AND SO IT BEGINS...
 

Late this afternoon I had a little time to slowly wade into the brakes... Lots of rust after unheated garages for 30 years! Drums (at least this one) not as bad as I was expecting. Anyway, ordered all new brake parts...shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware, rubber hoses... Will also replace front wheel bearings and will be taking drums to be checked out and turned... Hopefully they can be turned but this first one doesn't look too bad..

Also have a new pressure washer coming. First halfway warmer day I will push it into the driveway, blast the underside first, the top side and engine compartment. There is a long road ahead but I'm glad to begin.

I REALLY APPRECIATE all the info you all are giving me! There is much to learn about GT-37's.Gt-37 definitely interesting cars! Here are a couple pictures...

If you don't have master cylinder on your list - probably should.
Maybe a power brake booster upgrade too.

Yes I have a master cylinder on the way. If I converted to power brakes, would it just be a matter of booster, different master cylinder and different metal lines?

Usually that's it.
Sometimes the lines can be stretched if they have loops in them.
New ones are good insurance if you have much corrosion

Ok thanks. I think I'm going to stick with the manual brakes but get new OE lines... That way everything will be new. Lots of surface rust underneath car and it has been sitting 30 years... Plus, the old ones are 52 years old to begin with...

Wheel Question
 

I have an opportunity to buy two different pairs of 15X7 Rally II's. One pair is KS and the other is HM. A FEW QUESTIONS:

1) Is there any noticeable difference between these two codes? Is backspace the same? Look ok on a GT-37?

2) Would this have any significant affect on the value of my GT-37 when it's finished since neither of these codes are probably the same as originals (nor the wheel size)

BTW, starting to make a little progress...Needed some time to get things organized, buy tools and order parts.. Update coming soon.

I would not expect it to make a dent in the value.

I have not observed any physical difference for any of the 1973 & newer Rally II wheels - other than getting on your knees (and possibly removing the trim rings) to inspect the stamped code, they are all identical.

IIRC the wheels that came on my car were a mismatched set, and I only realized it when I stripped them for paint!

KS are 14x7 Rally II's, so double check those codes. HM 15x7 Rally II's are really easy to find and abundant. I agree with Jonathon, that there wouldn't be any loss of value to your GT-37 by installing 15x7 wheels, plus more tire options than 14's. If you were doing a concours restoration (I hope not), then you would need to find 14x6 KU Rally II's. My GT-37 came with 14x7 Honeycombs that I won't be running since I'm not restoring the car to concours level, but just a nicer version of the way the car sits now...because I want to drive it. I'll be running 15" wheels of several varieties...Rally II's, steel wheels with dog dishes, and maybe some American A-200 Daisy's.
Looking forward to progress posts & pics!

Dennis

Purpose Build
 

Above is a term, I began to use in conversation & in text, near 25 years ago regarding restorations & preservation projects. Originally, there were no Pontiac A-body's equipped with 14x7 Rally II whels until the '72 models arrived. 14x7 Honeycombs arrived on A-body's & Formulas for the '71 model years, my HO T-37 Coupe was optioned with them, & they are also quite heavy.

If the Purpose Build for the car is to do, for instance, a PureStock build, say with a fairly easy to obtain '71 96 headed 400 engine, or restore to anything close to an as originally built 350 car, 14x6 Rally II's, coded KU 14x6's would be the way to go. Not just because its a code thing, but the wider 14x7's, as well as larger 15x7 rally II's are easily noticeable from several car lengths away.

In regards to what you are being offered, KS coded rally II's are 14x7's. HM's are '73-74-75 15x7 rally II's. The HM's are fairly much indisguishable from their replacements, the 15x7 HM's.

good catch on the 14” wheel codes guys;
I took the post at face value, and only looked at the 15x7” Rally II codes I had here on my phone;
it hadn’t “clicked” that KS was a 14” wheel code - and I should have known that!!

Another little tid bit is the KS wheels are the correct coded wheels for the 72 LeMans GT w/o trim rings.

Thanks for the info guys! I rechecked the ad and the the description of the KS wheels is 14 X 7! Thanks for catching that for me! Thanks too for all the other helpful info on these wheels.

I'm thinking I would like the look of the 15 X 7 rather than the 14 X 7. Plus more tire availability for the 15" rims.

Also, are HM and HW the same in appearance? Are all the 15 X 7 the same back spacing?

Yes.

my notes suggest the following:
(IIRC this was from a combination of personal observations and info gleaned from the internet)
HM = 1973-1976.5
HW = 1976-1978(?)
HF = 1979(?)

The 15x7" Rally II was offered into the 1980's, and could be optional (with different center caps) on the third gen Firebird.

These are HM 15x7's on my Lemans.

Dennis

They look good! Thanks, that's very helpful.

Thanks! That is helpful. The HMs I was looking at were too beat up for the result I want when I'm finished.

Most of my time this past week has been getting organized... Finding a place to store my Phoenix so I have room to work...buying a new air compressor, new pressure washer, a heater for my garage, and some tools including a pneumatic needle scaler to get rust off. I also ordered new brakes... everything from master cylinder to brake drums--all new. 2 days ago, I finally got to spend several hours and got all the driver's side front apart, cleaned and primed with rustoleum rusty metal primer on back and front of backing plate.

The plan is to get the brakes working first then attack the underbody and frame. along with gas tank replacement and gas line. I must say I have been encouraged so far that under a bunch of scale and surface rust everything seems very solid.

Next will be to get this running...

Body-wise, it needs a lower passenger qtr panel--at least most of it; patch panel on driver's fender and exploratory work on driver's qtr. It has had work done to it (not so hot) so I need to get the paint off it and see what's under there.

I can fix the passenger door and fender but the driver's door is a big question mark... Lower corner almost totally gone...

Finally, pull the front end off and do the front frame, suspension and , of course, pull the engine & trans. rebuild the engine and check out trans.

That's roughly the plan... Seats will be redone somewhere in there too!

See a couple pictures below...

What size tires?

PM sent.

225/70R15's (27.07" tall)