1971 Pontiac Lemans Convertible

[fsdproject]

I have been lurking on this forum for almost a year now learning an amazing amount of information from all of you and your impressive builds. Thank you for making the effort to publish your experiences, it has been a huge help to me.

To show my appreciation to the Pro Touring community I am starting this build thread for my project to share what I have learned and accomplished with the hope that others can learn from me.

First, some background. I am 52 years old with a mechanical engineering degree. I worked at the Boeing airplane factories for many years where I learned a lot about airplane manufacturing, materials, fasteners, etc. I have also enjoyed my woodworking hobby for many years, for the last several years I turned that into a cabinet-making business. So I am good with my hands making things and figuring things out.

I have had two car projects in the past. The first during high school was a 1978 Plymouth Volare with a V8 and four speed (I know, sounds lame now but Dad worked for Chrysler and I ordered it new with the features I wanted, paid cash saved from after school jobs). I did the usually hot rod stuff, four barrel carb, headers/exhaust, wheels tires, etc. Learned a lot about cars from this effort, especially from my mistakes! Second car was several years later, bought a 1972 Datsun 240Z where I changed carbs to a Holley four barrel, reupholstered interior to black and did a crude red paint job.

Fast forward to last year; kids are teenagers, have time/money/place to do another car project, and divorced so no one to justify spending money to. My 18 year old son and I got to watching Overhaulin episodes on Netflix last year, he would keep asking me if we could do something like that. I initially wasn't real crazy about it, but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.

So last summer went searching for a project candidate. Looked for mostly GM (easier to get parts), and something cheap to conserve other money for upgrades. I ended up buying a 1971 Pontiac Lemans convertible. Previous owner and his dad bought it in pieces 10 years ago, it sat in their barn untouched until I bought it. He was asking $2500, I paid $2000. He said "floors are solid", I soon found out as many of you have what a misused phrase that is . . . Being a midwest car it has rust issues, some I was aware of when I bought it, some discovered later.

Pictures below show us bringing it home:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Carontrailer1-1.jpg https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Carontrailer2-1.jpg


I also got bumpers, front sheet metal, two sets of doors, seats, most of the exterior trim, etc.

Plan is to do a mild Pro-Touring build with LS1 power, and hopefully get my kids involved now and then so they can learn about cars with me.

We started this build last fall and have worked on it steadily since then making a significant amount of progress. I thought I would post an update every few days covering all of my progress made between then and now and then hopefully keep it updated. I will try to include details and part numbers as much as possible.

Thanks for reading.

[fsdproject]

Deconstruction started as soon as we got it home. I took the advice of others and tagged and bagged removed parts and took pictures as much as possible.

Since it's a convertible I added bracing to the interior to keep it folding up like a taco while it was off the frame. Since my welding skills were zero at that point and steel can be a little pricey I looked for materials that might work and come upon electrical conduit which is relatively cheap and easy to work with. I attached these to the car and to each other with 5/16" bolts. I tried to triangulate the bracing as much as possible to keep the body from flexing too much, it seemed to work really well and kept it rigid for months.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/BodyBracing-1.jpg


With that done I was ready to remove the body. Removing the body bolts proved to be quite the chore due to rust, I think only one or two came out without damage. Some snapped in the middle, some the welded cage broke off. Those bolts I wasn't able to get off I just cut through. I tried soaking them with PB blaster without much luck. Several of them had rusted to the point they were less than half their original diameter. Once the body bolts were out it was a slow and careful process using wood and concrete blocks and a floor jack to raise the body high enough to roll the frame out.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/BodyoffFrame-1.jpg


To sandblast the frame and keep the mess outside I rolled it outside in front of my shop. I bought an Eastwood blaster which I was very happy with. The seller of the car also sold me his old 80 gallon air compressor which was very helpful supplying the large quantities or air required by the blaster.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/BlastingFrameOutside-1.jpg


The frame was in pretty good shape, mostly surface rust with the exception of some rusting out around three body mount holes. I fixed that with the repair "washers" some of the restoration companies sell.

To finish the blasting I removed all of the suspension, brakes, steering, and remaining hardware and tubing. To refinish the frame I used all Eastwood products; Rust Convertor first, then Rust Encapsulator, then two coats of epoxy primer and two coats of their epoxy chassis paint. Internal Frame Coating was sprayed on the inside of the frame. This picture shows the frame refinished and the caster supports I made to make moving the bare frame around easier.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/PaintedFrame1-1.jpg

[lucky13firebird]

nice :-) keep it up

[mikes2nd]

Im doing a 70 gto... 2010 Camaro LS3 myself...

The body is off to the sandblaster next week, my frame is done also.

[fsdproject]

Now that the frame was done it was time to put suspension and brakes on. The first thing to go on was an updated steering box. I learned from the Chevelles forum a popular and cheap upgrade is to replace the original slow steering box with one from a mid 90s Jeep Cherokee. Surprisingly it bolts right up just like the original, the only thing that has to be done is to remove the Jeep pitman arm and replace it with the original A-body one. The advantage of the Jeep box is a faster gear ratio. You can see the steering box installed in the previous post about the painted frame.

Being the geek/engineer that I am I do a lot of research before I buy something, especially if it's expensive. My research into suspension led me to get the Stage 2 Plus Touring Suspension package from Savitske Classic and Custom. As a lot of you have also found out, Mark Savitske literally "wrote the book" on muscle car suspension upgrades (you can find it on Amazon) and is extremely helpful and enthusiastic with questions. The package is a bit of a hodge podge of suspension bits from different vendors, but Mark apparently has searched the industry and picked the best component of each type that work well together. The package solves the suspension issues these cars come with and work more efficiently with the upgraded brakes, wheels and tires these cars get. After dealing with all the rust I was also motivated to get the stainless suspension bolt upgrade. In fact, I use stainless hardware as much as I can for everything underneath the car and in the engine bay. Picture below shows the suspension bits being organized for installation.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/SuspensionandBrakes-1.jpg

The picture also shows the brake package I got from Stainless Steel Brakes. I ordered package A123-1A for the front and A125-26 for the rear. The fronts appear to use the stock design for things like the brackets, shields, bearings, etc. They are designed to use the stock spindles so I got some new spindles also. The calipers are pretty cool looking - large aluminum billets with a brush finish and SSBC engraved and them. Different powdercoated colors were an option, but I just got them in the natural finish.


I gave my daughter the honor of putting the first new part on, the rubber jounce bumper in the frame:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Cassieinstallingfirstpart-1.jpg


Ove the course of the next couple of months the suspension and brakes were installed. The design of the SPC upper arms requires some grinding for clearance on the frame bracket; my son enjoyed creating sparks while he did that:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Camerongrindingonframe-1.jpg


I also decided to rebuild the rear end. In doing so I found to my surprise a 12-bolt Chevy rear end. This was a plain Lemans with power drum brakes and no A/C so I'm I don't believe it came this way. I am guessing a previous owner swapped it in the past. It was leaking around the axle seals and I wanted to replace all the bearings so I bought a rebuilt kit and started tearing it apart. On teardown I found the races on the axles were pitted so new axles and studs went in.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/RearendRebuild-1.jpg

Some say to leave rear end rebuilds to the experts, but I thought I would give it a try. One of my goals on this project is to do as much as possible ourselves. It's not so much to save money although that's part of it, it's for the challenge and learning experience gained with doing it myself. I got it back together as best I could, if it ends up not working out I can take it to a shop to get it redone. Plus it has a 2.7 gear and is non-posi so I will probably want to upgrade those in the future also. It's good enough for now. This picture shows the rebuilt rear end going back in with the new suspension and brakes (my son and his friend, high school football players are handy to have around for jobs such as this, that rear end is heavy!)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/CameronandRyaninstallingRearend-1.jpg


The final shot of this post shows the new suspension and brakes mostly installed. I also bought and installed the factory braces that go between the rear upper and lower control arm mounts of the frame. All of the work in this post took place over 2-3 months last fall.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Framewithsuspension-1.jpg

Since then I moved the rear calipers to behind the axle, it worked out better that way for the brake line and emergency brake line hookups.

I STILL haven't installed the triangular rubber bumpers that go into slots on the rear axle (you can see them in the picture on top of the spring pockets), any suggestions on how to get them in?

[cobragt]

Very cool!

[LeighP]

Nice project...I love pontiacs.
If you can get a floor jack under the spot where the bump rubbers go in, get a piece of timber that'll reach up to the rubbers, grease the tab holes where the rubbers go through and press them up from underneath...get those big guys to sit on the chassis for you.

[fsdproject]

With the frame in pretty good shape I turned my attention to the body. Of course I found the floors to be in worse shape than I thought. As I tore into it I found amateur repairs such as plates tack welded in and even a repair under the driver's feet composed of foil tape and Bondo. The front and center floor braces were pretty much shot, and the area under the rear seat had significant issues also. The rockers were fortunately mostly intact, just some small holes near where the braces attach. I started on the driver's side by cutting the damage back to good metal. I bought repair sections for the two sides driver's and passenger, the section under the rear seat, and the front and rear braces. This picture shows the driver's floor section fitted in place with clecos.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Driversfloorreplacement3-1.jpg

At that point my welding skills were very much in the beginner stage, especially with sheet metal. That fact and my desire to do as much as I can myself led me to investigate some alternatives. After much research I decided to use 3M Structural Bonding Adhesive. Structural adhesive has been used for many years in the factory, in some cases for the entire car. My 96 Chevy truck has the hinges bonded to the cab structure with no problems. I fit the panels with a 1" overlap, ground the mating pieces to bare metal, applied the adhesive to both sides and installed with stainless steel blind rivets as "clamps". I thought it came out great, for me better and easier than welding. It doesn't look as slick as smoothed butt welds, but the top will be covered and I don't care what the bottom looks like; I am not trying to build a show car. I don't think I would have done this with a unibody car but with this car having a full separate frame I feel comfortable with it.

Access to the driver's and passenger side floors were fairly easy with the body on blocks, but installing the new floor braces, repairing under the rear seat and trunk areas was going to be more difficult. I looked into getting a rotisserie but didn't want to spend money for something that would get used for a short time. I again did some research and discovered the wood "rolltisserie" idea on a few other forums. My version is shown below.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/RolltisserieHorizontal-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/RolltisserieVertical-1.jpg

It may look hokey but it actually worked really well, was very stable, and made working on the floors much, much easier. I had my son help me rotate it up and down, but I probably could have handled it by myself; it was that easy. The rolltisserie is attached to the cowl boxes in the front and the bumper bracket bolts in the rear.

I continued cutting out bad metal from the floor and trunk areas and installed new sheet metal with the same procedure. This next picture shows how much metal I replaced. The black areas are original sheet metal treated with a rust convertor. The bare metal areas are the new sheet metal.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/Bottomoffloormetalreplaced-1.jpg

I wanted to blast the metal floor top and bottom to remove the remaining surface rust and prepare for coatings. I didn't want to make a mess of my shop so I make a "tent" over the rolltisserie. It worked great, but was sometimes hard to see through the dusty fog the was created inside. I wore goggles and a respirator when blasting.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/BlastingTent-1.jpg

Once the repairs and blasting was done I treated the existing sheetmetal with rust convertor and encapsulator. Then all areas got two coats of epoxy primer, seam sealer, and two coats of chassis paint. Then several layers of undercoating were added to the bottom.

LS1 swap coming up next.

[titan460]

That would be a 70 front end in your first photo. I had a 71 and loved that car. It was from wisconsin. The frame began to fall apart and I didnt have $ to move forward with it at a young age of 16. Good luck with yours!

[LeighP]

Nice job on the repairs.... I like your timber body roller.

[mikes2nd]

thats ALOT of welding :)

[fsdproject]

It's been almost two months since I updated this post, I have been busy with work and summer activities.

I wanted to get the frame as complete as I could before I put the body back on it because it's much easier to work on it with the body off. This included things like the engine, transmission, cross member, headers, exhaust, etc. So that meant I needed to source an engine and transmission. I had been looking quite a bit at buying a drop-out engine/trans from a yard, buying an older Camaro or Firebird, trying to find engines and transmissions on craigslist, etc. An idea I came across on other builds that I found very appealing was to buy an entire donor car. As I did my research a logical donor car to me was a 2004-06 GTO. They have newer LS engines, nice interiors, and typically have lower miles than older LS1 Z28s or Trans Ams. Lots of salvage yards have listings on the Internet and I started to search those for a good candidate. I found a 2004 GTO with 60K miles at a yard a couple of states away.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/H596RB-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/H596RD-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/H596RE-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/H596RH-1.jpg

As you can see I bought it from East Coast Auto Source in Virginia. I bought it through phone calls and emails, they were very good to deal with. They even arranged for shipping with a carrier they recommended. It arrived less than a week after I bought it.

