That's a solid truth right there.

 

Exhaust sound. With the baffles I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Hope mine sounds like that! All I have to do is install the engine in the car!

 

So the spiral auger baffles made a difference. That's good to know because I plan to fabricate my own inside of a catalytic converter case.

 

Nothing but to do it to it!
Yeah big time. Cut down nearly all the drone. It's still plenty loud but isn't obnoxious anymore. My curiosity is how much restriction they create, since the carb needed the idle reset after I put them in. It's worth the probable 10-20HP lost.

 

The spiral baffle should be no restriction at all. The theory is that you are splitting the exhaust pulse in two: one path travels straight through the center tube, and the other takes the longer path around the spirals. When the two pulses come back together, they are supposed to cancel out some of the noise just like those mufflers that use baffles only, or sound cancellation headphones. You are using equal and opposite sound to eliminate sound.

 

As much as I'd love to believe that, I did have to tweak the idle quite a bit after the install, which leads me to believe it caused some restriction. Like I said above, absolutely worth it.
Thanks for the science bit though. Had no idea how they worked before

 

Coming in with an "learn from what I did wrong" post
First off: wiring.

This Positive -> Wiring Block -> Relay -> Device setup works just fine. Pick a wiring block with a warranty and one that specifies exactly what amperage it can handle. Picture above is putting out 75 amps for about 20 minutes. Total junk. Amazon has plenty with warranties, you just need to pay a little more.

I tapped my temp gauge and radiator fan switch into the upper radiator hose. This works just fine with a couple caveats:
1) Buy a Derale Temp Switch. I went through two American Volt switches. Total junk.
2) Upper radiator hose temp reads 20-30 degrees higher than the head coolant temp. Verified with the MSD 6014 and the a temp gun. Your gauge is going to read pretty high at times, do the math in your head and it's not a big deal.

Otherwise, going through carb tuning at the moment. Every tweak is making the car run just a bit better. Lots of fun when you can swap out jets in 15 or so minutes.

Next on my list - Tint and Alignment

 

It's been a little bit so here's an update!


Updated the air cleaner. Taller filter, and no more top filter bit. Backfire through the carb on a bad tune burnt a hole in the old one. Solid metal shouldn't burn right?


Put a 4th gen 5 speed center console in. Feels good to have cup holders and a lid that isn't in a dozen pieces. I do need a sticker to cover up the 5 speed decal....
My original custom transmission lines burnt holes in them. They were resting against the headers and I didn't bother to check. Luckily they went out only a couple blocks from home so I was able to limp it just fine. Street still has the trail of fluid.....
Put new lines in with some heat shielding:

Been tweaking the carb and ignition a decent amount. Re-gapped the spark plugs, which helped smooth things out a bit. Now it's idling 14-16AFR, Cruising 13-15.5, Goes pig rich at full throttle 10-11AFR. I've been stepping the secondary jets down, probably need to drop them a few more sizes but full throttle tuning makes me nervous. Right now she runs real good, there's some hitching at WOT around 5k, but I'll get that hammered out eventually. Biggest hold-back has been the rear end gearing, but even with the 2.73s I get some tire spin when I hammer on it. Currently weighing my rear end options.
Went around and cleaned all the carpet with one of those Turtle Wax cans. Pretty good results for $7 and some elbow grease:


Speedo has been tweaked. Alignment is done. Shop couldn't get the camber where I want it with how the front sits higher than the rear. Will get it re-aligned when I put weight jacks in, but that's a project that'll wait for the new rear.
Time to start saving cash!!

 

Oh boy I could write a novel for this forum.
Been several months. I've been busy.
Car caught on fire in October 2021

Learned 3 very important lessons that day.
1) Always keep a fire extinguisher in your project car
2) Bare headers like to melt things. Keep wires away from them
3) Never trust braided nylon AN hose for Trans fluid.

Battery positive melted to the header, shorted out, blew the trans line in half and made a small fire going down the highway. Far from ideal. Set the car up on stands at home for the majority of winter and made some plans.
I guess now it's truly a "FireBird" amirite?

 

Didn't like how leaky the TH400 was, and had a spare, so decided to tackle a rebuild over the winter. Here's a couple pics



Rebuilding my first transmission was scary, but I think I got it right. Repaired the wiring damage from the fire, ran new Stainless Trans lines, wrapped the headers, and got the car on the road in early May

 

New trans shifts much firmer and lets me rev it out to 7k no issue. Had fun driving a month or so, and finally decided to bite the bullet and throw some real cash down.

 

Ordered up a QP 9". 3.70 Gears. Helical Posi. 35 Spline. Disc Brakes with parking brake cables. Wallet hurt to order that one but got it the first week of July this year.

 

If anyone wants to know the weight difference between a 9" and the 10 bolt, here ya go.
It's not 100% apples to apples, as the 9" was dry, but it's a decent comparison


I figure 66lbs is an easy price to pay for the increased strength and better ratio.

 

Bought a new welder this year (another Flux MIG) and took at stab at patching in a rusty area. Results are here


Honestly, Flux MIG is not made for sheet metal work. The patch works (and I was able to cover the ugliness up a decent amount) but I sure wouldn't try it on outer body panels.
Went ahead and POR 15'd the rest of the rusty spots on the wheel well and shot good old rustoleum black over it.

 

Skipped taking pictures, and the 9" is in! Installed UMI weight Jacks as well. FYI if you're running this combo you will have to create the hole for the adjuster on the driver side. Takes a hole saw, a die grinder, and some patience.

 

There's a lot I could document like crazy, but figured ya'll would ask for photos that are needed/wanted.

Got the car on all four again this weekend. Brakes still need adjusting, but I needed to pretend it was fully road ready to get the local cops off my back.

Don't mind the brake fluid, still trying to get that part right....

 

Whoa.
Glad you got it put out before it took out the whole car.

 

Same. Nothing quite like a car fire to make you question all your potentially sketchy decisions

 

Ya'll didn't think I stopped working on this car right?
Went all in on the patina look in March. Guy that runs Vice Grip Garage makes something called "Shine Juice" and added it to the car. Results are pretty neat and I don't have to worry about the rust spreading more



Drove the car a bit in March and April

 

Car felt weird so I got underneath it to adjust the weight jacks. Glad I did. One of the welds failed on the rear end.

Very happy I caught this in the garage instead of dropping a spring going down the road. Quick Performance took full responsibility and I decided to pull the rear and take it back to them so they could give me a new housing better setup for the weight jacks. All in all a crappy situation but I'm impressed how they handled it.
Hey I got an upgrade out of the deal too!

 

With the rear out, went ahead and upgraded the entire fuel system. Went with the aeromotive in-tank unit. Never really liked that holley black setup and how it ran close to the headers always sketched me out. All new AN PTFE lines passing through the frame on the passenger side is more better. As long as I don't pinch them with a jack they should last forever.


yoga mat tank isolators






I've added more nutserts since this picture
Pictures aren't "final" setup but they give a good idea of how everything was ran.
Yes I cut a trap door

 

If you're wondering why I went through all this trouble, here ya go:


Fits like it's meant to go there

I've since driven the car, haven't hit the juice yet. Right now the car is in a fabricator's shop getting the exhaust replaced. Never really liked the dual system, it constantly dragged on the ground. I obviously need more pictures of the nitrous and fuel system setup