[JLMounce]

I rarely post on this board, I mostly just lurke and take in all the great poncho knowledge. Anyway I'm getting closer with my 1969 Firebird and figured I'd post up a thread that I can keep updated.

The story behind the car is a long one, but lets just say it's been arduous as many builds can be. It was supposed to be my high school hot rod. Now that I'm in my early 30's I can finally see that light at the end of the tunnel!

Under the Hood:
XJ Code 455 I'm assuming .030 over
#62's with a roller valvetrain
Edelbrock Performer on top of an old P4B manifold
Full length headers

Outside of that, I don't know much about the engine. The original owner had it built. Theoretically it should run, at least not on pump gas, but it does. Holds steady between 180-190 regardless of how hot it is outside. The altitude here (4500 ft) is probably helping that.

After taking a bore scope to the engine I did get a part number on the pistons making them a TRW style Speed Pro forging. I would assume it has a pretty typical forged rotating assembly from the late 90's early 2000's era of building these engines.

Drivetrain:
TH400 with a B&M holeshot 2400 converter
Custom aluminum driveshaft
Moser 12 bolt with late model ford ends, Eaton TrueTrac, 3.73 ring and pinion

Suspension/Brakes:
Hotchkis 3" drop leafs rear
Hotchkis 2" drop springs front (waiting to be installed)
4 wheel discs, 11" vented rotors

So that's most of the nuts and bolts. There's still quite a bit to do mechanically on it still, including finishing up the suspension, engine tuning, wiring etc. I'm on hold with the suspension until I can get new wheels and tires for the car. As it's sitting right now, the disc brake changes have increased track width to a point that I already scrub the sidewall in the rear fairly badly and the front would be the same after the lowering springs are installed.

Here's a couple videos with crappy audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJG2...zgdSfwSjBeZqLg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctAr...zgdSfwSjBeZqLg

Next weekend I'm hoping to tackle the engine and forward light harness, then it's on to glass.

[firebirdmi]

Looks good. I experienced a similar build time on my bird. It'll be worth it for sure.

[69FIREBIRD76MM]

nice, If i were you I change rear gears t0 3.23-3.42 if you going to drive alot freeway driving, post pictures...good luck

[tom s]

X2,my 3.90 rear 69 is in the shop today having 3.36s put in it.Tom

[JLMounce]

the 3.73s were sourced based on a future swap to a T56. They're a bit much for a 455 TH400 combo, but that will be short lived. This is only a toy, so I'm not worrying about mileage etc.

[JLMounce]

Just wanted to update this a bit. I've been slacking.

The wife and I finished our new house in early July so I've been on money lock-down rebuilding savings etc. I've gotten a bit done however.

I went ahead and finished up the suspension, regardless of wheels/tires and to my surprise I don't have any clearance issues up front as I originally thought I would.

I added .5" tall ball joints to help with negative camber gain on the car.



You can see here how much higher the front was sitting with the stock springs compared to the hotchkis leafs I had installed out back. She sits much nicer now.

Before:


After:


One thing the suspension overhaul did exacerbate is the dread f-body lean. Mine leans about half to three quarters of an inch to the passenger side. I've checked the spring clock on both sides and the pigtail is just before the inspection hole in the upper perch. One of my "to do" items is new subframe bushings and I believe that may be the cause.

I've also recently added a disc/disc prop valve which fixed up the braking.

The holidays is bonus time, so I should be able to source new wheels/tires and glass at that time. Aside from things like alignment, tuning etc, that will get the car on the road and I can have some fun with it. Still lots to do to get it to where I want, but it's getting closer.



I plan on running the car in HPDE's with NASA this upcoming season. That will allow me to get a pretty relative baseline with a predominantly stock suspension. I can watch improvements as I upgrade parts, grip etc.

[Bluesugar]

Very Very nice,..the camber/caster alignment discussion will no doubt follow,...well, I have a few ?'s anyway!!

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by Bluesugar

Very Very nice,..the camber/caster alignment discussion will no doubt follow,...well, I have a few ?'s anyway!!

