69 GTO Build

[Fastmonty]

Guys,



Hope all is well... Car is rolling, and I've taken it to a couple outings already. Eric... do you recognize the old guy below? Gus, congrats on finally pulling the trigger on something... ha, ha... I remember struggling with the same decisions.

Talk soon, Mike

[ekmxryda]

Hi Gus,
Glad you are making progress, like you said the forum is great for getting problems sorted out.
Hey Mike,
Is that Jim Wangers looking happy that you got your Goat back out on the road again!? Must feel great with the extra power now! Might be a little jealous!
The March accessory drive kit looks good too.

Not much to report still, other than I found a better passenger door that took a 6 hour drive to pick up. I had to strip, bang out a few little dents and weld up small patches in the corners. Finally I am happy with all the gaps now and the whole car just needs to be sanded for a few more days. Will have to double check the fit of the nose and fenders before I start painting.

['71cutlasluvr]

Guys,

Hope all is well... Car is rolling, and I've taken it to a couple outings already. Eric... do you recognize the old guy below? Gus, congrats on finally pulling the trigger on something... ha, ha... I remember struggling with the same decisions.

Talk soon, Mike

Congrats on getting your baby back on the road. She's looking great. That engine bay is pristine dude!! Must be a blast to drive her with that new power plant. Very Kewl!

And I agree with Eric, is that Jim W., the GTO father? Such a great photo op! Ah to live in CA.... Oh well, Eric and I will have to make do in NE. Enjoy your time with your gorgeous GTO Mike. You earned it!!

Yes, tough decision on frame and suspension choice but getting back on some sort of budget was the driving factor. Since the car won't be seeing any real competition, decided to stay with the stock frame and live with 305's in the back. ((your's look awesome with the 295's(?)!)) I can sort of see a light at the end of the tunnel now.

My hiccup in installing the air ride shockwaves was the lower strong arms were too narrow and didn't fit! Argh! Here's the thread if you have some spare time.

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...99#post1145699

The fix is a mini machinists jack screw to spread the pockets just enough to allow them to slide in. ... should be here today. Until then I'll be working on the rear shock install. Pics when I get a moment. Feels good to finally have a direction to move forward in.

And.. finally got the rendering done. Artist sent me a 13 x 19" print which he forgot he promised me and I had to remind him by quoting a nearly two year old email, but he lived up to his promise.

Here it is: I opted for separate front, rear and combined views. All of these are high resolution image files so they can be blown up to poster size without loss of detail. Subtle changes, like making both bumpers the same level of chrome shine, and getting rid of the rear license plate, which was grossly oversized. Worth the wait I'd say. Now if I can stay on task and get a rolling chassis with powertrain installed so I can at least start the beast. I'll try to remember to take a vid so I can share with the community. Just love to hear engines run!

atb
Gus

['71cutlasluvr]

Hi Gus,
Glad you are making progress, like you said the forum is great for getting problems sorted out.
Hey Mike,
Is that Jim Wangers looking happy that you got your Goat back out on the road again!? Must feel great with the extra power now! Might be a little jealous!
The March accessory drive kit looks good too.

Not much to report still, other than I found a better passenger door that took a 6 hour drive to pick up. I had to strip, bang out a few little dents and weld up small patches in the corners. Finally I am happy with all the gaps now and the whole car just needs to be sanded for a few more days. Will have to double check the fit of the nose and fenders before I start painting.

Thanks Eric. Yes, project if Finally moving forward.
btw: I too like the march drive system on Mike's engine. Makes for a clean install. I think they make one for old's big blocks too. Will have to research.

Glad to see you have you car back in your garage and was able to score a better door. Very good. One of my doors have a rust hole, of all places, about 2/3rds up near where the door meets the door jamb. Weird. Need to find the rust and remove it then I can weld up the hole with a patch, but so much more to do before I get to that. Quite a to-do list I have.

