1970 LeMans... project Grudge

[car_guy]

Well, after a lurking around for about a year, I am happy to introduce my first project. Here's a little backstory;
Sadly after selling off my chevelle project a few years back after my Dad passing away, my father in law had been secretly keeping an eye out for another a-body for me. As luck would have it, less than a 1/4 mile away from the in-laws lived a 70 lemans, family owned, purchased new in Calgary. Not to put too much of a damper on the story, the wife's husband had passed away recently, and he had always wanted to restore the car but never touched it. So for a total of 18 years later in their barn it sat. Their son's (who I knew from back in high school) who were supposed to inherit the car, but were more outdoorsman type guys and didn't have any interest in it. The widow was organizing an acreage clean up, hauling away scrap etc when my father in law spotted it, and inquired. Until this point I was unaware of the goings on, and got a phone call at work from him saying " hey I found you a project....500 bucks and its yours." After a little more in depth description, I was pretty floored, and went to the bank about as fast as a guy could, and then straight to their acreage.

I had always imagined what a barn find must be like, so I was pretty excited when I showed up. We rolled up the door, and there she was...under years of dirt, and oil, and junk tires, hoses, etc. We cleaned up the small barn for an hour or two just to get at the car, hooked up the tow strap and drug it out. I marvelled at it for a while on their driveway, while we talked about the deal. The Family was great. I knew the price was laughably cheaper than it should have been, so I asked " are you sure you want to sell it, and is the price fair, and that I was willing to pay what the car was worth." She just replied, as long as I bring it by when its done, she was just happy to see someone take the car and restore it like her late husband always wanted. So with that said, we drug the car back to the inlaws, 2 flat tires and all, and quickly started to clean the years of neglect off, and take a closer look at the new found treasure. Here's a few out of order pictures from that day, and a little bit of the tear down that ensued once I got it back to my place.

[car_guy]

So you'll notice there is a giant gap from dismantelling the car, to all the sudden rolling chassis phase...my bad. I had all sorts of pictures taken on my old canon camera of the frame work, and car, but the camera cratered. That being said, here is a little catch up on whats been going on. Before winter hit, I started the gruelling task of removing the body (broke off every body mount bolt, and had to sawzall a couple also). Once body was divorced, I stripped the chassis of all the suspension, and anemic 2bbl poncho 350, and wire wheeled it clean. The frame seemed like it was in good condition (more on this later), so I began to box the center portion, and add some tubing to the lower control arm mounts, to the rear crossmember, and re-weld portions of the frame. What a difference in torsional regidity compared to stock!!

Between no heat in the garage, and getting this completed in short little bursts, the frame was ready for paint by the following spring. I picked up some POR 15, and after etching, i brushed on one coat, and then sprayed 2 top coats for a nice smooth finish. Later on I found out that the POR should be top coated again with a finish paint, as once it starts to see any UV it will start to gray, and degrade...fingers crossed. At this point I was in need of suspension parts. Not really being a fan of re-building the stock arms, and wanting to go in a more pro-touring direction, I picked up a set of knock off global west control arms, just re-using the stock front springs with a coil removed for now, and a set of boxed rear control arms with poly bushings and stock springs as well (thanks to a friend on their gto build trading up parts). Im still unsure if the rear is an 8.2, or an 8.5 as there are a few things that make me think its not the original diff from the car, but more on that later as well too. Save for the crap 2.41 gears that are in it, I also gave it the same treatment as the frame, and then stuffed some disks on it.

I opted for junkyard gm brakes as if you can probably guess this is a budget build car for the most part. I also like this for the fact that when the car is done, and seeing daily abuse, if anything fails, I can just pick up parts at any parts store with gm stuff. The rears are 98-02 Jimmy/Blazer 11.6 disk with single piston pbr calipers. These were on a 4x4 truck and bolted right up once I modified the axle retaining clip to get the right spacing. The rotors are the same truck... but 2wd version. Everything bolts up like its meant to be there, and e-brake cables still pull to the front. I will have to make a new e-brake cable connection, or adapt the old ones to work. The front brakes started out as the 98 and up camaro/ firebird brake swap. After it was together I found out the camaro and corvette calipers can be interchanged, so i picked up some C5 rotors. With some modification to the adapter bracket, the camaro abutment braket lined up nicely with the vette rotor, and voila...13" front brakes with non vette scripted calipers. As for steering gear I found a good deal on a jeep grand cherokee box in good used condition for $50 bucks with hoses. Sway bars are still undecided, but for now, a 1.25" front bar from one of my trans am's lives there. Here are a few more pics of once the chassis came together. The roller wheels sure bring it into the 80's!! haha

[car_guy]