It obviously got hit on the side, which was a plus for me. I was reluctant to buy one that got hit on the front since I didn't want to worry about what was damaged under the hood. It arrived with a broken ignition lock and no battery, after I dealt with those issues I was able to start it. It actually drove just fine (up and down the driveway).

My plan is to get quite a few parts out of this – engine, transmission, radiator and cooling fans, wiring harness, most of the interior including the dash, console, front & rear seats, and other miscellaneous bits. Then I will sell what’s left (which will be mostly body parts, suspension and wheels/tires) and cut up the carcass and recycle the metal. Based on my research and calculations I should make out pretty well with this, it will be much cheaper than buying all of the parts I need used on ebay and definitely cheaper than buying these parts new. I am hoping there is good karma here also – parts from a newer Pontiac going into an older Pontiac.

Next up, disassembly of this donor car.

[andrewb70]

Nice buy. Why not try to adopt the ABS as well?

Andrew

[fsdproject]

Andrew,

I would like to be able to transfer the ABS over. I have done some research on it and found very few builds (one?) that have done it. The consensus seems to be that it isn't feasible since the ABS computer has to be programmed for the particular car, taking into account weight, tires, etc. Plumbing in the ABS module wouldn't be too big a deal but the wheel speed sensors would have to be mounted somehow. It's something I may look into deeper later when the car is all done.

By the way, your build was one that inspired me, I read and re-read it several times for ideas. Thanks for making the effort to document what you did.

Phil

[Boostable]

Great build... really like the out of the box approach. Looking forward to following along. I am starting mine soon, so im sure I can pick up a few pointers.. :)

[andrewb70]

Andrew,

I would like to be able to transfer the ABS over. I have done some research on it and found very few builds (one?) that have done it. The consensus seems to be that it isn't feasible since the ABS computer has to be programmed for the particular car, taking into account weight, tires, etc. Plumbing in the ABS module wouldn't be too big a deal but the wheel speed sensors would have to be mounted somehow. It's something I may look into deeper later when the car is all done.

By the way, your build was one that inspired me, I read and re-read it several times for ideas. Thanks for making the effort to document what you did.

Phil

Thanks Phil. Glad I could be a source of inspiration.

If you were to do ATS spindles in the front, that solves the speed sensor issue there. In the rear, you can talk to Moser or one of the other rear end vendors and see about having a custom rear made that would incorporate sensors at the wheels. Remember, they make rear ends for 4th gen f-bodies, where the later year cars used a 4 channel ABS system. As far as weight, I'd say that a new GTO is right there along with an old GTO. As for wheels and tires, I see people swapping wheels and tires on new cars without any issues with the ABS. I think that if you were attempting to swap a fancy dynamic control system then this would be a problem, but for ABS, it might be simpler. Again, I don't know all this for sure, but you being an engineer should have a handle on things. Document the ABS swap, and you'll return the favor. :-)

I am looking forward to seeing this project progress.

Andrew

[fsdproject]

Andrew,

Thanks for the information on ABS. I do remember reading about the ATS spindles and the fact they have provisions for wheel speed sensors. I have kept everything I have taken off the GTO donor including the wheel speed sensors so as I said before the ABS swap is something I may do at a later date. I have my hands full now just trying to get the thing on the road! I do like the challenge of doing things that haven't been done before and this project certainly provides many challenges! When the time comes and I do successfully complete the ABS swap I will document it.

I hope to get this build thread up to date over the next few weeks to catch up with my actual progress on the car.

Phil

[andrewb70]

Andrew,

Thanks for the information on ABS. I do remember reading about the ATS spindles and the fact they have provisions for wheel speed sensors. I have kept everything I have taken off the GTO donor including the wheel speed sensors so as I said before the ABS swap is something I may do at a later date. I have my hands full now just trying to get the thing on the road! I do like the challenge of doing things that haven't been done before and this project certainly provides many challenges! When the time comes and I do successfully complete the ABS swap I will document it.

I hope to get this build thread up to date over the next few weeks to catch up with my actual progress on the car.

Phil

Good luck on the project Phil. Looking forward to updates!

Andrew

[fsdproject]

The donor car sat outside for a time while I got the frame ready. I ran stainless steel fuel and brake lines along the frame, I also used stainless vinyl covered clamps and fasteners for the lines to avoid future rust issues. I found these at McMaster, an online hardware store that has an extensive inventory.

In preparation for the swap I removed most of the front sheet metal from the GTO donor so it wouldn't get damaged. I took me a few days to drain fluids, disconnect things like the driveshaft, fluid hoses and lines, the electrical harness, and the mounts. I also removed the radiator and AC gear in the front so they wouldn't get damaged and I could use them in the Lemans. I couldn't find a hoist to borrow so I bought a 2-ton one at Tractor Supply for $200. It's a cheap Chinese one but it worked well for me. I also bought a engine lifting chain from Summit, part number SUM-G1027. The GTO's motor already had heavy sheet metal lifting brackets on the front of the driver's head and the back of the passenger head so I didn't have to bolt the chain to the engine. I used 3/4" grade 8 bolts with thick fender washers to attached the lifting chain to the lifting brackets on the motor. Lifting the motor was pretty uneventful.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/EngineLift1-1.jpg


Once the motor was in the air some things had to be done before it could be moved to it's new home. Since the GTO donor has a front sump oil pan, that had to be replaced. I did quite a bit of research into all the options and went with the Holley 302-1 LS Retro-fit oil pan. It's a nicely made and good looking part, it's too bad it won't be noticed where it's going. I paid about $370 at Amazon, no tax or shipping. The pan comes with a new oil pickup tube. I also replaced the windage tray (GM 12611129) and used a new gasket (GM 12612350). This picture shows my son and his friend removing the original oil pan.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/RemovingOilPan-1.jpg


One minor unfortunate thing happened during this process, the bolt hole in the block for the pickup tube somehow got stripped, I drilled it out slightly larger and tapped it for a larger bolt.

Another issue with using GTO engines is that the dipstick goes into a hole in the oil pan instead of the side of the block like most other LS applications. A small sheet metal plug in the bottom passenger side of the block needs to be punched out from the inside to allow the installation of a dipstick there. This should be done while the oil pan is off the engine. I installed a dispstick tube (GM 12625031) and dipstick (GM 12634547) after the headers were installed. All of these part numbers are in the instructions that came with the Holley oil pan. Another thing I found was that the Holley oil pan uses a different oil filter than what the GTO requires - a PF48 instead of a PF46. I believe they differ in the thread size and pitch.

Next, motor mounts.

[fsdproject]

In researching motor mounts and adapter plates it seems like the two choices are normal and one inch setback. I got the impression the one inch setback plates are useful to avoid interference issues with the crossmember and to allow the engine to bolt to an existing transmission. I didn't have either of those issues, and I didn't like having the motor closer to the firewall and making access to the sensors and connections on the back of the motor more difficult. So I went with the normal adapter plates.

For adapter plates and motor mounts I went with the 3-1148G Motor Conversion Set from Energy Suspension. This set includes the adapter plates, short and wide poly engine mounts and all necessary fasteners needed. The parts are well made but the instructions were basically a parts list and torque diagram. I had a couple of issues with them.

The first issue was one of interference of the adapter plates with brackets on the engine that support accessories. The front lower corner of the adapter plate on the driver side interfered with the bracket for the alternator. The front upper corner of the adapter plate on the passenger side interfered with the bracket for the AC compressor. I called tech support for Energy Suspension and was told to just grind the edges of the plate as necessary to gain the needed clearance. Their tech support was very good, I got a person on the phone right away and he was very helpful. The pictures below (driver's side first, then passenger) show the installed plates with grinding done.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/Driverssideinterferencewithalternatorbra-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/PassengerSideInterferencewithACcompresso-1.jpg

After I got the plates figured out I sandblasted them, primed and painted them so they wouldn't rust and installed them permanently.

The other issue came when I installed the motor mounts onto the adapter plate. On the "back" or upper surface of the mount there is a ridge in the poly that prevents the mount from sitting flush on the plate. When I called and asked about that I was told this area would get compressed when the bolts were tightened and that develops a necessary preload into the mount.

For the frame mounts I went with the Car Shop CSP2380 A Body frame mounts BOP to Chevy. These were attached to the crossmember with a stainless fastener kit from Totally Stainless.

Once all these were in place it was time to lower the engine onto the Lemans' frame.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/EngineLift31-1.jpg

The only interference issue I ran into fitting the engine was between the alternator and steering box. It was pretty much preventing the engine from being bolted in on that side. I knew from my research that was a possible issue so was not surprised. I removed the alternator and it's supporting bracket from the engine to allow me to continue. I know I could have possibly trimmed the steering box, put spacers under the frame mounts, or used the smaller Camaro alternator, but wasn't really interested in any of those options. Plus, it appeared like the alternator would have been very hard to replace in the future if I left it in it's original location. I figured I would look into alternator relocation in the future.

I left the fasteners for the motor and frame mounts loose to help put the cross bolts through the mating holes in both mounts. With a little bit of shoving and pushing I got all the bolts in and tightened everything.

Next, headers and exhaust.

[fsdproject]

This post will document the transmission crossmember I made. I first tried to modify the Pontiac cross member but found it wouldn't have been feasible. I also considered buying a Chevelle cross member and doing the easy typical mod of flipping and re-welding the tab on, but didn't want to spend the money for a new one or spend time looking for a used one.

I was getting more comfortable with my welding skills so I decided to give this a go. I used metal angles and straps I found at Lowes. I decided to make it in three pieces, two small brackets that sit on top of the frame and the main cross member part. Height adjustments for driveline angles will be done between the frame brackets and main cross member.


The brackets are in the shape of a "Z", I tried to add strengthening braces to all parts as much as I could.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/TransCrossmember1-1.jpg


The main cross member was made of several pieces, here are views looking forward and aft:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/TransCrossmember2-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/TransCrossmember4-1.jpg


Not the prettiest thing in the world, but hopefully it works for awhile. Someday I will probably make another one that looks better.


Now next will be headers and exhaust.

[fsdproject]

As promised some info on the headers and exhaust:

After doing my usual "exhaustive" research I decided on Doug's LS1 swap Headers for A-bodies. I bought part number D3338, the ceramic coated ones. Amazon actually caries these, so I got a pretty good deal and free shipping. Inside the package was the headers, gaskets, bolts, 3" to 2 1/2" reducers, two clamps, and two O2 sensor extension harnesses. The headers have O2 bungs welded on the outside of each collector. They come wrapped in bubble wrap which I left on during installation to avoid scratches and dings. I installed these before the body went back on so they went on pretty easy.

These fit great in my situation, I have plenty of clearance everywhere. I should mention that I did move the brake distribution block from it's normal position on the inside of the frame to the top of the frame below the master cylinder, you can see that in the driver's side picture below. I knew from my research that this was a possible issue and it didn't really bother me too much as I was running new lines anyway and also adding an adjustable proportioning valve nearby.

One issue that I did have to deal with is that the O2 extension harnesses supplied by Dougs would not work with the engine wiring harness from the 04 GTO, apparently they use different connectors (square gray) than the F-body LS1 harnesses (square black). I did call Dougs about it and was just told to go buy the correct ones. I found and ordered the correct ones on ebay, they seem to work fine.

Another issue I had was that the original GM spark plug wires didn't fit very well around the header tubes in some cases. I decided to get a set of MSD -32813 spark plug wires, these have bendable spark plug boots so you can position the boot wires away from the headers as needed. These are also shown in the pictures below.

Here are pictures of the headers: Excuse the dust, been busy making cabinets lately and the dust goes everywhere.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/HeadersPassengerSide-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/HeadersDriversSide-1.jpg


For exhaust I decided to go with the Pypes 2 1/2" system with x-pipe, part number PYE-SGA12S. I chose these because they seemed to have a fairly good reputation and are stainless steel for a reasonable price. The system comes with stainless hangers that are the same design as the original GM hangers. This system did require some mods to install, I end up trimming the four pipes forward and aft of the x-pipe as necessary to get everything to fit.

The Pypes kit comes with standard u-bolt style clamps, I did end up replacing some of these with stainless band clamps I got from Summit, part number WLK-33226.

