[GT182]

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

Who makes the SLK cores?

Stop in at a radiator repair shop and ask. If I get over to where mine was done I'll ask the owner and let you know. Had no problems with mine... so far.

[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by YounGoat

I just picked up on your thread after I saw in a different post you were from Greensburg. I'm located over in Wheeling, WV right now but originally from Washington, PA and I was wondering who you used for your body shop, they seem to have done some great work. Were the prices reasonable? I'm looking for a decent shop around here as I need a lot of love on the body of my 67.

He is located in New Stanton, right off of rt 70.

Sanner's Auto Body
724-755-1020
ask for Mike Sanner and tell him Tod sent you.
He is a good dude and loves Pontiacs.

[nedorama]

wow - just read through your whole thread and very impressed!

I have the wood insert on my LeMans, but it is old, bending out, and looks unfinished.

Is the one you got stained but also sealed (smooth to the touch)? I may pull my dash out and send to Just Dashes to have them do the same after seeing how well yours turned out. They did my dash pad and it came out looking great; I may also price their work on sunvisors vs. getting replacements.

[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by nedorama

wow - just read through your whole thread and very impressed!

I have the wood insert on my LeMans, but it is old, bending out, and looks unfinished.

Is the one you got stained but also sealed (smooth to the touch)? I may pull my dash out and send to Just Dashes to have them do the same after seeing how well yours turned out. They did my dash pad and it came out looking great; I may also price their work on sunvisors vs. getting replacements.

I dont believe the insert was stained. It is actually a very light color, but I like it that way.

Mr G's out of Texas did the dash rechroming.

I just realized that I have not updated this thread in a while. I am heading out the door, but will update in the near future.

[FSJplumcrazy]

Does the swing set double as an engine hoist?

*grinning*

Wayne S

[6 Grrrs]

I actually have an engine hoist, so no the swingset was not used.

Been a while since I updated this thread. The car is resting in a friend's climate controlled garage right now with all of his toys. I almost don't want to bring it home

I have his 1970 RoadRunner Convertible here that I was doing a bunch of little detail stuff to. It is pretty much done, so maybe this weekend I will get my car back and start on it.

I have big plans, but a not so big wallet right now. My main plan is to swap all the rubber suspension components/body mounts to Poly Graphite, as well as swap the steering box with the '78 T/A WS6 box I have. Also rear sway bar and rear disc brakes. That ought to keep me busy for a while.

[6 Grrrs]

So I haven't really touched my GTO for the past 4 months. When I got the car back to my house (in January), I pulled the entire front suspension out of the car, including the steering box/column/pump. I had big intentions of pulling the motor too. Glad I didn't get too far with that project.

I am now in 'crunch mode' to get the back together to take it to the P-Y event next weekend. These photos were taken tonight...

How it looks as of now:




I rebuilt the steering pump (and added the matching pressure valve from the 1995 Grand Cherokee the steering box came from).

During assembly:



Finished:



1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee 12.7:1 steering box (basically cleaned, spray bombed and moved OEM pitman arom over):



Christmas in May...Global West Del A Lum bushings front upper/lower control arm bushings, GW Billet offset cross shafts, 1" front & .5' rear lowering springs (rears not shown), Moog upper & lower ball joints, Moog rear upper control arm busings, GW rear lower control arms, GW tie rod sleeves, kyb front shocks (not shown) front upper & lower arms repainted, new metric PS pressure hose, and new 31011 rag joint (not shown).


This shot shows the original Moog springs next to the new GW 1" lowering springs. My issue was not that I needed to lower the car, but I wanted a stiffer spring to keep from bottoming out. The old springs (new 20 years ago, but never driven until 2008) were too soft and the front tie rods were contacting the sway bar (bump steer) as well as the tires rubbing up inside the inner fender. I want to be able to drive the car hard when I need to without the bottoming out. With the 1.25" WS6 swaybar on the front, it handled pretty well before, but I'll bet it is much better, as wel as tighter. All of the old bushings were cracked (also new 20 yrs ago never driven), and the upper balljoints were still original (riveted in). I would assume the lowers were original as well, but I am using the '68-72 style lower control arms with the round bushings fr & rr, so I can run the Del A Lum's.


