1966 GTO Project Hell Beast

[robbie9999]

Thanks mate - quick question you or others ....

I am not looking to drop the car more than two inches all around if that from original height (adjustable height with Qa1 on all corners) it is better to buy the original spindles and then adjust, or get 2 inch dropped spindles ? is the camber really affect that much if I adjust the car down with the qa1 ?

[robbie9999]

Alright - Disclaimer, I am the average joe guy, please ensure you know what your getting into when building a pro touring car, no matter the budget, the money gets tight really quick, I am starting to feel the hurt and pinch.
The hours into this for the mechanical is gone mental

1. Under carriage cleaned up, there was rot on the body bushing in back, it was cut out and replaced with metal
2. New spindles came in, stock height will adjust camber through alignment
3. Tunnel completed
4. Dynomat the whole interior
5. Lizard Skinned the whole undercarriage for sound deadening, and heat
6. Bought yellow top Deep Cycle battery

7. Not sure what it cost to charge for wiring a car


Pics attached

[robbie9999]

Mock of tires as I am going 19 and 20 s

235 35 19 in front ( I am going 235 40 19 ) Front

335 30 20 in back ( I am going 265 35 20 ) Rear

[robbie9999]

Some more advancement ... carpets down, running brake lines this week, ordering some cheap ridler five star wheels, to knock around, once here will order my asanti's, ensure sizing will be key

Anyone doing an A body, no one out there makes a bracket for the clutch master cylinder. Ordered Tremec from HurstDrive Line, they have for Camaro's, nothing for A Bodies

Console will sit up one inch, firewall and engine bay came out clean

New wiring going in as well anyone know what is costs and the time to run an new wiring harness ? anyone ?

[robbie9999]

Ok so I got the Ridler Wheels in and we put them on the car .. 20x10 ( 265/35/20 ) for the rear, and 18x8 (245/40/18) for the front.

The backs just barely have space in the wheel well, will have to cut and dice a tad out other wise over bumps they will get rubbed. The fronts, I hate cause they look small and too far inword, going to see about spacers and longer bolts from wilwood ( 3 inches ) but we measured backspacing on the fronts at 4.5, when ordering the asanti 19X8 for the fronts I will ask for 5 to 5.25 back spacing for the fronts so they sit more flush with the fender.

Anyone run into issues with Qa1 spring rate ? ? I have 400 on there now and we jacked the coil-overs as high as possible and the car sits way to low in the front, going with 550 spring rate, exchange will take a week.


Need to purchase 4 inch air filter

Fluids will be done this week, and wiring, hoping to leave the shop and into the body shop for cut and polish as well as hang doors better.

IF YOUR IN NEED OF PARTS OR HELP GO THROUGH DALES RESTORATION !!!!! AMAZING CAT !! 909 799 2099 he will help anyone or projects or parts, and truly a pleasure to speak to .. based in California

[qnitro]

man this is looking awesome...

[Rucumn]

Love the project! A few years ago I painted a 66 Goat for a good friend and I fell in love with that body style!

I am about where you are on my '67 chevelle. I also bought a yellow top optima, but decided to put in the trunk. I have one of those 20 Circuit Universal harnesses and was going through the process of terminating my headlight connections, but then I decided to use relays and upgrade the wiring for headlights, starter circuit, etc... I called MAD Electrical and talked about 5 hours total with Mark. He knows his stuff! He got me straightened out on the voltage and currents for the car and now just waiting on the load of stuff I ordered from him.

I used the slave cylinder bracket for the camaro.... it will work, but the bolt pattern is slightly off from the A-body. A little tap from a hammer and it will slide over the bolts. I am not using the stock chevelle pedals. I modified the pedals from a 2000 camaro and made my own rod attachment post. Everything lines up. The camaro bracket may not put the slave cylinder push rod in the right place if you are using stock pedals, so some fab is necessary to shift the pedals over to the left I believe.

Keep up the good work!

[boostmaster]

There's another board member that did a 66/67 GTO here that outlined some of the suspension woes...

Also, there is a company that does pro-touring cars that is selling a mini-tub kit for the pontiac of that year. They stuffed 335's under the rear! It was awesome. Here's the link:
http://abcperformance.net/mini%20tub%20kit.html

Anyway, awesome job so far! Waiting to see more results...

[robbie9999]

Rucmn - thanks for the advice, so I was looking and looking for a plate, no idea that the camaro one would work, my guy just mocked up one himself. problem is there is not enough tremec's sold for a-bodies so they dont bother suppling one.

Boostmaster - Bloody Hell !! should have looked this up and found it before .. oh well, too late now ... thanks for the link .. ordered 20x10 wheels the 5 stars and ordering 20x10 asanti's as well ... HATE THE WAY THE FRONT WHEELS SIT INSIDE WANT THEM FLUSH going to shop tomorrow to help work on car, and will do some final measurements for a more flush look on the front wheels ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA7IbBMBuFc

[Nicks67GTO]

Alright - Disclaimer, I am the average joe guy, please ensure you know what your getting into when building a pro touring car, no matter the budget, the money gets tight really quick, I am starting to feel the hurt and pinch.
The hours into this for the mechanical is gone mental

1. Under carriage cleaned up, there was rot on the body bushing in back, it was cut out and replaced with metal
2. New spindles came in, stock height will adjust camber through alignment
3. Tunnel completed
4. Dynomat the whole interior
5. Lizard Skinned the whole undercarriage for sound deadening, and heat
6. Bought yellow top Deep Cycle battery

7. Not sure what it cost to charge for wiring a car


Pics attached

Yeah the $$ and time involved to do all this stuff is crazy. Its impressive to me seeing you guys that get this stuff done in a year or so. Between work, wife, daughter, and extended family i'm lucky to get to the car once in a while so I decided to do mine in sections. First and foremost was getting it on the road to enjoy. Iv'e gotten that done....now its upgrade time but that will take a couple years. This spring is a new interior. This summer i'm going to build a boxed/supported frame. The this fall i'm hoping to change it out and get some stuff powdercoated.....sooooo slooooow for me. Its cool to see you guys make such fast progress.

