1978 Pontiac Firebird Week 2009 05 03

Click picture to see larger image

 P5020071_small There was no progress last week as I was in Carlisle, PA for a swap meet.
We had three Car Nuts this week. The car is ready for some test and tune, but projects still remain.
We had Don Goodman, Vince Falco,  and Frank Serafine.
We got the roll cage completed, hood on, recovery bottle installed, and the air cleaner installed.

Well, the major task this week was to put back the driver’s side roll bar. We removed it early on in this project for two reasons, 1) Last year I was told by the track inspectors the roll bar was too low, that it needed to pass between my shoulder and my elbow, and 2) it made it a heck of a lot easier to work on the car.

  I’m not a small guy so that put the bar in such a location that it was impossible to get in and out of the car .

  So….. we had to put a hinge in the bar. The bar could not be straight as I would then not be able to sit in the seat.

So… the first step in the major task was to come up with a high tech red neck bending machine (I even used the correct red neck tool, my pickup). I took a LOT of heat for my method on this, and some of the Car Nuts (which shell remain unnamed, did not want to be associated with this method

 Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020061_small  Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020062_small
 Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020064_small  Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020065_small
 Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020067_small Here I am, in that same red shirt, being heckled for my pipe bender. I have no idea why. I did use the correct red neck tool, my pickup.
 Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020068_small  Roll_Bar_Bending_P5020069_small
Now for the install. To get the correct position we cut the bar to length and welded it in as one piece.
Roll_Bar_Install_P5020001_small  Roll_Bar_Install_P5020070_small
 Roll_Bar_Install_P5120002_small So now that the bar is in, the driver can not get in and out of the car. So, we need to create hinges so the bar will swing out of the way for the big fat guy.
 Hinge_To_Roll_Bar_P5020001_small  Hinge_To_Roll_Bar_P5020003_small
Time to cut the center of the bar back out and weld the hinge in.
 Roll_Bar_Install_P5050005_small  Roll_Bar_Install_P5050006_small
 Roll_Bar_Install_P5050007_small  Roll_Bar_Install_P5050009_small
 Roll_Bar_Install_P5050010_small  Roll_Bar_Install_P5120001_small
 Roll_Bar_Install_P5120002_small  Roll_Bar_Install_P5120003_small

The hood went back on. If you ever remove hoods, of doors, be sure to drill some locating holes before you remove them as it makes putting them back easy. Only minor alignment will be needed on the hood to get it right.
 Hood_Goes_On_P5020048_small  Hood_Goes_On_P5020049_small
 Hood_Goes_On_P5020053_small  Hood_Goes_On_P5020054_small
 Hood_Goes_On_P5020055_small  Hood_Goes_On_P5020059_small
The Antifreeze coolant recovery bottle was upgraded. The recovery bottle has been mounted inside the fender because I would like to mount a transmission cooler right behind the headlights. I will remove the headlights so the cooler gets a direct flow of air.
 Recover_Bottle_P5020050_small  Recover_Bottle_P5020051_small
The air cleaner was installed, these things are expensive!
Air_Cleaner_P5020057_small   Air_Cleaner_P5020058_small

The car is ready for some test and tune runs down the track. There are still issues, not the least of which is, The fuel pump does not run when cranking the engine and,

I took the car for an alignment before its first outing at the drag strip after this winters projects. I have had indications before this that the car might have been used on a circle track. (the MSD box that was in the car before I bought it was a 6T which is for circle track, when I took the rear end apart to check the axles I found that the right oil return was plugged with a cork. I talked with Curly on this and was told that is a circle track trick to keep all the oil in the rear end from ending up in the right tube.)

The alignment brought to light several interesting items. 1) There is a heaver spring in the right front, 2) the rear axle housing is toed to the right. 3) The rear axle is off center (on purpose) and inch to the right). All these things would be a setup for circle track.

Well I told that story to tell this one. Because of all the weight I removed from the car and that there is a stronger spring in the right front, the car now has 2.8 degrees negative camber on the right front.

It is thought that if I bring the front end down, and put a matched set of springs in the front (and I will put and offset pivot shaft just because (gets me 1.5 degrees positive camber)) that I can get the front end to line up. The toe in the rear can be adjusted out with the hime joints on the latter bars.

While I was putting together this update I received a call from my supplier stating that my new lowering springs and offset pivot shaft are in.

My current plan is to take it to the track tomorrow night (Wednesday) and see how it goes down the track. If I can leave it alone until after club racing night on the 20th I will do so and then swap in the springs and pivot shaft and get it aligned again

Track_Ready_P5120001_small                                                 Track_Ready_P5120004_small

Track_Ready_P5120005_small