Topic: 73 Firebird Formula 400 - Ready for Spring!

[Don R]

 Nice find. Oddly, I think they called that color carousel red.
  I'm rebuilding my old workhorse 69 firebird. In the late 80's it came out of storage for a couple more years of salt and daily use. That was a big mistake. Now it's getting a new full frame and total floor replacement with new rear 1/4 panels.  The front suspension and brakes are 2006 vette with a 9" ford narrowed rear end riding on coil over shocks. 
  I found an original service manual and a reproduction factory assembly manual on e bay. The assembly manual has a few pages printed so small you can't read them.  The service manual is really nice but the pages are pretty delicate.

[Bailgang]

CBJoe, is the hood on yours steel or fiberglass? I've got a fiberglass one that's been setting in garage for 20+ years now, don't know exactly what year firebird it came off of but it's definitely a formula hood.
Oh and by the way, that's a sweet looking car.

[CBJoe]

Hey Don...it’s for sure not carousel red.  Can’t say it’s an exact match for Navajo Orange but it’s pretty close.


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[CBJoe]

CBJoe, is the hood on yours steel or fiberglass? I've got a fiberglass one that's been setting in garage for 20+ years now, don't know exactly what year firebird it came off of but it's definitely a formula hood.
Oh and by the way, that's a sweet looking car.

Pretty positive it’s fiberglass....Didn’t they only come as fiberglass hoods from factory.

That’s a big hood to have sitting in garage for 20 years


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[Bailgang]

Didn’t they only come as fiberglass hoods from factory.

That’s a big hood to have sitting in garage for 20 years

I never got familiar enough with the Formula's to know but right after I posted it dawned on me that the factory hood most likely had to be fiberglass in order to get the shape of the dual snorkels scoops. I bought the hood years ago for another project that never came to fruition and during that time it got damaged in a garage fire I had but it's repairable. It makes for a good conversation piece along with an Enderle fuel injection hat hanging on the wall.

[Stev-o]

Nice find Joe!  Sounds like you learned a little by not buying the first one you looked at, a lot of guys make the mistake of buying the the first.

I always liked the Formula, great hood with dual scoops.  Are they functional?   I like the rally wheels too, appears like you might be missing a trim ring on the front? How many miles?

Congrats!

[CBJoe]

Hey Steve...yes, has functional ram air.  Good eye one the wheels beauty ring...we actually took it off to air up one of the tires and forgot to put back on.  The stems are super short.

80k on odometer, but who knows if it’s been rebuilt at any point.  I’m hoping to glean some more info from a previous owner in coming weeks.  The engine ran like a sewing machine. And the transmission shifted very smooth.

It will be a few weeks till the paperwork is done and car is Delivered to us.

I’m planning to do a major maintenance to baseline the vehicle when it gets here. Time to start reading up

Joe


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[Stev-o]

Hey Steve...yes, has functional ram air.  Good eye one the wheels beauty ring...we actually took it off to air up one of the tires and forgot to put back on.  The stems are super short.

80k on odometer, but who knows if it’s been rebuilt at any point.  I’m hoping to glean some more info from a previous owner in coming weeks.  The engine ran like a sewing machine. And the transmission shifted very smooth.

It will be a few weeks till the paperwork is done and car is Delivered to us.

I’m planning to do a major maintenance to baseline the vehicle when it gets here. Time to start reading up

80K miles sounds low, highly doubt it would be 180K.  You can get valve stem extensions to solve that issue, no biggie.

You'll have it just in time for summer!

[Don R]

 A guy I worked with was begging me to give him $3K for a 72 ram air trans am 455 ho 4 speed. This was late 70's, gas sucked, insurance was crazy money and preformance cars were cheap.  I was not a visionary.

[CBJoe]

A guy I worked with was begging me to give him $3K for a 72 ram air trans am 455 ho 4 speed. This was late 70's, gas sucked, insurance was crazy money and preformance cars were cheap.  I was not a visionary.

Right    hindsight's a bit$#

Do you have project pics of your Firebird Don?  One of the big reasons I latched onto this car over a few others it that it appears that a LOT of underbody work was done at some point.  You can see in this pic how nice the subframe and floorpans look.  I'm sure these were taken years ago by seller, but I got my hands and head underneath and confirmed it still is in this good shape.

[Stev-o]

That is a super clean underbody, Joe. New exhaust with the X pipe. 

BTW - these cars do not have a conventional frame, the body is part of it and called unibody. 

[Bailgang]

A guy I worked with was begging me to give him $3K for a 72 ram air trans am 455 ho 4 speed. This was late 70's, gas sucked, insurance was crazy money and preformance cars were cheap.  I was not a visionary.

I hear you on that. Seeing how the prices on the second gen F body keeps climbing makes me miss my 78 T/A more and more.

[CBJoe]

On its way to us from Tampa ...supposed to be here Sunday




Supposed to have a 3.42 posi rear diff.   I’m planning a big tuneup and fluid change off the bat.