Now is probably a good time to share on some direction of the car. I can tell you it's changed a lot over the past year. I dubb'd the car "the grudge" as when I first got the car, I wanted to clone it into a judge, and thought the name sounded cool. After considering how hard it is to find gto parts, and realizing the lemans stuff looks cool the way it is, Im just going to change up a couple things to give it the judge feel, but keep it way it is. So as it progresses the car will receive the gto ram air hood, 70 judge spoiler, and Im going to fit the T-37, or 69 judge stripe into the paint scheme. The car is going to be Lemans blue, and the stripe will either be pearl'd, or just slightly ghosted into the paint. That being said, I am a very impatient person on long builds, and there is a good possibility the car will live in epoxy for a while so I can get in some thrills sooner than later. One of the other previous plans was to do an ls swap to the car, but unfortunately I sold the 5.3 project to advance some other things, so maybe one day it will receive an ls again, but for now its going to have a sbc (zz4) with a 700r. Once the car is together, im going to lower it with 2" drop springs, or maybe coil overs, and stick some good gear in it since ive got the overdrive (3.73-4.10 range). As far as interior goes, there is a chance it will be going to black as i have to replace the head liner, and re-upholster the seats anyways. Ive been looking at TMI's sport foam and cover kits, and would like to turn the bench into a sporty bench..haha. I need all the space I can get as the car will haul around me, the wife, and our 3 kids...soon to be 4!!

[aidanfancystang]

hey thats don in those garage pics! I know him. he has quite a collection of cars, did you pic this one up from him or did he go with you to get it.

[car_guy]

Don is my father in law. He still has a ton of stuff, really into his fords, and wagons lately.

[bhcustomdesigns]

Cool project,I always liked that bodystyle

[CruizinKev]

nice project! looks good so far!

[aidanfancystang]

wagons and cougars, he has been buying every cougar that pops up lately.

I sold him some cobra rims awhile back. I used to be his snap-on dealer till I had to close my store down.

[warpedoak]

Very nice! Frame is looking real nice. I'm also working on a 70 Lemans. Cool cars IMO. I'm not a big fan of the shaker hood idea though, but definitely go with it if you like the look. I had to add hood clearance for my motor so a GTO hood wouldn't work for me so I ended up grafting a 427 Corvette scoop to flat fiberglass Lemans hood. I think it came out awesome, and it was the only thing I could come up with that gave extra clearance and worked with that large center body line stinger. I'm quite jealous of you doing a frame off and having an LS, should be awesome. Good luck and great start!



Here is a pic, please don't think I'm trying to self promote. Just thought it could help illustrate other ideas other than the stock Pontiac stuff can look good also with the stock lines of the car.

[car_guy]

wagons and cougars, he has been buying every cougar that pops up lately.

I sold him some cobra rims awhile back. I used to be his snap-on dealer till I had to close my store down.

Yep, thats him alright, haha. He's got Julie's cougar up and running now, should be able to put some miles on something this year for a change. Ive heard him mention you quite often.

[car_guy]

Very nice! Frame is looking real nice. I'm also working on a 70 Lemans. Cool cars IMO. I'm not a big fan of the shaker hood idea though, but definitely go with it if you like the look. I had to add hood clearance for my motor so a GTO hood wouldn't work for me so I ended up grafting a 427 Corvette scoop to flat fiberglass Lemans hood. I think it came out awesome, and it was the only thing I could come up with that gave extra clearance and worked with that large center body line stinger. I'm quite jealous of you doing a frame off and having an LS, should be awesome. Good luck and great start!

Here is a pic, please don't think I'm trying to self promote. Just thought it could help illustrate other ideas other than the stock Pontiac stuff can look good also with the stock lines of the car.

Thanks for the comments! Its far from some of the other incredible builds on here, but Im just hoping for a fun driver the family can all enjoy. Nice LeMans by the way! The color and stance looks sick. I would have never thought to try the stinger style hood, but it looks awesome. I think your right about the shaker...the more i think about it, the more im starting to secong guess it.

[car_guy]

No progress on the car this weekend, but I did take some pics of another project on the go. Its not pro-touring in any way...but its still kinda cool.

[bonecrrusher]

Nice... I need a truck.... lol.

[aidanfancystang]

tell don i still need to come over and see his collection

[aidanfancystang]

any more progress on this build?

[srh3trinity]

I want a crew cab short bed with a Cummins swap. Both are cool builds.

[car_guy]

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[car_guy]

Here are some pics of the truck!
The box in its new home for the first time



beside the donor truck

[car_guy]

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[srh3trinity]

Sounds like it is time for a Cummins or D-max swap. To me, that would be the ultimate truck with either of those powerplants, a little lift and some nice paint.