They always do! The car obviously still retains it's factory upper and lower control arms. I have not performed the guldstrand mod as I intend on going to a tall spindle and coil-overs in the future.

With the factory arms I believe about the most you can expect to get from caster is going to be 5 degrees on a good day, and probably not out of both sides. I'll be using David Pozzi's recommendations for alignment on the car. Adding as much caster as possible should help bumpsteer some, as the tall ball join helps camber gain...some.

I'd like to take the car as far as I can on the stock subframe for now. Once money permits I'd like to do the full Ridetech system. Strong arms, coil-overs, tall spindles and tru-turn. At least right now, that's kind of the "it" package for the stock subframe equipped cars.

You get much greater caster potential with the new control arms, a vastly improved camber curve and they claim only 50 thousands of bump steer through about 6" of travel. That stuff comes later though.

In truth I've owned the car so long that I just want to go drive it and have some fun. I'm sure even with a stock"ish" suspension, the car will be capable enough for some fun on track days.

[rtanner]

jason fine job, i like what your doing, one tip, the first time you go to the road coarse, if your staying w stock seats, get a aftermarket 3 inch lap belt you can sinch down tight, also this is going to sound crazy, but first time your at the track you will understand, get a belt that you can wrap around the seat and your chest to cinch you in that seat, you cant imagine how hard it is to stay in a stock 69 seat,

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by rtanner

jason fine job, i like what your doing, one tip, the first time you go to the road coarse, if your staying w stock seats, get a aftermarket 3 inch lap belt you can sinch down tight, also this is going to sound crazy, but first time your at the track you will understand, get a belt that you can wrap around the seat and your chest to cinch you in that seat, you cant imagine how hard it is to stay in a stock 69 seat,

I hear that! In my modern cars out on track it's easy to lock the shoulder belt and move the seat up to cinch you in. Not so easy with the stock shoulder harness.

Right now I'm looking in to the Schroth anti-submarine 4-point harness system. Based on my conversations with the NASA officials out here, as long as Schroth certifies the 4 point for the car, it's a legal substitude in HDPE for a 3 point restraint system.

If they don't certify the 4 point for the car I have to run a minimum 5 point with a seat designed for an anti-submarine strap.

I'm still working on glass and getting the subframe bushings replaced, so that will come later.

[blue bayou]

First let me say, nice car!

Second, just a caution on the Tru-Turn. Do your research before buying anything. If you are going to be running a true Poncho in a '69 the Tru-Turn will not work for you out of the box. You will have to change the center-link and potentially have to modify your oil pan for clearance. BE SURE to talk to a knowledgeable tech at RideTech. I have had them tell me it will work and then call and leave me a voicemail telling it won't. Earlier this summer I spoke with a couple of their guys at an event and these are the mods I was told would have to be made. I already have the setup but haven't had a chance to install it all yet. Also, when you change out the center-link that may create an issue with your pitman arm...

Good luck and keep us posted!

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by blue bayou

First let me say, nice car!

Second, just a caution on the Tru-Turn. Do your research before buying anything. If you are going to be running a true Poncho in a '69 the Tru-Turn will not work for you out of the box. You will have to change the center-link and potentially have to modify your oil pan for clearance. BE SURE to talk to a knowledgeable tech at RideTech. I have had them tell me it will work and then call and leave me a voicemail telling it won't. Earlier this summer I spoke with a couple of their guys at an event and these are the mods I was told would have to be made. I already have the setup but haven't had a chance to install it all yet. Also, when you change out the center-link that may create an issue with your pitman arm...

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for the info. I've done some rough measurments based on my current center link location and the oil pan on the 455. Unless the TruTurn center link is going to be moving aft by about 4 inches I should be okay. I'll definitely call and get some measurements directly from them however. That's good advice.

I'm probably going to hold off on any major suspension system upgrades for a bit. I'd like to see how it performs near stock. I may look in to just doing uppers with the g-mod as well based on my on-track experiences.