This picture shows the driver's side header from underneath the car. You can see there is plenty of clearance between the header and floor, frame, and other parts. Also plenty of room to install the O2 sensor. The Pypes clamp was used to attach the reducer to the header collector and the band clamp I bought was used to attach the reducer to the exhaust. You can also see the Holley LS1 swap oil pan in this picture and how well it fits flush with the bottom on the engine crossmember.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/Exhaustcollector-1.jpg

The picture below shows the x-pipe and mufflers installed. I positioned the clamps in such a way to avoid damage from speed bumps and to make the bolts accessible in the future.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/Exhaustxpipesandmufflers-1.jpg


Now that I have installed as much as I can on the frame I can put the body back on, that will be the next update (the above pictures were taken after that).

[fsdproject]

Next step was to put the body back on the frame.

I just reversed the procedure when I removed the body - we rolled the rolltisserie back to horizontal and supported the body again with the concrete blocks and 2x4s as before. At this point the rolltisserie was removed from the body. The frame was rolled back under the body and I lowed the body back onto the frame, doing it gradually removing a 2x4 spacer at each corner at a time so the body wouldn't get twisted. As I got closer I lined up the frame under the body so the body bolt holes would line up.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/LoweringBodyontoFrame-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/BodybackonFrame-1.jpg

When I removed the body from the frame most of the cage nuts were rusted to the point where they either broke or I had to cut through the bolt. I don't particular care for this GM design where the nuts were hidden in body cavities the way they were, if the body were ever to be removed again I wanted the process to be easier. I also wanted to use stainless fasteners as much as possible and cage nuts don't come in stainless. Here is what I came up with.

In most locations I drilled 1 1/2" holes through the sheet metal floor directly above the bolt locations. I did this by first drilling a small pilot hole through the sheet metal floor from the bottom through the larger body hole in the floor brace while the body was rotated on the rolltisserie. I then drilled the 1 1/2" hole from the top through the floor using a bi-metal hole saw. I bought 7/16" stainless bolts of varying lengths along with stainless nylon lock nuts and large stainless fender washers. I also used new rubber body mount bushings I bought from OPGI, and used the cone washers that came with the kit but not the bolts.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/BodyBoltCovers-1.jpg

I had to trim the upper washer as shown so it would fit through the 1 1/2" hole in the floor. I was able to reach all of the bolts and nuts to tighten them by myself except the ones under the trunk hinges, those need two people to do. The hole in the floor will be covered up with the 1 1/2" diameter chrome cap, which is a standard item in the blue hardware drawers at Lowes. I will just run the Dynamat over these covers.

The most rear mounts were a little different situation due to where they were located. I cut a square hole in the area in the trunk to access the cavity to install the washer and nut. I will make a overlapping cover panel which will be painted and installed with stainless screws and sealant. Cutting these holes also allowed access to spray the cavity with internal frame coating.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/RearBodyBoltsinTrunk-1.jpg

[fsdproject]

Once the body was back on the frame I was eager to get the engine started as most of you would. So that meant I needed to get a lot of things installed in the engine bay.

I noticed on the new GTO a lot of components were mounted on the inner fenders. I wanted to move things over as simply as possible so I figured I would reinstall these components in similar locations on the Lemans. I didn't want to rework the harness and possibly create a lot of headaches so that's why I was compelled to use the existing component locations as much as possible. I had previously blasted, primed and painted the inner fenders in preparation for this time so I went ahead and installed them. I also installed the radiator core support and passenger fender to help support it. I am going for a factory look here, as if GM would have built a 71 Lemans with 2004 technology.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/OverallPictureofEngineBay-1.jpg

On the new GTO the underhood fuse panel and cruise/throttle cable components are mounted on the passenger inner fender. These pictures shows how I mounted these. I made brackets as required and attached everything through existing or new holes in the inner fender with stainless bolts. When placing components I kept in mind that the associated connectors on the wiring harness had to reach the components so I laid the wiring harness over the engine bay as I did this process.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/Componentsonpassengerinnerfender-1.jpg

This picture shows the mounting of the underhood fuse panel.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/UnderhoodFusePanel-1.jpg

The fuse panel attaches directly to the inner fender on the back side, the forward side needed a bracket I made to support it:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/UnderhoodFusePanelBracket-1.jpg

This picture shows the mounting of the cruise and throttle cable components.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/CruiseandThrottleCableComponents-1.jpg

I am not sure exactly what these components are, I assume the forward box shaped item is the cruise servo, the rear cylindrical thing is where all the cruise and throttle cables come together. For the cruise servo I cut the supporting bracket from the GTO donor and mounted it with a supporting bracket underneath that I made.

For the cable component I made a bracket from some angle to support it on the inner fender, this is a view looking down, forward is to the right:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/CruiseandThrottleCableComponentBracket-1.jpg

On the new GTO the battery is located on the passenger side just behind the headlight. I was at a car show a few months ago and noticed on Pontiac A-bodies the battery is on the driver’s side and on Chevelles the battery is on the passenger side. To keep things the same as the new GTO I mounted the battery on the Chevelle or passenger side. Since my GTO donor didn’t come with a battery I got a new one from Autozone. I got the correct battery for the new GTO, it fits in the a-body location just fine.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/Battery-1.jpg

On the new GTO the ECM is mounted on the lower driver’s inner fender just above the frame rail. Again, I picked a similar location although I moved it up to get it away from the header. The ECM is mounted in a plastic holder with a cover. I just used the holes in the holder to locate new holes in the inner fender.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/ECMMounting-1.jpg

[fsdproject]

Alternator Relocation

As I mentioned in a previous post I decided to relocate the alternator after I discovered it would interfere with the steering gearbox. I looked into the different kits on the market to accomplish the task but didn’t want to spend the money. These kits start at about $150 and go into several hundreds for the fancy kits with polished parts and such. For this project I am more interested in function than form so I set about making my own mount.

I decided to relocate the alternator up high on the passenger side. This brings it up closer to the battery and underhood fuse panel. I think it would have been tougher to put it high on the driver’s side with the existing power steering pump.

The alternator was originally mounted on the front of the block down low on the driver’s side. It appeared to me that the front of the driver’s side head was on the same plane as the front of the block, and I researched and found out that the passenger side head is offset to the rear about 0.75 inch. So I decided to base my bracket on a 0.75 think aluminum plate figuring that would put the alternator roughly in the same plane again. I went through several designs using ¾” particle board until I had a design I was happy with. I actually spent more time fussing with the tensioner relocation trying to get the proper leverage to tension the belt. This bracket relocates both items.

Below is a drawing with dimensions of my bracket. I made it from a 8 inch by 8 inch by 0.75 inch aluminum plate that I bought from McMaster for about $39 (part number 9246K51). At the time I didn’t have access to a machine shop so I cut this plate with a reciprocating saw and finished it with belt and spindle sanders. Crude, but I got it done.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorBracket-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorBracket1-1.jpg

Disregard the two holes right next to each other, they were from an earlier unsuccessful attempt to relocate the tensioner bracket.

The picture below shows where I mounted the bracket. I am using the three outer holes on the front of the passenger head. The fourth most inner hole is not used. In this picture you can also see the two holes just below on the water pump that used to support the tensioner bracket.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorMountingArea-1.jpg

The bracket is mounted to the front of the passenger side head with M10-1.5 x 40 bolts as shown below. The holes in the head are already tapped to that thread size.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorBracketInstalled-1.jpg

The alternator is mounted to the bracket with two 3/8 x 5 1/2 in. bolts and one 3/8 x 4 1/2 bolt, I used grade 8 bolts.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorInstalled-1.jpg

The tensioner is mounted with one M10-1.5 x 130 bolt in the inner hole, this bolt goes through the hole on the bracket and into the existing hole in the head. The outer bolt is 3/8 x 4 and threads into the bracket. To keep the tensioner aligned with the other pulleys it is installed with spacers between the alternator bracket and the tensioner bracket. These spacers, made from 1/2" pipe or heavy conduit, are 1.70 inches long.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/Tensionerandbolts-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/TensionerInstalled-1.jpg

I put a straightedge across some of the pulleys to make sure they were in the same plane, I did put one washer between the alternator and bracket at each of the three bolt locations to get the pulleys in the same plane.
For the belt I tried measuring with a string and then a metal tape measure wrapped around all of the pulleys but that only got me a starting point for belt length. From there it was a trial and error process of getting belts from the auto parts store and trying different ones until one worked well. For this particular installation that ended up being a Gates K060815 belt (six ribs, 81.5 inches long). This belt fits pretty snug, the tensioner is at the higher end of its scale.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/AlternatorInstallationFinished-1.jpg

The bracket seems very sturdy and I have run the engine several times without issue, although not at full throttle yet.

[SPDMETL]

That's a nice bracket!

[Grim]

Enjoying the build. Hope my 70 doesn't have any hiddend problem.
That would be a 70 front end in your first photo. I had a 71 and loved that car. It was from wisconsin. The frame began to fall apart and I didnt have $ to move forward with it at a young age of 16. Good luck with yours!
Yep that's a 70 front bumper. 6th digit of the vin is the last digit of the year. 0 for 70.

My understanding is that bumper was a major pain to pres and didn't make a full model year. Only on 70 did it have lemans on the rear 1/4 in front of the rear bumper. It had 3 horizontal gills behind the front wheel opening. The chin changed with the bumper and I think the 70 will not work with any other year front fenders. The 70 shared hood with 69..
My 70 was dec 69 delivery and the jack instruction stickers are 69.
Curious if its a 70 nose or a 70 car.

[fsdproject]

Yes, the front end on the car did have a 70 Lemans bumper when I bought it. It is a 71 according to the title and the VIN. I was given a bit of a hodge podge of front parts for the car when I bought it (including the 71 Lemans bumper and a 68-70 GTO hood) from different years but unfortunately I don't have everything for one particular year. I later bought the front sheet metal (except for the hood) from a 1972 GTO but it's not in great shape and I don't know if I will use it. I am leaning towards doing a 1970 GTO front, trying to find a bumper now.

[Grim]

Well don't toss that 70 LeMans bumper. HARD to find, more so then the GTO. If its straight I might be interested in it and the hood if I can figure out how to get it down to GA cheap. Also looking for the front side orange reflectors for 70 Lemans if you happen to have a good set. I didnt manage to get NOS front signal lenses to replace my broken ones.

Hate to say it but I don't think the 70 LeMans fenders will work with the 70 GTO endura nose. Good lord has the price gone up at Goodmark on the fenders! (http://www.goodmarkindustries.com/c-1851-fenders.aspx) :(

[fsdproject]

No, I have no intention of tossing any bumpers. I was given both 70 and 71 Lemans chrome bumpers, both are straight with just very minor scratches, but they need to be re-chromed. I do want to sell them at some time, I don't think I will use them, I like the GTO look better. I also have the bumper brackets, grilles, and header panel that goes between the bumper and hood for the 70 Lemans.

The other day I bought a 1970 GTO Endura bumper for $200, unfortunately it didn't come with the bumper brackets, grilles or headlight parts; I will have to start looking for those or find another bumper that has them. As I said, I am leaning towards doing the 1970 GTO front so will probably also use the 68-70 GTO hood I have.

You are right, the 1970 Lemans and GTO front fenders are different, but just in the lower front corner. I have seen pictures on the internet where the Lemans fenders are converted into GTO fenders by welding in some metal to fill in the pocket where the Lemans bumper wraps around into the fender, I even ran across a company that sells patch panels for that very purpose. Some really nice 1970 Lemans fenders came with the car so I am thinking of doing this.

I don't have the front side reflectors for the 1970 Lemans, sorry.

[fsdproject]

Power Steering

This was one of the easier parts of the swap to do. I discovered in tearing down the GTO donor that it had a power steering cooler. I thought why not, if they thought it important to have one I will move that over too. This picture shows the mounting of the cooler in front of the core support. As you can see it was fairly simple to mount, I just made a flat strap to support the cooler at it's existing bolt locations and to the core support upright.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/PowerSteeringCoolerInstall-1.jpg

As mentioned in a previous post I swapped the old steering box with one from a 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee which is a direct bolt in and quickens the steering. So I had to connect the power steering lines from this steering box to the power steering pump on the GTO donor. I used two hoses from NAPA, part number 7-1832 for the pressure side and part number 7-1717 for the return side. This isn't a real great picture but this shows these lines installed on the gearbox and power steering pump. These lines need minor tweaking to get them installed.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/PowerSteeringHoses-1.jpg

I also bought some power steering return hose to connect to the cooler hardlines which come in around the passenger side of the radiator as shown in the first picture. These run along the rear side of the bottom of the core support, you can just see one line and it's clamp just to the left of the power steering pump pulley in the picture above.

[fsdproject]

An update for my build thread for those of you who may have wondered what's happening . . .

