CadeFirebird

I am fixing up a 1989 305 firebird for my first car. Picked it up for $600, and have made a lot of progress since then. So far, I have put a rebuilt 305 Carbureted motor in it, and have sent it off to the body shop. Should be finished with body work by next Sunday, then im onto exhaust. Hope you all enjoy...This has been a tough car to fix, but its slowly coming together. If anyone has any suggestions, or information to help me with the build feel free to tell me! I am always looking for others opinions, and advice. Will update Monday.

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

Are you going to have it re-painted white again? Will be a very nice first car.

CadeFirebird

Yes it is being repainted white, hopefully the guy does a good job...Im nervous to see the finished body

LHernandezJr

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CadeFirebird

Ok thanks, now that i think about it, i probably should try to remove the mirrors. I already removed the hatch, and gfx, just need to get the doors off

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Make sure you pop out things like the door locks and remove the door handles too. Nothing sets off the quality of a paint job like little details. Ditto on the weatherstripping. All of the weatherstripping and window sweeps need to come off.

Excellent choice (and color) for a first car. You'll love how clean the white stays, and you won't have to worry about parking it out in the sun all the time. That white paint will hold up much better to sunlight than a darker or metallic color.

I'm looking forward to the finished work. Should be very nice.

-cal30sniper

CadeFirebird

Ok thanks, ill make sure to remove everything I can on monday...I need to order a spoiler soon, but cant make up my mind. I have seen someones firebird on here, it has been completely restored, and painted orange, he put the 91-92 style wing on it and it looks pretty sweet, just cant remember his name. But i also like the Wrap around 80's wing. The small wing is nice because of the price..What should i get? The car has a power bulge hood, with gfx.

LHernandezJr

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LHernandezJr

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skido

iTrader: (1)

Nice project, you look like you're doing great with it. My '89 base had no floor pans, no jack points, exhaust, fuel lines and brake lines rusted OFF, fuel rail blocked, fuel pump clogged, wiring chopped up, etc, etc.
I put dual exhaust on mine and did all the fixing, body and paint myself.
Now it's:


Any help you need just ask, I'll be glad to help if I can (I don't have everything solved with my '89 yet, LOL).

CadeFirebird

Yea its that one lol...

CadeFirebird

Ok thanks, It looks like you have everything solved to me!

IMissMy86TA

wow.. that car is.... umm.... different

CadeFirebird

WOW, i just realized you made a replica of the GTA IV Ruiner LOL, that is sooo sick man...I couldnt take the time to build a replica of the ruiner though lol.

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

The wing on the orange car is actually from a 4th gen, not the 91-92s. I agree, remove what you. You can plainly tell when something was removed or not before paint.

skido

iTrader: (1)

The only differences are I ran the bottom color curved with the upper wheel wells and the specular color layer is rainbow.
Oh, and I DIDN'T paint the mirror bezels orange!

skido

iTrader: (1)

Yes, it's the IMPONTE "RUINER" in black and orange with rainbow specular.

CadeFirebird

Its been longer than I wanted it to be since I last updated. Since then, a lot of body work has been done, the hood has been painted, as well as the front of the engine bay. The motor has been in the car for a while, but I just got pictures of it today. Will update again sometime this week.



I know you cant really see much because of the lighting, but how does the paint look so far?

CadeFirebird

Its been a while since i last posted. been busy with school. car is getting out of body shop soon.. while i was waiting i have been looking everywhere for seats for the front and rear, carpet, borla/gmmg/slp loudmouth exhaust system. I drove aboit 5 hrs today and picked up black carpet from a 91 bird, and seats from a 98 bird. The drivers side seat is a power seat. Next thing i need to find is exhaust which is rare to find in decent condition . Anyway here is a pic of the 4th gen seats..No rips or tears, and no fade/color loss. Cost: $250.

CadeFirebird

After a grueling 9 months of waiting, and fearing the worst; The paint is done and looks astonishing. The paint job has exceeded my expectations and I am so excited to move on to the next step. Even though my body guy took way longer than he should have, I cant complain with the price I paid for it and the outcome of the paint job. Wanted to say thanks to all those who have helped me along the way, given me advice, and told me where to look. Next step in the project will be to wire the entire car and install the weather-stripping. Its been a long time but its finally coming along.



If anybody can tell me where I can find the Gm whetherstripping(From the windows to the t-top to the trunk) and also if there is a y pipe I can buy that will hook up my flow tech headers to a SLP Loudmouth 1 Exhaust, I would greatly appreciate it. If you have any tips or anything that could help me in knowing what to do next please post!

skido

iTrader: (1)

Looks like you should hit that paint with 1500 then 2000 wet sand to get rid of the orange peel.
Cut off the Y and put on dual, You'll love it! You can run one muffler under the floor and one where the original was.
That's some great looking seats, Cade.

Skinny Neb

iTrader: (2)

I disagree with the dual exhaust idea. My car has duals with an x-pipe and I bottom out on it all the time. I'm also riding stock springs, so it's not like my car is slammed either.

