The Bird arrives at Dignified Motors in Phoenix AZ. Here at Dignified motors Dave Aitchison and his team remove the vital control components from the donor vehicle and begin integrating them into the Firebird
Removal of braking, steering and shifting servos begin on the donor vehicle.
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Now with the control system romoved from the donor, fabrication and retro fit can begin on the Firebird. The black box on the ground is the CPU/ servo controller which is the brains of the control system.
The car came back from Arizona with the new control system and the guy’s immediately pulled the motor and transmission. Detailing the engine bay and sealing up the motor with all new tune-up parts from Cost Less Auto Parts. (Thanks Bob!)
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James & Mike pick up our generous order from Northwest Auto Paint Supplies. Inc. Thanks Scott for meeting this important need for Body & Paint materials at the right time and keeping us on schedule.
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Our electronic technicians Mike Tabor and Mike Peters continue with final refinements’ to our remote e-stop system before beginning field testing.
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Ed & Ron install the motor and transmission, preparing the car for the Body and Fender crew due in on Monday to begin front end assembly.
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After returning from Scott's Auto Body for a slight frame adjustment, James & Don our body and fender men do a little straightening of their own before the Bird heads to Orchards Muffler Shop.
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The Bird arrives at one of our sponsors, Orchards Muffler. This place does a lot of classic cars and Rick Kaldenberg is no mere mortal when it comes to installing a quality exhaust system. Rick is more than a muffler guy he is an artist...thanks Rick looks and sounds wicked!
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While waiting for the car to be complete I met one of Orchards Mufflers' customers who was excited about the Quad Squad - David Houll. We thought it would be fun to freak his wife out by taking his picture next to the Hope Rod! SMILE DAVID!!
The guys introduce the e-stop circiut, filled it up with gas and took the Bird out for a spin. They familiarized themselves with the control system start up proceedure and practiced driving the car in a vacant parking lot....WITH THE JOY STICK!
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Video - First drive of the Firebird with a joy stick
Before Ron Heagy gets in for his first ever test drive, Kelly Porter manager of the Orchrads Les schwab gave us a complementary front end alignment to ensure the car tracks true when Ron is in control. Thats Dave doing the alignment...thanks Dave!
We were in dire need of a lower valance for the Firebird as the original was shot! So we went to All American Classics to find a good used one as they have the largest selection of new and used American Classic Car parts. As we shared our hearts with Todd Toedtli the owner of All American Classics...he checked his stock...went to the back room...and brought us a brand new one. Thanks Todd!!
Glen Miller owner of our local Maaco Body Shop did not hesitate to get the bird in and his team did a great job putting the car back together and furnishing us with a great paint job. All this while keeping us on schedule!! Thanks Glen and John!!
