1969 Pontiac Firebird Convertible - Drive A Little Dream

The most famous visual clue to a '69 Trans Am convertible is its iconic factory white-and-blue paint combination. Frank changed the colors slightly using Sherwin Williams Pure White, House of Kolor Pearl, and Oriental Blue. "I sprayed four coats of white, two coats of pearl, two coats of intercoat clear, and then the stripe layout was applied with multiple coats of blue to achieve the desired hue," Frank says. "After four more coats of clear, the Firebird was wet-sanded with progressive grits of 1,000 to 3,000, finished with 4,000 Buff Flex, and polished to a glamorous finish by Meguiars' Florida sales representative Bob Trathen, using the company's professional line of compounds and polishes."

Drag-Race Drivetrain
Lisa had two requirements for the engine. It had to be a Pontiac, and it had to be a brute. "I built the biggest streetable engine I could," Frank says. "It was important to me that this Firebird be at least a 10-second car." He sought the advice of Butler Performance in Leoma, Tennessee, where David Butler supplied a 525ci Allpontiac.com/Butler aluminum block featuring a 4.310-inch bore; a SCAT 4340 4.500-inch stroke forged crank; Manley 6.700-inch 4340-steel H-beam rods; and Ross forged, "Butler-design," dished pistons to provide a 10.9:1 compression ratio.

David also provided an AllPontiac.com/DCI aluminum high port, port-matched Tiger heads with 65cc combustion chambers, Manley 2.250/1.800-valves, Manley Nextec double springs, Crower offset lifters, and Jesel 1.8-ratio shaft rockers. A Comp solid-roller cam with 265/273-degree duration at 0.050 and 0.755/0.755-inch lift on a 112-degree LSA was chosen by Butler Performance, as were other engine upgrades, including a Butler nine-keyway timing set, an aluminum valley pan, a Canton 7-quart oil pan with baffles and trap doors, a Butler crankcase evacuation pump, and a Flow Kooler electric water pump. Dave Hartman of Hartbeat Racing and Competition Engines in Mt. Dora, Florida, assembled the engine.

A Hogan's Racing Manifolds aluminum sheetmetal cross-ram intake and twin Accufab Viper 70mm throttle bodies allocate the huge amounts of air required by the Butler engine. Likewise, fuel is housed in a Rick's Hot Rod custom stainless tank, directed by an Aeromotive A1000 pump, an Aeromotive fuel regulator set at 54 psi, and squirted by ACCEL 65-lb/hr fuel injectors. An ACCEL Thruster EFI speed-density system with ECM processes the computer data, with custom tuning by Mike Norris of Norris Motorsports in Orlando.

Spark is created, amplified, and distributed by an ACCEL ignition system, and travels down ACCEL 9mm wires to NGK 7 plugs. Timing is set at 36 degrees and is all-in at 3,000 rpm.

Exhaust gases are evacuated through custom stainless steel headers by John Parsons from II Much Fabrication in Winter Springs, Florida, and feature 2-inch primaries, 4-into-1 "Zoomie-style" collectors, MagnaFlow stainless mufflers, and 3-inch stainless pipes and tips.

Centerforce's billet flywheel and 12-inch Dual-friction clutch transfer the torque to a Tremec TKO 600 five-speed manual trans, controlled by a Drivetrain Components Slik Stik.

A Nitrous Express (NX) 8-cylinder Piranha nozzle system that adds progressive amounts of nitrous up to 400 hp has been installed but not used yet. Although designed for carbureted engines, Frank adapted the system to the Firebird's EFI. It's activated from a switch located inside the center console and controlled by throttle position measured by the ECM. Dual 2 1/2-pound nitrous tanks are located in the trunk and plumbed underneath the body of the Bird forward to the engine compartment.