Ben’s 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 Rod & Restoration

Ok, first I have to say that I did the suspension right.  The second thing is that I paid the majority of the upcoming bill for a transmission flush and so on.  Third, I have to add $357 to the total because I was befuddled and had to take it in.

(TC – $8723)

All in all, I only made 1 mistake, and that was getting the brake adjuster screws backwards.  Well, that’s not true, because a brake spring came loose when I hit the brakes, so I must have botched that.  I’m starting to get a little sore about 350 bucks for labor and 2 washers, but hell…  at least it was drivable for about a mile.  It’s still flooding like Noah’s neighborhood, so I have to decide between tinkering with the carb (cheap), replacing the carb (not so cheap), and installing the fuel injection system I planed on (CHING!).  I also came to the realization that I have no idea what I’m doing.  I’ll figure it out after my European holiday.

So I got the parts back from the sandblaster and was able to put 2 coats o’paint on them before my sister’s wedding, and 2 coats after. I had to get new bushings for the control arms at $16. With any luck, I’ll finish the fence and then I can play with the car some more. Whoopie!

Had to buy another brake cylinder since the genius bought 2 of the same side. ($14) I also had to buy new stainless bolts ad mounting screws which set me back. ($16)

I also think I mounted the rubber grease sleeve wrong on the upper control arm, so I’m going to have to disassemble the whole thing now.  Great.  Not a happy day, today.

(T.C. $8366)

I got to a point where I was no longer disassembling the front end and got to start reassembly. Oh yeah. First, I need to list the parts and stuff I bought to keep track of cost.

Ordered: Specialty lower control arm bolts & Tranny fluid gasket & filter – $46

Bought: New bolting hardware for ball joints, grease nipples, rubberized undercoating for wheel wells, black rustoleum paint, cotter pins, grease, coil boosters, linkage bolts kit – $74

(T.C. $8275)

So I taped off the car and gave it a thick coat of rubber undercoating. Then I got the itch and started to work on the ball joints, getting them nicely installed and pretty. It really brings up the look of the underside with it all being nice and black and clean now, instead of sorta blackish-blue. I don’t want to get into anything else before I finish one system, so I tried to find anything else that I could do in the meantime. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. So now I’m playing the waiting game.

In the bad news department, I gave a little play with the steering wheel, and I think the tightness I was feeling is somewhere in there, so I’ve got a little bit more work ahead. However, a friend of mine is swinging out tomorrow and he might be able to help me solve the mystery of the crappy ass steering.

Last night I got all the parts off the front end assembly (except for the upper ball joints, which I’ve got to chisel off, apparently). I dropped everything off to the sandblaster this morning, and they’ll be ready in a week. I was hoping I could pick them up on Saturday morning, but no such luck. In the meantime I’ve got a number of things I can do. I ordered a new gasket and filter for the transmission fluid pan, and with any luck that’ll stop all the leaks. I checked the pan and there’s only 1 spot that there might be an issue with, and if so, I’ll take it and weld on a thick bottom plate, but I think it’s okay. I think I might see what I can do about drilling out the old ball joint rivets tonight, and start to reassemble them so that’ll be done when I’m ready to put on the new front end. I’m also thinking about putting the new bumper on there, but that might be something I do when I’ve got a new valance to work with. On the other hand, I might keep my current valance, but cut it up to install a cool ass secondary light set of fog lamps and big honkin’ turn signals across the bottom of the bumper – very rally/mad max. I also want to investigate the grill possibilities. Maybe pull out the original one and put in something a bit more interesting. Perforated sheet metal comes to mind…