[Nicks67GTO]

Well heres my project. I sold my Nova and its time for me to begin my "new/old" project car. My 1967 GTO. Heres the rundown. Its a factory California car and absolutly rot free. Its very straight and basically the bodywork and paint is done. It was a factory 360hp H.O. auto car from the factory. It came with AC, PS,PB,PA, turbo 400 with a his/hers shifter and 3.36 gears. The car is in fantastic shape.

Its got setimental value for me. Dad and I started the car as a father son project. I drove it in highschool for a while and it spun a bearing so its sat for the last 10 years. When we built it the first time, it was done as cheap as possible just to get it running and driving. Dad and I did the best we could with it but times were tough and money was tight. Several years later I wanted to buld a racecar. Dad and I fought over it and he told me hed be gone to hell before i cut his original GTO up. So thats where the Nova came in. I had my fun with the Nova but it was a racecar at heart. I am now settled down and want a cruiser. Dad told me about a year ago that if I wanted to build that GTO, I could have it, on one condition....i couldnt cut it up and anything that was done as a mod would have to be easily put back to original. I agreed so here we are. The start of a process. It might take a while, but in the end it will be worth it. The basic plans are to...

-Build a street friendly modern steering and suspension
-Richmond 5 speed
-428ci engine {it was the dealer installed factory cool motor for that year}
-4 wheel discs
-Bone stock interior and exterior with the exception of front seatss
-17 or 18" wheels

Nothing too radical, just a nice old GTO that i can drive anywhere

Heres a few pics of the car before I get to building. I tried to get a couple shots of the interior but they wouldnt upload...hmmmmm

[Greg Reid]

Your Dad was a smart guy to save that car from you in your youth. That is a very clean Goat.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Your Dad was a smart guy to save that car from you in your youth. That is a very clean Goat.

Yeah he was very smart! Funny though at the time i was mad. Now days i would have been mad had he let me do to that GTO, what I did to that Nova. It would have been minitubbed, caged, fuel cell etc etc and would have been a hacked up pile. its funny how things change when you get rid of some of that "piss and vinegar" youre full of when your 18.

[Nicks67GTO]

Ok here a couple pics of my door panel install.

New Legendary door panels, emblems, under plastics and arm rest bases. Also new windlace, lock knobs, and ferrules. I'm waiting for an NOS windlace cap for the passenger side from a forum member. I ordered new ones from Legendary and they are so far off its not even funny. They were not even remotely close. I just polished up the old door trim and from 2 foot away you cant see any of the scuffing/scratches etc....plus I drive the wheels off this thing so the heck with perfection??!! I also adjusted all the windows so they close tight on the weatherstripping, replaced all the locks, and made sure everything was tight under there. I'm pretty sure I found out where about 90% of my annoying squeaks and rattles were coming from. The last time I had the passenger door apart and put back together {10+ years ago} I must have forgotten to tighten everything past hand tight.....haha. Oh well glad I found it....Here's a couple shots of the panels. Also never mind the duct tape..... I had an old PUI package tray that wouldn't stay put....its going to get replaced eventually. HAHA

[Nicks67GTO]

Im going to rank some Legendary parts on a 1-10 scale...

-Front door panel...10 they are perfect

-Rear "door panel"..7 they look great installed and are perfect after some massaging but came with holes punched in the wrong spot and for the arm rest bases and no holes punched for the roll up window cranks??

-Front arm rest bases..8 They fit pretty good and the chrome is pretty decent

-Rear arm rest bases...5 The fit is meh, they're not quite level and the chrome is ok

-Rear windlace...10 fits perfect

-Rear windlace caps...-50000 they're not even close and they have a dull finish

-Door panel emblems...9 they fit great, look great but didn't come with mounting tabs?? I played hell trying to find tabs and the performance years tabs don't work

-Door panel plastics...10 spot on

[GT182]

Originally Posted by Nicks67GTO

-Door panel emblems...9 they fit great, look great but didn't come with mounting tabs?? I played hell trying to find tabs and the performance years tabs don't work

Nick, go to Sears Harware [if you have one], Home Depot, or Lowes and take a look. I found some that worked for mine. Not like the originals but they did work. Made by Hillman: #6 Speed Nuts - Flat, 4 to a package.

[PurplePackFan]

Nick,

I got my rear end and control arms installed today. I ended up using 90* zerk fittings and placed them on the top of the upper joint. By the looks of it, with those fittings I should be OK to turn the top joint around and have them on the bottom, as long as they are in the axial direction of the arm. I guess the answer is to have them on the bottom, but you need to have the 90* zerks, which were not supplied. I plan on flipping them tomorrow.

