65 GTO

[SpiderGearsMan]

I Love Updates
make some more booze fuel
Daryl Hannah has promoted all kinds of cars powered by gasoline alternative recently, from her classic biodiesel El Camino to electric vehicles to, lately, an ethanol-powered Trans Am. We'd heard that she was going to convert the bruiser to electric drive, juiced from solar panels on her house, but that plan seems to have been scrapped in favor of the biofuel. Hannah will show off the '79 Pontiac Trans-Am in an episode of the TV show EcoReview that will air on Tuesday, March 23. Haven't heard of it? That's because it's a show produced by Community Television of Santa Cruz County. How cool is that?

The episode is called "The Greening of the Auto Industry: from Paint to Fuel," so we expect to see topics we've covered before (paint? check) and something we haven't, like a comparison of emissions of a car running on unleaded gasoline engine to one burning E10, E15 and E85. If you can't watch the show, you can stream it here when the time comes.

[Source: Domestic Fuel]

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[Thumpin455]

I cant make more fuel until I get the truck done, need more barrels and a way to get water since it didnt rain enough here this year. I have lots to do with the fuel project, but cant do much until I get a truck going. It just takes too long with only one boiler and three fermenters.

Darryl Hanna owns the TA she drove in Kill Bill, they put an aftermarket TBI on it, not sure which one, then converted it to E85. Just your basic 403 car, I was thrilled when they didnt make it electric. The Elc is pretty cool too. She is a bit of a hermit, doesnt like much attention, but I know the guy who works on her cars through another forum. He wont talk about her car much other than to say what I said, she likes to stay private and I respect that.

[Thumpin455]

The firetruck is done and gone, the GTO back in the shop with some room around it to work. The firefighters came over and helped me get the shop cleaned up after the paintjob on their truck. They rock.

Of late I have had some issues getting motivated to work on anything, I guess you could say I lost my groove. Lately I have been getting my groove back, and the thoughts of what to build, how to build it, and the idea of enjoying the work again have returned. The 65 LeMans is bugging me, as is the 71 Mustang, plus the 65 GTO is so damn close to running I can almost hear it. What that means is after we find out if it is going to snow like mad the next few days, there will probably be progress on the GTO. Still need to build another carb, but otherwise the Goat is the priority and I am anxious to get it done. This week has been spent with firewood and the last of the firetruck project. Next week should see some progress on the Goat, and possibly on the LeMans too....

[Bob Holmes]

Fantastic, can't wait to see some progress.

[99_ls1]

Thumper, I have followed the awesome resurrection since day 1. I wish this forum had existed way back when, maybe Barney the purple iron oxide pit might have lived. You rock, saving this car has been a hurculean effort! It's close, the burnout video is almost there!

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm so praying for snow the next week - I'll get so much done... in Seattle, a flake shuts the city down - of course, I'm all afraid to go out in the snow (not afraid to go skiing, mind you) so I just have to stay home and work on my junk ..... so I'll pray for flakes for you as well

[Thumpin455]

Thanks guys, the snow doesnt help me get motivated to go to the shop, but it does limit the other things I can do. Ordered brake lines and a prop valve this morning, should be here sometime next week. By then I hope to have the LeMans in the shop to donate some parts to the GTO. Need to get some of those wheel dollies to slide cars around easier.

[milner351]

Great to hear from you Todd - this sure has been an interesting winter so far weather wise.

Just take it one day at a time, you get more done on a good day than most of us do in a week!

[patrickth]

Thanks guys, the snow doesnt help me get motivated to go to the shop, but it does limit the other things I can do. Ordered brake lines and a prop valve this morning, should be here sometime next week. By then I hope to have the LeMans in the shop to donate some parts to the GTO. Need to get some of those wheel dollies to slide cars around easier.

Just read your whole thread. Good on ya. My days of even attempting such a project are long gone, but I sure am impressed how you brought it back from the dead.

[ls7gto]

Thumpin, you know anybody looking for a set of 64/65 cpe doors . not perfect but fixable. Hate to scrap them , but tired of tripping on them. they dont make skins for them yet , as far as I know. I will have lots of 64 stuff to get rid of when I start reassembling mine.

[Thumpin455]

There is probably someone on Performance Years who would be all over them. The LeMans is a post, and those doors have a little rust on them, so I might be interested if they are in better shape than the ones I have now.

Weatherizing the house is todays project (expanding foam YAY!) then getting out there and making room in the shop will be the next. The nice thing about not painting is I dont have to crank up the heat out there, I can just wear more clothes and some gloves. I wear gloves while welding anyway, and the only time it would suck is doing brake lines or bleeding them and packing wheel bearings.

The more I think about it the more I think I will put the spare 400 in rather than the 455 I pulled from the 70. I have another 'low buck' idea for the 455 since I cant duplicate that engine for what I have in it. Besides I dont think the LeMans has a posi under it, and the 455 would just make it scary to drive with a one legger. Just a nice cruiser with a sweet idle rolling out of the 400 that will run on any camel whiz gas Dave decides to put in it. Ported 5C heads and a Summit 2802 cam should give it enough power to be fun and that nice idle everyone likes. Wish I could find a Tri Power setup cheap for that under hood bling.

[milner351]

I don't know about tri power ever being cheap - but I've gotten some edelbrocks for $20 a piece used lately, and rebuild kits are around $20 on ebay. I'm sure Pontiac intakes are more than SBF stuff, but- something to think about.
(I paid $100 for a pair of edel cast alum valve covers and an offy low rise dual quad intake for SBF on craigslist)

[Vol_stang]

read the whole thread the other night. You did a ton of work, car looks great. hope mine comes out that good. Thinking bout giving it the POR 15 bath like you did.

[Thumpin455]

I have lots of Qjets, so a carb isnt a problem. I just wanted the Tri Power for the wow factor. I can get the base plates for the outer carbs easy, and modify the main body. The manifolds are around $300, give or take, but it would still cost me about $1000 or a bit more to put it on there. QJets are an $80 kit and about 6 hours of work, then they run great. Have also been thinking about EZ EFI or one of the other self learning TBI style EFI systems. That would make it fun to drive and start every time.

I found out the hard way that POR15 doesnt stick to areas where there is no rust. If you simply slather it on good metal without some deep pitting or porosity, it will come off really easy. Hit it with a DA and it will slide off in chunks. I used some rust encapsulator on this one and my Cougar, that works good on metal that isnt rusty. It adheres well and doesnt allow rust to start. Both of them work great on rusty parts, and I havent had any problems with the pieces I did 4 or 5 years ago that have been out in the weather.

[Thumpin455]

I should have masked it better, now I have to shoot more black on the frame and firewall. The brake parts are here, but they have the wrong ends on them, so I need to do some flares again. Should have just saved the $$ and built them myself. Still trying to decide if I will pull a MC from another car or buy a new one with a booster and put it on. Maybe just roll by the junk yard pick one up and make it work. In a couple days the LeMans will go in the shop alongside the GTO so it can donate parts directly from one to the other. Still need to get a carpet since the LeMans had a junk one in it, but I can do the sound/heat barrier stuff and get everything else done. Havent decided on a headliner, might just build one rather than struggle with bows and creases.





I got my groove back, and I want to work on stuff again. Part of it is the new set of heads I got yesterday for the alky 455.