Transmission Cooler Lines

Obviously the transmission cooling lines from the GTO donor weren’t going to fit exactly into the Lemans, but I did manage to use most of them. I cut a small section out in each line from where they went around the driver’s side header and joined the lines with some AN fittings and braided hose. The fittings I used were -6 AN 3/8 hard tube fitting adapters (part number SUM-2200077B at Summit, four required) for the cut ends of the tubes and -6 AN straight hose ends (part number SUM-220690B, again four required) and two appropriate lengths of -6 AN hose.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/TransCoolingLines-1.jpg

I thought about doing the whole thing in AN lines, but it would have been a lot more expensive due to the special adapter fittings required at the radiator and transmission.

This picture also shows the steering linkage which I hope to discuss soon when I get into the interior installation.

[fsdproject]

Cooling System

I was determined to use as many components from the GTO donor as possible and that included the cooling system. The new GTO radiator is slightly taller but several inches narrower than the opening in the Leman’s core support. The GTO radiator apparently just sits in its core support by gravity. So I duplicated how it was mounted into the Lemans. Two posts with rubber bushings protrude from the bottom of the radiator and rest in corresponding holes (upper right below) in the bottom of the new GTO’s core support, see picture below.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/NewGTOlowerradiatorsupports-1.jpg

I drilled matching holes in the bottom of the Leman’s core support as shown. In the picture below I am using a screwdriver shaft to hold the radiator up so you can see how it rests into the new holes. Excuse the dust, woodworking and car building don't mix very well.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/LowerRadiatorSupport-1.jpg

On the outside upper edges of the radiator are rubber doughnut shaped bushings. These slide into u-shaped brackets attached to the core support. These u-shaped brackets were removed from the GTO donor and modified to fit into the Lemans. I welded straps to the u-shaped supports and mounted them on the Leman’s core support with bolts, and nylon spacers.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/UpperRadiatorSupport1-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/UpperRadiatorSupport2-1.jpg

I noted the Leman’s core support leaned forward slightly at the top. I used this to my advantage when I mounted the new GTO’s radiator. It sits in the new holes in the bottom of the core support and raises above and behind the core support at the top so the radiator ends up being fairly vertical. I am not sure what’s going to happen at the top of the core support, I removed the upper sheet metal panel when I reworked the core support. The sheet metal will have to be trimmed, and I may come up with a radiator cover at some point.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/TopofRadiator-1.jpg

By the way, the AC condenser and electric fans were reinstalled onto the radiator just as they were on the GTO donor. It was easy-peasy because they both attach directly to the radiator so there wasn't any fabrication to do. They both just slide down onto L-shaped brackets on the radiator and snap into place. There is ample room in front and behind the radiator for these components.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/RadiatorFans-1.jpg

This last picture shows the installation of the coolant recovery tank. My original thought was to get his mounted in a driver’s side location in such a way that all the connections would route well to mating components. But I have since discovered that I may have mounted it to low, which is important as I believe the tank helps determine the level of the coolant in the system and mine is therefore may be too low. I will be looking into ways to remedy this issue.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/OriginalCoolantRecoveryTankInstall-1.jpg

As far as hoses go I was able to use all of the existing radiator and heater hoses from the GTO donor. This will just make things that much easier when I go to the parts store for replacements, I just tell them it's for a 2004 GTO.

[fsdproject]

Cooling System Rework

As I mentioned in my previous post about the cooling system, I discovered that I probably originally installed the coolant recovery tank too low. This post shows how I remedied that.

I tried in vain to figure out a way to raise the tank enough, but I wasn’t successful. The only other place I could think of was higher up on the inner fender where the ECM was, but then that means I would have to find another place for that and I was happy with where it was. Then it occurred to me that I could lower the radiator. I ended up doing that and raising the coolant recover tank.

I cut the center part of the lower channel from the core support and made a new lower radiator support from angle iron and tabs welded on as required to support the GTO radiator.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoreSupportBottomChannelCut_zpsff6a2c49-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoreSupportNewLowerChannel_zps34e8f627-1.jpg

This new support was attached with bolts and spacers to the bottom on the core support as shown. This ended up lowering the radiator about 2 3/8 inches. As a bonus, the radiator no longer sticks up above the top of the core support. The top support brackets for the radiator were also moved down an equal amount. The picture below shows the attachment of the new lower channel on one side, the other side is just the opposite.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoreSupportNewLowerChannelInstalled_zps9-1.jpg

The picture below shows the support and installation for the coolant transfer tubes between the lower part of the radiator and the engine. This assembly was on the GTO so I also moved it over so I could use the GTO's lower hoses.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoolantTransferTubeInstallation_zps7f048-1.jpg

The coolant recovery tank was reinstalled in approximately the same position it was before except about 2 inches higher. The picture below shows the support brackets I fabricated and installed to support the tank. This is looking down into the area between the driver's side inner fender and the core support. The brackets are attached to the inner fender and core support. The bracket in the lower left corner of the picture is simple flat support the recovery tank rests on to support it.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoolantRecoverTankNewBrackets_zps36de7a7-1.jpg

The following picture shows the recovery tank installed. The tank is now higher than the radiator and engine so the system should be filled correctly in the engine and radiator.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CoolantRecoverTankNewInstallation_zpse0a-1.jpg

As part of this effort since the cooling system was drained I got the HVAC system installed in the interior and connected all of the heater hoses. I will document that in a future post.

[fsdproject]

Firewall Interior Side Part One

I wanted to finish up the cooling system, which meant getting the HVAC system in, which meant getting the GTO's dash into the Lemans. But first I wanted to make sure everything needed was routed through or attached to the firewall, it's much easier to do before the dash goes in.


Brake Pedal

I used the brake pedal and support bracket from the Lemans. The only change I did here was to move the bracket a couple of inches rearward to accommodate the deeper size of the GTO dash. I just did this by using longer bolts and oversize nuts as spacers. The threaded rod from the brake booster was lengthened accordingly. I unfortunately did not take a picture of this. The GTO had two switches on the brake pedal, the Lemans had one. Interestingly, the main brake switch on the GTO appeared to be exactly the same as the one I took from the Lemans. I guess GM uses the same switch 30 plus years later. I did need to support both switches onto the Lemans' bracket, I just welded the lower portion of the GTO's brake switch bracket to the upper part of the Lemans. The pictures below show the modified bracket welded together and installed.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/BrakeSwitchBracketWelded_zpsf8b94af5-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/BrakeSwitchBracketInstalled_zpse718896a-1.jpg


Gas Pedal

I wanted to use the GTO's gas pedal assembly because it was already designed to work with the throttle cable from the engine. The picture below shows how the gas pedal assembly attached to the GTO's firewall. I needed the round opening in the firewall above the bracket to support the cable end so I cut that portion out as shown.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasPedalSheetMetalfromGTO_zps43107316-1.jpg

The assembly of the firewall section and the gas pedal assembly was bolted to the firewall in the appropriate place. I added the black bracket as shown to support the lower portion of the pedal assembly. I also thought the gas pedal was too low so I created a new one from welded steel with the pivot point towards the bottom instead of the middle, although I may go back to the GTO's pedal as a play around with things in the interior. In the upper right corner of this picture you also can see how I spaced the brake pedal bracket from the firewall.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasPedalInstallation_zps6cc71b91-1.jpg

I drilled a 1" dia hole in the Lemans' firewall for the cable end support from the GTO firewall. The picture below shows that on the forward side of the firewall.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasPedalThrottleCablethroughfirewall_zps-1.jpg


Cowl Vent Covers

Since the GTO's HVAC takes fresh air from the upper cowl area, these large openings in the lower sides on the cowl are no longer needed. I made up some simple sheet metal covers and riveted them and sealed them in place on both sides. These were then covered up with sound deadener material.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/CowlVentCoverPlates_zps86afa8bf-1.jpg


BCM Installation

On the GTO the BCM is installed on the interior side of the cowl pasenger side, I did the same. I did a similar thing on the driver's side with the throttle control module. The pictures below shows adding brackets to the BCM, then the BCM attached with sheet metal screws through the new brackets to the cowl cover plates discussed above.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/BCMbracketsapart_zps94de54af-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/BCMbracketstogether_zps752d0f47-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/BCMinstalled_zps99b4bb28-1.jpg


Firewall Part Two will cover wire bundle and HVAC routing through the firewall.

[fsdproject]

Firewall Interior Side Part Two

I then needed to get two wire bundles and four HVAC connections through the firewall.


Driver's side wire bundle

A smaller wire bundle from the GTO donor goes from under the hood to the dash area on the driver's side. I used the existing rectangular hole in the firewall that was originally used for the fuse block and connection to the Lemans' wire bundle. I needed to find a way to seal the opening around the existing hole. There are existing split seals available, but they didn't really work well for this situation. I did use their design concept in what I came up with.

I made a two-piece cover that could be installed around the wire bundle which was already routed, I didn't want to remove all of the connectors just to route it through a grommet. The cover is made from sheet metal, the grommet is just an appropriately sized rubber grommet I got from Lowes. I cut the grommet in half and put each half into each half of the cover plates. The two plates overlap each other in the middle to sandwich the grommet halves together.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/FirewallBundleGrommetPlate1_zpse3d11500-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/FirewallBundleGrommetPlate2_zpse5208744-1.jpg

This picture shows the plate/grommet assembly installed from the front of the firewall. The plates are attached to each other and to the firewall with 3/16" steel rivets, the plate will be sealed with seam sealer on the outside and covered with sound deadener on the inside.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/FirewallBundleGrommetPlateInstalled_zpsb-1.jpg


Passenger Side Bundle and HVAC bulkhead connections

On the passenger side I had a similar situation with the larger bundle on that side, plus I needed to provide for the AC and heater connections. I also had the large rectangular hole in the firewall from where the heater core used to be to cover. I took care of all of these issues with a another two-piece cover plate that also had holes for the AC and heater bulkhead connectors. The picture below shows the two parts of the plate and the grommet I cut in half. The grommet is from McMaster, part number 6359K35. Lowes did not have a grommet this large.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/HVACCoverPlatefab_zps1d4c4784-1.jpg

In the above picture the two small holes in the left side of the plate are for vacuum lines between the HVAC unit in the interior and engine and heater valve under the hood. The vacuum lines will be routed through these holes with rubber grommets. The two larger holes positioned vertically are for the heater bulkhead fittings and the remaining two holes to the right are for the AC bulkhead fittings.

The next picture shows the plate installed around the passenger side wire bundle. The plate was installed with 3/16" steel rivets. The following picture shows a close up of the wire bundle area. Again, the plates overlap to sandwich and hold the two halves of the grommet in place around the bundle.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/HVACCoverPlateinstalled1_zpsca818e4e-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/HVACCoverPlateinstalled2_zpsdd879d7c-1.jpg

The HVAC unit from the GTO will sit about 4 inches behind the Lemans' firewall. So I needed some short heater hose connections in the interior side between the HVAC unit and the firewall cover plate. Since there were going to be hose connections on both sides I needed heater bulkhead fittings that had barbed ends on each side. I searched extensively online but could not find anything like that, so I made my own. The picture below shows the parts I used. Each fitting is made from a 1/2 inch pipe nipple, large washer to fit around the pipe nipple, a 1/2 inch pipe elbow and two barb fittings as shown. The pipe parts and washer are from Lowes, the barb fittings came from McMaster. They are part numbers 5346K59 and 5346K66. The washer was welded to the pipe nipple and had two holes to facilitate bolting the fitting the the firewall.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/HeaterBulkheadFittingparts_zpsdb2f4f08-1.jpg

The following picture shows the heater and AC bulkhead fittings installed onto the plate.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/HVACCoverPlateinstalledwithbulkheadfitti-1.jpg

I did my usual research into AC hoses and fittings and found that there is quite a few ways to go. I stumbled upon the EZ-Clip fittings from Aeroquip and liked them because they are easy for a home builder to make and install. The only special tool required is a pliers. Aeroquip sells the pliers for about $50, but amazingly I found the pliers along with many of the fittings I needed on Ebay for $5 each. I will talk about the AC hoses in a future post but I will give the part numbers for these bulkhead fittings here: FJ3514-0606S and FJ3514-1010S.

When I tried to install the interior heater hose connections I found that I placed the holes in the bulkhead too low, even after what I thought was good measuring and pondering. The fittings were moved up one hole, with another hole being drilled into the plate and the lower hole covered up. They were also rotated about 30 degrees up from vertical. In a future post I will try to show this connection, but it's tough to take pictures under the dash.

[BirdsThaWord]

Wow! You are really making it happen. I admire your tackling so many tedious fabrication projects. Great job so far and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product. Keep at it brother!

[fsdproject]

2004 GTO Interior – Steering

This post will show installing the steering column from the GTO donor into the Lemans. I wanted to get the steering column installation figured out before the dash in went because the area is easier to get access to.

