65 GTO

[Thumpin455]

Todays effort was cut short by the Houdini dogs, and subsequent fence repairs, but over the last couple days progress has been made.

The interior is coming along, and the window felts are all in so it looks more like a car now than it ever has since I have had it on the yard.






Tomorrow the gauges will go in, and the final few bits including the package shelf. Tonight the sill trim will get worked over and hopefully I can polish it up and clear it. Otherwise it will look like crap with the rest of the car being decent. Too bad nobody reproduces those pieces, sure would be nice to get new ones.

[74NovaMan]

Looking good! Nice to see the updates!

[Thumpin455]

Thanks again guys, the test drive is getting closer. The brakes are causing me some trepidation, I dont trust my flare work, but its rare I have leaks. A big leak on this thing would be heartbreaking to have it sprayed all over a panel or something. Will bleed them when I get it up in the air to put the 350 in and finish the work under there.

Spent a few hours out there today enjoying the 50+ temps. Its about freakin time. This is what I got done, among a few other small things.

Cleaning the back seat, it was nasty so some hand cleaner and a toothbrush were called into action.



Still not great but lots better.



Decided to just go ahead and get this done, even if I need to fix the rear window fitment. I can always tape off the interior or just yank the stuff out of the back if I need to reweld something. It looks damn near hospitable in there.



Also got the rear door panels in, the fronts can go in tomorrow. The transmission is buttoned up except for the pan because I am waiting on the detent cable to show, might be in tomorrow (hopefully) and then I can put that thing in there and get the shifter connected. Then I wont worry about it rolling away or into things. I am leaving some things out because I want it running, the other small stuff can be done later once its drivable.

I found out the hard way that the accelerator pedal mounting pins wont take much torque, the stupid thing just snapped right off when I tightened it, not even grade 3 hardware there. Need to find some better quality parts for that.

[SuperBuickGuy]

. Just concerned because it went so easily.

If I wasnt so sore today I would still be out there doing all the little things, like the carb, oil filter, radiator hoses, etc. It feels like this stuff takes even longer than the body work and welding.

I know that feeling - the easy bit - statistically speaking, somethings got to go easy, otherwise, you'd have nothing to compare the rest of the work too (at least, that's my cynical feeling when something finally works right )

I always figure I'm about 50% done when the car is painted... so you're well on track and close to being to 90% done (the moment when you can safely take the car for a test drive)

[milner351]

All in time! You're a one man army! Got to take some time off to heal up and preserve your sanity - work on the internals of doors is one of my most hated jobs on a car.

[Thumpin455]

Boring update, but have gotten lots of the small things done. The Th350 is rebuilt, just need to clean the valve body, get a detent cable and the speedo gear out of another trans and its ready to go in. If I can get the detent in then there will be a transmission in the thing soon. Spent today cleaning parts, pulling clutch packs and pistons out and replacing the seals. No extra parts so I am pretty sure it went back together right. If it works good then I still have the knack for the three speeds. Just concerned because it went so easily.

Spent 4 hours on the doors, adjusting the strikers, moving the windows around so they seal up and dont run into each other. What a chore that is on a near 50 year old car that has been rebuilt as much as this one has. Turn the screw and tighten the nut, roll the window and see how it does... do it again, and again, and you get the idea. 4 freakin hours of doing that crap. I think my mother in law will be able to open the door now, and not shatter the door glass when the door closes, so that is good. Need to get the door panels on and install the window cranks. I think I will jam the rear windows so they dont roll down, those things are sticky and I dont want to be tearing into it every week because someone rolled it down and broke something.

Rebuilt the alternator too, now its a 100amp fry small rodents with current while running a stereo capable. The harness I got for it is set up for an internal regulated alternator and HEI, just to simplify things.

Soon it will go up on jackstands for what hopefully is the last time, install exhaust, make sure the suspension is tight and secured, run the cooler lines for the trans, and bleed the brakes. Then the last thing will be spraying some bed liner in the wheel wells to minimize the road noise and make it look black under there.

If I wasnt so sore today I would still be out there doing all the little things, like the carb, oil filter, radiator hoses, etc. It feels like this stuff takes even longer than the body work and welding.

[Thumpin455]

Nice. Now that you guys need something to do... http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/3754408590.html

Haul it up here. I have a 74 Formula 350 already. THe last thing I need is another 2nd gen F body, unless its an HO or SD.

[Thumpin455]

You guys are being a little rough on us PY peeps...

Please don't think all nice cars are 100k Restos.

You are aware this build is on PY too, almost verbatim. I follow the other guys in the 64/65 area and their builds. There is nothing wrong with the rest of them, and the other 65 I mentioned, but damn it was a clean car. PY has helped me with a ton of parts, more than a few donated, so I appreciate and respect those guys just as much as these guys.

Yours looks awesome, and if someone spends $100k on a resto they hauled around to shops to have the work done instead of doing it themselves. You and I did it ourselves, that is how we managed to do it much cheaper.

I have other issues with PY, and a couple other Pontiac only sites. Mostly with the same group of people that are on all of them, so PY is the only other place I frequent now.

Nice. Now that you guys need something to do... http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/cto/3754408590.html

[6 Grrrs]

You guys are being a little rough on us PY peeps...

I started with this



And ended with this...



I have less than 15k in the entire car (the car was given to me by my father). The entire interior is new, the underneath is extremely detailed as well as severely upgraded to make it drive nice, the paint is lacquer, the engine is untouched as of now. It is red because that is the factory color.

You don't need to spend 100k to have a nice car. Most of the cost of those big number Restos is labor. I did almost everything myself with the exception of the paint.

I have spent a ton of time working the bugs out and drive it a lot. Aside from the final project that I have yet to complete (engine), this car drives and handles better than many modern cars on the road.

Please don't think all nice cars are 100k Restos.

[Thumpin455]

Like the guy on PY who says his 65 build is insane when it had zero rust, just needed a repaint and they did a frame off? If I had had a car that clean Dave woulda been driving it by summer 2010.

I could think of a reason for putting it on, mostly the amount of work needed to make the rockers smooth. This thing had enough work already!

Lol! It's refreshing every now and then to see a car that isn't done perfect, especially on a forum like Performance Years. Lot's of old guys with perfect cars. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you need to attract the younger guys too, including the ones that can't afford the 100k restoration.

[Thumpin455]

I can think of a few cool reasons to leave the trim off.

I could think of a reason for putting it on, mostly the amount of work needed to make the rockers smooth. This thing had enough work already!

They are getting covered with trim, and the dents are where the mounting brackets bolt on.

I can think of a few cool reasons to leave the trim off.

[Thumpin455]

.... I was just going on what my wife told me....

And Todd, I know there's logic behind intentionally not touching those rockers, I just can't figure out what it is...

They are getting covered with trim, and the dents are where the mounting brackets bolt on.