68 GTO project

[jmt455]

UPDATE: February 25, 2013

Will probably be able to bring the car back from the body shop next week...
It's painted, but still needs more polishing and passenger door adjustments before I bring it home.


I helped fit the front bumper today. It's almost perfect, but we still might do a little more tweaking on the passenger side.

Hard to believe that it looks this good after all the work that was done...(new right quarter skin, new right door skin, minor collision damage in right fender, patch panels in lower left quarter and fender).

I think Bob did a great job!

I can't wait to get it home and start re-assembling it.

 

[DRIVEN]

Beautiful.

 

[hurst1979olds]

That is a nice looking Goat.

 

[jmt455]

UPDATE March 23, 2103

The car is back from paint and I have started re-assembly.

New parking lamp housings are very pricey, so I decided to refurbish my originals. I replaced the sockets and repainted the housings and the silver areas on the lenses. They turned out pretty good and I won't have to worry about poor grounds; I added dedicated ground wires and 3-wire weatherpak pigtails.

I took the shifter apart, cleaned, painted, polished and lubricated everything as required:

Pulled out the old floor insulation and cleaned up some minor traces of rust before installing new deadener.
The orange areas are original primer:

Gardening (knee) pad sure comes in handy when you're doing this task...

Then on to the rear compartment/package tray area. I am installing 3-point belts for the outboard seat positions (front and rear).
Got the complete set from Morris Concepts. Nice stuff!

The rear retractor mounts on top of the package tray. The belt load is transferred down through a bracket that anchors to the pinch weld flange at the top of the wheelhouse, just aft of the rear seat/trunk partition. The bracket is 316 stainless and about 1/8" thick. We discovered that the Pontiac (Tempest/LeMans/GTO) and Chevrolet (Chevelle/Malibu) body structure is a little different in the rear wheelhouse area. On a Chevrolet, you can drill the attaching holes for the lower mounting bolts in the pinch weld flange and the back side is accessible. On the Pontiac, there is a box reinforcement section behind the mounting area, so you can't get at the bolts. I installed heavy extruded J nuts for the lower attachments:

The rear retractor mounting brackets fit perfectly; more pics after I complete the installation.



I have not been able to get any outdoor pics due to the weather and the fact that I can't move the car, but here's how it looks in the garage:

Lots left to do, but it's coming along!

 

[Chopper]

Very nice. My oldest brother had a white 69' GTO. I remember most that he had to run ”high octane" fuel in 1972 so it was really good gas (not today's premium crap). It was a 400, 4 speed. Great looking car and always one of my favorites.

 

[jmt455]

Got a LOT done in the last 4 weeks - WOOHOO!

April 14, 2013 update.

It's been about 4 weeks since I posted an update; things are moving right along.

Completed the installation of the rear seat belt retractors:

Then masked and primed the lower dash panel:

Then painted the lower dash:

Installed carpet, shifter, rear seat divider, kick panels, E-brake mechanism and console:

Yes, I know it's a 69-72 console. Someday I'll find someone who wants to trade for a 68.

Then, on to the instrument panel, radio and glove box installation. Unfortunately, the in-dash tach did not owrk when I tested it. I re-installed the Rally clock:

Spent about 4 days getting all of that where I wanted it, including adding a ground terminal strip for the speakers, radio and 12V power port.

Then, it was on to the front end....

Surprise! I found a little area of flaking paint and a little bit of bent metal on the core support while I was installing the updated weatherpak connectors for the turn signal/park lamps:

Straightened up the damaged area at the outboard corner of the core support, cleaned/treated/primed/painted the area:

Now, time to install the valance panel:

And the headlight doors & grilles:

While I was working up front, I installed the new master cylinder and booster:

And re-finished the sorry looking washer bottle...it turned out great!

Now, I'm picking up steam!
My wife held the rear bumper in position while I bolted it up:

In the last couple of days, I got the front seats in, along with the 3-point belt on the driver's side.

When the sun made an appearance this afternoon, I pulled the car out for a few pics.
Here's what it looks like today (4/14/2013):

In the next two pictures, you can see the "Aux" input and the 12V power port mounted below the dash.
I plan to move both of them into the console, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut the holes in the new console bin liner yet.
Maybe I'll tackle that project later this year...

It looks pretty good in these pics, but it's actually covered with a fine layer of dust. Can't wait to see it in the sunshine after it's all cleaned up!

I've still got a lot of trim and detailing to do, but I'm very happy with the way it's looking so far.

 

[DRIVEN]

Soooo nice.

 

[jmt455]

UPDATE June 7, 2013

We've been on the road for several weeks; we returned from an extended (31 day) vacation trip at the end of May.
I picked up my stainless steel trim - all straightened and polished - and got started on installation.

I was able to get some loop carpet for the doors. Made my own bindings from some black vinyl I had laying around. They turned out great.

Here's the carpet cut to match the door panel shape:

Made the binding by cutting a 1.75" wide strip of black vinyl left over from a previous project:

Binding and carpet ready to be sewn. You sew them "face to face", then wrap the vinyl around the back of the door panel after bonding the carpet to the panel board.

At the same time, I also decided to move the 12V power port and the radio "Aux" plug out of sight.
The 12V port is now in the console and the Aux input is tucked up under the dash; not visible, but easily reached.

I made new water barriers for the doors using heavy-gauge plastic instead of the coated paper and replaced the foam seals aound the door pull handles and window cranks.

I removed the stainless steel moldings from the door trim panels and polished the moldings.
Re-sprayed the trim panels with vinyl/fabric dye and put everything back together, including new "fuzzies".

Door trim looks great!

Moving on to the exterior moldings and trim...
I removed each wheel, undercoated the fender liners, touched up the brake drums and the visible portions of the frame rails.

Then I installed the freshly polished wheel opening moldings, new trim rings and snazzy new lug nuts.
Looks like new, except these are 7" wide instead of the original 6" wheels.

I decided to replace the side marker lamp lenses and bezels; the old stuff looked really bad when seen against the new paint.
Lined up the GTO emblems on the quarters...

I'm having trouble with the rear window molding installation.
First, I had the wrong molding clips; they were too short and made the moldings sit too low in the channel.
Even with the correct clips, the moldings don't sit flush at the bottom, left corner of the glass.


I think the glass is miss-formed, but I'm going to try to put some weight on the window when the temps get a little warmer.
Hopefully, a couple of days with 50+ pounds and temps over 80F will squeeze the butyl down a little bit.
No pics of this area yet; still working on it...



Still cleaning, but I'm just about ready for our first show:

 

[jmt455]

UPDATE: June 8, 2103.

Made it to our debut show today; the POCI Widetrackers 25th Annual Spring "Dust-Off" in Davisburg, MI.
It's almost 25 miles from my home, so I got a little seat time in!

The view from the driver's seat:

Speedo actually reads a little high... 😀

At the show:

In great company!

 

[DRIVEN]

Beautiful.