Hello everyone!

I have a 1980 Firebird Formula I have owned for over 18 years. I am doing a full subframe off restoration. You can see the project at http://jtresto.com/project.htm.

to TFS! I hope you enjoy yourself here. If we can help you with anything concerning your car or with the site, please post up about it. Someone here should be able to help you out.

And when you say full off restoration you're not kidding are you. You've got your poor baby torn all apart don't you. Good luck getting everything done and her put back together and on the road again - for many more years.

Thanks for the reply and the good word. Its back to a rolling body again. I hope to have the car running by the end of the year. My short term plans are:

New gas tank
New fuel lines
New brake lines
New master and booter
New rear suspension
Finish underside detailing

Once that is done, I will squirl some more $$ away to finish the 455 and the Th350.

All of this between getting married in another month and then try to take advantage of the market to get into a house with a better garage.

Thats sweet. I love it when someone saves an old car so it's still out there on the road instead of on somebodys desk as a paper weight. I wish I had the facilities to do complete resorations. I'd have all kinds of Firebirds. Good luck with the rest of it.

Nice pics. Eventually I'm going to be restoring my 79. Lucky for me though I don't have to do quite as much work as you are. Body wise mine is in pretty good shape with no major rust areas, just a good size dent where the drivers door meets the rear quarter and I'm going to need to replace the spoiler as well since it's breaking down. Other then that the majority of my work will be to the interior since it's more or less trashed.

I've been looking at places that sell parts for the years our cars are but I wanted to ask, have you found any that seem to be better with availability of parts and have decent prices compared to other ones? If you have can you let me know since I know that you know how much it can cost to restore the older models and being able to save a penny (or buck) here and there on things can add up quick. Thanks

I had (or still do) a good name for used parts. For years I parted out Firebirds and shipped the parts all over the world. I moved to a new home and lost all my extra storage. The house I was in was a 2.5 car garage with a full basement to a home with no basement and a small 1 car garage. I should have got warehouse space but I wasn't making enough to warent the expense. Most of the parts I am using on my car were the best peices I kept from the cars I picked apart. I still have some pieces left but mostly small parts that can fit in boxes.

Its a shame that I couldn't continue with it because when I went to the T/A Nationals a couple years ago in Ohio, I had people tell me "I bought parts from you" or "I know who you are". I didn't realize how many people heard of me.

If you need a good place, The Parts Place (www.thepartsplaceinc.com) is a quality source that I've used in the past. I've used them when I restored my 78 Trans Am with good results.

Cool, thanks for the info about The Parts Place. I've been searching around and finding places that carry stuff for the 2nd gens can be tough, especially for some of those hard to find pieces. And the thing is when you do find the pieces you're looking for they either want an arm and a leg for them or the pieces look like they're so cheaply made that you're afraid to use them or pay what they want for them cause of that.

BTW, when was the last time you went to Nats? I went to Nats several times and who knows we might have talked to each other plus I might have a pic or two of your car from there cause I always seem to take wayyyyyy to many pics while I'm there.

Welcome!!! And a nice looking car you've got there!!!

that white TA is sweet!