Project: Firebird

[postalcop]

Well, I'm finally going to do a case mod I've been wanting to do for a year now. I wanted to get into watercooling, so I bought a full tower case for $15. I have no idea what brand it is but I have been told it is is an old AT case.

This thing is almost as tall as my son.

The biggest problem I have is that the sides and top are all one piece. I'll explain why later. The plan I have is not as elaborate as some of the mods I've seen on here but I can say it will have one kick ass paint job. The reason I'm calling it Firebird is because 1) I own a Firebird Formula and 2) I hope to etch this image onto the window I am going to put in.

Right now, I'm thinking the paint scheme will be white sides with red flames and blue on the front and top. I'm not into airbrushing so I'm not fading any colors in the flames, just plain red.
Here are some of the parts I will be using. I'll get more into these as I go along.

The computer going into the case is the one in my sig. I'm using it for 3 reasons. One I can't afford a whole new system. Second, I don't feel I've pushed my 2400xp-m to its limit. Last, I wanted to test watercooling on this system rather than an expensive one.
I am hoping to have this done within a month.

 

[postalcop]

I also started working on it today. I'm going to be doing all the case work at my dad's body shop. When I got there today, I thought he was having his own Corvette show. The red one is his, the rest are customers. There was also one inside that he was painting a bumper on.

I needed to cut four holes in the case for the 120mm fans. To do this I opted to use a 114mm hole saw I bought from Home Depot. I had trouble with the first hole because I use to short of a drill bit. This caused it to jump on me a couple of times. This will be an intake fan.

The next two holes were cut on the top of the case. I had to make careful measurements because to rad barely fits. I taped the top and measured out 2 squares. I then an "x" on both squares to find the center. I used a longer drill bit this time and the cuts went much easier. Although I was slightly off, it will still work.

The last hole I cut was in the front of the case. This will be an air intake fan. Also pictured is the drill and hole saw I used.

That is all I have for now. More updates tomorrow.

 

[postalcop]

No new update today. Forgot to bring my dremel and camera with me.

 

[cornelious0_0]

Nice start man...I still have this strange desire to pickup a generic fulltower case that looks like yours there and do wonderfull things with it...It's always nice seeing a "nobody" case modded to the point where people are asking what case it is and where you got it.

 

[dj_2004]

Ahh a fellow bird owner, I'll be watching this one. What year is your formula btw?

 

[Conano]

tagging this thread to follow along

 

[postalcop]

Ok, I got some cutting done today. Didn't take me as long to do as I thought.
This is the first window I have ever tried to cut. I was going to cut a simple rectangle shape but I realized that part of the hard drive cage would be seen. Not that it's a big deal but I wanted to try and hide it. Not only that, I really didn't want just a plain recatngle. As a result, I came up with this.

Next, I cut a small window for the power supply.

Cutting the two sides off the top were the last cuts I made. I had to do this because I want to put the radiator on the top of the case. In order to do that, the sides needed to be seperated so I could take them off without disconnecting the radiator first. I just realized the panel with the window cutout is upside down.

These are the tools I used for cutting. I used 14 discs for all the cuts I made.

I have brought the case home to put the parts in and see if I need to drill any holes for wires and just to see how everything fits before I put on the primer.
dj 2004, my car is a 1979.

More updates this week.

 

[Blahblah123456]

Wow, nice progress dude. I will definitely keep up with this log.

 

[purg3d]

Nothing like an F-body.

With that said, any plans of putting the pontiac emblem on the front bezel? Maybe cut up a muffler for it's "GM originial" stamping and put it on the bottom? oh the ideas.

I always liked the firebird logo.. wish they were that creative with chevy.

Looks good so far!

 

[cornelious0_0]

Nice ride postal.

 

[postalcop]

Nothing like an F-body.

With that said, any plans of putting the pontiac emblem on the front bezel? Maybe cut up a muffler for it's "GM originial" stamping and put it on the bottom? oh the ideas.

I always liked the firebird logo.. wish they were that creative with chevy.

Looks good so far!

Actually, yes. I was looking on ebay at some Pontiac emblems. I may have one at the shop too.

 

[postalcop]

I've got more pictures to post when I get off work tonight. This is turning out to be more of a challenge than I thought. I put all the components in the case to see how everything would fit. Turns out, it's pretty tight. You'll see what I mean when the pics are up.

