Firebird becomes fire-breather

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/03/2003 (8283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CLASSIC and special interest cars come in all shapes and sizes and even if you’re looking at the same model, there’s always a different story behind each one.

For the enthusiast, a simple part of owning these vehicles is to build or restore them the way you want to and in the process impart some individual characteristics that set them apart from the others. Some take great care to restore the car to its original showroom condition while others pursue the custom route or concentrate on improving performance. It’s a hobby where showcasing your talents and taking pride in your accomplishments become one.

For Chris Derksen of Winnipeg, 1991 marked the beginning of his trip down restoration road when he found what was basically the body shell of a ’69 Firebird. The previous owner had partially dismantled the car in preparation for a restoration that just never happened, but to 15-year old Derksen it was truly a diamond in the rough. After parting with 300 hard-earned dollars, Derksen dragged the hulk home to the family two-car garage. While his friends and family remained helpful and encouraging, many felt the huge project of rebuilding the entire car was just too much for a first project.

Over the next three years Derksen stuck with it, rebuilding the frame, steering, front disc/rear drum brakes and suspension system, then turning to the bodywork and drivetrain. Powered by a Chevrolet 350 cubic inch V8, Derksen drove the car for one summer, taking in cruises and local shows as well as tuning and racing the car at Viking International Raceway in Gimli. Running consistent 14-second times at the drag strip, Derksen felt he could make the car run faster with some additional modifications.

That winter he narrowed the rear frame rails and installed a Ford nine-inch rear axle suspended by 10-way adjustable Avo coil-over shocks and ladder bars. The heavy-duty nodular iron centre section features a full spool turning a 4.11 gear ratio and 33-spline Strange axles. To make everything fit within the confines of the body Derksen stretched the rear quarter panels six inches and installed aluminum rear wheel tubs, along with a new rear floor section and trunk area. To aid weight transfer the battery was relocated to the trunk with an external cutout switch and for safety the fuel tank was replaced with a competition fuel cell and NHRA-approved twelve-point roll cage. Tying the Firebird to the ground is a set of 15-inch aluminum Weld Draglite wheels with 33 X 18.5-inch Mickey Thompson ET Street tires in the rear and 265 X 50 series Cooper Cobra radials up front.

With the exception of the rear seat Derksen’s Firebird runs a full black vinyl interior with RCI fibreglass bucket seats and five-point safety harness, centre console, stereo system and Precision Products competition floor shift. A full array of AutoMeter gauges monitor the engine functions including a cowl-mounted fuel pressure gauge. Extra care was taken to maintain all the lights, windshield wipers, heater, speedometer, horn and other safety equipment, to ensure the Firebird meets all legal requirements for street use. “From the start it was built as a street car that could be raced once in a while and I still enjoy driving it to cruise night, local shows and even to work,” says Derksen.

To lighten the car, fibreglass doors, fenders, hood, radiator cradle and front valance were installed. The majority of the fibreglass components were purchased from Showcars Body Parts in Ontario with the exception of the reproduction Trans Am front fender vents and rear deck spoiler that were supplied by Early Birds in Toronto. The entire body was block sanded and painted polar white with bonzai blue Trans Am stripes by Bret at Eastside Collision. Total vehicle weight with Derksen driving is now down to 3,400 pounds.

Subhead

The 350 V8 was retired in favour of a 600 horsepower 454 V8 backed by a DTP 3,500 rpm hi-stall torque converter and Turbo 400 automatic transmission with stock gears and shift kit. Derksen and his friend Neven rebuilt both the transmission and rear axle and installed a transmission and flexplate safety shield. The combination was good for quarter-mile times of 10.6 seconds at 127 mph, which was very respectable for a car that is driven to and from the track, but the best was yet to come.

Derksen wanted to pack even more punch into the Firebird so he located a 427 cubic inch tall-deck truck block and fitted it with an Eagle 4.25-inch steel stroker crankshaft with 6.8-inch Eagle H-beam forged connecting rods to yield a total of 505 cubic inches of displacement. The four-bolt main block was machined and balanced by Ken’s Kustom Auto Machine and features O-ring copper head gaskets, JE 10.8:1 compression forged pistons. A set of Dart Pro-1 aluminum cylinder heads include stainless steel 2.25-inch intake and 1.88-inch exhaust valves with stud girdle, titanium retainers and Comp Cams stainless steel roller rockers. Working those valves is a Comp Cams .715-inch lift, 308-degree duration roller cam with Crower roller lifters. An HEI distributor with external coil and MSD ignition box, light off the fuel mixture supplied by the Dart single-plane aluminum intake manifold and 1050 cfm HP series Holley Dominator carburetor, alongside a 400 horsepower NOS Big Shot nitrous oxide system. Hooker 2 1/8-inch diameter ceramic-coated headers handle exhaust duties and are run open at the track. In order to keep the big-block quiet on the street, 4-inch diameter dual exhaust pipes feed into Terminator mufflers, then reduce down to 3-inch diameter over the rear axle and flow through two additional Terminator mufflers before exiting the rear of the car. An aluminum water pump and Griffin aluminum radiator handle cooling duties for the healthy 505 cubic inch stroker motor.

The big engine produced some very impressive numbers on the dyno at Canadian Super Shop registering 705 horsepower and 647 ft./lb. of torque. With the engine in the car and the nitrous oxide added, it produced 806 horsepower and 840 ft./lbs. of torque at the rear wheels, verified by the Motion Performance chassis dyno. This calculates to over 1,000 horsepower at the flywheel! At the track it runs 10 seconds flat at 134 mph and if that isn’t enough, hitting the nitrous oxide gets you down the strip with a time of 9.25 seconds at 146.8 mph. Keep in mind, to run a car under 10 seconds means you have to earn an NHRA competition driver’s licence. That involves passing both a medical exam and demonstrating your driving proficiency at various stages of the track, graduating from starting-line sprints to full passes.

Since Derksen’s Firebird has been finished it’s been shown at the World of Wheels car show and featured in both Canadian Classics and Car Craft magazine. “I’m looking forward to attending the Car Craft Nationals again this year in St. Paul, Minn.,” says Derksen.

Through the whole restoration, cruising and racing that he’s done, I asked Derksen how he felt about the whole experience. “I sincerely appreciate my parents putting up with the car in their garage all those years and the help of my brother Jeff, but also all of the help I’ve received from people and some have gone to great lengths, both at the track and in the car community in general. Good people and good friends, you couldn’t ask for a better hobby.”

Do you have a classic car story to tell? E-mail us and let us know. We may choose to feature it in an upcoming issue.

car-poll@freepress.mb.ca

PHOTOS