I had previously mocked up where I wanted to dash to go, so I knew about how far rearward the column needed to be to mate up with the relocated dash supporting structure.

I have seen different ways to do this on other builds but either I didn’t care for what was done in the past or it wouldn’t work in my situation. I didn’t want to modify steering parts with welding and cutting on the column and linkage parts. I wanted a bolt together solution that was safe and secure.

The main issue of this installation is supporting the column at the Lemans firewall. I first thought about using the column mount on the GTO firewall that was installed to support the dash, but it didn’t seem secure enough, and I still had the issue with sealing the opening through the Lemans firewall where the steering shaft passes through. So I made an adapter that mounts the GTO donor column to the Lemans firewall. It’s basically two plates connected by a sheet metal “tunnel” that the steering shaft passes through. One plate attaches to the Lemans firewall, the other bolts to the bottom of the GTO column. The description and pictures below describe the process.

The picture below shows the steering column closeout plate for the firewall of the Lemans. I removed the column clamp brackets as shown.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnPlateLemans_zps6f92ebe3-1.jpg

The picture below shows the bottom on the GTO column where it attaches to the GTO firewall:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnbottomofGTO_zpsa28621e6-1.jpg

The next couple of pictures show the plate I made to support the bottom of the GTO column:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnGTOplate1_zps6cb0e2b6-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnGTOplate2_zps0372fd45-1.jpg

The pictures below show the construction of the whole column adapter assembly.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnadapterassembly1_zps631b12-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnadapterassembly2_zpsf09d0f-1.jpg

The next two pictures how the steering column adapter assembly installed with the GTO steering column bolted to it.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnadapterinstallation2_zps75-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnadapterinstallation3_zps54-1.jpg

Now that the column is mounted, I could connect the GTO's steering column shaft to the steering gearbox. The bottom of the GTO donor column connected to the GTO steering rack with a ¾” DD connection. The shaft on the Jeep Cherokee steering gearbox is ¾” diameter, 30 spline with a flat. I bought the following parts to connect the two together:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnParts_zps86ec2cf3-1.jpg

Parts are all from Borgensen; BRG-034931 u-joint, BRG-409418 Steering Shaft, and BRG-700000 3/4" support bearing.

The coupler installed onto the steering gearbox and allowed for a connection to the ¾” DD shaft which was trimmed to length. This then connected to the ¾” DD opening at the bottom of the GTO column (in black in the picture below). Not shown here but there is another universal joint higher up in the GTO column. Since this steering connection has a total of three universal joints, an intermediate shaft support is required as shown below the middle connection. This shaft support is then supported by bracket I fabricated and installed on the rear upper control arm bolt. The bracket is shown below.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/SteeringColumnSmallBracket_zpsee4fb6f4-1.jpg

All the above parts installed as shown below.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/TransCoolingLines-1.jpg

Please feel free to ask any questions if any of this is unclear.

[rohrt]

Holy cow awsome stuff.

Maybe I missed it but what did you use for the fuel system?
Are you going to keep the cruise control?
With the GTO steering in place any thoughts on how you will make things like the blinker and hazzards work?
What else is on the GTO steering wheel?

[fsdproject]

rohrt:

Thanks for your comments!

For the fuel system so far I have run the standard a-body fuel line along the frame rail up to the fuel rail of the LS1 with a fuel pressure gauge and AN lines and fittings so that's all set. Over the last couple of weeks I have been fussing around with the 04 GTO tank and I think I have a good plan to use that. This keeps in with my theme of using as many of the GTO's components as possible and keeping it plug and play. Just bought some materials yesterday to make that happen and hope to have a post documenting it in the near future. The GTO donor tank actually sits petty well in the forward part of the trunk directly below the panel between the rear window and trunk opening. I cannot put it over the rear axle as it is on the new GTO because that's where the top goes down into. This does impact trunk space somewhat, but I am also thinking of mounting the donor GTO's spare tire and evap canister under the trunk where the original a-body tank used to be so I think this should get me a better usable trunk space anyway instead of having the spare in the middle of the trunk floor as it normally is in an a-body.

I am keeping the cruise control, all the electrical components and wiring harness from the 04 GTO were brought over and plugged back in, so that was easy. See post #24 for the mounting of the cruise components under the hood. The GTO's entire dash and steering column controls are also being used so all of that just plugs back together.

For the blinkers and hazards and other exterior lights I believe the only thing I have to do is splice some new pigtails (intended for a 71 Lemans) for all of the Lemans' exterior lights into the GTO's wire harness.

There are radio controls on the GTO steering wheel, since I am bringing everything over including the original stereo and plugging it back in it should work as intended. Even the airbags should work.

About the only thing electrically I won't have from the GTO donor is the ABS, but I may try to add that in the future.

Thanks, let me know if you or anyone else has any questions.

Phil

[fsdproject]

Gas Tank, Gas Line, Evap System

As mentioned in a previous post I have figured out a way to use the gas tank from the 2004 GTO donor in my Lemans convertible.

The gas tank in the GTO is installed over the rear axle between the rear seat and the trunk. It wouldn't fit in this area in the Lemans since the convertible top has to fold into that area. I placed the gas tank on the forward part of the trunk floor, it ends up fitting pretty well under the body panel between the top and the trunk opening. My design somewhat resembles how the tank was installed in the GTO.

The first picture shows the hardware I fabricated to hold the tank in the car.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankHardware_zps69947845-1.jpg

The GTO's fuel and vapor connections are on the bottom of the tank, I drilled large holes in the trunk floor to accommodate those and installed short sections of hose to feed through the floor holes, the pictures below show this. The first picture shows the tank with the black plastic shroud removed. These connections are inaccessible when the tank is installed so I had to provide secondary connections under the floor, similar to what is done with electrical pigtails. The fuel feed connection on the bottom of the tank is the same type and size as the one on the fuel rail. I used a Russell Fuel Rail to -6AN adapter, part number RUS-644123 for that and then made a small -6AN hose as shown. The vapor hose is 5/8" ID fuel rated hose I ordered from McMaster. I installed sound deadener material on the trunk floor before the tank went in. The second picture is taken from underneath and shows these hose connections.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankFluidandVaporPigtails_zpsc44a5426-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankFluidandVaporPigtailsunder_zpse90-1.jpg

This next picture shows the installation of the tank in the forward part of the trunk. I put sound deadener material on top of the tank where the straps go to protect the plastic shroud.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankInstallTrunkSide_zpsf9495d39-1.jpg

A close up of the trunk side hardware is shown below. The 1/2" threaded rods go through pre-existing holes in the aft corners on the tank, then the bottom of the threaded rods go into the plates I made on the bottom of the floor. These plates have a 1/2" nut tack welded to the middle of the plate and four 5/16" x 1" bolts tack welded to the corners. This way I could tighten the nuts underneath without having to hold the bolts above the floor. The straps are just 1/8" x 1 1/4" steel straps with 5/16 threaded rod welded into slots on one end. The rods then go through holes in the horizontal angle. The horizontal angle is attached to the aft corners of the tank with the threaded rod. The angle will also support the forward carpeted wall of the tank when I get to that point.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankInstallDetails_zpsa5726df5-1.jpg

The picture below shows the installation on the forward part of the tank, this is looking from the rear seat area. The tank straps are bolted to brackets that are installed into the floor. The brackets have four 5/16" x 1" bolts tacked onto them, three go through the floor and are bolted underneath, the remaining one holds the end of the strap.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankInstallForwardSide_zps6f9233bc-1.jpg

The next picture shows the installation of the EVAP cannister vent solenoid, this is a view looking up at the bottom of the trunk floor. I made the simple bracket shown below that is bolted to the former forward gas tank strap support in the Lemans, a hose clamp holds the solenoid to the bracket. This picture also shows the AN hose I made to connect the pigtail hose on the tank to the fuel rail that runs along the frame rail.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankEVAPSolenoid_zps5f254758-1.jpg

The following picture shows the installation of the EVAP canister which I bolted to the bottom of the trunk floor just inside the frame rail forward of the last frame crossmember.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankEvapCanister_zps4cb53ea1-1.jpg

The view below is from the side of the car looking into the trunk, it shows how much the gas tank protrudes into the trunk area; which isn't too bad. I did loose some trunk area, but as I said before my plan is to install the GTO donor spare tire under the trunk floor so I think I still have a nice usable trunk space.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankProjectionintoTrunk_zps492c66e6-1.jpg

This final picture shows the fuel line installation on the engine. I ran the standard a-body fuel line in stainless along the frame rail and installed tube compression to -6AN fittings at each end. At the engine side I ran some -6AN hoses as shown and also added a permanent fuel pressure gauge. In this view you can also see the vapor hose connection just underneath the coil electrical connector. This is just 3/8 fuel injection hose that runs along the passenger side frame rail to the evap canister.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/GasTankFuelConnectiononEngine_zps7d9a91e-1.jpg

I am very pleased with the way this has worked out. I used another major component from the GTO donor, didn't have to buy another gas tank, fuel pump and sender and figure out how to hook those up. Since these are the OEM components everything works as it was designed to including the fuel gauge.

[acegto]

Shelby flip cap on the passenger quarter? It would be sweet. Keep up the great work.

[fsdproject]

Air Cleaner

Back under the hood, a few more things to take care of. This post covers my air cleaner solution. I looked into different tubing and filters but I found the parts and filters get expensive in a hurry. So once again I looked at using what I took off the GTO donor.

The picture below shows the air cleaner assembly from the GTO. Try as I might, I couldn’t fit this large shape anywhere under the hood of the Lemans.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanerbefore_zps6b2a77af-1.jpg

So after much fussing and cutting here is what I came up with. I chose the area under the coolant recovery tank between the core support and driver’s inner fender for the air cleaner location. I cut down the GTO air cleaner assembly to just an upper and lower frame to hold the air cleaner element and made a new sheet metal top for it as shown below. This material is just the thin sheet metal that is sold for ductwork at Lowes. This picture shows the sheet metal top before I riveted it together and the top frame of the GTO air cleaner assembly after I cut the top portion off.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanersheetmetaltop_zpsfb92862e-1.jpg

The two pictures below show the top and bottom of the completed air cleaner assembly. The sheet metal top was riveted together and to the top frame of the GTO air cleaner assembly. A 4” duct collar and 4” duct were also purchased at Lowes and attached to the sheet metal top as shown with rivets. The top and bottom frames are held together with zip ties, when I replace the filter I will just cut them off and then install new ones.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanerAssemblytop_zps42ff6f1b-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanerAssemblybottom_zpsf36ebb7a-1.jpg

I made the bracket shown below to support the new air cleaner assembly:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanerbracket_zps2592516a-1.jpg

And finally this picture shows the completed air cleaner assembly installed in the Lemans. The air cleaner assembly just hangs below the bracket I made, all of this fits below the coolant recovery tank that is not installed here but was shown in the previous post on the cooling system. I got probably $20 into this, mostly for the duct parts.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/AirCleanerinstallation_zpsf8da3ce3-1.jpg

[andrewb70]

Why is the gas tank in the trunk?

Andrew

[fsdproject]

Andrew,

The gas tank is located in the forward part of the trunk area in the GTO donor, I installed it into the Lemans in a similar position and a similar way.

Phil

[mikes2nd]

71635
Andrew,

The gas tank is located in the forward part of the trunk area in the GTO donor, I installed it into the Lemans in a similar position and a similar way.

Phil

Yes its much cheaper to buy a wreck... And you get all the parts, your car looked restorable, I was the second buyer so my wreck was even cheaper. The guy before me just took the engine.

I decided against the abs also. The abs on the GTO isn't that hot but it would be interesting.

I was considering putting the gas tank in the trunk but I am not sure. My car wont have a back seat though(its a two seater soon).

I have the LS3(camaro), corvette C6 front suspension, Mustang GT500 rear end, 2004 GTO interior...

this was my fun time... sawzalled the roof and stuff, cut the floor out etc...

[fsdproject]

mikes2nd:

Using the donor car is working out even better than I hoped it would. I would highly recommend it to anyone doing a swap to the degree that I am. The GTO that I bought was hit pretty hard on the side, the driver's door is toast and there is some buckling on the inside. The driver's side rear tire is canted inward so something happened there also. I am appalled how easily cars are totaled these days, but I guess that works to our advantage supplying us with parts.

My GTO is down to glass, suspension and brakes. I have cut some sheet metal out of it too so I assume the shell is probably not worth anything beyond scrap value. I will probably be taking the sawzall to it when the weather gets a little warmer.

Do you have a build thread? I searched and couldn't find one, would love to see more of your car.

Phil

[mikes2nd]

only thing left worth anything on these cars is probably the rear axles and the diff.