The main reason I wanted to do this is that my car has had a loose feeling to it since I got it on the road. I have driven other a bodies & b bodies that felt much tighter than my car did. I already had kyb shocks on the rear and the front shocks were junk. I may switch out the rear upper arms after a while, but my dad has a set of original adjustable uppers off of a chevelle SW that I am going to try for a little bit (to try to fix some of the wheelhop that I experience when backing the car up). After talking to Global West, they recommened keeping the original uppers to stay within the budget I set forth. I was told the lowers are far more important than the uppers are.

Tonight I reinstalled the rebuilt pump, ran the lines, and installed the steering box into the car. I also installed the upper balljoints and started to assemble the bushings/cross shafts. I am waiting on the lowers from the painter. I plan to hustle tomorrow evening and Friday evening to try to get the car back on the ground so I can get it aligned on Saturday. Weel see how that goes. I am still waiting on my rear springs, which show on UPS as Friday delivery.

[6 Grrrs]

A keen eye may have noticed the round port head next to the steering box in the photos above. I bought an assembled motor that had these 1971 455 HO heads on it. I knew a little of the history of the motor/car it came from, but hadn't seen or heard of it in approximately 20 years. I bought the motor because of the heads, but had a few pleasant surprises when I cracked it open. Esseantially this motor was built and never fired. It sat for many years in the car, in a storage building. WHen I got it hime and started to disassemble it, here is what I found...













I then moved it to a stand from the back of my truck. You can see the oil is brand new...



Aluminum rods are quite a surprise in an old rusty Pontiac motor...


Here is what I do know about it right now...It is a 1969 428 XF 4 bolt main block. It has TRW L2394 forged pistons (455 std bore with .476 dome height and roughly 23cc dome), a cast 455 crank that has been lightned/balanced for the Aluminum SuperRods, 111cc #197 455HO heads (for a static CR of roughly 10.92:1 - without doing any accurate measurements yet)), an ATI SuperDamper balancer, and a fairly stout solid flat tappet camshaft (only thing I do not know about yet). You can see the pistons and heads were run before, but everything else is new inside. I do remember the guy blowing the motor (spun bearing) at a cruise night many years ago, and I'm assuming this is the rebuilt assembly after that episode. The header gaskets were still white (no carbon or soot), the plastic clips were still in the intake manifold gasket, everything still had assembly lube, the cylinder bores are clean and have a perfect crosshatch hone on them, the distributor gear had some assembly grease on it, the cheap taiwanese vaalvecovers looked new inside, and the double roller timing chain is like new.

My plans are to go completely thru it, re assemble it, repaint the outside of it, and install it as is in my GTO. I may swap the cam for something more streetable (once I find out what cam it currently has). I really did not have any intentions of building anything this hard core for my car, but it'll be neat to see how it runs. If I make any changes to the bottom end (I.E. steel rods or lower compression pistons), then there will be major changes to be made and it is not really worth the expense to me. I may run this for a summer or two and then sell it/part it out. The heads are worth some decent $$ to someone who is looking for #s matching 455HO heads (L160 right side - heater nipple/L080 left side - temp gauge). I was really worried about trying to run the aluminum rods on the street, but I'm finding they should do fine in a car that is not driven daily or many thousands of miles a year. There is some important considerations when using them (bearing clearance & do not thrash when cold), but I dont think these are too much to worry about.

I don't think it is worth the effort to modify my carbs, so I may just run a single 4 bbl for a while, or maybe even a dual 4bbl setup if I find a reasonably priced manifold.

I may try to install this over the summer, but it may wait until next winter. We'll see how busy I am over the summer with other projects.

[Old Blue 66]

Whats in the car now??

[6 Grrrs]

Motor wise it is a '66 WT 389 with the trips on it. It is not the original motor, which was long gone when my father bought this car many years ago. It had a '71 350 in it.

It has some issues, and I'd like a little more power. I will pull it and store it in my garage in case I would ever want to put it back in.

[GT182]

Some people have all the luck. Nice find on the engine Tod.

[Greg Reid]

Yeah, you really ought to take up gambling Tod.

[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Yeah, you really ought to take up gambling Tod.

I'm not really that lucky. Although when at Carlisle 2 wks ago, I came across a great deal on another T56 for my truck. It is a 97 F Body trans with the .50 OD 6th gear. You'd thunk I did win the lottery for how cheap I bought it. I needed a spare.

