Congrats on the new fam, my first was born 3/31/16 like a week ago lol. Good luck!

I'd stay away from the VHT caliper paint, I used clear VHT 900* on brand new SSBC dual piston calipers on mine and within a year it was yellow and then flaking.

Calipers won't get over 500* so engine enamel paints work fine. I actually have used POR15 bc the finish comes out so smooth and it has a 400*ish temp rating, you can also use POR engine enamel.

But with my 13" Baer black label brakes I kept them as is and used sharkhide on it which should seal it for like 5-7years and it looks like nothing is on them. 3-4years later and they look great.

 

Congrats on your first! We are due April 29.

Thanks for the advice on the paint. I've used VHT wheel paint and epoxy coating and it came out great. Did you use the VHT clear on top of paint?

I'm using some used calipers off the donor car. If I was going new I would just powder coat it.

 

Thanks, it's going to be trip for u!

Yes, clear over paint. Since your going used your going to have to use even better prep before paint. Brake fluid is very corrosive which is why u need a tough finish, plus they get hit with water when u wash.

 

Congrats on the car for the great build and to all of you with new arrivals!

Life changing experience for sure but make sure you enjoy it because it goes so damn fast!

 

The hope is to get the suspension and chassis done prior to his arrival. We will see what happens. I feel like I am on borrowed time right now.

 

Over the weekend I was able to get the springs installed. I was able to have a buddy come forward. Once he operated the jack I was able to wrestle the springs in place. It went real smooth once I had a second set of hands.
I was also able to install the modified spindle on the lower control arm, the LS1 caliper spindle bracket, and the Koni Yellows as well.





I am still waiting on some parts to continue moving forward, but next steps will be to install the machined hubs and rotors.

 

Today’s efforts yielded the wheel hub bearings, hubs, and rotors to be installed. I didn't realize how big the LS1 rotors looked until on the car.





Waiting on some hardware and then I can test fit the calipers with my wheels.

 

I love your car. Hardtop 91-92' Formulas are my favorite. Good work so far. Will be keeping up with your progress.

Oh, and if you ever decide to sell...let me be the first to know. Thanks.

 

Thanks. It's been fun so far. Looking forward to seeing how the new suspension feels compared to what was on there.

It would take a lot to go wrong for me to sell it, but if it had to be sold, it would be nice if it went to a good home.

 

Today was a good day. My steering rebuild parts came today. Now I guess I need to get some garage time in.





I was also able to paint my caliper brackets. I think they turned out really well.





Yesterday I ordered the remaining hardware to finish the brake system from Fastenal. It is coming together.

 

My grade 10.9 M12-1.75 x 30 bolts came in and I was able to install the caliper brackets and greased slide pins.





Next will be to tackle the steering parts before my new brake lines come in.

 

Looks good! My Baer 13" rotors looked huge too and I think they are bigger than the LS 4th gen rotors. They fill a 17" completely and then with 20s they looked stupid small, now with 18s they look just right

What brake fluid are you going to run? If I ever did the whole brake system at once I would use silicone fluid as it never absorbs water or has to be changed. The issue is it has to be pure and can't be mixed with any residual in the system. And I've always done my brakes in peices so I couldn't.

 

You are correct. LS1 rotors are 12" rotors. They are as big as I can fit in a 16" wheel. I will be running a high temp DOT 3 fluid. I ordered it and it should be there today. I looked at DOT 5 and now wasn't the time to switch. I ready they need to be bleed more frequently as they do not absorb water. This can cause a whole set of issues on its own.

 

My brake fluid came in. AMS OIL Series 500 High-Performance DOT 3 Brake Fluid. It is rated at 520 F Dry and 304 F Wet. I figured I would give it a shot because even though the AMS OIL's DOT 4 had a 580 F Dry and 379 F Wet rating, it was twice the cost.



I will be doing a complete flush after I get everything all squared away with the brakes.

 

I was able to make some good progress the last couple days.

Polygraphite swaybar bushings and a TDS wonder bar have been installed.



I also installed outer tie rods, inner tie rods, tie rod connecting sleeves, center link, and idler arm. All have been adjusted and greased. New poly graphite end links have been done as well. Only thing not replaced was the steering box.





To round it out I did an oil change as well.

 

Lookin good! I also run the TDS wonderbar... even though I put mine on like 7 years ago! To me its the best/beefiest design out there. Largest mounting plates that I've seen still.

I just realized that your wheel studs are rather long looking? Any reason? I had longer ARP studs and hated them. I no run stock length as I hated open lug nuts and if I need spacers I just run bolt on versions.

