This month we are recognizing Show Quality builds with Track Ready performance. Although only four cars were nominated this month, they are four truly awesome cars. I am predicting a tight race. At this point only one thing is certain: the Year of the Phoenix...continues.

This month's nominees are:


WhitedevilTA Turbocharged 5.3 LS/T56 1986 Trans Am


Topspeed L98/heads,cam.../700R4 1984 Firebird SE


Quadgoat Turbocharged, Stealth Ram 350/T56 1992 Firebird


Justin89Formy Magnacharged LS1/T56 1989 Formula 350

 

Thank you for the nomination...this is quite a surprise!

I've been on the board for over 10 years now, just not with this name. I've had this particular car for about 13 years now. I got it when I was living in upstate NY. I had just sold my Sports Coupe that a friend and I built which had a 406 and th350 and other goodies in it. I felt sellers remorse so I immediately started searching for something else. I got this formula for about $2800 in very good condition, but with a blown motor. The reason I paid so much is because it was a Florida car and there was NO rust which is a huge issue in the northeast. I've had a plan in my head for a thirdgen ever since I was 15. I'm just now realizing that I've finished my plan

I've been through about 5 different engines, 2 transmissions and 4 axles. I've also had 3 sets of wheels on the car. It's never "done"

Here is a breakdown of my car

BODY:
-Fresh "down to the metal" repaint.
-ASCD Ram Air 1 hood
-Hawks repro spoiler
-Stripe delete
-tasteful decal delete

Chassis/Suspension/Driveline
-Dana 44 with 4.11 gears
-4th Gen aluminum drive shaft
-T-56 with Pro 5.0 shifter
-MacLeod clutch
-Poly bushings throughout
-Spohn LCA, LCARB, Panhard, Subframe connector, solid strut mounts. TDS Wonderbar. Custom UMI Strut Tower Brace
-36mm WS6 front sway bar, 24mm WS6 rear sway ba4
-Bilstien AK Struts/Shocks
-Eibach Pro Kit lowering springs
-18" Weld RT-S wheels. 18x9 Front with Nittos and 18x10 Rears with Mickey Thompson ET Streets
-LS1 Front brakes. LS1 rear brakes.

Engine/Etc. (LS1 swap performed by PCM of NC in Mooresville, NC. They did a great job!)
-LS1 Shortblock
-96 pound injectors
-PCM of NC custom cam
-LS6 Heads worked by Advanced Inductions

-Stainless works headers (2" Primary, 3" Collector) and 4" Y Pipe. Mufflex 4" Catback with Magnaflow race muffler
-Champion 3 core aliminum Rad
-Chassis dynoed 627 RWTQ, 657 RWHP


Interior
-1983 Charcoal grey interior pulled from a NEW car that was converted into a race car. An amazing find since its pretty rare to find in good shape!
-New headliner, carpet and 4thgen cloth seats
-145 MPH speedo with MacEwen white face gauges
-Triple A-pillar gauge pod with Autometer Wide band O2, Fuel Pressure, and water temp (all electric)

Here are some videos

Dyno Pull:

Idle clip:

Burnout: (the day the Dana went in. Had to prove the old posi worked to the buyer of the 9 bolt )

Paint:
The teardown...so sad



Here is the car in June on the Hot Rod Power Tour

with TTOP350



Here is a recent pics of my car after I installed the Welds







Thanks again for your consideration!

 

I nominated you and You got my Vote too.

Always liked that car. I remember back when Ya got it.

 

I like those new wheels. do they require spacers?

 

Nope they are bolt on. Passenger rear required a little hammer massage at the 4 o'clock position, and a factory slip on 1/8" spacer but thats it. No rubbing, and tremendous hook from the mickeys

 

Thanks very much for the recognition and nomination! Some good-quality looking cars in the running this month, I'm honored to be among them!!

