Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

After losing a bid on a red factory 1988 Formula power bulge hood on Ebay, I hit the Internet looking for a hood.  By some twist of fate, I wound up on Craig's List where I found a 1983 Crossfire Injection setup and functional hood.  

After some email bartering, a deal was struck for $350 including shipping and fondling.  I only purchase the hood, leaving the CFI setup behind as I have no use for it other than as a desktop decoration...

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

The parts arrived from PST in three very heavy boxes.  I threw all three into storage and locked them up.  I'm glad that they do free shipping to the continental US.  That's some serious weight to ship...

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Saturday, June 9, 2007

I finally removed the dinky Firebird steering wheel and installed the optional (for that year) leather wrapped Trans Am steering wheel.  The feel between the two wheels is like night and day, the larger wheel really is the better one to use in these cars, especially if you intend to throw her around any corners or road courses.  The finish on the wheel is a little faded but a local shoe / luggage repair shop said they would re-dye the wheel and repair the slight damage to the leather wrapping for $10.  Deal.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Friday, June 8, 2007

I finally got off my butt and ordered the suspension parts for the old girl.  Coming soon from PST are:

  • Performance Polygraphite front end rebuild kit (includes polygraphite front sway bar bushings)
  • Idler arm
  • Center link
  • Hotchkiss coil spring set (x4) - will lower the car about 1" to 1.5" all around for a more aggressive stance
  • Weld-in subframe connectors to tie the subframes together and strengthen the structure (especially with the T-tops)
  • KYB front struts / rear shocks
  • Rear polygraphite sway bar bushing kit (24mm)
I was going to go ahead and order larger front and rear sway bars (the stock ones are 36mm front, 24mm rear) but PST didn't carry anything near the size of the stock bars.  I'll try Hotchkiss for the sway bar upgrade.  I'll follow up with a Hotchkiss complete rear suspension, adjustable panhard rod, aftermarket torque arm and a front strut tower brace in the months to come.  

My goal right now is to get the old girl back to handling like she was new, repaint the ground effects, restore the factory decals and mount the original 16x8 wheels with correct rubber before September 2007.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Crap.  I just discovered a one inch tear in the side bolster of the driver's side Recaro.  It's my fault.  I'm going to have to get a little creative to not only fix it but also to build up the area around the tear (on both sides) so that this problem doesn't occur again.  The bad news is that Recaro seats are not only rare but they sell for a king's premium if you can find them on Ebay.  The good news is that the cloth pattern really isn't that fancy (not like the multiple "Ruffles" ridges seen in the later Firebird seat designs) so a competent upholstery shop should be able to repair this tear easily.