Back out to the garage. Hoping the mini screw jack comes soon. want to get those shockwaves on asap.

Enjoy the day.
atb
Gus

[Fastmonty]

Eric,

Great to hear you're sanding... I don't miss that. Yeah, that's Jim Wanger, I actually met him a couple weeks earlier at his 89 birthday party. Dude is sharp as a tack. It was my second "reliability test" that day, and of course, it rained. That's where the below picture was shot...

Gus, awesome renderings! That'll be one bad ass cruiser.

I'll be struggling with putting the wipers and wiper motor in this weekend. Of course the wiper motor hits the valve cover, so I have to re-engineer the mounting bracket. I wish I would've known that would happen, when I was doing the smoothly plate... I would've tried to relocate the wiper motor to underneath the passenger fender... Gus, take note.

Mike

[ekmxryda]

Hey Mike,

Have you looked into running a new smaller wiper motor?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181730397779...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Same one that Detroit Speed sells in their kit.
http://www.detroitspeed.com/1964-197...wiper-kit.html

[Fastmonty]

Ohhhh! Nice! If I can use my stock wiper switch, I might pull that trigger. Thanks Eric!

['71cutlasluvr]

Eric,

Great to hear you're sanding... I don't miss that. Yeah, that's Jim Wanger, I actually met him a couple weeks earlier at his 89 birthday party. Dude is sharp as a tack. It was my second "reliability test" that day, and of course, it rained. That's where the below picture was shot...

Gus, awesome renderings! That'll be one bad ass cruiser.

I'll be struggling with putting the wipers and wiper motor in this weekend. Of course the wiper motor hits the valve cover, so I have to re-engineer the mounting bracket. I wish I would've known that would happen, when I was doing the smoothly plate... I would've tried to relocate the wiper motor to underneath the passenger fender... Gus, take note.

Mike

Jim Wangers is 89? Wow.. And still sharp. I can only hope I age as gracefully.

Hope the car turns out as nice as the renderings. Gonna blow them up to poster size eventually and put them on the garage wall for motivation.

Thanks for the wiper motor tip Mike. Much appreciated. Better to do now with the car apart. I have a set of pretty slick "tall" cast aluminum valve covers that may give me grief with the wiper motor too. Got them from an olds club friend several years ago. Just need a good polishing. They came off of his drag car.
Attached pics below.

Good luck with the firewall mods. Betcha wish Eric lived a little closer....But I'm sure you'll get 'er done one way or another ;) At least you're driving you're baby... Eric I have a ways to go to that point, although he's a lot closer than me.

btw: New set of Strong arms from ridetech on the way. Turns out I was correct... they are too narrow. Should get me back on track. Gonna take a while to get them since they have to built then sent off for powder coating. Will attach pics of the final installation. ridetech is a great company to deal with. They very easily could have said to make them fit, but when they found out that their project '66 chevelle needed the same dimension arms as mine, they (Darren) promised to make me a brandy new set and ship 'em out no charge. Glad I chose RT for my air suspension.

Have a great weekend guys.
atb
Gus

[ekmxryda]

Gus its nice to hear that ridetech is taking care of you, I like their stuff and would use it on my next car.

I have been sanding away and was able to get more SPI epoxy primer on the car. Now for another coat of high build 2K primer, more sanding, sealer then a SPI flat black single stage.

['71cutlasluvr]

Gus its nice to hear that ridetech is taking care of you, I like their stuff and would use it on my next car.

I agree. Once the cause of the problem was figured out, no hesitation in fabbing me up a new set of SA's. I would guess many companies would say "they should fit, so make 'em!" Latest update is the SA's have been built and off to powdercoaters. Hoping to see them soon.

I am trying to follow your "get 'er done" mind set and working on mounting the rear shockwave bracketry and shockwaves today. Much easier than the fronts which require opening up of the spring pockets to prevent rubbing. Just drill some holes in the 12 bolt's shock brackets and bolt 'em up.

