Nope....think someones imagination got in the way...........or my engines been replaced without me knowing it.......i'll blame JacMac LOLOriginally Posted by 928
Nope....think someones imagination got in the way...........or my engines been replaced without me knowing it.......i'll blame JacMac LOL
Contrary to popular belief my generosity does have limits, besides you seem to have enough wobbly moments as things are...
Wikki Leaks releasing new material ..........
bloody aussies at it again
Nar its the Russians, I tell yar its the Russians........ or is it JacMac????????
No it's your mate....Donald Trump !!!! sound like something he would do !!
Hi Ken, thats my kind of used car yard!
Ken, as for tow vehicle, I've had a lifelong passion for '70s customs vans. Wouldn't that be cool! But I'll probably just get something boring; a pick-up or SUV to make the travel easier.
Steve
Are you aware of the Road Test on 1968 Pontiac FIREBIRD 350 IN Wide Wheels Mag Aug 1971 #21
Let me know if you would like a copy.Following you build with interest.
Cheers David
Hi David, no I've not seen that one. I managed to get hold of a couple copies of Wide Wheels, but not that one. They're very hard to find. Would love to see the article. Many thanks
Steve,
I came across this photo taken at the 1969 Michigan Speedway Trans Am race by Ron Lathrop.
Canadian Dick Brown driving the same Firebird Craig Fisher had a successful season in during 1968."
(Ken H)
Steve
Having Trouble uploading Test
Last edited by BigBird; 02-01-2017 at 11:16 PM.
Another photo of the Firebird at speed on the banking at the 1969 Michigan Speedway Trans Am race. It had been snowing and raining before and during the race and the cars showed the effects of the weather !
(Ron Lathrop photo )
Thanks Ken, I have these photos among my collection of the Firebird. As you quite rightly say, the Craig Fisher Firebird was being driven in the early part of 1969 by Dick Brown. Jerry Titus, who by 1969 was heading up the factory Pontiac team under the T/G Racing guise, was testing this car and wrecked it early in the season, and so arranged for a new '69 model Firebird for Brown to race.
Because I’m on a tight budget, I’m viewing this almost as a ‘kit-car build’, for want of a better term. By that I mean, I plan to purchase as many off-the-shelf parts as I can. Invariably, its cheaper to purchase an item thats mass-produced than it is to have a one-off part custom made. Because there is such a massive after-market industry dedicated to the first gen Camaro, there is a vast array of bolt-on performance parts available for the model that will also fit my car. Things such as sway-bars, for example, are available in a wide variety of thicknesses from a wide variety of manufacturers. They start at just over US$100 each.
So too, because the Camaro has been raced in the US, Australia, and the UK/Europe in the same basic guise in historic competition as it did in period, there is widespread knowledge for things such as spring rates and the like. Indeed, Chevrolet themselves produced a small pamphlet in 1968 called the Camaro Chassis Preparation Manual for privateer racers wanting to compete in the Trans-Am and SCCA A/Sedan events, that specified part numbers they could simply purchase across the parts counter at their local GM dealer, bolt on their car, and be relatively successful. It also showed the best way to build a rollcage, and other useful info. GM gained this information through bringing one of the Penske Camaros to their proving grounds, where they hooked it up to all their electronics, and drove it around their huge skid-pad, gathering reams of data for their engineers to pour over. This actually had the added benefit of allowing them to produce and homologate parts that would help the model perform better on the track. It was a win-win.
For Chevrolet, although they outwardly had a no-racing policy in place, and didn’t openly sponsor race teams or fund their own racing efforts, as Ford did, they knew the importance of achieving sales through success on the race track, and did everything they could to help customers build and race Camaros that performed well.
So this information is all available, and I plan to use it in my build, rather than spending money trying to reinvent the wheel. Its nearly 50 years since the Camaro model first began its racing career, and while a huge amount has been learned since then, at the same time, the combined might of Chevrolet and Penske Racing knew a thing or two, and enjoyed enormous success. I know I won’t go too far wrong by tapping into this.
