Rise of the Phoenix, '96 Firebird Formula 6-speed Options

[Box]

Ehh let's see, so this all started on March 5th when after already searching Craigslist once and tired of it searching in vain I was oddly compelled to search again for whatever reason and that's when I saw a listing published within the last hour for a black 1996 Firebird. Opened it and it turned out to not only be the V8 with a 6-speed but also a hardtop, needless to say I messaged immediately. It wasn't but a few hours later I was already scheduled to see the car the following morning. Waking up too damn early after a sleepless night and 90 miles later I was there in front of it, I think I did a good job of withholding my giddiness since at no point did I squee like a schoolgirl or at least that I can recall anyway. To make a long story short went for a 15 minute or so test drive around the city and after doing a walk around back at their house I had to have it. Two owner car with 118K miles that was well maintained and treated, and exactly how I would've ordered one myself. I can't put into words how nice it is to have one that's a hardtop with the 6-speed, so much better than the run of the mill autotragic with T-tops. So a couple of pictures right after getting it home:


For a while really didn't have much of anything to do with it right off the bat as nothing needed messed with, which is a nice change as the only other car that's been like that was the Celica that my uncle had owned. The Miata wasn't terrible by any means, but it still needed cleaned out some and etcetera. After awhile I started to think about things I needed and wanted to do with it, first thing I really did was wash it the next weekend as it had gotten dusty from being in the garage:

Did some small stuff like a new a PCV valve and wiper blades, but my first real project was getting a stereo install kit and putting in the single DIN Sony I had as it's a notable improvement over stock:


I still need to replace the speakers and they're on my to do soon list. Next came a new shift knob, the stock one was meh and I like billiard style shift knobs so when shopping on eBay and Amazon for one I came across a Pokeball knob for only $5 more than a solid coloured one so I had to:

It ended up being hollowed from where they drilled it out for the thread insert so I ended up filling it with some lead and epoxy to bring it up to 155 grams which feels pretty nice to use. The highest priority on my list was getting newer tires as what was one there despite still having 4-5/32" left and having been stored in a garage were still 10 years old and all-seasons. First gear was useless with anything more than half throttle and three quarters in second from a roll it would kick out, needless to say it was time for a change. After shopping various tires and rims I finally came to the decision there really wasn't much out there in 17" 5x4.75" rims unless you wanted a 5-spoke. Aftermarket BMW rims are popular but I wasn't keen on the idea of the .65mm difference and doing nothing about it, I had found a couple of rims I liked but nothing I just absolutely loved. Came across a set of C4 Corvette 17x9.5" sawblades on eBay with a set of 275/40-17 BF Goodrich Sport COMP-2 tires with 8/32" left and got them for $450 shipped all the way from Michigan, being the tires alone are $150 something shipped each off Discount Tire I think I did fairly well. The rims need some refurbishing but look ok for the time being, I plan to polish the lip back out and do the centers in either anthracite or black. Old 16x8 next to the "new" 17x9.5:

Of course what should've been a matter of minutes changing the wheels turned into hours grinding on the rear hubs since for whatever reason from '93-96 F-bodies have a larger rear hub at 70.75mm versus 70.5mm in the front and GM didn't bother making them equal until 1997. Finally got it to where things fit properly:


Sooooo much better than the old set is an understatement, it's like a whole other car almost. Better grip, handling, feel, ride, and stability. Now it just hunkers down and goes straight when you get on it, no more sliding out nonsense. At the same time I also put on a cold air intake since the factory intake on LT1 cars is just abysmal unless you have the WS6 Ram Air set up, which that alone netted 20 hp at the flywheel based on published specs from GM. The general consensus is the LS1 lid or LT1 WS6 is best, but both need the ram air hood and the LS1 lid requires cutting into the core support so just no. Cold air intake is almost as good and no changing out the hood or cutting into the car needed, so I can live with that. Went with an eBay intake since really piping is piping and now that I know it fits well I'll get an AEM filter to put onto it for some $22 shipped off Amazon, so a little over $70 all together versus $240 for a K&N or $280 for a SLP then another $80 for the TrickFlow elbow since both the K&N and SLP only go to the MAF. I think I can live with what little power differences there might be given the money saved, the throttle is more responsive and the small hesitation getting onto it while already going down the road is gone. Exhaust tone is deeper too which is kind of odd, anyhow a picture of the finished product:

As far as what's up next I'm looking into doing brakes, no noises and the pedal feel is good as is the car's stopping ability but I'm all about preemptive maintenance and making cars safer. I could go crazy with C6 Z06 or second gen CTS-V brakes but I think going with '98-02 F-body brakes will be sufficient for the time being, direct fit and fairly easy to find and everyone claims they're a huge improvement so I guess I'll start keeping an eye out for the spindles and calipers. I also want to do the suspension at some point, but slowly but surely. Anyhow I guess that's about it for now.

This post has been edited by Box: Apr 28, 2016 - 2:54 PM