Your goat sure looks mean in black! And that wheel/tire combo is still top shelf. Thanks for the update and pics. Great to see you are really moving along.. Your efforts are REALLY paying off.

Beautiful day today for you and me.... low humidity and upper 70's for me, mid or low 70's for you since your so far north of Beantown I would guess. Enjoy the day Eric.

Gus

[ekmxryda]

Thanks Gus,
Lots of sanding over the last week!
Block sanded the epoxy primer with 220 on the high spots and 320 everywhere else.
Another coat of High Build 2K that I sanded the top off with my DA and 150, then block sanded with 150 to get level.
One last coat of epoxy as a sealer that I block sanded with 320.
Now ready to mask off and spray some 2K primer / sealer.

[ekmxryda]

Broke myself out of paint jail!
Feels good to be done and I am happy with the final results. Even with the crappy Harbor Freight gun the SPI Matte Black looks great. I would recommend trying their products and they have free shipping. The few bugs that flew into the paint need to be dealt with , of course they pick the final coat to show up and ruin my fun.
A few days before that I sprayed the floors with Lizard Skin ceramic insulation,
and wet sanded 2K primer with 320 then 400 a bunch of times, I will not miss sanding for a while.







Now getting the garage back in order should take a while.

['71cutlasluvr]

She looks great Eric! So you're out of paint AND sanding jail for a while! Kudo's. So close....

[ekmxryda]

The block is back from machine shop, bored .030" hot tanked and new cam bearings installed.
After washing it again and blasting all the crap out of the water jackets with air, I ground flats on an old head bolt and ran it though the block a few times to finish cleaning.



I hate to compromise but keeping stock crank and rods saves me some money for now.
The guys at Texas Speed are great to talk with and helped me get the right stuff.
Mahle -4cc flat top pistons should give me around 10.5 -1 compression
TSP ported LS6 oil pump, Clevite bearings, LS7 lifters

['71cutlasluvr]

That's gonna be one sweet engine Eric. Any idea on hp/tq? I like your thread cleaning trick. First time I've heard of that. Hope the engine build goes smoothly for you.
atb
Gus

[ekmxryda]

Thanks Gus, The 408CID stroker combo I was looking at makes around 625HP - 560TQ
With this 370CID combo I am hoping for around 500HP - 400TQ + going with single plane intake manifold and 4150 throttle body. Want to keep it simple for reliability.
Always open to thoughts on good combinations...
If I want to go faster I can always just throw more money at it later.

Quickly fit doors and fenders



Happy with improved door gaps, this section always bothered me with its big space from the factory. Don't ask how many hours I have into them.

['71cutlasluvr]

Sweet! Looks great Eric. So Jealous. ;)

[Fastmonty]

Eric,

Congrats on getting out of paint Jail! That flat black looks awesome! I will be going back into paint jail soon, to correct some tiger stripping on the hood and deck lid. Which can only be seen in bright sun light... so, I went to my first car show last weekend and won "Best GTO", because it was overcast ) There were about 20 really nice goats there... including Jim Wangers' Judge...

But, the absolute sickest car I've ever seen, was a 69 Charger. Check out the motor... CRAZY!

Talk soon...

[andrewb70]

What's that thin little bar over the engine supposed to do? It is the size of a toothpick...LOL

Andrew

[ekmxryda]

Hey guys thanks for the compliments, sorry for the late response. Been super busy getting jobs done, also jumped over to finish up my Sprinter moto hauler electrical.
Took a while to install and hook up everything with two 100 W solar panels, Inverter/Charger, 30A shore power plug, two 6v AGM 200 Amp hour batteries to run Microwave, Fridge, Vent Fans, Water Pumps, LED lights, etc. Hope to be able to camp out at track days when the GTO is finished someday.







Congrats Mike for winning "Best GTO" that must have been exciting! I like the 69 Charger, looks very clean.
Andrew maybe they used a little bar to save weight?