Here's the back-drive installed now along with the tranny crossmember with the longer E-brake cable hook in it's proper slot.

Dennis

Well, thats the first time that car has seen a back drive since 1988 when I chucked the original into my scrap pile. Of course it wasnt until years later that I really regretted that rash decision.

Yeah, we've all done things like that when we didn't know any better. I cringe when I recall the stupid things I did to my '70 Formula 400 that were popular in the mid-'70's...lol.

Dan got all the electronics to work over the weekend (halleluiah!) after he found he had to replace the turn signal switch so the rear lights would operate from the dash harness to the rear harness...funny how they are all interlinked. He also had to re-seat a few ground straps that weren't making the best connection. Now that the old formula wheel is off the cup, we'll put a nicer one on I got a few years back waiting for this moment to happen. He also found a proper vacuum 'tree' for the rear base of the Q-jet for the power brake booster line and the various vacuum lines.

Dennis

We installed the 'hand-me-down' exhaust system and it fit great. We just have to make tail pipe extensions for the splitters, but that won't happen until after the car gets painted.

We also installed a temporary front bench seat to be able to move the car around UNDER ITS OWN POWER!!! Yes, we filled the radiator with distilled water and got it ready to see if it would start with all the new wiring and starter (it stays in a heated garage so no fear of freezing) and to check for any leaks before adding antifreeze. We added 5 gal. of pump gas to the new tank and squirted some down the carb and it started immediately. The rebuilt gauges worked great as did all the instrument lights (yah!).

I believe this is first time the GT-37 has had a running 455HO engine under the hood in quite a while.

Getting very pumped to finish this car and drive it!

Dennis

'71 455HO Dual Snorkle Air Cleaner Date Code
 

I was fortunate to find a nice '71 455HO dual snorkel air cleaner for the GT-37 at Norwalk a few years ago. I was cleaning the grime off it before setting it on the engine for a quick picture (see previous post) and found the ink stamp date on it. It looks like 10-22-69??? Was PMD stamping dual snorkles air cleaners for '71 that early, or maybe the round bases portions were batch stamped before the snorkles were added, hence the early date???

It ain't very pretty yet, it will be bead blasted and repainted soon.

Dennis

Scott the got Canyon Copper paint mixed and tested it out on the mirrors. It looks pretty close to the original paint on the door jambs...with and without the camera flash.

Dennis

Dennis, I sure am enjoying watching this thread! Luv the Canyon Copper, and the 455HO of course. I don't have an answer for your date stamp on the air cleaner housing, but I'm sure someone knows and will chime in eventually.

Thanks for the continued updates and great pictures! I know we don't always comment much here in the 70-72 section, but we are quietly enjoying!

:popcorn:

What a great color!

Looks like a good match!!

Thanks Todd, Mike & Scott. We're waiting for better weather to take the car a 1/4 mile down to Scott Tiemann's shop...so close, yet, so far. We've had over 12" of snow recently and the roads have more salt than I've ever seen (first substantial snowfall of the season). Once the roads dry off a bit we'll be able to drive the GT-37 down (on it's own power!). It may be a few weeks before that can happen, so we'll work on little stuff in the meantime.

Dennis

Really enjoyed reading through your thread, I need to do so much of this same type (and more) of work to my car. That will have to wait for sometime down the line when my garage is not so full that I can just barley squeeze the car in forget about room to work. Looking forward to your progress especially the paint section, I really like Canyon Copper. That is the correct color for my 71 vert, although at some time before I bought it it was painted resale red lol.

Thanks lamans71. I wish I had the funds to afford a total and proper restoration, the cars rarity alone deserves it, but I can't afford it, so the next best thing is to at least get on the road again and make it safe to enjoy...maybe it's more fun this way by forcing us to be a bit more creative, like old school hot rodding. We are spending the most of my limited budget making it road worthy and a little nicer to spend time in. It's actually been fun (and fortunate) using many old parts that we have on hand that has helped keep it reasonably affordable. It should be going to Scott's in a month for the 'scuff & shoot' paint job after some minor sheet metal patch work.

Dennis

Not the most exciting news to post, but Dan got the rear suspension frame reinforcements installed. These are the repops from Ames and they look very well made and fit well. Next, Dan's going to work on the body panel gaps especially the front fenders, which looks like the core support has to be adjusted up a bit for the hood to sit correctly and latch...all before the paint in a few weeks.

Dennis

Cant remember,,were those braces standard on manual cars? My gto still has them. I remember something about cross member issues without them?

Scott, actually, I don't think this GT-37 came with them, though, I'm not 100% positive about that (maybe Mike Robinson knows?). My '70 RAIV/M21 GTO didn't have any on it either, but I bought that car back in 2000...so who knows what was done to it before I got it. IIRC, the braces were added to the A-body stick cars to help prevent the rear crossmember from cracking, or something like that. The brackets connect from the front lower trailing arm bolt up to the front upper trailing arm bolt (see the better pictures) and do triangulate the suspension. It looks like they would do strengthen the upper crossmember, especially with axle wind-up/wheelhop with a stick car.

Dennis

What I've personally seen over the years is the '68-72 factory 4spd Pontiac A-bodys received this style of braces. Have had numerous rough manual trans '68 GTO's that had them, but have not PHS'ed to confirm if the unknown ones were originally 3spd or Muncie 4spd cars.

Results from under factory Muncie 3spd built '70-72's cars have been hit or miss. Have examined original braces under two '70 WT 3spd GTO's & one '72 400 M13 car. Of the half dozen 350 3spd '71 GT-37's & '72 LeMans GT's that I've parted to the ground, none had the frame braces. My T-37 M22 Coupe has always had them. Under my HO M40 GT-37, the original owner added hop stop bars, partially boxed uppers that the boxing looks stock, as well as a pair of "4spd" braces. Don't believe any '71 or 72 Pontiac A-body's equipped with M40's originally received the braces. In the early 70's 442 ranks, I've pulled several pair as well as front braces & swaybars off what were original 455 M40 cars. In the early 70's Chevy world, the braces are very common. At one time I was up to near two 5 gal buckets full of original braces, with many of them pulled from under Elco's that I also yanked their 2.73 pegleg 12 bolts.

Thanks for adding that Roger. That makes me think that the reinforcement bars were probably there from the factory, but removed from both cars at some point earlier in their lives...before I got them anyway.

Dennis

Need a '71/'72 power steering pump
 

Dan noticed that the power steering pump tips at a rather precarious angle and doesn't allow for easy filling of the pump reservoir. So, that means we must have a pump from a different division a-body most likely (don't know which one) since it is not able to be repositioned/re-clocked on the brackets. The old picture shows the reservoir cap centered on the end of the cylinder head vs. way lower in the recent picture.

To top that off, the steering box also has a steady leak that is not coming from the hoses. We could rebuild the box, replace it with a remanufactured unit, or replace it with a better performing stock appearing box...? Know of any good ones?

We also don't have any '71/'72 Pontiac A-body PS pumps laying around unfortunately, so we need to find one of those that is in nice shape. I didn't realize the '71/'72 pump reservoirs are different than the earlier pumps (more angular vs. more rounded).

Dennis

Dennis I should have a nice '72 unit I will look tomorrow and email you some picture's if you want!!!

Lyn.

I have never seen any rear suspension braces on this car. If they are not there now, they were not there in '88.