BlackbirdWS6's Blown 1997 Firebird TA WS6 Convertible 6spd

[LTb1ow]

Who put that ugly blue tape on the can there???

Geez, 1 star work.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by LTb1ow

Who put that ugly blue tape on the can there???

Geez, 1 star work.

Some guy who likes blue things..... It will be coming off next time I'm down there.

[sweetbmxrider]

Shorten your hose clamp. Its like a zip tie no one cut.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Shorten your hose clamp. Its like a zip tie no one cut.

Thanks.... I will get right on that.

[V]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Shorten your hose clamp. Its like a zip tie no one cut.

I saw that too, reminded me of my pool filter plumbing setup

[Blackbirdws6]

So busy night but very successful. Adam came up and did work this evening! She started right up and sounded awesome!!! I really missed that sound. I have a few items to button up but otherwise she is ready to be back on the road. I need to clean her up but below is a quick teaser shot.

[Paul Huryk]

Sweet!

I have the editor from GM EFI coming to NJ in the new few months and I told him about your car - he wants to do a feature on it.

Originally Posted by Blackbirdws6

So busy night but very successful. Adam came up and did work this evening! She started right up and sounded awesome!!! I really missed that sound. I have a few items to button up but otherwise she is ready to be back on the road. I need to clean her up but below is a quick teaser shot.

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by Paul Huryk

Sweet!

I have the editor from GM EFI coming to NJ in the new few months and I told him about your car - he wants to do a feature on it.

Thanks for the heads up and mentioning my car to him. I have been chatting with Rick as well. I told him once I got everything squared away, we would find a suitable time to get the feature done.

[Blackbirdws6]

Quick update on the car. It's been running great so I decided to start changing small things here and there since the big stuff is working well.

Small stuff: New HU Mount with LED TA lettering, window switch for trans fluid pump




The bigger update is new charge piping from the F1A to the intercooler, intercooler to the engine bay. After hearing and seeing some real nice work coming out of 16W Fabworks, I decided to drop the car off and get the work done.

For those not aware, I originally had the Procharger twin 3.5" intercooler setup. The bypass valve was mounted in the engine bay which was not ideal. The whole setup was functional but the little intercoolers get taxed pretty heavily in higher power applications. I installed the FMIC and cobbled together new charge piping from a Ebay aluminum pipe kit. Again, this was functional but there was too much silicone, clamps, etc.

If anyone knows me, leaving my TA anywhere is normally cause for a Valium and alcohol binge. Below are pics of the resulting work. The car was well taken care of and everything looks great. The entire system is now aluminum so there is some nice weight savings here. The bypass was moved before the intercooler and there is a v-band clamp as the pipe enters the engine bay. The bottom aluminum pipe weighs less than a pound without the bypass (bypass weighs more than the whole damn pipe). The area right by the procharger was done in the pie cut fashion since ground clearance needed to be maintained. A mandrel bend would have put it pretty close to the ground. Anthony also whipped up a quick/nice catch can mount to replace my chintzy setup that was functional..... but nothing I would show off. I'm very happy with everything and the drive home was uneventful. I actually think throttle response has improved as well.

[LS1ow]

any plans to install a speed warning at 70mph?

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by LS1ow

any plans to install a speed warning at 70mph?

You meant 170 right?

[ar0ck]

Incredible, his work is definitely welding porn.

[Blackbirdws6]

Well the saga continues and it's been a while since I posted any upgrades for the car. The changes have been pretty minimal but setting a new best last year reignited my interest to go further down the rabbit hole.

Clutch Hydraulics:
At the last Racewars, my trans/clutch were requiring more deliberate operation to avoid missing a gear. The issue got worse as the day went on and the car also become harder and harder to get into reverse. Towards the end of the day, I just made sure all I had to do was go forward which was effective. Getting home and putting the car in the garage was a different story. I decided to try the simplest thing first which involved swapping the clutch fluid. The fluid looked clean and was bled prior to the rental but let's just try it anyway. After doing that, getting into gear went much much easier. The slave is pretty new so my only thinking is the wilwood master included with the original McLeod clutch may just be tired. My thinking is the seal for the master is leaking slightly and when the fluid gets hot, the fluid gets past the seal easier resulting in a clutch that doesn't fully release.

A new Wilwood clutch master seal may be tough to find and honestly, I prefer the piece of mind of a new unit. I purchased a Tick clutch master and new slave to replace the hydraulics completely. These will hopefully be installed in the coming weeks in prep for the Slipstream event in the Poconos on April 21st.

Braking:
Last year I slapped on Hawk HP+ pads up front and HP 5.0s in the rear which definitely improving stopping performance but still didn't give me the confidence I wanted to haul down this overweight missile. I've been talking about upgrading the brakes for a while and finally pulled the trigger in a more serious way. The bummer is I knew this would necessitate new drag front runners since the 15's wouldn't clear any setup I had interest in purchasing. After debating different brake setups (C5, GM brembo from Camaro/V/etc, Kore3, etc), I came across a new kit from Sam Strano featuring Wilwood calipers, stainless lines, bracket, and Stop-Tech rotors. Reading through Brembo conversions from other GM cars, some require you to have the center of the rotor machined to fit the hub, shims, spacers, etc. Pads will also be cheaper although knowing how many miles I put on the car and how I use it, this isn't real benefit to me. I do like the 6 piston setups from the V2 cars but in addition to the drag wheel clearance challenges, braking hard with skinnies up front would not be ideal.

Last night I was able to put in a bit of time on the car so on to a few pics. The hub was a little bit of a bitch to remove but she eventually gave way with a bigger hammer. The lower caliper bracket mount needed to be lopped off to make way for the new UMI bracket. A Pal got me a nice cutoff tool which worked really well. Mid way into cutting I stopped to check progress thinking I'm around a quarter of the way through only to find it was almost completely chopped off lol.

Don't worry....the hub oxidation will be cleaned.

[sweetbmxrider]

Full on committed now! To bigger brakes, that is...

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

Full on committed now! To bigger brakes, that is...

Yep. Once I lopped off the bottom mount I said "Well, no turning back now....".

[wretched73]

Did you order the parachute yet?

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by wretched73

Did you order the parachute yet?

Car is too slow for a chute

[LS1ow]

Originally Posted by Blackbirdws6

Yep. Once I lopped off the bottom mount I said "Well, no turning back now....".

upset you didnt say "Oh chute, no turning back now"

[Blackbirdws6]

Originally Posted by LS1ow

upset you didnt say "Oh chute, no turning back now"

Now I'm upset with myself. Creativity is all but gone man.

[Blackbirdws6]

Well I planned on finishing the one side of the car this evening but looks like I received the wrong rotors. I got everything mounted and realized when tossing in the pads that the rotor need another inch or so to make the edge of the pad.

Annoying but I can shift to the other side of the car to get everything ready once I get the new rotors here.

[Blackbirdws6]

Something seems off LOL

[BonzoHansen]

air gap is important

[sweetbmxrider]

Its the new expand under heat design!

[Blackbirdws6]

To my surprise, the proper rotors arrived yesterday. After some St. Patrick day shenanigans yesterday, I decided to work that off this morning and get to work.

The new rotors obviously fit much better. After torqueing everything to spec, I test fit the new 17" Weld drag front runners. They cleared the new brakes beautifully just as all the measurements suggested. I grabbed a set of 17" WS6 wheels and those will need a spacer to work.

Next up is to bleed the brakes and start working on the other items. I'll try to get the skinnies tires mounted sometime this week.

[The_Bishop]

Those are sharp looking. What's diameter vs. the stockers?