That sells pretty quick. I still have the rear bumper in my garage... :) and tons of other parts that are actually useful.

There are TONS of GTO parts on ebay and at the scrap yards. I think they sold more of these cars than I thought.

I have cut off the front and am cutting off the rear to narrow it/setup for the mustang axle.

I am also using the GTO tunnel in the car. The firewall is moving back like 6 inches! That is killing my back seats pretty much, I could almost fit them in there but there no point. It will be maybe a sideways temporary seat(dangerous!) and storage area. Maybe change the tray package for one rear center seat.

I am documenting the project, I just need to get everything together.

I am not doing such a "traditional" swap. They did a swap on TV but that was a body swap by west coast customs for their 1969 rockstar car(and it looks pretty sloppy), hack and weld, hack and weld, slap black frame paint over it....

http://www.355nation.net/forum/images-video/23250-rockstar-gto-muscle-car-power-magazine.html

you can see the welding on it is pretty brutal..
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305392&page=2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrq8MZtp0w

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=360599

Here is a link to another, they have some good info for you. I don't think its horrible work, but I would have at least sand blasted the body before I started this one... And I am not going to weld the body to the frame... don't know whats up with that.

http://www.corbettsauto.com/pictures/1969_GTO/

http://www.corbettsauto.com/1969_pontiac_gto-assembly.htm

[fsdproject]

Windshield Washer Tank

This post covers the fabrication and installation of the washer tank. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s the one of the last things to be installed under the hood and that area is DONE!

Following with my theme I used existing parts as much as possible. The washer tank from the GTO donor was an odd shape which I couldn’t get to work. I used parts from that tank along with the tank from the Lemans to make my own combination. The picture below shows the tank from the Lemans and the filler neck and washer pump from the GTO donor.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/WasherBottleParts_zps7114c320-1.jpg

The washer pump from the GTO fits into a hole in the tank with a rubber grommet/filter screen. I just drilled the appropriate sized hole in the side of the Lemans tank and pushed the grommet and pump in.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/WasherBottlePump_zps2b2a0dfa-1.jpg

The only area left under the hood was under and to the outside of the battery on the passenger side. This view shows that area with the passenger fender removed. I had to lengthen the harness slightly to get the connector to reach.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/WasherBottleinstallation_zps628e6a2c-1.jpg

I removed the squirter nozzles from the GTO’s hood and hope to install those into the Lemans hood.

[fsdproject]

mikes2nd:

I have noticed the number of GTO parts on ebay and craigslist, I wonder if that's where most of them have ended up; you don't see them on the road that much.

I ended up installing part of the GTO firewall into my Lemans about 4 inches behind the Lemans firewall. I hope to start documenting that part of the build soon. I did have to cut off the portion of the dash that had the defroster vents, but I hope to work those back into the vinyl part of the dash. I am not sure yet how much back seat space I will have but it probably won't be much, especially in the footwell area. I don't plan on having back seat passengers that often but when I do I will just move the front seats up a bit.

I have seen the Rockstar GTO, thanks for all the links on that. I was interesting to read all the background info on that build and what goes on at that shop. I took my kids on vacation to LA last year for spring break and we visited that shop and Chip Foose's shop. I do wonder sometimes if the way they did it would have been a better way to go, but I don't have that level of fabrication skills. I don't know if I would feel comfortable driving a car that was put together in such a way, I wonder about the structural integrity.

I had also already seen the GTO build at Corbetts Auto, but I looked at it again more carefully. They must have really compressed the top of the dash to get it to work like that. At lot of their pictures sure look familiar, that build closely resembles what I am doing.

Thanks again for posting, looking forward to reading about your build.

Phil

[fsdproject]

Dashboard

The next few posts will partially cover how I am getting the interior from the GTO donor into the Lemans. This first post will talk about the installation of the dashboard.

The dashboard is a geometric and ergonomic challenge. I am trying to incorporate mechanical parts and design from a car built in 2004 into a car built in 1971. The philosophy behind the designs of the dash area was quite a bit different between these two time periods. Some compromises have to be done to merge the two together. The main issue is that the windshield on newer cars such as the 2004 GTO are much more steeply angled than on the 1971 Lemans. This means the top of the dash is deeper in length as well. Setting the newer dash as is under the Lemans windshield pushes everything else in the interior back to the point where the front seat would be immediately in front of the rear seat making the rear seat useless and probably looking awkward. This would also end up with a lot of wasted space under the dash behind the firewall. Going to the other extreme pushing the dash forward so the firewall of the GTO donor would end up in the same place as the Lemans firewall would force trimming a great deal from the depth of the dash probably looking awkward as well. I compromised somewhere in the middle.

I first removed the original welded sheet metal dash section from the Lemans at the base of the windshield. I had to remove this anyway because I had rust in the lower windshield channel and had to weld a new channel in. I then removed the plastic and vinyl dash cover from the GTO donor and propped it up in place to check the fit. I did end up trimming the plastic sub structure of this assembly and therefore temporarily lost the defroster vents.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/Dashboardremoveddefrostervents_zps9d240a-1.jpg

It's hard to see what is going on above since everything is black, but looking right to left we have the GTO dash pad, the windshield channel of the Lemans, the plastic section I cut from the GTO dash structure that was trimmed from the GTO dash pad, and the defroster vent grill. My plan is trim the vinyl top of the GTO dash a little more and install the defroster grills in the gap between the windshield channel and GTO dash pad.

I hope to relocate the vents into the vinyl area of the dash. As I was doing this mock up I took the seats from the GTO donor and placed them on the floor of the Lemans to get a feel for how it was going.

As I removed the dash components from the GTO donor, taking pictures as I went to aid re-assembly, I studied how everything went together and was supported. I decided to remove part of the firewall from the GTO donor and mount it into the Lemans to help support the new dash and the AC unit. This firewall/cowl structure also forms the ductwork for the defroster vents and supports the dash wire harness and steering column. I first removed the windshield (a mess since it broke and came out in pieces) and then cut the firewall out.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallremoval_zps449b872e-1.jpg

From there it was a trial and error process of fitting it into place, trimming areas here and there, and making brackets to support the GTO firewall into the Lemans. The two pictures below show the front and rear views of the removed firewall structure after all the trimming was done.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallfront_zpsf810956f-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallback_zps20e7ae22-1.jpg

I tried to have the firewall supported at several different points so it’s sturdy. This GTO firewall ended up being about 4 inches behind the Lemans firewall.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallinstallation_zpsa487-1.jpg


The view below shows the attachment of the firewall above the steering column, these two small brackets connected the GTO firewall to the brake pedal bracket support locations on the Lemans.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallinstallationcenterbo-1.jpg


This picture shows the support of the GTO firewall in the center.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallinstallationcenterbo-2.jpg


On the outer ends the GTO firewall is supported by these small u-shaped brackets.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashboardGTOfirewallinstallationsidebrac-1.jpg

At this point the GTO firewall structure is attached and it’s just a matter of reinstalling the dash parts. First the dashboard wire harness is installed and the HVAC unit is bolted in. The large white object on the right is the passenger airbag module.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/DashinstallationharnessandHVAC_zpsb854b7-1.jpg


From here parts are installed in the reverse order in that they were removed, connecting electrical components as I go. This is pretty much where I am at the moment, except I do have the upper part of the steering column and wheel installed also.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/Dashinstallation1_zps764f9854-1.jpg


I obviously still have a lot to do to in the interior such as redo the defroster vents, rework the door panels so they flow into the dash as they did in the GTO (the side AC vents are actually in the door panels), install the seats, install the console, install the rear seats, etc. All of these things will be covered in future posts, starting with the console installation.

Now that everything is hooked up I was able to successfully start the engine (after some delay finding a connector under the hood that wasn’t hooked up). It pretty much fired right up thinking it was still in the GTO. I do have some codes such as two for the O2 sensors (the rear ones are obviously missing) and one for a injector circuit malfunction which I don’t how that happened. But the engine seems to be running great; it was exciting to see and hear it come to life!

[fsdproject]

Supporting the Console and Seats

With the dash and steering pretty much all set, I moved further back and worked on the console area. I used the same philosophy I used for the dash in that I removed the structure from the GTO donor that supports the console and mounted it into the floor of the Lemans. This structure supports more than just the console, it also provides mounting points for the shifter, e-brake handle, and the inboard mounts of the front seats. As I did with the dash, I removed the structure from the GTO:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ConsoleCenterTunnelbeforeremoval_zps7c16-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ConsoleCenterTunnelafterremoval_zpse6595-1.jpg

And trimmed it to fit onto the Lemans floor:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ConsoleCenterTunneltempfit_zps8f9ee7d6-1.jpg

I still am not comfortable enough with my welding skills for sheet metal to install something like this with welding, plus my floor is already finished top and bottom, so I thought it better that I bolted it in. I used several 5/16” grade 8 bolts to install it. I knew it had to be fairly secure since this structure also supports the inboard seat mounts and the seats have integral seat belt buckles. Before bolting it in for good I removed all of the sound deadener, sandblasted it and painted it. I also installed sound deadening material to the floor before the tunnel installation.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ConsoleCenterTunnelinstall_zps5263e119-1.jpg

From here the console components can be installed, starting with the shifter which I will document next.

[fsdproject]

Shifter

Since my interior installation including the shifter was going to be a few inches further rearward from the transmission than it was on the GTO donor the shifter linkage wasn’t going to work. I used the parts from the GTO with a longer rod I fabricated myself to connect the shifter to the transmission.

Shown below are the parts I fabricated.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/Shifterparts_zps4c858bc5-1.jpg

When I installed the shifter into the console substructure I found the lower lever on the shifter rubbed along the top of the Lemans’ floor. I tried to bend the lever with heat from a heat gun but ended up breaking it off. I realized it was too long to work anyway so that led to plan B which was to rework the linkage to work with a smaller lever. Originally the lever had a radius of about 6 inches, the reworked lever reduced that to about 4 ½ inches. I filled the cavities in the lever with epoxy and then made a lever extension from steel strap as shown above. The lever extension was just bolted to the remains of the plastic lever with two 5/16" bolts.

I cut an oval in the Lemans’ floor as shown to provide a place for the new linkage rod to pass through.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ShifterPartialinstall_zpsf05b46f5-1.jpg

The lever on the transmission was shortened a proportional amount to get the same travel there.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/Shifterlinkageattransmission_zps77bf589e-1.jpg

The final picture below shows the shifter and new reworked linkage installed. I made the linkage rod from 5/16” dia steel rod bent as required and then cut threads on both ends. I then installed rod ends that had female 5/16” x 24 threads and bolted them to each of the two levers with 5/16" bolts. I used rod ends bought from McMaster, part number 60645K331.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/ShifterFullinstall_zps69ec865b-1.jpg

The cover was made from bent and welded sheet steel to cover the hole made in the floor, the cover has a hole in the back face of it to allow travel of the linkage rod. A little minor adjusting to the rod ends and it works great!

[rohrt]

Wow! Still loving the backyard fab work.

How did you come across the wrecked GTO?

[fsdproject]

rohrt:

Thanks for your comment.

Post 12 on page 1 talks about the GTO I bought, how I bought it and the reasons I got it. I searched the internet for salvage cars and came across Salvage Autos Auction (http://www.salvageautosauction.com/), you can search for cars there for what you want at salvage yards all over the country. My searching led me to East Coast Auto (http://www.ecoastauto.com/), I bought my GTO directly through them, they also arranged for shipping.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Phil

[fsdproject]

Donor Destruction

The last few weeks I have been selling unused parts both from the GTO donor and Lemans on ebay and Craigslist and have done pretty well with it. I have used some of the funds to buy parts for a 1970 GTO front end which I almost have everything for.

We finally got some warm weather here in Ohio so I took the opportunity to deal with the carcass of the donor. Thought it might be interesting to you . . .

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/H596RA-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/EngineLift1-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction0_zps5ea2a0a2-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction1_zps3d7e278b-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction2_zpse3576c1f-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction3_zps4b778314-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction4_zps702ed7f8-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction5_zpsbde6561b-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction6_zps842f15fe-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction7_zpsf46bf2fb-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/03/Donordestruction8_zps64770b61-1.jpg

[fsdproject]

It's been several months since I last posted but I have been working steadily on the Lemans. I have been doing a variety of things as the mood strikes me and have time available, such as getting the driveline done, bodywork, and collecting parts. I have been on what seems like a quest to get all the parts for the 1970 GTO front end. It took me several months buying individual parts through craiglist and ebay but I finally have everything I need for the cloning process.