I’ll be making a small concession with regards to the bodywork. The Craig Fisher Firebird, like most Trans-am cars of the era, had a basic exhaust system whereby each bank of four header pipes fed into one collector pipe, which dumped out on either side beneath the doors. There were no noise limits back then, and the cars didn’t use mufflers. They just had straight open pipes. In the modern world, however, most tracks have noise limits, and therefore I’ll need to fit my car with mufflers.
I asked Eric Broutin about the noise limits in Europe, and he confirmed most tracks now have them. So I’ll need to build my car to fit a muffler. Eric said on some tracks his mufflers hit the ground. His car has the mufflers under the body, as his car still has the period style exhaust system hanging down underneath. Add a bulky muffler, and you can have ground clearance problems. With just the straight open pipes, ground clearance usually isn’t a problem. However, with mufflers fitted, there becomes an issue.
Therefore, I’ll build my car with the full exhaust exiting out the passenger side, and will cut an indentation into the floor to make space for the muffler so it can be tucked up to give better ground clearance.
Both the Craig Fisher and Jerry Titus Firebirds used the 400 hood, with its twin scoops. On the road cars, the scoops were functional and created a ram-air effect, ducting cool air into the carb. But this was really a road car gimmick that several manufacturers featured on the muscle cars in the ‘60s. However, on the race cars, these scoops were blocked off, with the cool air instead being directed from the base of the windscreen. I’ll talk more about this in the engine section.
It took a little extra research to get confirmation that the Firebirds used the same cowl induction system as the Camaros in 1968. My thanks to Jon Mello and Chad Raynal for helping me with this. I should point out that Chad has been an amazing resource, but preferred I didn’t make a song and dance about the amount of help he has provided me. He is a very clever, very talented and knowledgeable guy, but also very modest.
To best see the blocked-off scoops, its probably better to show a photo of the sister car to the Fisher car, which was originally built as a Camaro by Jon Ward in 1967, before being converted to a Firebird for the final 1968 Trans-Am race, when Jerry Titus joined the team. It was this same car which, with Titus/Ward driving, and a new paint job, finished an incredible 3rd outright at the 1969 Daytona 24 Hour race. It was after this the organisers decided to drop the Trans-Am sedans from contesting the race, which some determined was because they embarrassed the factory sports prototype teams, as they were only ever intended to be grid fillers.
Steve,
On the way home I came across another vehicle that I thought you would look good in. This 1986 Chevrolet El Camino. A very good looking vehicle.
Trump states that a man who races American car has to use an American vehicle for towing.
(Trump called the Australian PM to discuss how to implement this policy in Australasia but the PM hung up on him !..is that true ?)
(Ken Hyndman..photos )
Last edited by khyndart in CA; 02-02-2017 at 09:03 AM.
Thanks Ken, those El Caminos are pretty cool little trucks, but I've been told they aren't too good for towing. I think they probably just have car suspension in the rear. I'll probably just buy a 20 year old F150 or something. I've shipped a few cars from the US to transport parts for the Firebird, so makes sense to get a pick-up at some stage to use for towing.
Why tow when you could build something like this,Ive got a 79 RHD F250 duallie I'd let go, was going to do the conversion myself but my racing days are done. The Caddy, Toronado idea has novelty value, often wonder why we dont see more stuff like that. You could probably use a Bronco on front diff only for same setup
Last edited by Jac Mac; 02-02-2017 at 09:19 AM.
Steve wrote; "The Craig Fisher Firebird, like most Trans-am cars of the era, had a basic exhaust system whereby each bank of four header pipes fed into one collector pipe, which dumped out on either side beneath the doors. There were no noise limits back then, and the cars didn’t use mufflers. They just had straight open pipes. In the modern world, however, most tracks have noise limits, and therefore I’ll need to fit my car with mufflers."
In 1969 you could just go out and let 'er "rip". Noise levels were not an issue then. No wonder my hearing is not worth a hoot right now ! ( Only old people wore ear protection in those days !) I have many regrets now but it was such a great sound. Imagine this at high speed on the speedway banking.
(Ken H)
Those are cool looking rigs Jac and I love the idea of having a neat old period hauler. But for me personally, with most tracks so far away, the novelty would wear off. I'd love to get a modern pick-up, but they're expensive. So a late 1990s pick-up is probably the best compromise, as I wouldn't need to spend the money having it converted to rhd.
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