Thread: Another Pontiac for the firebird

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Originally Posted by Mike P

"..... I hate them with a fire of a thousand Suns......."

And don't forget the squeaks if they are non-greaseable. Only took me doing one car with them to go back to rubber (with a very few exception along the way.


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Do the factory rubber bushings fit in the aftermarket tubular arms? I've googled that high and low on I can't seem to find any answer.

I don't have the answer to the bushings query.

The body bushings look good, it's probably the propensity of metal interior which amplifies the road noise.

Current issue I'm ironing out is starter trouble.

New battery, cables and terminals look good (after I soldered in a new ring terminal for the start post) I Took the starter in for check. It checked ok. Put it back in, hoping the crappy ring terminal was the issue.

No Bueno Pedro. Same issues, which actually got worse with the new bigger battery. (More solenoid clatter plus sounds like it's slipping on the flywheel)

So, I'll drop in a new starter and hope it's a bendix issue but I suspect not.

Kudos to O'Reilly auto, they found the right starter first try.

Keep ya posted.

I suggest you check the continuity/resistance of your cables with a meter. An old stranded cable can corrode inside the insultation and "look" good but be very high resistance and fell "stiff" where a new cable will flex easily. Just a thought.

My suspicion proved correct. The old starter is fine. It turned out to be a defective ignition switch. The problem reared its ugly head when I tried to leave the parts store with the new starter in the rear floorboard. No click, sputter clank whirring, nothing. I borrowed a floor jack to reach up under and jump off the solenoid with a screwdriver. Key in run. It fired right off.

Today I took off early from work to play.. I have the dash out, and I'm chasing down a list of gremlins. Turn signal indicator, blower motors, speedo, AC compressor, and radio.

Also I want to rewire the volts Guage, install a headlight switch with dimmer, convert the wipers to electric, fix the heater box, seal the front windows.

I'm not sure what to do about the ignition switch. I guess there are plenty of generic ones out there. I have an extra headlight switch left over from the firebird, but not the actuator knob.

Lots to do, but rain tomorrow. A week of nice weather after that!

hey, I'm thinking a rear window wiper unit would be the ticket. Does anyone have a year/ make model to recommend?

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

hey, I'm thinking a rear window wiper unit would be the ticket. Does anyone have a year/ make model to recommend?

Considering the slope of the rear window I believe you'll get zero value from a rear wiper. They're the ticket for upright SUV and station wagon windows that get road dirt sucked up by the low pressure pocket off of the top and they're never seen on sloped fastback windows. I'd find other things to chase.

ACTUALLY, it came stock with a rear wiper.

I was thinking a rear wiper unit might be compact enough to work for replacing the front vacuum mechanism. And, a matching unit for the rear.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

ACTUALLY, it came stock with a rear wiper.

I was thinking a rear wiper unit might be compact enough to work for replacing the front vacuum mechanism. And, a matching unit for the rear.

I hadn't realized that the Poncho was one of the earliest models with a rear wiper but I'll stay with my assessment that with the slant of the back glass a wiper is of little or no value. Probably why the rear wipers didn't really see much success until about 30 years later. Your car, and if it trips your trigger to "restore" the rear wiper by all means go for it!

As for adapting a rear wiper to the front vacuum unit, I'd say you'll be money ahead to buy a unit from the guys who've done the engineering and made it work, but again it's your car so knock yourself out.

Ha, I've knocked myself out plenty, I actually am looking for the challenge.

I suspect what you say to the effectiveness is accurate, given that even a light coat of dust prevents me from seeing out that glass.

BUT, it will look cool!

I've taken time to study the under dash wiring and it's got to go. I don't like how it's done, the relay sockets are corroded and heat damaged, it looks like it received a partial rewire, the terminals are poorly crimped, ugh!

I've got stuff on order: terminal strips, ring terminals, spade terminals, indicator lamps, headlight switch with dimmer. When I button the dash back up I expect to never need maintenance the wires ever.

Are you planning on building your own harness or buying a pre-made one?

Personally I always used to like building my own. A couple hints if you go the DYI way;

Draw you wiring diagram out first! Make a working copy of it and update as necessary as your actually build the harnesses and laying the wiring in (chances are you're going to find something you want to add or change).

You can never have too many different colors and gauges of wire so start stocking up. For short runs old wiring harness can be a good source for wire of different colors or with trace stripes.

I like bullet connectors on circuits I might need to replace or get out the way like heater blower motors or wiper motors. Multi-circuit connectors are nice if you need to take out the complete gauge cluster or heater/AC controls.

Add one or 2 “spare” circuits going to the rear and front of the car for adding accessories at a later date.

If I’m building a custom gauged dash I usually as a red warning light. I hook it to an oil pressure light switch and temp light switch. Basically switched power to one side of the light and then a wire from the other side of the light to the 2 switches. When either switch closes (due to low oil pressure or high temp) the warning light comes on. Just piece of mind for those times in heavy traffic when you’re not paying that much attention to the gauges or for those times when someone else is driving the car who doesn’t really look at the gauges (say a wife or girlfriend AMHIK).

If you’re doing taped wiring harnesses when you get done taping, a small dab of black silicone on end of the tape (the sticky side of the tape) will prevent the tape from starting to unravel when the tape gets old.

Anyway just some thoughts.


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I'm actually planning to patch it, somewhat.

The wire looks to be 10 & 12 AWG stranded, and aside from a crappy insulated terminal crimper used, mostly bulletproof.

My biggest issue is the fusing. It's weird, they put ghe source to the relays, THEN to the fuses. I don't like it at all.
Next, the relay sockets show corrosion and signs of over temp. There are terminal strips on the firewall, but not everything jumpers there. That seems kind of half assed to me.

I'd like to get the terminal strips laid out in a reasonably intuitive and organized fashion, rewire the power feed to fuses first, eliminate anything unnecessary, add a circuit for the wipers. And I think I've convinced myself to add a relay for the starter solenoid, even though that feels like maybe one more thing that can fail.

The alternator sense wire, (field?) Can it be hot all the time? I'm thinking that's how it was.

"Can" it be? Sure, if that's how they wired it. "Should" it be? Not in my humble opinion.
Also, check that some of the fuse panel is powered all the time, and some is on the ignition switch "I" side, PLUS, some is powered when on the accessory side of the ignition switch. I think you can figure out which circuits should be active on accessory...

Thanks, that's what I'm working on.

I'm thinking very little should be hot always. Horn, brake lights, dome lamp, emergency flashers, (not equipped), cigarette lighter.