Jump to content
Forums Gone... but not forgotten!
Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

JoePentium

Members
  • Posts

    17
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by JoePentium

  1. Did some more research, if this is in a '69 and is a 12 bolt, it is a 3.73 open rear end made on March 26 at the Buick plant on the 2nd shift. CC= 3.73 03= Month 26= Day B= Plant (Buick) 2= Shift, with no letters after the "2" designates this as an open (peg leg) rear end. I had an open rear end with 3.08 gears in my '73 Grand Am, I was able to install a 3.73 posi unit from a '85 Monte Carlo SS directly into the existing housing. My unit was a 10 bolt, don't know if the same will work on your 12 bolt. You may be able to use your existing ring gear and just install the posi internals. This brings up my next addition, if you still have the original 3 speed trans you are probably doing about 3300 to 3500 RPM on the freeway (Unacceptable by todays standards). I had a 2004R trans from a '85 Monte Carlo SS installed (mine had to be a BOP unit) and picked up overdrive which got it down to 2200 on the freeway with G60-15 T/A radials. There was a reason the 3.73 ratio and the 200r4 were paired at the factory on the '85 Monte SS. The only drawback was it would not always shift down and stay down when driving around town and tapping the brakes for making a turn or slowing in traffic. The TCC should drop out and stay out but sometimes the 4th gear pressure sensor will let the TCC re-engage almost instantly not allowing your RPMs to recover enough to go smoothly back into lockup. Think staying in 4th gear at 15mph after slowing for a turn, motor lurching valves clattering ( basically all of the bad stuff in the bible). This was taken care of with a single 12v relay and a 12v delay on make timer connected in parallel with my brake pedal switch. Sorry about the length of the post but one change usually necessitates another change in the performance world
  2. You want just enough clearance between the divider plate on the pump and the impellor for it to turn. mine is less than 1/16" water goes through not around!
  3. Look at your rotor turning with the cap off, that verifies dist. rotation, next look at the rotor tip as sometimes they get twisted to the side and will not line up with the plug wire terminal. Knew a guy with a 69 Z-28 that tore down the engine to the timing chain and was ready to pull it when I noticed the tip was facing sideways on the rotor. With a new rotor and 45 minutes later she fired right up. Now the question is how old is the timing chain and is it loose?, has it jumped timing? Has the dist. ever been pulled? if it was, was is it aligned right when it was reinstalled? I don't know how many times I have seen distributors reinstalled 180 out. To determine these and other gremlin issues: 1. Pull the valve cover on the drivers side 2. Pull the cap off of the distributor 3. Slowly bump the engine and watch for direction of rotation of the rotor 4. Verify your wire order and that it follows the rotation of the rotor and engine firing order 5. If all is ok so far we go to the trickier part where you might need two sets of eyes 6. While someone is bumping the engine watch the valve that is inline with the intake manifold runner going to number 1 cylinder and wait for it open and then close 7. Now your timing mark on the harmonic balancer should be coming up on top dead center. The timing marks area should be aligning with the notch on the harmonic balancer and the rotor should be pointing to the number 1 plug wire terminal on the cap or really close to it. 8. This will let you know if the distributor and timing chain are synched and if it did jump time it will still be close enough to start. 9. If the rotor and timing mark on the balancer are where they should be you will be (barring an electrical, mechanical, or fuel delivery issue) close enough to start and be able to adjust the timing, a vacuum gauge plugged into a intake vacuum port would help a lot also.
  4. Another idea, since it has been setting for several years make sure that the tank and lines do not have a bunch of water in them.
  5. Sounds like the plug wires may be wrong, Did you assume that the #1 terminal on the distributor cap was the terminal closest to and facing the #1 plug. It actually starts at the back of the Dist. I found this out the hard way.
  6. Has anyone made the jump to the relatively new FiTech fuel injection systems available now and if you have are there any pointers that could save newcomers wanting to try one of these systems some grief?
