'95 firechicken

I'm slowly updating / improving my daily driver so figured I would start a 'build' thread. It's a '95 Formula, LT1 / T56 with a dealer-installed ram air package. They weren't available from the factory until '96 IIRC. Car has about 200K kms on it so lots of clunks/rattles/squeeks.



Only engine mods are a throttlebody air foil, magnaflow cat-back, and smooth bellows (between air box and TB).



Rotors and pads were shot so replaced them all:


Started trying to get rid of rattles in the rear. Founders Performance adjustable LCAs with poly bushings on the body end and teflon lined rod-ends at the axle


Needed to center the axle so used a Founders double rod-end Panhard bar. Also did the SLP-valved Bilsteins all around.


Car came with base suspension (non-WS6) so it handled horribly on an auto-X course. Installed a set of Strano Performance hollow sway bars, 35 mm front, 22 mm rear. They made a huge improvement in handling and stopped the car from darting around on the highway - the endlink bushings were rotten and I think the bar was giving uneven leverage side to side.



More to come later - I'm doing a few more things this week before an auto-X on the weekend

yay something that weighs as much as an s10 but has moar power!

I'm amused that your sports car is your daily and the S10 is the race car.


I will be curious to hear how the poly bushings and rod ends hold up on a daily.

The bird is more comfortable than the truck. It also has many more miles on it so initially I was really wary of racing it. Now that I've had it for a few years and have looked over it closely I'm confident it will stand up to some abuse on track.

The rod ended stuff has been on there for a few thousand miles and it's still tight so hopefully it will last.

For springs I was wavering on factory SLPs (1" drop), BMRs (1.25" drop), or Stranos (1.75 drop, race proven). I scored a deal on some nearly new BMRs and I think they'll fit my needs best. I didn't want too much drop on a daily. They're not quite the race proven ideal setup from Strano but they have a good rep from the handling folks and ride quality is supposed to be great. Should have them on in the next few days.



FWIW, everything I've done on this car has been ridiculously straight-forward and easy compared to the truck (at least suspension-wise). It doesn't hurt that it's clean and rust free underneath.

Got the springs in yesterday. Ride quality has improved considerably, they must be a better match for the shocks than the soft stock springs. Most of the clunks and rattles are gone and there's a pretty dramatic difference in handling compared to when I first bought it too.

Stock springs


BMRs installed - hard to notice from the pics but it is definitely lower

Picked up an LS brake setup



The guy was parting out an '02 T/A with an LS6 single turbo to swap the drivetrain into a RHD RX7. He couldn't get the rear brake setup off right now but I'm hoping to get that for the truck

Haven't had time to get the brakes on yet but I did install a set of SRP pedals in the car. I spaced the accelerator pedal forward about 3/8" and combined with the kick-out on it, I can now easily heel-toe downshift. I still need some practice but at least it's possible now.

The bird is now sporting the LS brakes and a new set of 275/40-17 Nitto NT-05's. The brakes were a huge upgrade in pedal feel and power. Haven't had a chance to test out the tires yet but unfortunately the clutch is starting to slip on hard launches so I probably won't get to see how grippy they are for a while.

I wasn't happy with the SLP Bilsteins so I spent a pile of money today. I'm looking forward to trying these out, the ride quality is supposed to be completely transformed over OEM.

Installed a Strano master cylinder brace on the strut tower to stop the firewall from flexing when the brake or clutch are depressed.

That strut is in a very convenient location for that.

I got my lapping license this weekend and spent all day yesterday on a road course (half the day with an instructor). Wow that was fun! The car was a beast and by the end of the day I was managing some decent lap times. I chased down and passed a bunch of FRS/BRZ's and even got a mid-2000's Carrera 4S at one point (although I was passed many times too). The brakes were definitely the limiting factor - they were very strong most of the day but overheated near the end when I figured out how to use them effectively and the front pads were on the backing plates by the time I called it quits. The car was black with brake dust.

It's pretty intense compared to auto-X - passing someone at almost 6000 rpm in 3rd and then standing on the brakes at 100 mph to make a set of corners is a huge rush. I rarely get out of 1st on most auto-X courses!   

I have never done a autoX but have spent a few days at Sebring when I had a modded CRX & I agree there is NOTHING that can compare to the track.

I road raced motorcycles back in the day & raced tracks like Road Atlanta,Daytona,Savannah & Rockingham

That's badass! The track I was on is also used regularly for bike racing and I think it's considered pretty technical because of the elevation changes. I didn't get any pics or vids but one of the other guys at the school had his camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMqPYdlMnM&index=1&list=LLhlAQaWFYiQWiQvHSLjudVQ

He ends up catching up to me near the end of the video but it cuts off before he passes me 

More track time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfNn83NV2rU

I'm not fast on a track. I could make lots of excuses related to tires and bad seat and shocks but I really just need a lot of practice hitting lines and maintaining speed between corners (instead of just concentrating on the challenging corners). Hilariously fun either way!

Updates on the bird:

I wanted/needed a rev limiter so I picked up a used MSD 6AL-2 and made a mount out of aluminum diamond plate

MSD mount 1 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

msd mount 2 by Rented Mule, on Flickr

It's just behind the driver's headlight and mounted so the adjustment dials are easily accessible. I haven't wired up the 2-step step yet but may in the future just for fun. Not sure where one would mount the switch to activate it - thoughts?

I also installed a 160 degree thermostat, sent my PCM to Solomon in Ohio ('famous' LT1 tuner) for a tune, and will swap for a bored out 53 mm stock throttlebody as soon as the PCM gets back. My 315/35-17 R888's are waiting for warm weather to ship and I'm planning on ordering a set of 17x10.5 Torq Thrust M's to mount them (they were the cheapest wheel option I could find).  I'm now shopping for race seats too, the stock lawn chairs I have in there at the moment are awful.

 

Have you looked into the XXR wheels? I had to play around with adapters to get them to fit the S truck 2WD offset, but the Camaro might be more in line with the tuner backspacing they cater to.

are you not using cruise control or fog lights or any other higher option buttons that you can wire the 2 step into?

It didn't come with fog lights so I could add that switch in... I have to look into the wiring a bit. It seemed like you had to hold down a switch to supply 12V to keep the 2-step activated. In that case, you'd need the switch somewhere that you can have your hand on it during a launch. It can also be wired with an 'arming' switch and then to a switch on the clutch so once it's armed it will activate when the clutch is depressed and won't reactivate until RPMs drop by 30%. I'm not sure that type of setup will work with auto-x though, sometimes my RPMs can drop pretty low on a tight corner.

On the wheel side of things - I couldn't find XXR's wider than 10" in 17's, which I want to stick with for tire cost reasons. I actually just came across a deal on 17x11 ZR1 replicas a minute ago so I pulled the trigger. I got two lightly blemished wheels for 1/2 price so in the end the entire set was about $640 USD all-in instead of $850 USD. I'll have to use small spacers and a BFH to make them fit but apparently there's more room in a firebird than a camaro so it shouldn't be a serious undertaking.

Yeah they only go 10" wide on 18's too, which is what I ended up with, but that's a real good deal on the 17x11 ZR1 wheels. Glad you found it.