PT 69 Pontiac Custom S

[boss_hoss]

Got my wheels and tires fitted. 245/40r18 Mickey Thompson street comps on the front 305/35r20 on the rear. Wheels are foose legend. 18x8 and 20x10. May not be my long term set up but I got a good deal enough to offset the cost of a headliner and carpet. Rears fit fine right now but I'm planning on swapping out the hotchkis 1" springs with some BMR 2" drop springs so I may need to roll the inner lip on the rears.

[JRANGER]

I like the perch better then a level ride on a hot rod but it looks good. You do excellent work...Wish it was my ride. Think it would look good with a lil more polish on the wheels like Ridlers 645s but then again im just not a fan of those wheels. Seem too much like bullet knockoffs

[76TA]

Dan,

That last pic you posted of the rear...great looking car man.


- Andrew

[boss_hoss]

I like the perch better then a level ride on a hot rod but it looks good. You do excellent work...Wish it was my ride. Think it would look good with a lil more polish on the wheels like Ridlers 645s but then again im just not a fan of those wheels. Seem too much like bullet knockoffs

I hadn't seen those rider wheels before, Very nice. I went back and forth about the polished lip vs all black for a while. The opportunity presented itself for these wheels and tires so i pulled the trigger. At some point I aspire to have some Rushforth Black Widow wheels but those cost many times more than what I paid for these wheels so they'll do for a while and allow me to pound some pavement this summer.

[boss_hoss]

Dan,

That last pic you posted of the rear...great looking car man.


- Andrew

Thanks, Its been a wile in the making but It's really turning out as I hoped it would.

[cbpldc]

Nice choice on the color and badging. Such a unique car.

[boss_hoss]

Installed the headliner this weekend. It's not a big project but it's one of those things that make the whole thing feel like I'm closer to completion.

[boss_hoss]

Here’s a few update pics. I’m down to finishing up the interior and working out all the bugs.

[ekmxryda]

Looks great, love the color.
Hows the front suspension upgrade feel?

[boss_hoss]

Suspension feels great. Corners nice and flat. I haven't added any frame bracing yet but I haven't noticed any flex yet, then again I haven't pushed it too hard. I've got 550lb qa-1 coilovers on the front. looking at QA-1s Spring chart they're a bit stiffer than they recommend but it still rides pretty well on the street. About as stiff as my 3/4 truck. Which isn't too bad.

Looks great, love the color.
Hows the front suspension upgrade feel?

[boss_hoss]

Here's some updated photos now that the interior is mostly done. Still waiting on the TMI rear seat upholstery and have to decide what console I want to run as I'm not in love with the stock one. Unfortunately my transmission started making noise so other purchases will have to hold off for a while.

[boss_hoss]

Well the old adage do it right or do it twice just bit me in the butt. In my quest to keep the budget down a creatively source parts my "rebuilt" 200-4R from Craigslist wasn't as good as advertised. After approximately 50 miles the low/reverse sprag let go and taco'ed the tranny, ruined the case the whole 9 yards. Now it's in the shop for a full rebuild and I'll have 1.5x what I would have paid had I just done it right and bought a good warranteed one from a reputable shop. A great learning experience but One I'd rather not have learned today.

[boss_hoss]

Not a project update as much as a garage update. After building my car with all my tools crammed in a 28” harbor freight toolbox Home Depot has a deal I couldn’t pass up so I pulled the trigger on this monster 61” tool chest for under $500. Major upgrade.

[slimjim]

I love the husky gear, great value, those Black Friday deals were hard to beat

[boss_hoss]

Update,
Scored a BOP 10 bolt with factory limited slip and 3.73 gears which was a pretty big upgrade from the 3.30, open rear end I had in the car. Still testing and tuning, need to get some lighter springs for the QA1s in the front, and still having a hell of a time dialing in the braking system. I've got a short hard pedal that will not go away. Tired different booster and master combinations re bleeding the system and now I'm on to an adjustable combination valve to see of that helps.

[boss_hoss]

Bringing this thread back. Having kid will really slow down your progress. Most recent upgrades are some us mags u123 wheels and Wilwood brakes on the rear. I’m also in the process of installing fitech efi so I’ll be posting a bit more about that soon. Here’s some photos of the new wheels and tires. 245/40r18 front and 285/40r18 rear.

