[Held for Ransom]

Someone is lying about this being a 455 car...

[Loffen]

Are you thinking about the engine mounts ?

[Held for Ransom]

Yep.

[john31s]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Someone is lying about this being a 455 car...

Please elaborate.

[GREATGTO]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Someone is lying about this being a 455 car...

The car was purchased as a load of parts, the car had something other than the correct 455 in it at one time, mounts may have been changed sometime in its life. Owner said he does have the phs on the car, I have not seen it yet but will be sure to check it out.

I think this car has seen some track time before, all the heater and a/c stuff was removed and blocked off, has manual steering and if you notice someone put steel braided fuel lines on it, so its been tinkered with before. Could you even get a gto in 1970 with manual steering?

The owner doesn't really care if its a 455 car or not he just told me in a "as a matter of a fact" tone when talking about the car. I will let you guys know what I find out when I actually start on the car.

Would be cool if it is an original 455 car but doesn't really matter to the owner or myself. The block has been welded on so it may be junk anyway, will let the machine shop tell me what they find out when they check it.

[GREATGTO]

Originally Posted by F ROCK

i like the big pictures.
your friend thought it was too much work, and it was 1500 bucks?
doesnt look that bad to me. i was pleasantly surprised when i saw the pics. that would've been a good deal in my opinion.

I agree with you, I had to talk myself out of buying it, probably would have if I had my 68 done.


Should be a really nice car when I'm done. Going for a resto mod type build not a 100% correct restoration, going to be a driver.

[GREATGTO]

A quick update! Well the verdict is in.. I took a look at the PHS and this is NOTa 455 car..
Turns out its a 400 car , should have a YS 400. No big deal on the owners part because it was never about it being a 455 car, would have been cool but oh well.
Car doesn't have many options but this is more of a reason to do a resto mod build.

I did start cutting away the rest of the rotted trunk pan out last weekend, tomorrow I plan on getting the new trunk tacked in, will post pics when I get it done.

[GREATGTO]

Well the trunk pan is 90% done the rest will be completed when the shell gets mounted on the rotisserie that I built for this project.
We already removed the body from the frame and removed all the suspension and mounted the frame on the rotisserie for blasting.
I should have the frame blasted, primed and painted by next Monday. Started to blast the front suspension a-arms , brake assembly and steering components and they should be done around the same time.

Here are some pics of the rotisserie and some of the progress I have made. More pics to come as things get completed.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by GREATGTO

...has manual steering and if you notice someone put steel braided fuel lines on it, so its been tinkered with before. Could you even get a gto in 1970 with manual steering?...

Certainly. A friend bought a 72 GTO in 1997 - only option was an AM radio. Even had a factory 3-speed...

[GREATGTO]

I completed blasting the frame and its already painted black, will post pictures later of it done, here is a picture of it in primer.

[GREATGTO]

Like I said we got the frame painted black last week, this weekend I reassembled the front suspension and bolted the rear back in the car. Everything was blasted using black diamond blasting material. All the front end suspension components are Moog as well as the rear bushings. Im going to bolt the front wheels on tomorrow and take the chassis off the rotisserie so I can mount the body.

I think we are making pretty good progress considering I only work on the car on Sundays and Mondays. The owner does help out when he can so we are making pretty good time. We got about #12, 7- hr days in it at this point, thats including building the rotisserie. Look next week for pictures of the body mounting on the rotisserie and beginning of the restoration on the body.

[GREATGTO]

Today we are going to mount the body on the rotisserie if the weather holds out, we'll see!

[BAN]

Awesome... loving the pictures.
Looking forward to watching the body come together.

Im doing a full nut and bolt resto of a 71, working by myself and limited to weekends mostly. Parked it on Xmas day last year. Hoping to fire it up xmas day this year. Would be a great feeling to do it in such a short time on my own.

I like the rate of progress you are making in short time!
Cheers
Sam.

[GREATGTO]

Originally Posted by BAN

Awesome... loving the pictures.
Looking forward to watching the body come together.

Im doing a full nut and bolt resto of a 71, working by myself and limited to weekends mostly. Parked it on Xmas day last year. Hoping to fire it up xmas day this year. Would be a great feeling to do it in such a short time on my own.

I like the rate of progress you are making in short time!
Cheers
Sam.

Thanks, Its been a fun project so far, we really look forward to the end result but like I always say sometimes the journey is just as much fun as the destination. I enjoy working on these cars as much as driving them.

I still have my own to finish so after this one is done I can complete it hopefully.

We did get the body mounted Monday, here are some pictures.












I still need to add the balance adjustment to the rotisserie so right now it takes 2 people to spin this thing, after the balancer is installed it should easily to turn with one hand.

[GREATGTO]

Still have some floor repair work to do as well as finish welding in the trunk pans and braces.
The bottom of both quarters need metal work done/ rust.. as always. After I get the majority of the metal work done it will be time to begin blasting then spray the whole car in epoxy primer.

I should be able to begin body work shortly after its in primer. Still going over our options for the inside, might be paint might be a spray on sound deadener , we'll see.. Have quite a bit of metal work needed in the rear window area up top as well so that will be time consuming.

[GREATGTO]

I got the trunk braces welded in today, tomorrow I plan on working on the lower quarters and inner trunk side panels, they all need metal fab work to make them sound. Rust ate away the lower quarters in a few spots as well as the inner panels, parts of the outer wheel wells need some patches too.
I will post some pics when I'm done, you know metal work always seems to eat up a lot of time, I'll be glad when we can start blasting the body and begin bodywork.

[GREATGTO]

Resumed work on the 70 today, started blasting the body finally. We do have some small areas that still need welding but I think the rest of the welding can be done as the bodywork progresses. I hope to have the bottom of the body primed and in paint in a couple weeks .

A new RH 1/4 panel is on order, I plan on installing it after the body is mounted back on the frame most likely to insure a perfect fit. The rest of the cars bodywork should be well underway by the time the new 1/4 gets here. I should be able to post some updated photos in the next few days.

[GREATGTO]

Body is mounted back on the chassis and I'v begun bodywork on the left rear quarter and plan to work my way around the car doing just one panel at a time until its perfect. Sorry I haven't updated but I will try and upload some new pictures this weekend. Been busy finishing up a 68 gto as well and maybe I'll post a few pictures of it as well. 0)

[ITSBACK]

How long did it take to blast the chassis? How long to blast the body? Was there any warping?

[GREATGTO]