[JLMounce]

Not much in the updates column for the car recently. To busy with work and holiday stuff these days. I did spend some time under the dash trying to figure out the rays nest of wiring the previous owner gifted me with.

Needed to move the car further over so I figured I'd get an exhaust clip.

455 Firebird Cold Start: http://youtu.be/gvwpPRF1to8

[JLMounce]

It's been a couple cold months mixed in with the holidays, so I haven't had much time to do anything with the car. I do have a quick update now however.

I ordered wheels and tires about a month ago and they showed up yesterday. I mounted a rear wheel to check fitment and all is good. In fact, I could have gone wider. These are a 17x9.5 with a 275/40/17 BFG Sport Comp 2. I've got a solid inch and a half inboard that I'm not using. I may check fitment of these up front and order a 10" wheel with a 285 tire for the rear.



Glass service is coming out on Friday and will be installing front and rear glass. I've got to replace a single stud on the driver front rotor and then I'll be able to take it for a quick shakedown to make sure I don't have any rub issues.

Getting ever closer!

[JLMounce]

One more quick shot. I had some time tonight so I mounted the rest of the wheels and checked for clearances. Everything checks out find and I should have smooth rub-free driving.

Glass company is out tomorrow so I hope to have another update after the weekend.

[frankyboy455]

Love the stance.

[JLMounce]

Some more updates from over the weekend.

Front and rear glass + moldings are installed,





You can see in the upper right hand corner of the rear molding that it's lifted a bit. The weld-on stud the holds the retaining clip broke upon installation. It's not going anywhere, but it looks a little goofy. It's pretty much impossible to install a new clip stud without removing the glass, so I'm probably going to have to live with that for a while. Not a show car, so I'm not too worried about it.

I had promised a good photo shoot, but unfortunately I was unable to get the car on location. For the past couple months I've been dealing with intermittent start issues. This is part of the reason why.



As you can see there's a rats nest of old and cobbled together wiring under the dash. The previous owner wasn't a stickler with this car so he did a haphazard job on his wiring. Anyway, I'm losing continuity between the battery and the S terminal on the starter solenoid. About three volt drop on average.

I cleaned up the under dash wiring as well as I could given the materials I had on hand. I also replaced the forward light harness and installed the parking lamps and bezels.



Testing the lights, this led to the discovery of more wiring mess. When the emergency flashers are engaged, instead of blinking the park lamps, they remain lit solidly. Over time the passenger side bulb gets brighter while the driver side bulb dims. Another weird side-effect of that is that I lose signal from my fuel sending unit when the flashers are on.

So there's issues going on with the turn signal harness which is also part of the ignition switch. This morning I'll be ordering a new ignition switch, turn signal harness, neutral safety switch and ignition barrel/key. That should allow me to tackle the engine harness next weekend and fix the starting issues going on. If that doesn't fix it, the only thing left would be the solenoid itself.

[rtanner]

i like the look your going for, i think the polished grille mouldings, that 400 cars had will really make that all black front end pop!

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by rtanner

i like the look your going for, i think the polished grille mouldings, that 400 cars had will really make that all black front end pop!

Ya know, I hadn't even thought about those! I'll have to dig around for some good pics and see how that looks.

I'm going for low on bright work, with just enough to accentuate.

[JLMounce]

How about an update? Sure!

I've been able to make the car electrically sound again. There's still work to do there as you'll see from the rear picture below. Everything on the car is functioning 100% now except the tail lamps. I have brake lights, but the brake switch needs adjusted for the new pedal travel after disk brake install. I have partial running lamps and no turn signals in the rear. I'm about 80% sure this is simply due to the bulb connectors being severely corroded.

I'm still clearencing a bit on the wheels, but it's rub free for most types of driving. I'm just having issues on deep undulations. This is to be expected when you lower a car a good 3"

Anyway, the next step after figuring out the tail lights is to start putting the interior back together, passenger side door handle, alignment, tune up etc. Probably a month away from plating it.