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[Stev-o]

Good!

[dave500]

yeah all fluids!check front wheel bearings aswell,hoses and belts.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Joe that's sweet 

[ekpent]

The car looks to have been well taken care of. How long had the person you bought it from owned it ? Flippers in the car world also just like the bikes. Hopefully not much to do on your end but just drive.

[CBJoe]

Car arrived today no worse for the travel wear   




- Tranny Fluid level was spot on and smelled as it should and was a bright red clean color.
- Same for engine oil....very clean and level good. Same for Brake Fluid and Power Steering.
- Checked coolant, air filter, tire pressure and did a quick check on wheels, brakes, etc....not too invasive.  just checked for overt signs of wheel bearing or ball joint issues.  No problems found.

Everything looked so good and its starts and runs so nice, Rose kicked me over into the passenger seat and we proceeded to do an 100 mile shake down and got most of a tank of Ethanol Free Fuel (added Octane Booster) into the it circulating.  She let me drive it for about 30 miles 

Oil Pressure is consistently high and water temps are staying around 190* normally and only on long 65mpg runs it gets to 210*.  But never near the red.

AC Blows cold, but was a nice day so windows were down.  Had a blast and we pretty much couldn't stop anywhere without someone stopping to chat about it. 

The paint is by no means perfect...but its still sharp and catches attention 

Working on the to-do list right now for replacing all the door weatherstripping and some odds and ends.  I'll probably keep this thread going as a bit of a project update.





Cheers, Joe

[CBJoe]

The car looks to have been well taken care of. How long had the person you bought it from owned it ? Flippers in the car world also just like the bikes. Hopefully not much to do on your end but just drive.

Car came with a lot of documentation from the PO I bought it from. He did a lot of odds and end work...I didn't even realize how much till I got it home with a binder full of documentation.  He bought it in 2016 from a Texas guy who did a lot of work.  Still going through the info to understand better. 

The last owner who got it in 2016 did the following and more.....

- Front Control Arm Shafts and Bushings
- Door Glass Replaced
- Installed Yukno Dura Grip Posi Diff w/ 3.42 Gears and all new bearings
- PERTRONIX D7120700 FLAME-THROWER ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTOR BILLET PONTIAC V8 WITH IGNITOR III
- Pertronix Plug Wires

Had a lot of work done in the dash gauges...including a new tach..but the tach isn't working.  I need to take dash out to replace one of the round AC Vents...so I'll check it out while i'm in there.

We'll see.....i'm going to messing with this for the next few weeks poking around making to-do lists.

Cheers, joe

[dave500]

the tach might not like the ignition system?

[scottly]

I had an Accel Ford distributor that would not work with a VDO tach in the "kit car from hell". The info from Accel said to contact the tach maker, and VDO said to contact the ignition maker. When the Accel ignition #$%* the bed, I went back to a points ignition, and the tach worked.. 

[dave500]

my vdo works with a bosch electronic module,its just hooked off the coil.

[Stev-o]

Looks good Joe, love that ram air hood.  I love the shakedown runs when they go that well.

One other check should be to tires - how old are they?  There is a four digit code on the sidewall that will tell you month and year of manufacture. 

[mrbreeze]

So how do you like the 3:42 gearing Joe? Back in the 90's I had a 69 Chevy truck with 3:73 posi. I overloaded it moving stuff 1100 miles and chipped off a couple of pinion teeth. I went to a guy that had an old Chevy truck boneyard and bought a 3:42 ring and pinion but found out it wouldn't fit my carrier. I took it back to him and swapped for another 3:73. I liked the idea of the 3:42 because I mainly drove the truck on a flat highway and felt the 3:42 would be more highway friendly. The 3:73's would roast the tires no problem from a standstill but seemed to be revving high where it spent most of it's time cruising the highway. My first car was a 69 Chevelle SS396. I don't know what gears it had but I would guess at least 4:11's. It was screaming going down the highway but would get there very fast. Then I had a 68 Pontiac Lemans. That one was the exact opposite. Couldn't bark a tire if you tried and had a power glide trans. It would get up to about 65 mph in first but would cruise on the highway like no other in 2nd. I always thought the 3:42's would be a happy medium.

[mrbreeze]

Looks good Joe, love that ram air hood.  I love the shakedown runs when they go that well.

One other check should be to tires - how old are they?  There is a four digit code on the sidewall that will tell you month and year of manufacture.

That is a good point about the tires Steve. Right now I'm dealing with my 82 year old mom's ride. She has a 2000 Mustang that she bought brand new. It only has 77K original miles on it. About 9 years ago she got new Michelin's at around 60K. So those tires have only gone 17K in 9 years! She don't drive much anymore but I told her even though the tires still have good tread and no cracks they are still old and the rubber is degraded. I don't feel they would be safe for any long distance trips.