First published in the February 2009 issue of Street Machine

Mark Sullivan’s doing something right. This is the fourth of his cars we’ve featured and you guys voted his 1BADHK Street Machine Of The Year in 2007. If you were forced to pick a theme, it’s big-diameter rims and stock interiors redone in tan leather or vinyl. Paint? Green or orange.

But this time around Mark has stepped out of familiar Holden territory and got himself a 1969 Pontiac Firebird.

“It came up for sale locally and had already been converted to right-hand drive. It was pretty bad when I got it, so I ended up buying new panels in from the US. It’s also got a mini-tub kit from Detroit Speed & Engineering. I was pretty lucky because I bought everything when the dollar was good,” he says. “But the new front guards and boot lid were the worst fit I’ve ever seen. The guards had two inches chopped out to make them fit and the boot lid had to be extended to create nice gaps.”

Thankfully, the tub kit was a different story. “It was a pleasure to fit and came with everything, including the leaf springs, and a video on how to install it.” Look on www.detroitspeed.com and you’ll see it’s an impressive kit. The chassis doesn’t get modified at all yet you get a set of tubs that are three inches deeper but still look like factory pressings, along with special shackles to move the leaf springs inboard of the chassis rails to give a heap of extra room for some serious balloons.

Mark’s running 295s on the back because he likes his cars slammed but you can squeeze 335s in. The kit also came with Koni shocks specially designed for the mini-tub kit.

The front copped a birthday too, with Detroit Speed tubular upper and lower control arms while the four-inch lowered King springs and Monroe shocks were sourced locally.

Sometimes it seems people have forgotten that the point of big-inch rims is to clear large diameter brakes. Mark hasn’t and a set of 330mm Hopper Stoppers rotors fill the front hoops. Out back, it’s a little more old-school, with good reason.

“Rear-wheel discs add about 100mm to the overall width of the diff, so you can’t get the deep-dish wheels that I like so much on there,” Mark explains.

No surprises that he went for a big set of Intros from Showwheels. The particular design he wanted was the Scorpion 6 but the ‘6’ means six lugs. Intro made a five-lug set, then added a custom centre-cap to cover the bolt holes — very cool. The 20x8s on the front are swathed in 225/35 Kumho rubber, while out back they’re 22x10s, wearing 295/25 Kumho elastic bands.

In the past, Mark always entrusted the bodywork to a couple of panel-beater mates. While they were working, he must have been paying attention: “I did all this panel-work myself, and all the prep and block-sanding. I also did all the edging out and painting inside and underneath, and then I got Mick O’Brian to blow on the final colour.”

That colour is Lamborghini Green. “We added some extra gold pearl to it though, like we did with 1BADHK. We went through more than 10 litres of paint because we painted underneath as well.”

He’s gone to the extra effort needed to compete at elite level, which basically means a detailed undercarriage mated to a flash topside.

“I finally bought a hoist — it made working on the car a lot easier. I made the exhaust system and it was much easier than having to crawl around under the car trying to do it.”

The whole exhaust — plus bits like the leaf springs and brake drums — were HPC-coated by Pro Coat. Mark liked the job they did so much, he bought the company! That means, if you ring up to talk to them, you’ll be dealing with someone who knows what it takes to build a nice car.

Another theme with Mark’s cars is tough engines. Every one of them has something sticking out of the bonnet. Whether it’s a tunnel-ram or a blower, the boy just can’t help himself.

As you’d expect, this motor’s a bit more serious than previous efforts. The Chevy has been stroked to 383ci and wears ported Brodix Track-1 heads. Internally, it’s got SRP blower pistons, a Scat 4340 steel crank and Scat H-beam rods. A custom-grind Crower solid cam gets the rumpity-rump happening and a Blower Shop 6/71 stuffs in the fuel mix from an Enderle injector that’s been modified to run EFI.

“I bought all the go-fast bits from Outlaw Speed Shop in Adelaide, including the Enderle hat. They sent it off to an engineering mob to get converted to EFI and I’m stoked with how it goes. Grant at Grant’s Performance worked out a combo and ported the shit out of the Track-1 heads too. The EFI is so different; you just touch the throttle and it wants to wheelspin, it’s so responsive.”

The final touch was the interior, and for this Mark turned to Trenten at Trick Autos. Once again he’s gone for a fairly subtle treatment, with a tan leather and suede combination, but a lot more effort has gone into customising the interior than the casual observer would guess. Nissan buckets were used up front and a custom centre console was fabricated with a DVD screen at each end. The dash was also replaced with a steel panel that Mark folded up and filled with Auto Meter gauges.

Back seats were also Nissan buckets but they’re so heavily modified they might as well have been custom built.

“Because of the tubs we had to chop them, narrow them and shorten them. They’re really only good for small kids now.”

If the trim pattern looks familiar, think GTR Torana. The seats feature a diamond-stitch pattern, which looks 60s but Mark says it was inspired by a late-model car.

He might have a simple plan for building awesome streeters but there’s also a simple secret: Mark makes a plan and doesn’t deviate. And best of all, he does it in his own shed.

GREATEST HITS

In case you came in late and haven’t seen Mark Sullivan’s work, here’s a list of his previous feature cars so you can rummage through Dad’s Street Machine stash in search of education. Otherwise head down to the library.

1BADHK, Simple Plan, SM, Jul ’05, p.88 (pictured above)
BADHQ, Q Stick, SM, Aug ’06, p.92
1BADHK, 2 Chances, SM, Oct ’06, p.60
HG ute, Trophy Hauler, SM, Dec ’07, p.44
So that’s four cars (well, one of them featured twice and subsequently won SMOTY) in less than four years. That’s gotta be some kind of speed record for turning out showstoppers.

MARK & CAROL SULLIVAN
1969 PONTIAC FIREBIRD

THANKS
Grant’s Performance; Automedics, gearbox; Outlaw Speed Shop, go-fast bits; Pro Coat; Showwheels; Paul, Jack’s Tyres, Tuggerah; Trenten, Trick Autos; Jeff, JP Engines, diffs; Mick O’Brian, paint; Mitchell, my son, for all his help in the garage.