Project "Factory....but Better!" 1967 Pontiac GTO

[gearbanger]

Well it has been a long time since I have updated, and I though it would be best to start a whole new thread. I started this frame off resto my 67 Pontiac GTO two years and six months ago and I origionally dubbed the project "Never Gonna Run Again. About two months into the build, when I had the car off the frame, body on rotisserie looking about as bad as it could look, parts scattered into every spare room of my house, and completely occupying an entire 30x30 garage, where it had once only taken up one bay, I was seriously considering the possibility that it may never actually run again!

But, like any project I guess, if you keep your head down, dedicate a good amount of time to it, and a h#ll of alot of money, you can evetually reach the end. I won't call it finished because we all know there is never "finished" when you are into the modified car hobby. There is always something better!

I remamed the project "Factory...but Better!" because as the project went on, we noticed the theme of the build became to stay true to the muscle car look and feel while still incorporating things to improve the power, handling, braking, looks and safety of the old 67. It seemed that when we were planning a modification, we kept going to extra difficulty to improve the look and function of the factory setup while sometimes the finished product was unnoticeable.

Here is the old thread.

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...onna-Run-Again.

[gearbanger]

Since starting this project, we were blessed with the arrival of Spencer. He is now 17 months and I am convinced he is the reason this car is running again. I mean how are you going to slack when you have a 17 month old standing over you with a hammer!

[gearbanger]

The big deadline was a local cruise in called Somernites Cruise. The guys finally featured Buick-Olds-Pontiac at the show, and I was not about to miss the show I had been begging them to do for years. The car was a big hit. All the Cruisers knew I had been working like mad on it to finish it. We finally got the hood on and adjusted at 2:30 on Saturday. We were at the show at 3:30!

[gearbanger]

Here are some pics in my basement garage where the car was built entirely except for body and paint. My wife is so happy that, for now, all the primering and painting is over with and her house can once again smell like Bath and BodyWorks!

[gearbanger]

We did the firewall in a "Factory....but Better!" way. We kept the factory contours but did away with the ugly seam that the factory just filled with sealer. The wiring harness, gas peddle bracket, and heater hose outlets were all filled. The factory heater box is now a chase for the heater hoses, a/c hoses, and wiring harness. Everything comes through the old blower hole and is up out of site inside the fender. The car has a vintage air Gen IV setup, but alot of it has been made to hide away some of the unsightlies. Made a nice, stainless coil bracket to mount the coil on the back of the passenger side head, just like Factory! Notice the little pigtail for the wipers. Pretty clean.

[63Duece]

VERY NICE!!
:thumbs up:

[rfalker1]

That is one clean gto.... COngrats!!!!!

[gearbanger]

I am mounting my a/c drier in a little different place than Vintage Air does. I wanted the hoses tucked in the fender until they get to the front, so I mounted it by the radiator. I mounted the CSR recovery tank on the other side and fabbed up some aluminum lines for it. The shroud was made by a local fab shop. I designed it on CAD and they cut it out and welded it up. I brought it home and cut up the taurus fan I was using and mounted the DC Controls panel in it. Works great. The Griffin radiator is a 2 1-1/4" core factory style unit and it works great so far. Fit perfect too.

[gearbanger]

I did some tweaking on the plumbing under the hood to make it look a little cleaner. The power steering pump got a new reservoir from Jones Racing and some new hose from Orme Bros. I fabbed up a stainless bracket for the frame mounted fuel line, and the brakes lines were all done in stainless 3/16 line with -AN fittings. That was a pain. Stainless is kind of hard to bend by hand so I got a pretty good bender from Eastwood. I used a RIGID brand flaring tool and it worked great.

[gearbanger]

One of the coolest things about the wiring was the location of the MSD box and the American Autowire Hwy 22 Panel. I was able to find just enough real estate under the dash to locate them. I made custom brackets to mount them and they are accessable. The MSD box is right by the emergency brake pedal and the chip is easy to get to and change. The fuse panel is easy to see and change fuses. The wires go into the front side facing the firewall.

[gearbanger]

The interior is pretty much like it was before the restoration with the exception of the addition of shoulder strap belts from Morris Classic. The trans tunnel got redone in more of a firebird flat top shape to clear the TKO 600 well. I think I even have room for a 6 speed if I ever wanted to do it. The carpet is a modern style carpet we were able to do it in one peice and not have the seam in the middle. The gauges are from Classic Instruments. They are the only ones I could find that had the four same indentical size gauges like the factory dashes had. This setup closely resembles the factory ralley setup. Factory, but better.

[gearbanger]

The trunk is where some pretty hard core fabrication happened. I had to cut the trunk floor out from the tail light to the back seat, including the wheel tubs. We took some new tubs and added 2" to each side and narrowed the center piece 4". The goal was to make it look stock. It was kind of tedious to make the trunk hinges braces reattach to the new wider tubs without looking "fab". My body man made me look good by making the three peice trunk floor look like a million bucks. We went over it all with the factory splatter paint. We were really careful on the routing of the wires. We wanted everything to be as hidden as possible. That is the kind of work that goes unnoticed. Only think I am not real crazy about is the boat box that the optima battery is mounted in. I was going for a "non billet" look, but I may have to look for a different way on this.

[gearbanger]

[gearbanger]

I found a pretty cool gas tank that is polished stainless. It's not a baffled tank or an internal pump or anything, but for a factory style tank, it's about as sexy as it gets. I made a bracket and tigged it to the tank to mount my fuel pump. Seems pretty cool so far.

[gearbanger]

After much studying and discussion, I decided on KORE 3 C5 brakes and SC&C's stage II+ front suspension package. I used the stock drum spindles. Everything went together perfectly. I can't say enough about KORE 3 and their customer service. They were one of the best companies I have worked with. I stayed with smooth rotors and the black calipers to the brakes wouldn't draw too much attention. They are a really good setup. The wheels are Intro 17x8 front and 18x9.5" rear. I like the Vista design because they are reminicent of the old 67 Pontiac Ralley II wheels that came on the car. but Better!

[Mr. Anderson]

Excellent build!! Nice work and great decisions sir.

[Scarelane]

WOW! Very, very nice!!

[phasemaster1]

Have the same car just far from comparison, beautiful ride will be hitting you up for pictures in the future.

[mudbone64]

Talk about your single minded obsessions! The last few weeks before the Somernites Cruise BOP show gearganger was nuthin' but elbows and well, you know what I mean, on his ride. Every day had a new update of the previous night's progress. I did have the pleasure of helping Alex out a little throughout the entire project (that extra pair of hands) and I must say it's very cool to see a car go from a good looking machine to a media blasted pile of sheet metal and parts and then back to one of the finest GTOs that can be seen. One of the biggest differences between many other cars and Alexs' car is it can and will actually be driven anywhere you'd like. 75m.p.h., 450+ r.w.h.p., 17mpg and air conditioning-no problem. And what's more is it runs as cool as the other side of the pillow.

As with many of these cars, pictures just don't do it justice. Nearly everything in the engine/driveline/cooling system/brakes is a custom fit. Enjoy the pics but let me tell ya, you ain't gettin' the whole truth.

Outstanding work gearbanger!

Oh yea. Amazingly, one of my favorite mods is the seat belts. Sometimes Alex is a little heavy in the right foot!

[RobertGP]

Damn clean GTO! Respect!