EDIT: actually got my 5.3 LS with supercharger running this week! Now the fun part of tuning from scratch. Can't believe how quiet the 4" exhaust is.

 

Just wondering, has this motor ever been swapped out? That is the late 92ish type oil pan and I was just wondering.

 

Engine is from a different 91, but I replaced the oil pan and gasket a couple years ago due to a leak.

 

I really liked the TDS design. It uses 3 bolts instead of two on each side. It also fits really well with the big sway bar. I definitely would recommend it.

Yea, I have extended ARP wheel studs. With adding the LS1 rotor over hub and needing a 1/8 inch spacer for the caliper to clear my cross lace wheels the stock studs more than likely would have been too short. I think I may actually be able to run my closed lugs still. I will find out more once I clearance on my spindle for the caliper. I didn't take enough off first time around.

Congrats on the 5.3 Should be a fun build!

 

The arrival of our little one has slowed down the progress I would have liked to have made. He came on May 1 and weighed 7 pounds 7 oz. This little guy is fantastic. As much as I would like to spend time working on the car, I love hanging out with him.

My DOT braided stainless brake lines came and they look nice. Hopefully I can get them installed soon.



I was also able to get my LS1 brakes to clear my 16 inch crosslace wheels. Zero rubbing issues. Once I get the calipers painted, I can final assemble everything.

 

Congrats! It's amazing isn't it lol. I'm hanging with my little guy right now. Time sure is in short supply tho.

 

Enjoy the kids while you can - it goes way too fast!

 

Congrats on the new addition! And yes, it goes very fast, my lil guy will be 3 this yr.

 

Crap, mine is 21 & my little girl is 19!

 

Thanks guys, it has been a fun and tiring last 6 days, but it is completely worth it. He is a character.

 

I was able to get my calipers painted and cleared. I am happy with them. Once they are completely dry, they can go on. My goal is by the end of the weekend to get everything assembled.

 

Well I was able to get the LS1 brake upgrade completed. New rotors, pads, and calipers all installed along with DOT approved stainless braided brake lines. I hope it brakes as good as it looks.





I also flushed the entire brake system and replaced it with AMSOIL Series 500 High Performance Brake Fluid.

I can’t wait to drive it. Now for an alignment. I will start with stock specs and then go from there. Thoughts?

 

Thats going to be a sweet Formula. I been seperated from my 88 formula for 11 years. But I gave it to my Dad, who kept it garage stored for me. I will be finaly going home to get my car and start doing much the same as you this fall. I scored some 99 trans am seats a few years back for it, and last week I got a low millage ls1 with some nice mods done to it. Cant wait to start tearing that car apart. Im basically going to be replacing everything like yourself.

 

Thanks! It's been a fun build so far. The real fun will be when the LS goes in.

When will your swap happen?

 

Awesome build. Your build just about mimics mine. Keep the car looking simple and clean yet handle great on the road. I look forward to seeing more progress.

And congrats on the little one. My first build (2001) was slowed done quite a bit when my first of three kids showed up. Take your time on the car. It isnt going anywhere. Kids on the other hand grow faster than weeds and sometimes you miss the little things.

 

Thanks. The goal is to have a clean, simple, thought out build. Keep it looking stock out the outside, but have a surprise/power under the hood.

Progress has slowed down a bit because I want to spend time with him. If I can get a couple hours a week, I will be happy. Family, Grad school, and car are the order of importance right now. You are right the car won't go anywhere and they grow up really fast.

 

I was able to get an alignment done, but it needs to go back to get touched up. They didn’t center the steering box before they started, plus the car could use a little more caster and some toe in. Hopefully within the next week I can go back and get it corrected. The car is headed on a 940 mile road trip next week over memorial day weekend.

Finished installing the new speakers over the weekend. Infiniti Kapa in the front and some Infinitys in the rear sail panels. All the speakers dropped in really nicely with the exception of the front driver side. I knew that was going to be a pain before I started, but it fit with some dremel work. I used Metra 72-1002 speaker adapters to be able to retain the front factor speaker connections. Be advised at least on the 1991 audio system the front + and – don’t follow the + and – markings on the adapters. I just switched which wire was + and – on the adapter and I was good to go. The previous owner had already cut off the rear harness so I just hard wired them.

I am really happy with how it turned out. The audio in the bird is so much better. This will keep me happy until I change out my interior and look to add a small 8” sub. Who knows, I may enjoy this and won’t need any more base.

 

You have me concerned now about the speaker connections. I just put Polks in the car that I got from Crutchfield. They sent me 4 speaker adapter harnesses. I also used the 72-1002 adapters. I just plugged them them and then made the connections to the speakers. One terminal was larger than than the other so it was impossible to screw it up but are you saying the adapters are wrong? I do not know what model adapters they sent me,

 

I used Crutchfield to get the part numbers for me and then ordered from Amazon. From what I rememeber the rear adapters were different from the front ones.

