'70s Chic
Tim Vernon, Escondido, CA: I'm embarking on a project that seems a bit off the beaten path. It's a Firebird, but not a super-hip first-gen, and not a kitschy late-'70s Trans Am. My car falls into the "unloved mid-'70s F-car" category. It's a '74 Firebird, and not a Trans Am, or even a Formula like the ones Jim Rockford used to drive. It's a regular Firebird that originally had a 350. I'm putting together a decent 455 (fortunately I stashed one in the shed back in the late '80s) that should make plenty of grunt. The problem is body parts. The bumper covers are pre-flexible style, as evidenced by myriad cracks in both of mine. I want better ones, so where do I go? I don't want to convert it to the later covers; I think the smaller '74-'75 covers look sharp when straight.
Terry Mcgean: Second-gen F-cars are building steam as evidenced by prices, and while the mid-'70s examples don't seem to draw as much interest as earlier or later models, they have definite potential. The bumper covers on '74-'75 models are prone to cracking, as you've found, and finding good ones is tricky. We couldn't find a source for new OE-style covers, though we did locate a source for a fiberglass replacement for the front. Try Showcars Body Parts Unlimited, PN 4265. Your best bet for OE-style covers is to either find nicer used covers (try eBayMotors.com) or have yours repaired. There are products for repairing bumper covers that work quite well; we've seen good bodymen glue bits and pieces of plastic bumpers back together and make them look as new.
As for Rockford, he didn't drive a Formula, he wheeled Firebird Esprit models, complete with flat hoods, and look how cool he was.
More Info
Showcars Body Parts Unlimited
Ontario, Canada
905/857-6345
showcars-bodyparts.com
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Hey Bg, What's The Deal?
Jim Rivers, Ashton, SC: I'm 17 and have recently started driving the project my dad and I have been working on for two years. It's a '72 Chevy Nova with a 350 that has a mild hydraulic cam, headers, a TH350, and a Performer with a Road Demon carb. I want to ask Barry Grant of Demon why I have a hard time starting the engine. When it's cold, I pump the gas once and then hit the key, and usually, the car fires and then stalls. I repeat this but it usually takes several tries to get it to stay running. When it's warmed up, it usually starts OK, but sometimes it will do the same thing-fire and stall. This is the first carbureted car I've ever driven, and I don't want to flood it, as my dad warned, but what's wrong here? Do I need to rebuild the carb? It's only a year old.
Barry Grant: You have a few options. First, if you bought the Road Demon without a choke, you can add an electric or a manual choke to your carburetor to aid starting. However, we live in the southeast also, and I find that the choke mechanism is rarely used. My wife has a '66 Chevy II with a Demon carburetor without a choke that she frequently drives to work. To get it started, all that is necessary is to depress the throttle twice, perhaps three times if it's very cold, then crank the engine. Once it starts, increase the rpm for about 20 to 30 seconds to get a little heat in the intake manifold. Then, take your foot off the throttle and the engine is ready to go. Each hot rod has its own little idiosyncrasies, but once you find what it likes it becomes effortless. If you still have problems, though, please contact my tech department at 706/864-8544 or barrygrant.com
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