The car is a '92 Firebird, originally a 305 TBI automatic that I picked up for $800 with about 81,000 miles on the clock when I wrecked my '84 Trans Am due to a blown out Russell steel braided brake hose:



Here's the '92 when I bought it:


I had to fix some rot in the driver's floor and front cowl/rocker areas and I stripped the car down to a shell, sandblasted the engine bay and door jams and repainted them Sunset Orange Metallic to match the color I chose for the body. I also cleaned up the undercarriage and coated the entire thing with POR-15






I transplanted the Stealth Rammed 350 I built from the '84 into the '92 along with the T-56 topped with a Hurst Billet Plus shifter, 3.27 geared 9 bolt Posi (with new cones and springs) with PBR disc brakes, and Commander 950 engine management system.

I had never been a huge fan of the '91-'92 Firebird "banshee" nose and ground effects, but I decided to stick with them, although I added a RAI style hood, 4th gen replica spoiler, and '85-'90 Trans Am front fenders with "air extractors" behind the front wheels.

All the bodywork and paint was done by me with a LOT of help from a very good friend of mine. We took one whole week, tore the car apart, blocked it out, painted it, re-assembled, and did the first stage of wetsanding/buffing:


Here's an action shot of my friend Tom laying down the basecoat!


I got a C5 ZO6 front brake kit from Ed Miller using the C6 Z51 13.5" cross drilled brake rotors. I then wrapped the brakes in 18" ROH RT wheels and fresh rubber.

I also swapped the 4th Gen Trans Am seats and center console into this car that I had in the wrecked '84. I seem to have misplaced my interior pictures, but I will add them ASAP!

The car also has Spohn adjustable tubular rear control arms with poly bushings and UMI subframe connectors welded in.

I was able to participate in the Hot Rod Power Tour in 2008 and the car completed the entire Long Haul from Maine to Arkansas and back with only one issue - a shredded serpentine belt.

I built the engine several years ago with the help of a friend. It's a late '70's truck 4 bolt main 350 bored .030 over with main studs, a cast crank, and forged rods (with ARP rod bolts) and pistons. I topped the engine off with a Holley SysteMax II topend package (aluminum heads, cam, and carb'd intake) when I first built the engine. Heads are nothing super special, but flow decent, have 2.02/1.60 valves and 68cc chambers. The cam has 235/240 duration at .050" and .490/.490 lift. I ran a carb on it for a while but have since switched to a Holley Stealth Ram and Commander 950 management system and put down a best of 295 RWHP/310 RWTQ naturally aspirated on a Mustang dyno running on 87 octane.

The car went under the knife in late 2012 and got a bit of a power update. I guess it'd been together too long and/or it was too reliable, so I decided to add a custom single turbo setup using a Turbonetics TC78 turbo, and retaining A/C and all other "creature comforts".



The turbo setup seems to have worked out pretty well. The only dyno numbers I got were when I had a weak fuel pump and fuel pressure was dropping crazy low as soon as boost hit. Even with that issue the car made about 407 RWHP and 470 FT LBS of torque at 15 lbs of boost

Dyno Video:
After I had it on the dyno I upgraded to a Walbro 400 LPH fuel pump (I got the e85 compatible version, which they tell me is actually closer to a 430 LPH output), installed a RaceTronix HotWire fuel pump wiring kit, turned the boost up to about 20 PSI and ran a best of 7.7 at 93.8 MPH in the 1/8 mile, with a TERRIBLE 2.0 second 60' time! My best guesstimate is that I'm around 500 RWHP, but I haven't had it back on the dyno to see for sure.

Last summer at the last "street night" of the year at our local 1/8 mile track I ended up finding the limit of the FelPro 1003 head gaskets and ARP head bolts and I pushed the gasket out around the #6 cylinder which prompted the installation of MLS head gaskets and head studs. Ever since then I have not been able to get the head studs to stop weeping coolant.

The leaking head studs made me decide to start building a whole new engine for the car, using a DART SHP engine block which has blind head bolt holes so coolant will never be anywhere near my head studs! The new engine has a Sonny Bryant 3.8" stroke billet crankshaft, Carrillo 6" H-Beam connecting rods, and Wiseco forged pistons. It's getting a custom ground cam from Bullet Racing Cams and is being topped off with AFR 220 heads.



I'm also upgrading to a McLeod StreetTwin twin disc clutch good for approximately 1200 HP along with a scattershield, just in case anything bad happens at the track LOL!

The new engine will be treated to a new Holley HP EFI engine management system to make tuning and drivability even better (hopefully!)