I'd do shorty headers with a single 3" system. Simplest you can have in our cars without any real consequences.

skido

iTrader: (1)

I used 2" duals all the way. It's the only thing I didn't do myself. I live close to an exhaust genius (in the WV mountains, no less!), he did an incredible job for $250. He says there's really no advantage to going larger, the engine is designed for a certain amount of backpressure, no bottoming out.
I have the rear raised 2".

Skinny Neb

iTrader: (2)

Raising a TA? I always wanted to go down...

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

good stuff man paint came out pretty nice

skido

iTrader: (1)

It's WV, man, LOL! Gotta have the clearance! Also I suspect the suspension on this car had it sitting too low anyway from being worn out.
I needed to bring it up to a reasonable height til I get replacement parts.

CadeFirebird

@Skido- Yea after the paint cures Im going to have a professional wetsand it and knock out a tiny dent the painter didnt notice (about the size of a penny) As far as exhaust goes I cant go dual because my dad doesnt want to pay a shop, and I already have a SLP loudmouth 1 in perfect condition.

@Javier87z28- Thanks! I payed basically nothing for it considering how much work needed to be put into it

Right now I am in the process of ordering GM weatherstripping for the whole car. My dad wants to hold off on the door weatherstripping. He says it wont hurt it because the water will flow through the bottom of the door. Is he right or should I deffinately get the door weatherstripping? It is not garaged.

The only problem I have with the paint on the car is the wheel wells. The lip that curls up under the wheel well is cracking and chipping. Is it possible to sand down the lip and repaint it? or should I just leave it be?

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Backpressure is bad in 4stroke motors. Sorry but your genius is dead wrong.

Skinny Neb

iTrader: (2)

Have it redone. The previous owner of mine lived on gravel roads, and that beat all the paint off my fender lip. It has now turned the rust brown color, but hasn't rusted any holes yet. It also looks like **** to me, so I say have that painter repaint the lip, after all, it is his mistake in not prepping the area right if it's chipping already.

2007xl50

Car looks good, I love white. Yeah have the painter fix the chips now or you will be sorry, it will start to rust and on a white car will look worse faster than any other color. Your dad is right and wrong about the window sweeps. Yes the water will run down through the doors, but that's not a good thing at all, plus 3rd gens without window sweeps just look bad, you notice someting is missing right away.

Also stick wtih the single exhasut and never put one muffler up front and the other in the rear-that is just a dumb idea and not the way to run duels on a 3rd gen or any car for that matter.

skido

iTrader: (1)

Maybe backpressure is not a good word to use, rather the engine is designed to run with a certain amount of exhaust flow. Changing this factor too much either way can affect inlet flow, compression and power.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Yes it can change power output.
Bigger exhaust (to a point)= more power.
More inlet flow=more air thru motor and that= more power
Compression doesn't change unless you make a head, headgasket or piston change.

Skinny Neb

iTrader: (2)

Basic guidelines for exhaust.
The less backpressure, the higher flow. You don't want a lot of back pressure. You solve this by having a bigger pipe, and higher flowing muffler/cat. But if you go too big of pipe, you lose bottom end torque.

Exhaust cannot affect compression. Pistons and heads do that. Ex. 305 heads on a 350=higher compression than stock.

Try to have mandrel bent tubing throughout your exhaust rather than crush bent. Each bend that is crushed will create restriction, and more back pressure.

maks10

suscribed!!! nice work!!!

CadeFirebird

@Maks10- Thanks!


And like I said, I already have a slp loudmouth exhaust and am not switching. only need to find a y pipe that will hook up to my flowtech headers.

CadeFirebird

UPDATE: I got a lot of work done this past weekend. I ripped all of the old headliner out, sanded and painted the inside of the roof, ripped the old weather stripping out, installed a pristine t top center piece, and put on the new GM weather stripping. I am pleased with the GM weather stripping, but I ran into a couple of problems after my dad and I installed it. The T top weather stripping dips in a little bit on the passenger side, and the weather stripping doesn't look right by the triangle piece on the door. I haven't added any adhesive yet, but even after I do I don't think it will fix the issue. I think I may have to replace the seal for the triangle piece. What should I do to fix these two issues? Here are the pics...

CadeFirebird

I welded in patches where the floor had rusted out this past weekend, and want to make sure no more water gets in now that it is patched. I plan to get the car repainted this summer so I don't want to glue down the new weather-stripping just yet. For now, I want to make sure I have the T-tops aligned correctly and make sure that they are sitting right on the weatherstripping. I cant seem to get the t tops to fit right no matter how much I adjust the receivers. I don't know how tight the t tops need to be, and I don't know why but when I lock one side down it turns the whole t top glass to the right. Any suggestions? If someone could post pics of a close up on their t tops so I can see how they need to sit it would be appreciated.

Richboll

[quote=CadeFirebird;5549653] I plan to get the car repainted this summer so I don't want to glue down the new weather-stripping just yet.


Just curious..why are you getting it painted again so soon?

CadeFirebird

@Richboll- The paint looks good, however the fender lips were rusty and were just painted over, the hood as 2 chips that are now rusting, my dad put a dent in the roof and now paint is cracking there, the body trim was not removed when painted, and the bumper is cracking where the fog lights sit.

Richboll

Got it! Thanks. Hopefully the next paint job won't take as long!

CadeFirebird

Yea definitely im thinking maaco.