I tried to post a pic, but am failing, miserably. I think you'll get the idea though.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by GT182

Nick, go to Sears Harware [if you have one], Home Depot, or Lowes and take a look. I found some that worked for mine. Not like the originals but they did work. Made by Hillman: #6 Speed Nuts - Flat, 4 to a package.

I ended up swinging into a local supply house and finding some metric retainers that were a touch too big, so i flattened them out, turned them inside out and it worked pretty well. Why don't these badges come with proper retainers? That's like selling a can of spray paint without a nozzle?? WTF??!!

[Nicks67GTO]

A little event update since i think i'm caught up on this years mods

I got a text message from a buddy over the winter. He wanted to know if I wanted to do the big Cars and Cones trip. I thought it sure sounded fun but it was going to be pricey and I wasn't sure if my car was up for it yet. He thought we should split seat time on the auto X in his Chevy II to save some coin and just go. I got the OK from my super understanding wife and it was on. I wont go into a bunch of detail since I could write a book about this trip but it wasn't my car so ill just do a quick outline.

Fast forward to the beginning of May and we head to Jasper Indiana and unloaded his car. The next morning we were off to Concord North Carolina with the Ridetech clan. The next morning it was time for some AutoX. Then to Kodak Tenessee the next morning for some auto X at Smokie stadium. Then Bowling Green Kentucky at the National Corvette Museum lot for some Auto X. A whisky tour the next day. Then more auto X in the same place the following day and a scenic drive to Ridetech for the final party. What a blast of a week. It was scenic drives through the hills and auto X by day, good meals, shop tours and parking lot parties at night. I had also never driven a car on 200TW tires before....I found out quickly the night and day difference between my old Nitto555's and his 200tw Falkens. I'm in dire need of some decent tires. Anyhow.... The whole trip was fantastic and I would love to do it again. Saw some old friends, made some new ones. Some of the best stuff was seeing 3 of the guys I was with win some HUGE prizes and I do mean HUGE. I'm giving this whole trip an A+ and I highly recommend it.

[HWYSTR455]

I'm going to make a point of attending next year, even if I don't have something I can compete with!

The trip from Concord to Kodak, did you go 25? Or just went I-40? From Ashville? That run is fantastic, US 25, and there's the reason I went to EFI on the 442! That pass through the mountains will test a car better than an autocross, I swear!

Some of the events around the Devil's Triangle are worth going to, making a point of doing some of those too. Tail of the Dragon is popular, but some of the surroundings are better.

http://devilstriangletn.com/



.

[HWYSTR455]

Familiar to that area!

.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I'm going to make a point of attending next year, even if I don't have something I can compete with!

The trip from Concord to Kodak, did you go 25? Or just went I-40? From Ashville? That run is fantastic, US 25, and there's the reason I went to EFI on the 442! That pass through the mountains will test a car better than an autocross, I swear!

Some of the events around the Devil's Triangle are worth going to, making a point of doing some of those too. Tail of the Dragon is popular, but some of the surroundings are better.

http://devilstriangletn.com/



.

I honestly don't remember what roads we took. Most of them were 2 lane blacktops through the middle of nowhere and small towns. It was a great scenic ride. As far as competition goes its kind of an anti competition. The top 3 guy everyday had to donate to the charity cup for a fellow racer that unfortunately had cancer come back on him. By the end of the run there was over 6K in that cup between all the donations. It was pretty cool. As far as winning and having to donate, you could probably forget about that too. Sam Strano destroyed everyone, everyday.

[Nicks67GTO]

One last update and I think i'm current...

I decided to do Midwest Musclecar Challenge. I knew the car wasn't really ready for it and I would surly get my butt handed to me. That's precisely what happened but hey...you cant be a pansy your whole life right? So I bought in. I was however, seriously concerned my tired old 455 would throw a rod through the block or chew up bearings on the road course. Remember this is a bone stock 455 I got on Craigslist for $800 bucks. Fearing this, I bought a used 3qt accusump setup from a guy on here. I was going to get one later on, after I built a new engine but this came up, it's in awesome shape and I got it for a great price. Unfortunately that didn't get installed and its still sitting on my workbench. LOL.