Once I get the new engine all dialed in, the turbocharger I have now will be the limiting factor to how much horsepower I will be able to make. The engine should be good for anything I ever want to throw at it, and I'll just have to find a way to shoehorn a turbo with a bigger exhaust side into the space I have!!


Sorry for taking up all the space here, but I enjoy sharing about my car and all the work I've put into it. I'm very proud to say that all the work has been done by me (either exclusively, or with the help of friends) and I've really enjoyed developing it to the point it is at now. I've also enjoyed learning and sharing a lot with the entire community here at thirdgen.org over the years.

Thanks again for the nomination and opportunity to share my vehicle with all of you!

-Paul

 

And here are a few exterior shots that are some of my favorites:





Sorry for taking up so much space in here, I've got to work on condensing the story of this car a little better I guess haha!!

-Paul

 

not at all. excellent posts - you and Justin both.

 

Quad goat won my vote easily. All nice cars, but yours is beautiful, IMO. Good luck!

 

I'm going to have to agree with quadgoat... Some very nice cars here this month and I'm also honored that I even nominated. Not sure that I'm as good as the others on the "GO" portion but that isn't really why I built this car the way I did. I was trying to stay with period correct performance. Maybe in a few years I will drop a newer boosted motor in. Couldn't swing it when the car was being built - budget didn't allow for it. I have a few threads on the build that you can look at to give you a history of my car.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ebird-s-e.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...cide-hood.html

As far as the car goes:

Body:

Taken down to a bare car - no electronics, no fuel or brake lines. Had it media blasted to get the old paint off and have a clean slate to work from. The only rust spot on the car was under the drivers seat which a new floor panel was welded in. The radiator support was also shot so I had to weld a new one in as well as put a new crossmember in. From my thread you can see that the car barely had a life. It had 334 original miles on it when I bought it and I know that to be true because the car was only registered for three months before it was stolen, trashed, and thrown in a junkyard where I bought her from.

Engine and Drivetrain:

Got rid of the original V6 the car came with and bought a 350 TPI motor for her. Here is a list of what I have in the motor:

Edelbrock aluminum heads
SLP original load mouth exhaust from headers all the way back to the tailpipe
Performance chip
24# injectors
competition cam
magnum roller rockers
52mm throttle body
ported and polished plenum
Aluminum drive shaft
K&N shift kit in 700r4
SLP cold air intake
TPIS runners
BW posi rear with 3.73 gears

Suspension:

Hotchkiss rear suspension
bilstein shocks
lowered 1 1/2"
PBR full brake setup
Subframe connectors
wonder bar
All new urethane bushings throughout
18" BOSS Motorsport 338 rims

Custom Features:

Suicide hood hinges - not store bought or off another type of car - they were made by me
Hood vents - off a 1976 Firebird and welded to a stock hood
Rear spoiler - this was aftermarket but I think it fits the car
Fully Dynamatted interior
Battery relocated to the rear spare tire spot

Here are some pictures for those of you who haven't read my threads

The car after I got it back from media blasting




Putting the car back together

 

What she looks like now:







Thanks guys and girls for taking a look and best of luck to everyone who was nominated this month.

 

I see you have the SLP CAI.

are those TPI runners stock or AS&Ms er TPiSs?

 

Admirable Job on the hood hinges Topspeed. Also, wondering what series tires those are, 30?

 

Those are two things I forgot to mention... Thanks Dave

Yes she has a SLP CAI and TPIS runners

 

The tires are both 18 x 8. I tried the staggered look with the 18 x 9.50 in the rear and the tires stuck outside the fender well and it wasn't the look I wanted. The tire sizes are:

Front: 245/40zr18
Rear: 255/45zr18

 

i have that intake + AS&Ms on my Formula.

 

Very Nice.

 

As Linson predicted in the first post... it's a close race. Right now there is a three way tie for second. We need more votes guys. Bump this thread to the top

 

Not fair! I like all these cars and followed all their builds!

 

my opinion is that the voting runs a little too long with just a few votes trickling in for the last week or so of voting. i think that in the future what i might do is run it as a 4-week plan as follows:

• a week for the previous month's winner to bask in the glory
• two weeks of nominations
• a week of voting

 

Tight race indeed! Awesome work on these cars guys!!