I was getting conflicting diagrams (passenger side only) when I was looking for polarity of the OE speaker wires for my car. So I tested the oe speakers to find which wire was + and -. When I added the 72-1002 harness (I assumed they were straight through connectors) the cars + wire was now the - side of the adapter. I have crossovers with a screw style fitting so I cut the different sized pink connectors off and wired them to the corresponding +or -. My 72-1002 package said it was for a Jeep/Chrysler even though the plug was identical to the end in the OE speaker.

Technically the speaker will work either way, not ideal, but the cone will just suck in instead of pushing out when playing music.

 

Hopefully starting in October.

 

It has been a while since I last posted. Over memorial day weekend I was able to take the car from Minnesota to the Thirdgen Expo in Lake Zurich, IL and Thirdgen Fest in Crete, IL as well as visit my family in Wisconsin. It was fun to put some faces to names (TTOP3530). The trip was just around 1000 miles round trip and the car did great. I wasn’t expecting any issues, but things happen especially with how much I replaced over the last couple months. The car was packed to the limit with my wife, our then 4 week old son, and all the luggage. The ride quality is night and day different after all the suspension and steering parts that were replaced. Almost 27 mpg highway while using the AC the entire time. My dad has always disliked the ride quality and after making the trip to Illinois he thought it rode extremely well. Now I just need to get some better seats in it.
Here are some pictures of my car at the two events.

 

I'm glad to hear about the Kappa's fitting (even with minor work.) I have been looking at those as well but was worried they would be too tall to clear dash pad grills.

 

Was nice to meet you as well! Car is looking good!!

 

I know mine cleared the bird dash pad without issue. If you do not have AC, they would fit much easier. I cut out the part of the AC duct that was in the way and closed it back up. Speaker fits, and the HVAC works as it should.

 

Thanks, I'm looking forward to making more progress on the car throughout the summer.

 

I know it has been a few months since I have posted an update. I am happy to present the new heart of my Firebird and grudge commuter. The long block is almost done, just need to finish little things as time and money allows. Although slow, things are moving forward and that is what counts.

 

It has been a while, but the project is slowly moving forward again. I was able to pull my trans a couple weeks ago as I found a buyer for it. It wasn’t too bad, but I tried to pull it will the bell housing attached and there just wasn’t enough room. Otherwise it came out pretty easily.



For Christmas, my wife and her sister bought me all the fuel fittings I needed as well as a set of spark plugs for the new engine.

 

Update: I cleaned up and painted my valve covers while saving up more money to move forward. They were quite dirty and full of caked on oil.



I soaked them in degreaser and scrubbed them up. I think they cleaned up nice.



The aluminum was rough enough in a couple spots I knew it would look bad if I just painted them. I used 400 grit sand paper and wet sanded the covers to knock the high spots off.





Once they were all cleaned up and masked off, I started painting them. I used VHT high temp primer, paint, and clear on these. A few light coats of each went on well. I forgot to take pictures of the primer coats, but here are how they ended up.









Finished product with new seals and bolts



I was also able to get my accessories added. She is starting to look like an engine.

 

Looks good!

 

Clean! I love it!

 

looking good!

 

The interior of my 6.0 looked even worse with oil residue. I had mine put through a shop's cleaner, and they still required elbow grease to get cleaned up. I didn't take "before" pictures, but they basically looked the same as the valley in this pic.



The exterior of all of the covers were oxidized as the engine came from Florida. I used fine steel wool on them, then painted them with aluminum paint. Looked good enough that I used the same paint on the cast iron block for a poor-man's aluminum block!

 

I like your chronicling of your LS1 brake install as well. I have a full set of LS1 brakes that I need to do something with. The Moser 12-bolt I bought used already had a set of LT1 disks, so I'm sorta half-way there. Need to get off the dime and get the fronts done - will probably do the rears at the same time and give the LT1s to my son for his Vega project. I have the 4th gen master, booster and prop valve as well; I may use them, but being an '82, my car has SAE lines, not metric - a little extra effort will be required to use them.

 

Sorry for the delay, I was out of the country. WOW!! That looks really good painted up. Should look great in the car. Isn't amazing how much crud ends up on the inside of these.

 

Thanks. They make a world of difference in stopping ability and feel. I am really glad I did it. I am not sure what the goal for your car is, but keep in mind the LS1 rears are slightly bigger and can cause fitment issues on 15 inch wheels were the LT1 won't. You will love how the LS1 fronts compare to stockers.