I have a 87 Formula 350 Firebird, I also have the complete undercarriage and LS3 from a 2010 SS Camaro. I was going to just upgrade the suspension, Brakes and rear end and put the LS3 in my Redbird. After putting a pencil to it and considering that i have everything metal fab wise to do the job i decided i am installing the whole shabang in Redbird! Any advise is welcome. The only thing im worried about is ride height. This will be a street car but it wil



l be running the road course at Hallet motor speedway and maybe a few others

 

My Grandson is trying to get me to do videos on youtube on the build , Not sure if i have the personality lol

 

Im a lifelong F body guy. Ive had every Gen except the one i will have at some point a first gen! My daily driver is fun too!

 

It will be interesting to see how a 3rd gen takes to IRS; you will certainly want to stiffen up the original frame with SFCs or potentially a custom ladder type frame. Independent suspension at all four corners has different forces on the body and frame than a live axle.

The front K member may prove difficult as well, not sure dimensionally how similar they are considering that the 5th Gen Camaros are so much wider. Are you going to wire in all the gadgety as well? Traction control, ABS, and such? I would think that is a bridge too far unless you like messing with the programming.

 

This will be awesome once complete please keep us updated

 

If I was contemplating this, first thing Id check is if the tops of the strut towers will clear the hood.

 

So I'm getting pretty far along with the front end. This has been an adventure for sure. So one thing i noticed right off is the way GM made these cars subframes strong enough was to use layers of 14 to 16 gauge sheet metal. I am going to use the same method. As you see in the pics the front end is in the perfect location for the tires. Thats all GM as the middle bolt location on the 5th Gen and the rear bolt location on the 3rd gen crossmember were only 1/4 inch off and with the cage style floating nuts it fit perfectly.I had measured center of the tire location and you can see how perfectly it fell. So i had to cut the spring pirch outer shell and a big part of the frame forward of the center frame mount. I drilled my front frame alighnment pins and front frame holes for the front of the frame in a piece of 1/8 inch 3 inch wide bar stock.. I used the floating cage nuts off the front of the cut out 3rd gen and welded them to the 1/8 in bar stock. this is welded to the existing frame and then covered with 3 inch 14 gauge overlapped angle . The 5th gen frame is bolted up solid and it is strong but not strong enough for me. I put it together to make sure everything lined up and my Caster was correct. everything fits perfect. next ill be taking iot apart. the existing frame im welding a honeycomb design of 14 gauge inside then welding the 14 gauge 3" angle cover. and then lap the entire thing with sheet metal in layers. To the strut towers! I just got back from the junk yard and cut out the strut towers out of a 5th gen. im cutting holes where the struts will go and ill be welding these in. Im over building the strength and building a cross bar between towers. The LS3 thats going in it im building in my spare time and a fully manual monster strength 700r4 is on my bench torn down and ready to build after i get done with the LS3 . I really should video stuff but i have a face for radio and my grandson bugged out on my!

 

 

 

 

Up next up More Fun!

 

 

I am a little worried about the strut towers too. I have no doubt i can get them in the right location but the height kind of worries me. May wind up with QA1 stuff.

 

Thanks for the interest . I will continue to post updates. may be a week or two between them tho.

 

So ive considered all this. stupidly lost sleep over it lol . Im going to custon build frame connectors that have mounting points on the body. also i'm tastefully adding a 6 point roll cage that will be connected to the front and rear. I take all suggestions and apprecate it whether i use it or not it will stimulate thought and i appreciate it. Traction control would be smart but i aint always smart lol and have the original LS3 computor and wiring. A buddy is great with LS swaps so hes helping. Im building everthing on the car except wiring.

 

If everything goes right i will have a Youtube channel on this build. sorry so much time between post

 

Update: Sorry I haven’t updated in a while for anyone interested. So as another poster brought up the strut situation putting 5th gen in a 3rd gen ain’t going to work! So it’s been a while because I’ve been thinking what I can do while working on other projects. Here’s the verdict! I’m renaming my Bird “Frankenbird”!
the whole goal with this car is to run a road course named Hallet motor speedway! The 5th generation front just won’t work but the rear section will be easy to figure out. I started looking the other direction and realized a second generation front subframe would work perfectly! I’m currently looking for a donor 2nd gen! Frankenbird will get a full frame now made from that Sub and a 12 point cage!
on another front I finished the LS3 however it’s such a valuable engine I don’t want to beat it to death on a track! I’m building a 5.3 with twin turbochargers! Hopefully frankenbird will fly soon!

 

I don't know that I would do a second generation front end.

To be honest with you, fabricating a bolt on front subframe to accept C4 suspension is very very simple out of rec tube and some dom tubing. Since the front suspension on those cars is almost free at this point, that's the direction I'd probably go in.

 

Im going to 2nd this. Going to a 2nd gen front end is a major step in the wrong direction. The c4 or even a 4th gen front would be a better place to start.

Or if thr 5th gen one is already kinda working, swap the knuckles out for something that fits better and keep going.