 

i have a love/hate relationship with R15 wheels. in this instance it appears that you've properly lowered the car and other factors seem to be in place (such as tire choice) and it looks great. in other instances, i find that the R15s look like skateboard wheels on a car from most angles, and it just seems like there would almost HAVE to be terrible rubbing issues in the front.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that you should sell me your old R15 wheels so i can try 'em out on my Formula.

 

^^ agreed! The R15's looked phenomenal on Justin's car

-Paul

 

Sorry fellas, the wife made me PROMISE I wouldn't sell them. Happy wife, happy life.

 

okay. but did you have any issues with rubbing in the front? what lowering springs did you use, and what tires did you run (front and rear). and were any spacers required for the R15s? still considering a set for my 89 Formula. then i'd maybe do 4-lug '93 Cobra replicas for my '89 LX.

also, my wife says that exact same phrase - "Happy wife, happy life."

 

I ran 275 40 17 on all 4 corners and the front rubbed. I switched to 245 in the frontband they were fine.

Our wives must know something....

 

275/40 in the rear & 245/ ?40? in the front and no rubbing? any "stretched tire look" with the 245s? and were there any spacers required with the R15s? sorry to be a bother, but i really am considering getting a set Ronals before i buy new tires for the stock wheels.

just sick of being limited to 245/50/16 and with ever diminishing and worsening choices as far as tread pattern.

 

I forget what the front ratio was, sorry. I've since sold the tires.

The fronts SHOULD come with a slip on spacer that you'll need. They also come with green hubcentric rings to locate the wheel.

I can't speak for the knockoffs being made now. My experience is with genuine Ronals.

 

This has been a fun one to watch, such a tight race!!


-Paul

 

With 275/40-17 on the rear, the corresponding tire size for the front is 245/45-17.

This is a good race. Justin had a big lead heading into the stretch, but quad is making a late run for the lead. Well, it is triple crown season after all.

 

Justin,

I was hoping to see a pic or 2 of how the interior turned out ,...... Got any pics to share ??


Edit: My Berlinetta is an 84,.... not "exactly" a race car, but thanx for that !

 

I will try to get some pics of the interior. Had a couple pieces recovered last week and need to install them first!

 

and they are all f-birds

 

Topspeed, what color blue did you use on your car? I am looking for a blue for mine and I LOVE yours? What is the color/code? Just getting ideas.

 

It is called marathon blue and it is on the 2013 hyundai veloster

 

My votes in... Seems like the Firebird guys are stepping up their game. It was a mostly f-bird top 5 at the TX Round-Up this year too.

That's OK... Us Camaro guys are just in "under construction" status at the moment.

Nice rides guys.

 

Hey Topspeed, can I see some more pics of the underside of your hood? I'm curious what bracing you had to do to make it sturdy enough.

 

The earlier question to Justin about his interior reminded me that I still hadn't posted any pictures of my interior.

Here are a few, although the lighting isn't very good LOL!




Nothing too amazing, just tried to keep it clean and simple.

3 gauge A-pillar pod with AEM wideband air/fuel gauge, digital coolant temperature gauge, and boost gauge.

97+ style 4th gen center console, along with tan leather seats from a 1997 Trans Am. Inflatable lumbar support and side bolsters are fully functional on both front seats.

Original door panels and carpet were still in great shape so I kept them unmodified.

I replaced the original, crazed, Lexan t-tops with glass tops for better appearance and quieter operation, the Lexan ones squeaked like crazy!

All new t-top and door weatherstripping - was even able to track down NOS OE door weatherstripping and exterior window sweeps for better door and window operation.

The Hurst Billet Plus shifter on the T-56 is topped off with a short stick and Hurst Sidewinder shift **** with the button wired to control the line lock.

I think that about covers it, sorry for being late with the interior stuff!

-Paul

 

Here is another angle of the hinges. As you can see I welded a plate to the support bracing on the hood. What I don't have is a picture of how it was supported on the car. I welded a "T" shaped bracket to the bumper and was able to mount to that.

 

my appologies. poll closed late last night, and i have stuff going on at work right now. WINNER thread will be up today.