Upper control arms/shafts/bushings/ball joints were installed tonight. Still waiting on lowers from painter. He promises they will be done tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be on the ground Saturday so I can get it aligned :crossfingers:

[6 Grrrs]

Got some progress over the last few days...

Power Steering pump is reassembled/installed. Steering box is in. Front Upper control arms in. Today pulled rear end, did upper bushings, new GW lower arms (super nice pieces), and rear springs installed. Some pics...

The upper arms assembled and the new upper ball joint spray bombed black after installing into the freshly painted upper arms:






Please excuse the dirt. This thing was driven alot last summer and I really never cleaned it. I plan a full detail before the P-Y event.


[IMG]http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww132/6Grrrs
/6%20Grrrs%201966%20GTO%20pix/101_9497.jpg[/IMG]





I got a late start today (5pm start), due to other work I had to do on a friend's Plymouth that took longer than expected. I did not intend to pull the rear diff out, but after disconnecting the upper/lower arms and finding the brake line needed disconnected to lower the rear end enough to have some work space, I decided to disconnect the driveshaft and parking brake cables and pull the whole rear end out. It made it far easier to change the upper bushings. Since this car was only recently put together, everything came apart really easy.

This is what my car looked like today at about 6:30pm...









The rear end is back in, and all is done in the rear.

I found where most of my problems were. This is a shot of the rear lower control arm bushing on the frame side. You can see this bushing is shot. All eight rear control arm bushings were in this condition. Remember this suspension was brand new only 4200 or so miles ago. All moog stuff from many years back. It did get assembled and sat for many years. I wonder how bad this stuff is after a few years and maybe 5-10k miles that dirvers usually see. This car always had trouble backing up. It sort of wheel hopped/chattered when trying to back up the slightest grade (backing into my driveway everytime I drove it). The new Global West rear lower arms are really nice pieces and I hope I never have to revisit this stuff again.


I am planning to install the steering column tomorrow, button up the power steering stuff, and start detailing it. I am still waiting for the front lower arms from the painter. I need to get a pair of shocks and install the front lower arms/springs/spindles/shocks, bleed the brake system, and off to the alignment shop. I'm crossing my fingers that I can drive the car this week before the trip out to the P-Y event.

[GT182]

Hope ya get the wheels back on it. It'll be a bear to drive to Hatfield if ya don't. LOL

Looking good tho.

[6 Grrrs]

Originally Posted by GT182

Hope ya get the wheels back on it. It'll be a bear to drive to Hatfield if ya don't. LOL

Looking good tho.

I'll bet it handles well. No body lean

[SD421]

Tod,
If it handles and corners like my 66 with the H-O Racing Strong Arm Suspension on it.
1 3/8" front & rear swaybars-front coils are rated at 480 lbs, rears at 165 lbs, you should have a BIG smile on your face. YOur Goat looks beautiful in Montero Red BTW.

Don

[6 Grrrs]

I already had 1.25" front swaybar on it with the 15" radials and front disc brakes. The car handled pretty well (for a basically stock car), but was softly sprung and needed front shocks. I originally intended to add a rear swaybar, but Global West has told me they have proven the car faster autoX'ing without a rear bar. I may try a stock 7/8" rear bar just for fun.

I tried to contact H-O for some springs, but got no response.

Thanks for the compliments.

[SD421]

Originally Posted by 6 Grrrs

I already had 1.25" front swaybar on it with the 15" radials and front disc brakes. The car handled pretty well (for a basically stock car), but was softly sprung and needed front shocks. I originally intended to add a rear swaybar, but Global West has told me they have proven the car faster autoX'ing without a rear bar. I may try a stock 7/8" rear bar just for fun.

I tried to contact H-O for some springs, but got no response.

Thanks for the compliments.

Tod,BTW do you remember the paint MFG & paint # for the Montero Red and is it BC/CC?

Im going to go with a Single Stage Urethane for mine.

Don

[Greg Reid]

I can't help but comment on that car every time I see it. Everything about Tod's car just looks 'right'. I don't mean right in the 'factory correct concourse' context..I mean 'right'...the stance, the color, the fit and finish, everything.
If I had that car I'd probably want to drive it every day- just like we did back in the '70s and 80s when they were good, solid, second-owner, used cars and gas was 70 cents a gallon.