68 GTO Project

[796spdbu]

Very beautiful car. I love that color. Did I read it right that it is a custom color? Your wheels tie into your car seamlessly! Nice build!
Growning up I fall in love with a 70 lemans that was my brothers neighbors. I have always wanted one since. Its no GTO but It etched my memory forever.

[Capown]

Man i was never a real fan of the 68's but damn I love ur car!! Very nice write up and work!!

[Roadbuster]

Very beautiful car. I love that color. Did I read it right that it is a custom color? Your wheels tie into your car seamlessly! Nice build!
Growning up I fall in love with a 70 lemans that was my brothers neighbors. I have always wanted one since. Its no GTO but It etched my memory forever.

Man i was never a real fan of the 68's but damn I love ur car!! Very nice write up and work!!

Thanks for the compliments guys! I will try to get some more photos of the interior since I replaced the carpet with black carpet. Looks much better!

796spdbu, yes it is a custom color and was painted when I got it. I like the 70 LeMans. We had a 70 LeMans when I was young. Loved that car. It is why I went for a Pontiac.

Jon


Jon

[johnnyj]

any new updates on the car?? BTW looks great! I love how its turned out so far

[Roadbuster]

any new updates on the car?? BTW looks great! I love how its turned out so far

Yep. I have been busy with getting the car ready for RTTC (and having a blast there!) and other things going on and just have not gotten around to posting updates. Got all the photos uploaded so I can start. First one tonight and then the rest I have over the next few days. Thanks for the compliments!

[Roadbuster]

As everyone can see the carpet in my car was shot. It was the original carpet and looked every bit of the 42 years old.


Got rid of that mess and cleaned the floor and installed about 40 square feet (just over one box) of dynamat extreme. I didn't go all the way up the firewall, just where the carpet goes up to and under the back seat. This quieted the car down inside a little bit and helps keep out some of the heat from the headers. Sorry no photos of this. I need the firewall clear for a later project.

A new carpet kit in black with the original style loop was installed. Big improvement! This pretty much dropped in. Laid it out in the sun for a while and then a heat gun in a few spots. Needed some trimming on the sides and around the shifter but it was very easy to install.

New carpet (don't mind the pieces of lint!)


Up under the dash, I left it a little long so that the edge would not be visible. This is higher up than the factory carpet went.


My car originally had an Ivy Gold interior that I am slowly changing to black, which will go better with the orange exterior. The carpet made a huge step in the right direction. I wish I had done this sooner! The next major color change part will be the dash.

[Roadbuster]

Catching up on the modifications to the GTO. The next ones were done in preparation for the RTTC event.

To allow the car to breathe easier I decided to replace my factory closed hood scoops with open scoops. If the scoops are there they should be functional! I thought this would be the easiest of the RTTC mods but it just about took the longest. The scoops looked good out of the box but some block sanding and test fitting revealed that they needed some spot filler and lots of block sanding to shape them to fit the hood. After that and several coats of semi gloss black paint here is the result:


I now have a direct shot into the air cleaner but with out the RAM AIR pan under the hood and air cleaner I had to open up the HO air cleaner. The easiest way to do this and keep a breather that wouldn't leak oil was to combine the factory lower air cleaner with an aftermarket lid. You can see it through the scoops and here it is on the engine.

I used the factory base because of time reasons for the event, I was not confident that an aftermarket breather would keep oil from pouring out on the autocross and I had no time to test it. I knew this would work and the idea has grown on me. Weld up the old snorkel hole and make a custom pan with a seal to the factory base and I will have a fully functional cold air system!

[Roadbuster]

I ordered my Heliwig sway bars from SC&C well before the event. They are great pieces that fit very well, even with my low ride height and large back space front wheels. I got the 1.25 inch hollow front bar to replace my bent factory 1.0 inch solid bar and the 1.0 inch rear bar.

The front bar mounts in the factory location and even with shot (camera on the ground) the bar does not look out of place. The metallic grey hammer tone blends in with the undercarriage. As low as my car is this is the only way to see it.



Since the bar is larger and I have larger than stock bolts, the mounts did not fit the factory holes and allow me to get the bolts on the flat part of the mount. I think the factory holes are 2.5 inches apart. I welded the front holes and drilled and tapped new holes on a 3 inch center spacing from the factory rear holes. This way I avoid any interference issues with the steering box bolts.

In the rear the installation was easy. Just drill 2 holes for the end link mounts in the crossmember and bolt in. The rear bar is adjustable with three adjustment holes. To get the rear bar level with the ground at ride height I have the end links as short as they will go.



Bar tucks up tight to differential.


Yeah it is dirty under there!

[jocko124]

Looking good Jon.

[LeighP]

Thats a fine looking A body....I agree, that colour is great and you've really hit the look with the stance.

[GHOSTDANCER]

Great looking job

[Brad1970]

awesome updates dude! keep it goin'!!!!

[Roadbuster]

For the RTTC event I wanted to have a fire system just in case something bad happened. Thankfully nothing did and I hope I never have to use it. I purchased a 5 lb Halon system from Safecraft. If comes with three nozzles, one for the passenger compartment and two for the engine compartment. I finished this the night before the event.

This pic shows the release bracket that I made to match the gauge pod. I didn't have time to paint it. Both the fire release bracket and the gauge pod use existing holes in my dash. You can just see the vertical tube that the passenger nozzle is attached to in the background.



The five pound bottle comes with this mount and brackets. I just bolted it to the trunk floor with four 1/4-20 bolts. one line goes to the passenger nozzle and the other goes to the engine compartment. The lines run through the rear seat brace and along the rocker on the drivers side.


I am not happy with the way the lines ended up. I bought 25 ft of line and came up short for the engine compartment. I ran out of time to order more so I had to put the nozzles there but the positioning is not ideal. They mount near the rear of the engine and they should be near the front on each side. This is going to get redone with the dash rebuild. For that I am waiting on the A/C system to finalize the design as I will have all the parts to mount in the new aluminum dash.

[tazzz25906112]

Great job on a really good looking car, congratulations bud...

[Roadbuster]

Thanks for all the compliments!

[Brad1970]

Any recent updates Jon?

[Roadbuster]

Any recent updates Jon?

I have some things in work. But since my son was born 7 weeks ago I have been very busy. An infant and a 3 year old keep my wife and I very busy at the moment. When I have some time I try to work on the car but it is second priority right now. Working on it is my stress relief!

Jon

[ed1le]

I hear you...21 month old and a 2nd due in a couple of weeks...think my car is going to be untouched for a while as well!

[406 Q-ship]

That is why I refuse to grow up and have children.........

Jon I ended up with my Dads 69 GTO, well until I can make it drive a whole lot better. Rebuilding the front end, putting disc brakes on it, trying to get the clutch acceptable for awhile, and then addressing the electrical gremlins.

[Brad1970]

I TOTALLY understand Jon... mine is a month old yesterday... I've managed to tinker with some seat brackets from time to time that's it though... Congrats on the newest addition by the way!