backspacing in the rear. The 285/295 tires are Yokohama AO 48's which are a DOT legal race compound tire designed for track day use. I expected a wait time of 8-10 weeks which is not unusual for custom wheels and figured I'd use the time to start working on the car. Imagine my surprise when I got a tracking # within a week! I better get moving!

For those who've never bought custom aftermarket wheels like these Rushforth Night Trains there are other options besides the backspacing. You can get different finishes/colors, regular or hidden valve stems, exposed or hidden hardware etc.

[NOT A TA]

I was working on the rear axle doing the rear disc install (more on that later) and then our weather here turned to the time of year where it's the best time to do bodywork so I shelved everything else temporarily to concentrate on the bodywork portion of the project.

I'm replacing several pieces on my car with "better" ones than I could find (or afford) when I first painted the car 20 years ago. I collected these pieces over 20 years and am finally painting them since the cars apart anyway.

1st up is a deck lid. The one on my car now was the original esprit lid without spoiler which isn't as straight as I'd like. I had drilled holes and mounted pieces from 3 different spoilers on the car at the time. I parted a 76? TA back in the 90's and saved the deck lid and spoiler for use now. Spoiler will be modified. I didn't completely strip the inside of the trunk because it's a lot of work few will ever see and not being in the sun the paint isn't cracked. I did strip the edge and smoothed a dew dents.







The trunk filler on my car wasn't as good as the one on the parted car so it came along for the ride and got stripped as well.



The hood on my car was originally a stock flat hood someone did a nice job of cutting a shaker hole in before I ever had it. I bought a stock TA hood long ago and have kept it waiting for paint. Because my job involves a lot of underhood restoration projects and customers will want a peek at my own car I'm kinda forced to do a nicer job than I would normally do to a car that might get stuffed into a tire wall at a track. So I stripped and smoothed the complete inside and outside of the hood. I've got over 20 hours in it so far!

The hood was media blasted and primed before I bought it a long time ago so I wanted to start with bare metal. While using a DA to strip it I mark all the high and low spots so I don't miss any then sand out the paint before hammer/dolly work and thin filler.

[syborg tt]

John

Glad to see your updating the car. I have always loved this car.

[OLDFLM]

I know you've been busy working on other people's cars...
Glad to see you are back on the bird my friend!!

How did that GTM turn out btw?