All in all, the GTO went 1100 miles, 4-20 minute road racing sessions, 8 auto X runs, a cruise and dinner at Raymond's Performance. I got a professional instructor on the road course which was priceless, that alone was worth the cost of entry and one of the main reasons I chose this as my first road racing event. I learned a lot about the driver and the car and where there are weak spots in both that need to be addressed. I also learned that a tired, stock, cast everything, Pontiac 455 can take an absolute pounding and come back for more. I hammered on that old bucket of bolts as hard as I could and it never bat an eye. Downshift decel from 4200RPM in corners? Not a problem. Flat out as hard as she will go on the straightaway? Sure. In and out of the throttle endlessly? No big deal. I almost want to run it until it blows up and kind of make a game out of it. I couldn't have been happier with the car, taking the beating it got over 1100 miles and without a single issue. The event was fantastic, everyone was extremely cool, and racing a big track like that was by far the most fun iv'e ever had in a vehicle before.



I loaded up the trunk, took off from Waterloo and made it to the hotel in Indiana without issue...



Headed into Putnam Park the next day...



Getting ready to run...







And were off!



A cruise and a little dinner at Raymonds...



Some Saturday autoX...



And a nice 7hr drive home!

[3 Deuce 64]

so why change it at all ? just rebuild it It's a nice car as it is.

[Nicks67GTO]

Originally Posted by 3 Deuce 64

so why change it at all ? just rebuild it It's a nice car as it is.

Well heres the scoop.
-The engine is original and the block is still good, but its also .030 already and im not going to take a chance on blowing it up....again. Im going to find a donor engine to play with and hop up a bit so if I hurt that engine i wont care.

- I have the original automatic but not the his/hers shifter and console. In our foolishness we sold that 10 years ago because it was collecting dust. We did change the car over to a 4 speed when i was in Highschool. The small hole is already in the floor and the tab is on the frame, plus i have all the odds and ends. I currently have a good Richmond 5 speed and Long H-pattern shifter sitting in the garage so im going to get a scattersheild and SFI flywheel and use it.

-The chassis mods will be modest. No cutting or welding. Just bolt in stuff. Maybe coil overs, tubular A arms, big sway bars etc. Nothing radical. In the rear ill probably use some adjustable uppers and aftermarket lowers. The steering needs to be updated. It has manual steering right now {installed by yours truly in order to go faster in HS} The old power steering wasnt in great shape so ill just update the whole thing at once.

-I like the look of the 17-18" wheels on the big A-body cars. I dont want it to look gaudy so im going with a classic looking Torque Thrust II wheel with a tire that will fit nicely in the wheel well with no mods. I know everyone has them but they are economical and a very nice looking wheel.

-I think all classics should AT LEAST have front discs. If im doing those, I may as well do the back and be done with it. I drove a 70' chevelle in highschool that had 4 wheel power drums and i remember driving through a deep puddle once and loosing them almost altogether. HAHA...good thing no one was in front of me.

This is a good representation of what im looking for when im finished. Anyone on here know who owns this?

[Nicks67GTO]

While i'm waiting a couple of weeks for my seats to get done, i picked up a set of QA1 adjustable uppers with roto-joints on the CHEAP! I couldn't pass these up.

I might try to get these in tomorrow...

[RR67GTO]

I can see your point for the most part. However, if it's done right, rebuilding the 67 block by someone who "knows" Pontiac engines well. You'd have no problem at all, even if you had to do a 40 over. And, as you said you don't want to ruin the block. This means that at some point you'll be dealing with the original engine anyways.

On the other hand, I also see the advantages of building the 428 and going with a nice OD transmission. It all comes down to what you like. Other people can do it their way, but you have to drive and own it. I like to ask myself if I'll drive a car that's all factory original more then one that has had a few of the goodies added that make it more enjoyable to drive? Of course, if driving the car is what it's all about then the upgrades are always a welcome addition. Look at it as more of a means to drive it in today's world. One more thing, the car looks so nice already, anything you do should be an easy endeavor. Have fun, and remember what a smart man your Father was when he said your not making a toy out of the GTO. Best wishes to you, and yours.

[Nicks67GTO]

Well i over the last 2 months i pulled the entire front end apart and cleaned everything. I got my unnecessary firewall holes all welded in and cleaned up. I got the firewall painted along with the front chassis. I installed my AC delete.com parts wich i can say im very pleased with the fit and finish of this stuff. I also bought a Wilwood 7/8" master cylinder to run the factory brakes for now. Heres a couple shots of the action.

[Nicks67GTO]

a few more...

[Nicks67GTO]

Sorry if the pics arent A-1 quality. For some reason my digital camera dosent like my garage lighting