[robbie9999]

Alright Lads ! - went by the shop today work on camber, springs issues ( still sitting low ) got new Qa1 springs 550 pound rated instead of 400 hopefully it picks up the car ! Dash installed and wiring almost complete .. I never touch wiring to complicated.

measured back spacing for fronts on 18x8 wheel with zero offset backspace is 4.5 that sits to far in .. we put spacers of 0.75 and it sits more flush, so I am going with a 3.75 backspacing, bit extreme ? not sure .. check out the difference and pictures ...

Dash looks really smart, should do after the mortgage it cost !

My son London with a classic picture its his motor when he grows up anyways ....

Check video out of backspacing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0dit...XqoSAK4hal2ubw

[robbie9999]

Ordering these ASANTI 134 on Monday ..... thoughts ? 5 weeks to build ..

[Nicks67GTO]

A couple questions.

1. How much Dynamat did you use? Where all did you put it? Were you happy with the results of it? Was it horribly hard to remove to get at the floor??

2. What steering column did you purchase? Are you happy with it? Did you have any issues at all?

3. Are those speed hut gauges in a stock dash?

[LeighP]

Ordering these ASANTI 134 on Monday ..... thoughts ? 5 weeks to build ..

Thoughts? ....NO!!!! Just say NO!
Frankly, they belong on some guy's SUV.



Love the GTO, by the way...just can't stand the wheels, sorry.....

[erikgto]

Great looking project!!!

I'm wokring on a mild restomod restoration for my 1970 GTO convertible.
No LS though but it's factory 400 with an overdrive.

I'm very interested in the frame stiffeners you have on the frame....did you bey these somewhere or did you fabricate them yourself?

Keep up the good work!!

erik

[rfalker1]

I love this year gto!!! and what you are doing to it as well!!!

its going to be epic when you finish

[robbie9999]

A couple questions.

HI NOVA GUY 73 !!

1. How much Dynamat did you use? Where all did you put it? Were you happy with the results of it? Was it horribly hard to remove to get at the floor??

I bought 72 square feet, ended up using 55 square feet, did not do the back seat may still tackle, trying to find where I bought it, much cheaper than dynamat only problem was it has little pockets of air in the corners you have to really press down, once it settled it was ok. the original dynomat was not bad in lifting some real heat and it was scrap scrap. As far as the result have not driven the car to asses the performance of the matting, + with the lizard skin on the bottom of the car it should be significant will advise.

2. What steering column did you purchase? Are you happy with it? Did you have any issues at all?

Steering column is from IDIDT comes with tilt, slips right in no issues, again car not running yes, end of month should be started up and go for a spin ... well excited !! I'm sure the column plus all the other mass amount of upgrades will make this thing handle brilliant, but key is the steering box your running I had purchased a close ratio steering box few years back, believe it s 2.5 turn to turn.

3. Are those speed hut gauges in a stock dash?

The gauges are from American Vintage, 67 series, the dash is stock, I cut out the aluminum plate and had it turned, through water jet and cad machine. Very expensive, very time consuming, but came out looking like a champion....

[robbie9999]

Great looking project!!!

I'm wokring on a mild restomod restoration for my 1970 GTO convertible.
No LS though but it's factory 400 with an overdrive.

I'm very interested in the frame stiffeners you have on the frame....did you bey these somewhere or did you fabricate them yourself?

Keep up the good work!!

erik

Hi Erik - the frame stiffeners are just regular 18 gauge steel, they are connected at exactly were the energy transfer points are for these older cars, along with the stiffness, the frame has also been boxed in, coupled with the mass sway bars back and front, it should corner better than a roadrunner getting chased by wild coyote.

[robbie9999]

I love this year gto!!! and what you are doing to it as well!!!

its going to be epic when you finish

Hi Randel - yeah thanks mate, mechanical should be done end up month, then off to body shop for cut and polish, hang doors properly, and I am changing the front end to a 67 gto like the header and grills better ... your 68 Camaro is MENTAL !!! nice job

[robbie9999]

Thoughts? ....NO!!!! Just say NO!
Frankly, they belong on some guy's SUV.

Love the GTO, by the way...just can't stand the wheels, sorry.....

LOL - HI Leigh yeah I know were your coming from exactly, if they made Rally II wheels in 20 and 19 I would put them no questions asked, I seen some taste ful rides done with nice wheels, here is a link to one your going to hate ... but the car looks clean, he went to big though with the wheels maybe 20's best , but again keeping it to cragers or 17 inch rally's not going to do it for me, I am not trying to be some gangster want to be, just want it too look clean ... seen the budnik gasser wheels to really smart wheel