 

[postalcop]

Ok, here's an update. This first pic is of almost everything to be installed. As you can see, there is not much room between the power supply and the hard drives. I'm going to have to do something different with the cables because there is no room to run the tubing for the water cooling. The wires at the bottom of the case will be hidden somehow.

This is the other side of the case.

THis case needed to be about an inch longer. I can't get this multi-function panel to go back any further because of the heater core. The only way I could possibly get it to sit flush is to take the fan on the back of the case and put it on the outside. Of course that would also mean doing something diferent with the holes I already cut in the top of the case.

I may have to use a power supply that has the cables connected to it. The plugs stick out to far on this one. This is turning out to be harder than I thought.

 

[Razor]

Wow looking so gd so far m8,keep up the gd work

 

[cornelious0_0]

Lookin' good...I always like project using oldy generic fulltower cases...hopefully yours turns out alright.

 

[postalcop]

Ok, back on track. Sorry guys, this is taking longer than I thought. I was trying to get a new job last week and got busy the week before that. At any rate, I have some more updates today.
These first two pictures I actually took last week. I removed the lcd screen that was on the front of the case.

This left me with a hole. All I did to fill it was grab a scrap piece of metal laying around and cut it into a square. I then got this 2 part adhesive to glue the pieace to the backside of the front panel. Problem solved.

Today I decided to get the body putty on the front panel. The filler I am using is this evercoat, z-grip. This stuff is easy to sand.

Before I could put the putty on, I needed to put something on the backside where my holes were. I just got some aluminum tape and stuck it on there.

I sanded the front with 80 grit paper and used a die grinder to round off the edges.

This is after I sanded the putty down. With it being hot today, 102 in the shop, I had to work fast. Unfortunately I used a little to much hardener and didn't get it on very well. Oh well, I'll put on a second coat on Friday or Saturday.

Next, I needed to drill holes for the 2 Firebird emblems I bought off ebay. These are the same emblems that are on my car.

The last thing I did today was cut a piece of metal for the bottom of the case. This will be a false floor so I can hide the wires from my light underneath. This is the piece of metal that was cut out of the side of the case for the window.

I still have to drill a couple of holes in it to run wires through. I also got the inside of the case sanded with 220 and a scuff pad. Next time I work on it, I'll be ready to shoot it with sealer and paint it black.

 

[cornelious0_0]

Lookin' forward to more updates.

 

[FadedSpark]

YAY FIREBIRD! I personally like 70-74 (early first gen design, im tired, and not sure if the 74 is or not...)

looks fun

 

[Doberman]

'74 is the second of the five 2nd generation Firebird nose styles.

70 1/2 - 73
74 - 75
76
77 - 78
79 - 81

I've owned a Trans-Am or Firebird from 4 of those 5 styles. I don't have one at the moment, but I'm currently shopping again.

 

[postalcop]

I should be shooting the primer on this Sat. and get the inside painted black while I'm at it.

 

[postalcop]

Had to work some over time early Sat. morning. I did get to work on it for about an hour today, so this is just a minor update. I got the second coat of putty on the front panel and got some sanding done on the case.
Here I used the orbital sander with some 80 grit paper to get rid of the gouges caused by the hole saw. The rest of it I sanded with 220.

I also used the orbital sander on the 2 side panels and the top, but I just used 220 paper on these.

I have to sand the front panel and other front pieces yet but I'm just about ready for primer. Hopefully I'll get a chance to shoot that this week.

 

[postalcop]

I got some more work cone on the case today. I went to the shop at 10:45am and it was already 101 inside. By the afternoon it got up to 108. Dad's shop usually get 6-8 degrees hotter than the outside temp. (What do you think of the work schedule )

I finished sanding all the pieces down and got ready to primer. I wiped the metal pieces down with Gon (degreaser) and found out that using it on the plastic pieces was a bad idea. I then shot the case with gray primer.

I sort of screwed up with the primer. As hot as it was I mixed it to heavy, so it went on dry. I also only had enough to shoot one coat. As it turned out one coat was enough. I watersanded most of the pieces down with 400 paper and used a scuff pad for the inside of the case. I used Trim black on the inside.

That's it for now. The next thing I will do is shoot some non-sanding sealer over the primer and then paint it. I'll be on vacation next week, so hopefully I'll be painting in 2 weeks.

