Mission Accomplished

"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword)
05/03/2020 at 10:00 • Filed to: None

Test drive successful. Only a few things fell off.

It is insane how much better this thing looks with wheels and tires.

Repairing the body bolt was very successful. Turns out, OER part number c122 is a direct replacement for 2nd generation f-bodies as well as 1st gens. IDK why it isn’t listed, I feel like emailing them to help future people.

Tbh I just taped over this in the mean time so I didnt get carbon monoxide poisoning

So the juicy info, how does it drive? Like a champion!

This car is old. Wow, is it old. You need to recalibrate your brain. Jumping from my FOST to this, it doesnt even exist in the same universe. Just the way the weight shifts and the body rolls with small test stops, brakes that do stop the car but in roughly double the distance. B ut with the torque, the lsd, this thing feels so much faster. Need to get the exhaust on ASAP. Open headers, while not as loud in the car, are insanely loud outside the car. I made quite the commotion. The noise just carries really well I guess.

Overall it was amazing. Drove it kind of late, adrenaline kept me up to like 2am last night.

DISCUSSION (20)

sony1492 > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 10:10

Its great to see her in the light after (years?), those rims were an excellent choice

My bird IS the word > sony1492
05/03/2020 at 10:17

Close to 5 years now. While I am happy with the snowflakes, unfortunately the turbines were indefinitely out of stock and I wasn’t going to wait around for them.

Jim Spanfeller > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 10:35

I t definitely is a big difference when you swit ch between old and new cars. Strangely, after I daily drove my Th underbird for about a year, driving newer cars felt terrifying! It was a completely different experience than what I was used to. My family thought I was crazy for saying that my Thunderbird felt safer to me, especially since they think my Th underbird is scary to ride in. :p

MoCamino > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 10:35

EXCELLENT! Not many things feel better than waking a long-dormant friend from their sleep.

My bird IS the word > Jim Spanfeller
05/03/2020 at 10:43

The level of refinement is simply staggering. I would love to see how the car felt new too, just to compare.

It feels like the difference between cutting with a scalpel and a hacksaw.

Tripper > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 10:56

Man those wheels are the fuckin GOODS.

TheRealBicycleBuck > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 11:09

Now I really, really want an old Formula Firebird.

ApolloX75 > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 11:09

That’s a good looking Bird. Nice work. There’s nothing quite like ripping around in a car that old, the 2nd Gen F-Bodies and their sister platform (X-bodies) handled quite well for the era.

I was jumping back and forth between my Apollo and my 6th gen Camaro all spring, t hat was a jarring experience.

My bird IS the word > ApolloX75
05/03/2020 at 11:20

Its funny, its not something that gets mentioned much.

My bird IS the word > TheRealBicycleBuck
05/03/2020 at 11:22

Tbh the formula is probably a better option financially , mostly so you can ditch the stock engine and throw in a blueprint 383 stroker for cheaper than a rebuild without hood clearance issues

TheRealBicycleBuck > My bird IS the word
05/03/2020 at 11:53

Reading the discussion about the handling issues, I’d wonder if a full restomod would be the way to go. Aftermarket suspension and brakes would go along way toward solving the handling issues.

My bird IS the word > TheRealBicycleBuck
05/03/2020 at 11:59

Ehh. The fun of an old car is that its an old car. If I wanted something that handled I could just buy something newer and skip the whole restoration nightmare altogether.

My bird IS the word > ApolloX75
05/03/2020 at 12:01

Supposedly the 79 ta was the best handling american car at the time, beating the corvette. I don't have the ws6 package sadly.