[boss_hoss]

Back again with yearly updates. Not much major changes but working on finishing out the interior and some systems upgrades.

I was finally took a chance and got my rear seat upholstery done. TMI insisted that the rear seat upholster for a 68/69 Chevelle standard rear bench seat would not work on a 69 Tempest/lemans/GTO. I can confirm it absolutely does fit and really finishes out the back seat area nicely. if anybody needs it I'm pretty sure I can find the SKU for you.


Other interior upgrade I'm working on is a 5th gen Camaro console. fits pretty well but I'm still working on the riser for the trans tunnel, so the console sits at the correct height.


Finally got the FITECH GO EFI classic installed. I spent a lot of time making the whole system as low profile as possible to keep the engine compartment clean. Ill upload some more photos later of some of the finer details I'm sure people will want to see.


The two things that have really been taking up most of my spare time these days are a 1- and 3-year-old but also, I made a promise to my wife that once I got far enough along with the Poncho, I would build her a VW bus so over the last 2 years I've been doing a cosmetic restoration on this.

[Dominic68]

Your car looks amazing. As a fellow Pontiac fan I'm also considering going with EFI in the future. Would love to hear your opinion on the FITECH system it's one of the ones I'm also considering.

[boss_hoss]

Your car looks amazing. As a fellow Pontiac fan I'm also considering going with EFI in the future. Would love to hear your opinion on the FITECH system it's one of the ones I'm also considering.

I’ve had zero problems with FItech once I got it installed easy starts. Good throttle respons, no issues with reliability or drivability. I did have to replace the temp sensor that came with the kit because it wouldn’t read correctly. It’s relatively well known that FiTech uses cheap sensors but they’re all just GM style sensors so I replaced them with AC delco.

I went with the Goefi classic for two reasons.1 looks more like a stock carb and 2. The ecu is not integrated in the throttle body so I could mount it inside of the car ways from heat and vibrations. I read some early horror stories about guys sending back complete efi units just because the integrated ecu went bad. If I have the same problem I just unplug the ecu under the dash and send it in.

I was originally planning on running a Holley in tank pump set up but it was not available during COVID so I went with the Fitech force fuel system. No issues there. Plenty of space to mount it in the A bodies and it’s not noticeably loud especially when the engine is running. In retrospect I actually like the set up. If I have a fueling issues I don’t have to drop the tank it’s all in the engine compartment.

one great tip for Pontiac or Chevy guys if you run a fuel system that needs a return line. AFX body cars that have provisions for fuel lines on both driver and passenger side. The fuel pump on the Pontiac is in the driver side and the fuel pump on the Chevy is on the passenger side. I just bought a chevelle fuel feed line and ran it as my return on the passenger side. Made it nice and clean and I didn’t have to fuss with bending customer lines or running tol much soft line.


here’s one thing in pretty proud of finding. It’s an auxiliary light mount for a motorcycle/atv but it also fits the fitech fuel pump perfectly so I was able to bolt it to the intake manifold. Keeps it secure and looks clean.


this is also one of my new favorite things. The company is called split seal. It’s a firewall grommet that splits in half. The Fitech ecu harnesses a oblong plug that wouldn’t fit through a normal firewall grommet so this was a great solution since I could cut the hold the same shape as the plug and then install the split seal over it.

oh and I also installed an 7 circuit auxiliary fuse block from jegs. 3 keyed and 4 hot circuits. I have the stock harness under the dash and plan on adding Dakota digital gauges and AC eventually so this was a good way for me to add circuits without stressing the stock harness

overall I’m happy with fitech but it I were starting the process today I’d seriously look at spending the extras money on the Edelbrock pro-flo system because of the port injection and integrated timing control. I also feel like Holley is really pushing forward and expanding their engine, timing, and trans control products so if you want timing control or plan to run and electrically controlled trans Holley may be better.

[Dominic68]

Thanks for all the great info I'm definitely going to do some more research. If everything goes well I plan on switching over to EFI in the spring.