Making a little progress. Im very slow at bodywork. Doors are done. The driver side was nice with very little dings but the passenger side was a bit of a mess. Lots of parking lot dings and creases. The fenders were the same way. Driver side was easy. Passenger side was like the door. Lots of dings.

I ran out of high fill primer. I went to order some more and everyone has the primer but not the hardener. They are telling me next month. I sandblasted the hood scoop inserts from this 70 and a pair I had laying around for years. I don't know where they came from but someone opened them up and did a sloppy job. I noticed on the bottom side the 70 inserts have only 2 hold down studs but the unknown ones have 3 hold down studs. The 70 hood only has provisions for 2.

Maybe they are repops? Or a Canadian car?

Make sure they fit properly would be my suggestion, if you plan to use them.

Nice thing about using a later OE color, is you can easily find the paint/code if by chance you need a touch up.

Also, colors that are more than X number of years old either cost more, or are never the correct shade.

You can stalk dealer parking lots, and see the color in person on a car, which removes a lot of guessing/risk.

A lot of the blues have purple in them, which is a personal 'erk' to me.

.

.

.I thought about the issues you brought up and they are good points. The only thing I worry about, as you mentioned earlier about your color, is there is more metallic in it. The more metallic there is the harder it is to spray without getting streaks or zebra stripes. Im not ultra experienced in shooting metallic. Im still on the fence but your right, the new colors pop much better than the original colors from back then.

Pretty sure the paint my painter used is a 1-stage, and my understanding they are much easier to spray metallics. But maybe someone else can chime in on this. I wouldn't think the factory would want to run the risk of spray anomalies if it was a difficult process, but could be mistaken on that.

EDIT: Here's an example of the color in the sun:


.

While I am waiting to get more primer in to finish the bodywork I decided to work on the engine by porting the 6X4 heads I will be using.

The intakes on the 6X heads are actually a little bigger than the standard Fel Pro gaskets. I had to open up the gaskets a bit.

Edelbrock P4B just out of the sandblaster. I picked this manifold up many years ago for 40 bucks when everyone thought they sucked. Everyone was wrong. Its a fine manifold. The runners are identical to a stock 4BL manifold that everyone thinks is great. Its only difference is its flanged for a Holley square bore carb. I will be using a Holley 750 Double Pumper.

Nice! I suggest etching and painting it with engine paint, your call on that.

I've seen people have desirable results running that intake, they only give up a little once you go beyond a certain power level. Your butt will never feel a difference between it and an OE one.


.

Are you using the 1233 RA4 intake gaskets?

No. Im just matching the ports to the standard Felpro gasket that comes in the gasket kit. The P4B only needed a tiny bit of matching on only a couple of ports.

Im on the fence on what color to paint it. Im thinking I will shoot it with Aluminum paint and then put a flat clear over that. If it looks lousy I will scuff it and paint it the same Pontiac Metallic Blue as the rest of the engine.

The manifold turned out OK. I like it. I used Duplicolor Aluminum Engine paint and cleared it with Eastwood Diamond satin clear. You can see the natural color of the manifold where I taped off for carb and thermostat flange. I wont have to worry about the paint burning off the exhaust crossover because it will be blocked. Its not a problem living in Phoenix, Az

Ran one of those intakes many years ago because of a recommendation from a speed shop owner ... loved it.
Back in the day us youngsters liked manifolds that were "High Rise" to be more racey, never realizing they didn't work well with our mostly stock engines.

Shade looks really good, turned out sweet!

.

Intake looks great! I would separate the water crossover to make life easier down the road.

I am going to test fit it to see how the ports line up. If they are off I will cut it.

I found the build sheet on top of the gas tank. Still waiting for Sherwin Williams to get the hardener (FH416) for the primer Im using (FP415). They keep pushing out the delivery now for the last 3 months.

Any chance you can check local suppliers or other suppliers to see if they have it in stock?


.

I checked everywhere. Nobody has the hardener. Everyone has the primer but no hardener. They all say it will be available in 2 weeks. They have been saying that for over 3 months. If they don't get it in by the end of the month I am going to try a different brand. One place recommended Evercoat high build primer. They claim its compatible.