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FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

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Project V6 Firebird (lots of pics)


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They've been cleaned and painted before, going to go through and try and do some more cleaning today. The car gets daily driven in all sorts of weather so it's gonna get some dirty discoloration in areas like that.

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Second full day of going at it. Had to run some errands here and there, did some more cleanup and wrestled the engine around for a little while. The cardboard came in handy since I could just slide the engine/k-member off the hoist and onto the heavy duty dolly. Hey, if it's stupid and it works, it isn't stupid.

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Pretty good shot of the Mal-Wood adapter plate. This allows me to use a full T-56 and LSx bellhousing and just bolt it directly to the engine block.

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Ram Clutches throwout bearing spacer (Necessary to compensate for adapter plate and difference in height of the T-5 clutch/flywheel vs. T-56 stuff), OEM slave and Tick remote bleeder.

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All installed.

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Closer.

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Testing things out to see if the engine and trans would roll under the car without touching anything. Makes it easy since the intake plenum isn't installed. 6-ton stands, really nice investment and a lot more room for me to move around under the car without feeling friggin claustrophobic!

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Just waiting on UPS/Fedex/USPS to drag race down my block to bring me the last of my gaskets and other parts...

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Kind of a "meh" day of trying to find bolts that were supposed to be in one spot but after a year later, they...migrated. Oh well, found them and got things moving along.

Really like the eye for detail that the guys at Total Engine Service have for their engine assembly. It's those little things that tend to make me happy.

"In the beginning, there were no accessories. And then a lot of terse words were spoken..."

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New water pump and an underdrive WP pulley from ZZP.

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Mmm, all sealed up.

Notice the NPT plug? This prevents unfiltered oil from going through the bypass and washing the mains. Spun bearings are one of the lead causes of 3800 engine death. This helps fight it along with good filter and oil selection.

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Accessorized!

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More tomorrow.

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This build is such a pleasure, not with just the scope of the project but the awesome images :)

 

 

Agreed. One of the best build threads I have seen.  Excellent pictures. Big big thanks for bringing us along with this build. Loving it.

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Thanks for the compliments, I really try to document the process as cleanly as possible. So many wouldn't know the work that goes into it since I've always seen the other posts on big threads of "Oh hey, here's a stock car." *Weeeks later* "Oh hey, here's my modified car fresh from the shop!"

Anyway, back to my regularly scheduled program...

The brown truck stopped by today!

UMI Performance Inc. boxed A-Arms. This is pretty much the last part of the suspension puzzle for the car. Just got really busy with other things today and things are competing for my time when I really wanted a clean and open schedule to finish...this...car!

I actually remember asking about boxed A-arms like the LG Motorsports ones a few years back and Ryan from UMI piped up that they actually had prototypes in the works. So, a few years later I finally get around to buying them, better late than never!

Really clean design, looking forward to putting this through the paces soon enough:

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For the first time since August of last year, there's an engine in the car.

Exhausted and have a few mixed feelings since it has taken so long to get to this point. Still have to reconnect and reinstall a whole lot of parts.

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why the mixed feelings? its becoming car once again.

Just annoyed that it took so long and also since school is firing back up on Monday, the amount of time I will be able to work on it has immediately vaporized. I had planned to use a lot of my spare time this week to work on the car, and maybe got a grand total of 5 hours this whole week...

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For the first time since August of last year, there's an engine in the car.

Exhausted and have a few mixed feelings since it has taken so long to get to this point. Still have to reconnect and reinstall a whole lot of parts.

day4%20pic1_zpsrmpg1ejz.jpg

 

absolutely beautiful..

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  • Founders

Thanks, I've been bombarded about those friggin valve covers on facebook like you wouldn't believe...

 

I think they're BA and classy so what if they say V6, it is an awesome V6!

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I think they're BA and classy so what if they say V6, it is an awesome V6!

Lol, bombarded as in "ZOMGWTFBBQ WHERE DO I GET DEM VALVECOVERZZZZ?!"

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  • Founders

Lol, bombarded as in "ZOMGWTFBBQ WHERE DO I GET DEM VALVECOVERZZZZ?!"

Lol well that's good! I was thinking the V6 BS again

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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i like em. what i was also thinking is if its possible to match the top of the intake manifold where it has those lines design.


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That is one beautiful engine. Just put it on a frame with wheels, a seat and steering wheel and be done with it.   :lol2:


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