 

[postalcop]

Ok, it's been a couple of weeks since my last update but it got busy around here. I went to the shop today and finally got some paint on the outside of the case. The paint I used is Dupont's Chroma One. It is a single stage paint which means I don't have to use a clear coat. The color is Ford's Performance White.
This first shot is of the spray booth with my parts inside.

Here is the back of the case ready to paint. I had to shooot some sealer over the bare spots where I sanded through the primer.

Here it is after being painted.

I shot two coats of paint on the back and sides. The back of the case turned out great but I got some dirt on the sides. I had to watersand them with some 800 and shoot another coat on them.

As you saw earlier, I was only going to keep one button for power on the front panel. Well, I lost the button and have nothing to replace it with. As a result, there will be no buttons on the front panel.

I was also able to do some work on my window. I went up the street to a sign company and asked if I could buy some vinyl for sandblasting purposes. They just handed me a scrap roll they had laying around. Can't beat free! I then went across the street to my distant cousin's machine shop and had him cut my piece of lexan for me. I put 2 sheet of vinyl over the lexan and cut out my firebird emblem. I taped the picture in my first post to the vinyl and just cut along the lines.

I am going to bring the side panels home tomorrow where I will attempt to tape off some flames. If all goes well, I will be shooting red on it Saturday. The top and front will be blue and will hopefully be painted next week.

 

[postalcop]

I got the flames painted on the side panels today. I also etched the firebird emblem in the plexiglass today. I'm happy with how both turned out. I'm at work now so pictures will be up tomorrow.

 

[Mr_And3rsson]

nice mod u have going on there^^

 

[tong]

I got some more work cone on the case today. I went to the shop at 10:45am and it was already 101 inside. By the afternoon it got up to 108. Dad's shop usually get 6-8 degrees hotter than the outside temp. (What do you think of the work schedule )

Nice mod, can u get a close up of the work schedule on the right of the thermometer? I got to get a copy of that and print it out to put on my toolbox at work.

 

[postalcop]

Nice mod, can u get a close up of the work schedule on the right of the thermometer? I got to get a copy of that and print it out to put on my toolbox at work.

You like that? That has been up there for over 25 years. I'll get a solo shot of it next time I'm down there.

 

[postalcop]

Here are the pictures I promised form yesterday.
The first couple are the side panels taped off.

Next we have the two side panels and the front panel right after they got painted. I couldn't quite make out the name on the paint can but it is a Chevy color. It is ChromaOne just like the white.

Here are the side panels after they dried. They aren't the best flames in the world but I don't think they turned out to bad for a first time attempt. All I have to do now is buff them out.

This is the sandblaster I used to etch the window. I have no idea how old it is, but I remember using it about 20 years ago.

Here is the result of the sandblasting. I t turned out great. The vinyl held up a lot better than I had anticipated.

 

[Tech-Daddy]

Lovely work bro!
Like the firebird etch!

 

[postalcop]

Thanks. Cutting out the firebird on the vinyl didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. I just traced the lines with a razor blade.

 

[Mr_And3rsson]

nice with red flames on white background

 

[postalcop]

I got a minor update for everyone. I put the decal on. I got this from phoenixgraphics.com. It is the decal that would go on the rear spoiler instead of the word Formula.

Hopefully I will be painting the rest of the pieces tomorrow. If that happens, I'll start putting it rogether this weekend.

 

[Jordan1]

Lookin' good!

 

[filthysanchez]

i like this worklog, nice job so far.
btw, what are you putting in it?

 

[postalcop]

i like this worklog, nice job so far.
btw, what are you putting in it?

Since I decide to spend money doing the case rather than components, it's just getting my Athlon 2400 xp-m on a gigabyte 7n400 pro motherboard with 2 gig of memory. Gaphics card is an x800xl and sound is an x-fi Fatal1ty. It will also have 2 80 gig hard drives. Yes, it's an old system but I really want to see what kind of overclocks I can get on this cpu. I'm hoping to upgrade in the near future.

 

[postalcop]

I will be having some updates very soon. I put together my watercooling loop and had a couple of leaks after an hour or so. I tightened the clamps and let it run overnight. No leaks. As soon as I get Windows xp working right, I'll get the watercooling parts installed and more pictures posted. This thing will be done this week.