  7. Trans Ams became very popular 75-76 and I thought they were so great looking. Now people and television look down on them as a car that southern white trash drives. I knew better, the handling was already there and all that was needed was modifying the engine. I owned a 69 GTO first (never did get it to run), then a 75 Grand Prix (brother wrecked it), a 75 Trans Am next (holes in the hood so big you could change the oil without popping the hood open) A teenage girl on downers ran a stop sign and took that one out, then a 78 T/A next with nitrous, then a 76 50th Anniversary Edition T/A (kick myself in the butt for selling that one) then family came along and had to get vans and the like. When my wife left me and the kids I was ready to get back into a project car but I did not want the Trans Am/Camaro/Corvette everyone else had at the local car shows so I went looking and found a 73 Grand Am. I have been working on that for several years now. When I do get it fixed up and go to a show I will probably be the only one there. Did not know it then but when I bought it and drove it home ($3800 with current license and inspection) the motor had been went through and was a unit out of a 74 T/A 4 speed car. I don't know what type of cam is in the car but it is far from stock. The exhaust was a 2.5" dual system and the previous owner had put a 850 CFM Holley on it (way too much carb for the motor) I replaced that with a Edelbrock 1401 and then later a street demon carb. Now It is going through mods for a Fitech fuel injection system. The rear end was changed from a 3.08 peg leg to a 3.73 positraction unit from an 85 Monte SS. Turbo 400 Trans was swapped for a 2004R OD unit from a 85 Monte SS as well. The 4x-3H heads have been milled down (found that out when trying to fit the Performer RPM manifold). Rebuilt the front end and new springs and KYB shocks all around. I pulled off the headers as well as I have already been through exhaust gasket changing 101, 102, 103, Etc. and have a set of Ram Air Restorations RAIII exhaust manifolds installed now. the interior has my attention now as I have new seat covers and carpet (came with the car) a Just Dashes restored dash, and the instrument cluster with a tachometer instead of the clock. One thing you learn with a rare car is that you have to jump on parts when they become available, it might be years before you see that part again. The dash was purchased spur of the moment ebay as was the T/A steering wheel, front bumper, rear tail lights, and automatic shifting console. I had to drive from League City, Tx all the way to OMG Denton, Tx just to spend $300 on a bumper only to throw the bumper away because all I needed was the rubber impact strip for the rear bumper. well enough for now, talk to everyone later.
  8. I guess I am not making myself clear, I need to know where the lead from the HEI tach plug lands on the tach in the instrument cluster.
  9. I guess I needed to know where the connection from the tach landed. The print you sent was not showing a tach.
  10. The HEI was not available until 74 right?
  11. Just need to know where the signal from hei connects.
  12. I changed out my factory rally instrument pod for one with a tachometer. does anyone know how to run connections for the power? I got the tach connection part on the hei, just not where to hook up 12 volt power and ground on the tach itself.
  13. I was under my car last week and noticed how close the oil filter was to the exhaust manifolds I purchased from Ram Air Restorations. Butler said it should not be a problem, what is the consensus here?
  14. Hey guys, JoePentium here. I have been looking for a new forum since hot __d ruined a great club. I believe in real Pontiacs, if you put a LS1 in your ride your not a real injun. I am doing a restomod on a 73 Grand Am. I bought it for 3800 and drove it home. I have had it for several years now and the list of changes is long. Specs are 74 TA/6.6 w/2004r OD trans going to 3.73 posi from a 85 monte SS insralled on the original 8.5 10 bolt rear end. Fitech fuel injection to be installed this spring.edelbrock performer RPM intake with Ram Air Restorations exhaust manifolds. 4X-3H heads complete the previous rebuild on the motor.
  15. Hello guys, any of the HPP crowd here?
  16. JoePentium

    Ed's '73 Grand Am

Tired of these Ads? Purchase Enhanced Membership today to remove them!
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.