The next major milestone I have been working towards is getting the car to move under it's own power after being stuck in the shop for more than two years and who knows how long in the barn I bought it from (the most recent registration sticker on the plate was 1999). If it's going to move on it's own I thought it would be best if the brakes were working, so worked on finishing that up. I originally had the distribution block and adjustable proportioning valve on top of the frame just forward of the firewall. When I started adding brake fluid to the system of course it started leaking from one of the connections there which were pretty much inaccessible because of the body and inner fender were now installed. I wasn't really happy with the way I installed and plumbed those parts so I decided to tear it all out and redo it. I relocated the block and valve under the master cylinder so they were accessible and it is now much easier to get to the knob on the valve.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/Brakemasterandboosterinstall_zpsc1d7c4dd-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Brakemasterandboosterinstall_zpsc1d7c4dd.jpg.html)

I had previously installed Speed Bleeders on the calipers to help in bleeding since most of the time I work alone. These were a help when I bled the system. I have never done it before so I took my time and tried to do it right. The pedal feels just a little soft but they do work to stop the car during the low speed trip I took on my driveway. The pressure gauge to the rear brakes doesn't move when I press the pedal, but I know the rear calipers are working. On my to do list is to check brake pressure at each caliper.

The last piece of the puzzle to get it moving was the driveshaft. The previous owner had given me a driveshaft, I sandblasted it and had it reworked by a local driveline company to work with the 4L60E and the correct length. I believe it was shortened by an inch or two, u-joints were replaced, and the correct transmission yoke was added. When I got that home I epoxy primed it and painted it. When I went to install it the x-pipe on the exhaust prevented the driveshaft from rotating down enough to meet the rearend. I decided to move the x-pipe forward so it was almost directly below the transmission yoke. This involved removing the two one-foot length pipes that were between the header collector reducers and the curved pipes that went to the x-pipe, thereby moving the x-pipe forward by that amount. These pipes would then be reinstalled forward of the mufflers. Unfortunately for that to happen means I would have to rework my transmission crossmember since it didn't allow the pipes to immediately curve towards the x-pipe. I always thought I would make another crossmember at some point anyway because I felt the first one I made was like something Dr Frankenstein would create.

I wanted to make the next one a little simpler; I was inspired to create something similar to the Chevelle crossmember which is basically just a bent piece of tubing. I could have bought one and modified it as a lot of people do but didn't want to spend the money. I decided to use 3/4" iron pipe bent as necessary to get the shape I need. I did some measuring, drew up something on CAD that I thought would work and got started.

This picture shows the initial bends I made at the center of the crossmember where it supports the transmission.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember1_zps84aa1c46-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember1_zps84aa1c46.jpg.html)

This shows the parts I made for the bracket that supports the transmission. The parts with the slots came from some brackets I removed from the 04 GTO (you never know what you will use from your donor car).

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember2_zps6b078e93-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember2_zps6b078e93.jpg.html)

The next picture shows the process for bending the pipe. I used my shop press and a impact socket as shown to get the bends I wanted. It did kink the pipe quite a bit but I welded some gussets on as you will see. This picture also shows the transmission support bracket, but this was later removed and flipped over to get it to fit better.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember4_zps8aa801cf-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember4_zps8aa801cf.jpg.html)

The next picture shows the completed crossmember with gussets welded on at each bend to stiffen it. I also used the support brackets on the ends that I previously made for my first crossmember, this time welded on to give me a one-piece crossmember. The crossmember here has just been sandblasted in preparation for finish.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember5_zps8704c427-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember5_zps8704c427.jpg.html)

This picture shows the crossmember painted and ready for installation.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember6_zpsdfaa43b8-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember6_zpsdfaa43b8.jpg.html)

The next two pictures show the new crossmember installed. You can also see the new driveshaft I had made.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember7_zps62d1f230-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember7_zps62d1f230.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/NewCrossmember8_zps91086c9c-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/NewCrossmember8_zps91086c9c.jpg.html)

After this was all done I reinstalled the exhaust with the change I mentioned before, put those nasty old tires on and pumped them up. The car was then lowered to the floor for the first time in more than a year.

And then finally the major milestone as I mentioned, the car can now move under it's own power for the first time in many years:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/10/FirstDriveoutofshop_zps266a7288-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstDriveoutofshop_zps266a7288.jpg.html)

I took it for one trip up and down my gravel driveway. The front suspension is really low, the front crossmember is just 2-3 inches above the ground, something I need to look into to. The rear is a little high, but once more weight is added to the car that should come down some.

In the picture above you can also see the the 70 GTO bumper I am getting ready for paint and the rework of the Lemans fronts fenders into GTO fenders. I will document this work in a future post.

[fsdproject]

Time for a couple of small updates. I have been hopping around from one thing to another as the mood hits me.

In my previous update I mentioned that the front end was really low. I ended up inserting all of the coil spring spacers in the lower control arm spring pocket. That raised the front about 2 1/2 inches. I am happy with it for now, when the car is almost done with all the weight on it and the final wheels & tires installed I can fine-tune it then.


This post talks about redoing the transmission cooling lines, my next post will be about the outer seat brackets.

Transmission Cooling Lines 2.0

I had some leaks from the transmission cooling lines that I originally cobbled together from the 04 GTO lines and several AN fittings (See post #54). I decided to simplify the lines and reduce the number of connections.

At the bottom of the transmission I had some hard tube adapters, one was leaking and it was between the header and transmission and therefore hard to get to to tighten it. I got two more -6 AN 3/8 hard tube adapters (part number SUM-2200077B at Summit) and re-cut the 04 GTO transmission lines lower down closer to the transmission for easier access:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/11/Transcoolinglinesattrans_zpsc236f1d8-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Transcoolinglinesattrans_zpsc236f1d8.jpg.html)

I made new braided steel lines with 90 degree hose ends.

I originally had more hard tube adapters on the tube ends that originally connected to the 04 GTO trans cooler in the radiator, but I had some leaks there too. I went ahead and bought some adapters to fit into the connections in the GTO radiator and converted the connection to -6 AN. These adapters (from Fragola, part number FRA-460618 at Summit) convert the 18mm x 1.5 mm threads on the transmission cooler connection on the radiator to -6 AN. One issue though is that the threads on the adapter were deeper than the threads on the recess in the radiator. I ground down the threaded portion of the adapter so it would fit:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/11/Transcoolingadapterfittingradiator_zpsbe-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Transcoolingadapterfittingradiator_zpsbe8db195.jpg .html)

This final picture shows the upper connection at the radiator, the lower connection is similar. From right to left we have the GTO plastic radiator, a rubber o-ring to seal the new adapter, the trimmed adapter, and the -6 AN hose end and hose:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/11/Transcoolingadapterfittinginstalled_zpsc-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Transcoolingadapterfittinginstalled_zpsc39c9abe.jp g.html)

This new version of the transmission cooling lines is working out well with no leaks.

[fsdproject]

Outer Seat Brackets

As promised this post will talk about the fabrication and installation of the outboard seat brackets. See post #93 that shows using the tunnel structure from the GTO donor for the inner seat bolt connections. I considered using the sheet metal bracket for the outer seat bolt connections from the GTO donor but due to the floor shape in the Lemans it would have required a fair amount of work. So I thought if I am going to go to all that effort I will make my own more substantial brackets.

The picture below shows the brackets I made installed on the passenger side floor, the following picture shows the driver's side floor. The forward bracket on the passenger side had to be installed at an angle due to the shape of the floor in that side. You can also see here I secured the wiring harness in this area with leftover scraps of sound deadener, I thought that worked out well. In areas where the carpet would cover the harness and it could get stepped on I added convoluted harness cover.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketsouterpassengerside_zpsf2a9cf-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketsouterpassengerside_zpsf2a9cf20.jpg.htm l)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketsouterdriversside_zpsed27cea7-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketsouterdriversside_zpsed27cea7.jpg.html)

The next picture shows the forward bracket on the driver's side. These brackets are made from 1/8" steel welded into a tower-like shape as shown. The threads for the seat bolt are a flanged metric nut welded in place onto the underside of the bracket similar to what the GTO donor had. The brackets are bolted through the floor with several 5/16" bolts.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketsouterdriverssidefwd_zpsba027-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketsouterdriverssidefwd_zpsba027e03.jpg.ht ml)

This picture shows the rear bracket on the driver's side.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketsouterdriverssideaft_zpsd2173-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketsouterdriverssideaft_zpsd21735d6.jpg.ht ml)

Once these brackets were installed I then tried fitting the carpet from the 04 GTO. With some trimming here and there it fits okay, but I think at some point I will get the correct a-body carpet. My future desire is to someday redo the interior in a two-tone tan and brown theme (I think that would look good with the dark blue I have planned for the outside), at that time I can get a brown a-body carpet.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketscarpet_zps279d8e52-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketscarpet_zps279d8e52.jpg.html)

The carpet had to be trimmed a little around the new outer seat brackets, then the seats were installed using the original bolts from the GTO donor. The seats themselves were trimmed slightly around the rear outer brackets to comform to the slope of the Lemans floor.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/SeatBracketsseats_zps70cfd470-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/SeatBracketsseats_zps70cfd470.jpg.html)


That's all I will probably do to the interior for now, my next major effort will be towards the bodywork with the goal of maybe getting it in paint sometime over the winter.

[fsdproject]

Front Fender Rework

When I bought the car it came with fenders for a 1970-2 Lemans that were in really good condition with minimal rust behind the wheel wells which I patched. But since I decided to clone the car into a 1970 GTO they wouldn't work with the rubber GTO bumper. 1970 GTO front fenders are available as reproductions but they are $600 a side, plus I would have had to fuss around selling the Lemans fenders. I came across some info on the Internet about reworking the Lemans fenders into GTO fenders so that's what I did. At the moment I have more time than money.

The first step is to remove the pocket in the front of the fender that the Lemans bumper and front valance fit into:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework1_zps26154bea-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework1_zps26154bea.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework2_zps314ec10c-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework2_zps314ec10c.jpg.html)

Then I shaped some sheet metal to match the curvature of the fender and welded it in:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework3_zpse4ece28f-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework3_zpse4ece28f.jpg.html)

From there it was fitting on additional parts on the front of the fender where it meets the lower valance panel and rubber bumper:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework4_zps00ff44bb-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework4_zps00ff44bb.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework5_zps684f1dfd-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework5_zps684f1dfd.jpg.html)

I didn't have any measurements or example GTO fender to copy from, this was all just winging it to some degree, using pictures on installations I found on the internet. As you can imagine, this required a lot of trail and error and fitting. For example, I found my initial effort to support the valance panel was too far to the rear so I had to cut that portion off and move it forward:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework6_zpse053fb9e-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework6_zpse053fb9e.jpg.html)

After more such tweaking I was pretty happy with the outcome:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework7_zpsbc7f6d97-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework7_zpsbc7f6d97.jpg.html)

I didn't try to add the cutout for the front side market light, I figure I would just do without it and go for the shaved look. After some hammer and dolly work and some filler this should look pretty good. It actually appears to fit better than some of the pictures of finished cars I found online.

After doing both fenders and rough fitting the bumper and valance panels I came to this point:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/12/Frontfenderrework8_zpsde44f4ce-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Frontfenderrework8_zpsde44f4ce.jpg.html)

It feels good to have the front sheet metal well on it's way, I just need to fit the doors and hood and check the alignment of everything.

Since then I have been working on the back; starting to replace the passenger quarter, reworking the trunk lid, and repairing some minor rust issues other places. Those will be featured in future posts.

[1965gp]

The car is looking great- I have a 70 LeMans and 70 GTO so I am very partial to this build

[fsdproject]

Haven't posted in several months but I have been working mostly on bodywork during that time. The next several posts will get this thread caught up to where I am now.

This post will talk about the rust repair I did to the left rear corner. First pic is cutting out the rust:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/Leftrearcornerrustrepair1_zpsab720fee-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Leftrearcornerrustrepair1_zpsab720fee.jpg.html)

This shows the rust removed and the first lower patch piece welded in:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/Leftrearcornerrustrepair3_zpsd5e2fe8d-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Leftrearcornerrustrepair3_zpsd5e2fe8d.jpg.html)

The main patch was trimmed and shaped to size and tacked in:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/Leftrearcornerrustrepair5_zpscad5e853-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Leftrearcornerrustrepair5_zpscad5e853.jpg.html)

Welding complete:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/Leftrearcornerrustrepair6_zpsea8cdd85-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Leftrearcornerrustrepair6_zpsea8cdd85.jpg.html)

And ground down flat:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/Leftrearcornerrustrepair7_zps7b47852d-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Leftrearcornerrustrepair7_zps7b47852d.jpg.html)


My welding skills have progressed with practice but improving the conditions also helps. I have found seeing the weld area and getting adequate light there is critical. These old eyes don't see as well as they use to and need all the help they can get. I thought about buying a welding light but decided just to make one, it can't be that hard. Here are the parts involved: a small LED flashlight I got on sale for $2, a scrap of aluminum, and two hose clamps.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/weldingflashlight1_zps04acaa1c-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/weldingflashlight1_zps04acaa1c.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/weldingflashlight2_zpsa25fea8e-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/weldingflashlight2_zpsa25fea8e.jpg.html)

It has really helped see what I am welding which is especially helpful when welding sheet metal.

[Gil]

Nice work !
Good mods on the torch,reminds me kinda thing :
Gil

[fsdproject]

Trunk Lid Rework

Next task for body work was reworking the trunk lid. The one that came on the car was all rusted out along the lower edge but in good shape otherwise. The area around the key hole was also somewhat mangled. Reproduction trunk lids are available at $400 a pop but I decided to take on the challenge of reworking this one.

I cut off the lower inch along the bottom of the lid and separated the inner and outer skins. This picture shows the inside of the outer skin and the primer, paint, sealant and wax cavity undercoating (that didn't do any good here) that I had to remove:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/trunklid1_zps4b381d15-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunklid1_zps4b381d15.jpg.html)


The next picture shows the new metal I added to the bottom and to replace the mangled key hole area.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/trunklid2_zps69471c09-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunklid2_zps69471c09.jpg.html)

I have also modified the trunk lid to use the latch and electric actuator from the donor GTO, I will document that in a future post.


Both the inner and outer skins were sandblasted to bare metal and then the mating surfaces were given two coats of epoxy primer:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/trunklid3_zps06aa9a33-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunklid3_zps06aa9a33.jpg.html)


I applied seam sealer to the inside edges and then reassembled the lid and installed it to check the fit:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/05/trunklid4_zpsbdafa8f8-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunklid4_zpsbdafa8f8.jpg.html)


I have also sandblasted and primed the rear bumper, the chrome wasn't great and I wanted to paint it body color anyway to match the front bumper which were originally painted on these cars.

[fsdproject]

Another milestone on my project - got some color on some parts. Next stop in the bodywork was replacing the passenger rear quarter. I wanted to have the passenger door installed to check gaps as I fussed with it. To make things more efficient I decided to paint the door jambs, inside of the doors, and the door hinge parts so I wouldn't have to pull them off again later.

First few pictures are the painting. Never done any automotive painting before but I did quite a bit of spray finishing when I had my cabinetmaking business so I knew how to handle a spray gun. It actually went pretty well and I was pleased with the results. Color is Lemans blue as used on some recent GM products such as 2005 Corvette. I used a base coat/clear coat system. Paint is PPG, clear is SPI Universal clear.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting4_zps04974cb3-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting4_zps04974cb3.jpg.html)


I also painted the inside edges of the front fenders so I could install those once and be done:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting5_zps06597e93-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting5_zps06597e93.jpg.html)


And the inside of the trunk lid:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting3_zpsb7eb6b43-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting3_zpsb7eb6b43.jpg.html)


Also painted the forward part of the door jamb area:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting2_zps85d3cecf-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting2_zps85d3cecf.jpg.html)


Hinges were disassembled, sand blasted, primed, painted and then reassembled with new pins and bushings:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting6_zpsfb2d5e70-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting6_zpsfb2d5e70.jpg.html)


Door hinges installed onto doors (I used stainless steel bolts):

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting7_zps2e77ec50-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting7_zps2e77ec50.jpg.html)


Since I work by myself I needed a way to hold the door in place easily while I started the bolts. Here is what I came up with (worked pretty well):

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/FirstJambPainting8_zps07461711-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/FirstJambPainting8_zps07461711.jpg.html)


It's slowly starting to look like a complete car. Next up is replacing the passenger quarter panel, aligning the doors, and installing and aligning the front fenders.

[JustJohn]

If you've got an engine load leveler lying around, aligning those doors by yourself won't be bad at all.

[Bad_Billy_Goat]

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this done. I seem to be computer illiterate. I will put some photo's up through my build which is in year six. I am having some issues with my convertible assembly. I took it completely apart and am now not sure which bolts and shims go where. If yours is still together, would you mind sending some pics. If you have any questions about what i have done let me know.
Thanks!

[fsdproject]

I am like the turtle in his race with the hare, slowly but surely I am getting there . . .


Now that the passenger door is hung and roughly adjusted I could move on to the replacement of the passenger quarter panel. It had been replaced at least once before by a previous owner, but done very poorly being brazed instead of welded on. It had the usual rust around the wheel well lip and down where it used to attach to the trunk dropoffs. I removed it entirely, an easy job since it was easy to grind through the few brazed "welds". I then sandblasted and finished all the inside areas with epoxy primer.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter1_zps0a746197-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter1_zps0a746197.jpg.html)


New replacement quarters are available for sedans but not convertibles. So I had to piece together what I had. Fortunately the top portion of the existing convertible quarter was in pretty good shape, so I sandblasted it inside and out and reattached it with welding. That is the bare metal part of the fender seen in the photos below, the replacement fender is black from the ecoat. This picture shows a trial fitting, one of many.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter2_zps464a5306-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter2_zps464a5306.jpg.html)


I decided to attach the new fender with a combination of glueing and welding, similar to what is done with newer cars. Structural adhesive was used along the bottom front where the fender goes on top of the rocker, between the inner and outer fender along the wheel well lip, and behind the bumper cavity. This picture shows clamps being used while the adhesive was curing.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter3_zpsc5b1ed7b-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter3_zpsc5b1ed7b.jpg.html)


The seam between the existing fender and new fender and along the door jamb was welded and then ground smooth.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter4_zps6d50a4a1-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter4_zps6d50a4a1.jpg.html)


The fit along the door was pretty good except for at the top. I welded some 3/16" rod along the door jamb and on top of the fender the close gaps and get body lines to align much better.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter5_zps400abe27-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter5_zps400abe27.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/09/Passengerquarter6_zps18758c89-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Passengerquarter6_zps18758c89.jpg.html)


Next, a similar effort with the driver's quarter panel.


Bad_Billy_Goat: Your car looks really impressive! I like all the custom touches. I haven't done anything with my top frame. I will need to be cleaned up and have some minor rust repair done to it. That will probably be one of the last things I do.

[RaiderLSX]

Looking good! very inspirational/admirable build

[fsdproject]

I went ahead and replaced the driver's quarter too. It was original and wasn't as rusted as the botched passenger replacement, but I decided to do the same on both sides, that way the inside of the quarter was sandblasted and primed and I had dealt with the rust as must as possible. But before I could do that I had to install the driver's door.

I figured out a little simpler way of hanging doors than what I used for the passenger side. I took a scrap of 2x4 and screwed a hook into it as shown below.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverdoorhang1_zpsb05d3e53-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverdoorhang1_zpsb05d3e53.jpg.html)


The 2x4 was inserted inside the door and then the positioned so the hook was pointing up through the window slot. The 2x4 is thicker than the window slot so it's doesn't come out. The engine hoist is then used on the hook and lifts the door easily.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverdoorhang2_zps415d2df1-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverdoorhang2_zps415d2df1.jpg.html)


As before the engine hoist then holds the door while the bolts are started through the hinges into the body.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverdoorhang3_zps31843aad-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverdoorhang3_zps31843aad.jpg.html)


I ended up using this more than once for both doors as I realized I forgot to drill the holes for the door electrical harness to pass through the door jamb on the body into the door. So I used my lifting gadget to lift each door off the body while I drilled the new holes. This shows the area where I drilled the holes, between the hinges.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/doorharnessinstall2_zps00ca743b-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorharnessinstall2_zps00ca743b.jpg.html)


This is one of the door electrical harnesses from the GTO donor. It conveniently has a disconnect right inside the body door jamb area.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/doorharnessinstall1_zps39325fe2-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorharnessinstall1_zps39325fe2.jpg.html)


I drilled a series of large holes in the body door jamb area and on the forward part of the door, and then cut out the middle to get the required slots. I finished all cut edges with epoxy primer.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/doorharnessinstall3_zps68651f3f-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorharnessinstall3_zps68651f3f.jpg.html)


Once the epoxy cured for a day or two in inserted the harness through each slot and snapped the grommets in place. Looks and works just like OEM and I got to use even more parts from the GTO donor.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/doorharnessinstall4_zps3437c8df-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorharnessinstall4_zps3437c8df.jpg.html)

[fsdproject]

The replacement of the driver's quarter was similar to the passenger quarter except the main cut line on top was lower and I didn't remove the top part of the existing fender.

As before I cut away the existing fender as necessary to remove rust and provide access to the inside of the quarter for sandblasting.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter1_zps0f88d1c3-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter1_zps0f88d1c3.jpg.html)


After many trial fittings I had the replacement quarter skin ready to go.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter2_zpsae1ef8f6-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter2_zpsae1ef8f6.jpg.html)


As with the passenger panel I used panel bond along the wheel well lip, along the rocker and near the rear bumper. The two pictures show spreading the panel bond adhesive to both parts.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter3_zps68dcc0a2-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter3_zps68dcc0a2.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter4_zps85186d49-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter4_zps85186d49.jpg.html)


The skin was put into place for the last time, clamps were used around the wheel lip and rear bumper, pop rivets were used as clamps on top of the rocker inside the quarter cavity.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter5_zpsdc26123b-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter5_zpsdc26123b.jpg.html)


The seams along forward and top edges of the skin were then butt welded and ground smooth.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/10/Driverquarter6_zps28c66f01-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/Driverquarter6_zps28c66f01.jpg.html)

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's awesome. I love the 2x4, very clever.

[fsdproject]

Before winter set in here in Ohio I got some bodywork done before my shop got too cold.

Soon after the welds on my replacement quarters were ground down I sprayed two coats of epoxy primer to seal them:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/firstprimeronback_zps64c3101d-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/firstprimeronback_zps64c3101d.jpg.html)


I then followed that with some Duraglass filler to reinforce the welds and fill any pinholes I may have missed:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/fillerondriversquarter_zps7b877327-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/fillerondriversquarter_zps7b877327.jpg.html)


While I was at it I primed the rear portion of the door jambs and the trunk jambs:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/doorjambfillerandprimer_zpsea8a382d-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorjamb-fillerandprimer_zpsea8a382d.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/trunkjambsealprimer_zpsd48cdbd6-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunkjamb-sealprimer_zpsd48cdbd6.jpg.html)


The next day I sprayed base coat and clear on the same two areas:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/doorjambpaint_zps7e8c7124-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/doorjamb-paint_zps7e8c7124.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/01/trunkjambpaint_zps8ecfbf0e-1.jpg (http://s1075.photobucket.com/user/fsdproject/media/trunkjamb-paint_zps8ecfbf0e.jpg.html)


Since then I have been doing a few small and subtle body mods, I will show those in the next few posts.

[Gil]

Very nice bodywork !
Thanks for showing the process with quarter panels...
Gil

[fsdproject]

I just wanted to let everyone know I am selling my unfinished project. I have an ad in the Pro-Touring classifieds:

Project for sale (https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/105752-Unfinished-Project-for-sale)

It breaks my heart to sell it but I am moving soon and won't have a good place to work on it anymore. Also, I just don't have the time and money to devote to it. I am hoping someone reading this will decide to take this on and finish what I have started. I need to find a new home for this in the next couple of months so any advice would be appreciated, or if you know someone that might be interested please refer them to my ad.

To those that have responded and commented over the last few years thank you for all the advice and words of encouragement, I have learned a lot and have enjoyed talking and even meeting you. Maybe if circumstances change I will get back to this some day.

[freddyb]

[QUOTE=fsdproject;914186]Deconstruction started as soon as we got it home. I took the advice of others and tagged and bagged removed parts and took pictures as much as possible.

Since it's a convertible I added bracing to the interior to keep it folding up like a taco while it was off the frame. Since my welding skills were zero at that point and steel can be a little pricey I looked for materials that might work and come upon electrical conduit which is relatively cheap and easy to work with. I attached these to the car and to each other with 5/16" bolts. I tried to triangulate the bracing as much as possible to keep the body from flexing too much, it seemed to work really well and kept it rigid for months.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/06/BodyBracing-1.jpg

I know this is an older build, but I saw a picture of your bracing technique and thought this will be the best method for me as well. Is the conduit you used strong enough to leave the car on for 6 months or more? Also is it galvanized steel or some other metal? Love the build lots of great information.