1963 Grand Prix

[JUSTA6]

Ask em..........https://www.bopparts.com/

[64 kiwi boni]

Bet it does not fit mate ! Isn’t our diffs 91/4 inch ? Or 9 1/2 crown wheel ???? 

Edited March 27, 2023 by 64 kiwi boni

[Wrongway]

Thanks guys, I didn't know that place existed Justa. Ill check them out now.

I'm not 100% sure on the size Kiwi. I justa knew the chevy rearend was different somehow then the BOP.

[JUSTA6]

13 minutes ago, Wrongway said:

Thanks guys, I didn't know that place existed Justa. Ill check them out now.

I'm not 100% sure on the size Kiwi. I justa knew the chevy rearend was different somehow then the BOP.

Have bought many engine/drivetrain parts from them over the years.

[Wrongway]

Yeah, them seem like a good site. I saved them. Unfortunately, the only gear set they have is for a 64' Buick and it doesn't say what size or gear ratio. I did find a few years ago the actual sizes of the gears and the difference between the chevy and BOP. Its justa a matter of finding it now that I need it. I justa figured since I have to pull the axles anyway it would be a good time to do the gear swap while I'm in there.

[64 kiwi boni]

Let us know what you find out mate !! 
I would be interested in what size our diffs are and comparability with Chev gears 👍

[64 kiwi boni]

wrongway.. here you go !!! our diffs are 9.3 inch and it looks like these guys have all the cool parts for them !!!

https://fabcraftmetalworks.com/product/rear-axlera5-93031-2/

and check this out a complete head, and read below the different ring gera sets they have 

https://fabcraftmetalworks.com/product/rear-axle-assyra5-93364/

From what they are saying on their web site 57-64 are a Pontiac only diff, then 65 (fitzy car) they are a tin backed chev diff, 

Edited March 29, 2023 by 64 kiwi boni

[Wrongway]

Thank you Kiwi. That makes a bit more since. What I've been seeing looked like it was an 8.2. So seriously thanks buddy. Looks like they are in Wyoming, so I will give them a call tomorrow and report back.

[64 kiwi boni]

2 hours ago, Wrongway said:

Thank you Kiwi. That makes a bit more since. What I've been seeing looked like it was an 8.2. So seriously thanks buddy. Looks like they are in Wyoming, so I will give them a call tomorrow and report back.

Oh please do !! Looks like good gear too ! 

[Wrongway]

So, I justa spent the last hour talking to Dave at Fabcraft. What a guy, great dude with a wealth of knowledge who loves to share it. Seriously, I could've talked to him all day. So, you were right Kiwi, we have 9.3 buddy. He said the 8.2 came out in 64 in the smaller cars. The 9.3 was used in the full size cars from 57-64 and in 65 they switched (i asked for Fitzy's car) to an 8.87. So, he recommends that I sell the newly rebuilt TH400 and put in a 700R4. According to him I can't run 3.73 gears period with this set up. With 3.64 gears, the rear tire height and his calculator I'm looking at 3350RPM @ 70MPH. Staying with the current set up I'm looking at 2970RPM @ 70MPH. He said he will happily sell me everything I need once I swap the trans but he wouldn't feel right selling me the gears for this set up knowing I'd blow the engine on the interstate. Also Kiwi, there is a 6 digit number justa below the drain plug between 2 bolt holes, mine is 643317. He said that since there was multiple 9.3 cases in those years that they use this number to identify them. They call this a 317 case.

Ok, here's what's in my head, offer advice of laugh but this WAS the plan. I'm still swapping the torque convertor when I get a spot to put the motor in the garage, while its out sand blast and repaint the motor. I wanted to upgrade to 4 wheel disk brakes before the dream cruise. Since I have to pull the axles, I was going to swap the rearend gears while I was in there. NOW since I don't think I can't sell my fresh built (built like 2 yrs ago, less than 20mii on it) TH400 and buy a decent used 700R4 before the cruise I don't know if I should even upgrade the brakes or go back and try to figure out what's wrong with mine.

[64 kiwi boni]

I am pleased that Dave gave you good advise mate , like you i am learning as we go along with these cars!!!

question for you .... why are you thinking of changing gears ? 

and whats wrongway with your brakes ?

[Wrongway]

Yes thanks again for pointing me in his direction.

The gears, well justa about everything else on the car has been replaced or rebuilt already. There's nothing wrong with it as far as I know. But I would like posi track. I figured refreshing everything and changing to posi would be easier while i had it open.

The brakes, I used a guys lift to pull my trans when it went out. While it was out, I rebuilt the brakes. The guy who's garage it was in was helping. Since he owned hotrods, I figured he knew his way around cars so no problem. I did rebuild or replace every single part of the brake system. While replacing the master, I was adjusting the rod under the dash. He asked how it looked. The car was on the lift with me in it and him under it marking where we needed to raise the floor. I told him the rod was going to need to be shortened justa bit. Maybe 3/8". He takes it out and cuts it. Sticks it back in and it was 1.5" shorter. I did manage to get the clevet on the rod and the pin in but its only on by 2-3 threads. The next day while I was running the brake lines and flaring the tubing, I asked him to bolt the junction block on the frame and start connecting the lines to it while I started on the rear brake line flares and hooked them up. When bleeding the brakes, they felt really hard. I checked all the lines for leaks and all 4 wheels were good, 1 line going into the junction block was leaking at the fitting. Cross threaded. I asked what happened and he said that it justa didn't want to go in and it took some convincing. So, I removed the brass block and it didn't look like it could be repaired. When I got back the next morning, he had replaced the junction block. I asked him where he had gotten the new block and he said it was one that he had on the bench. I told him that I didn't think you could justa use any block. He said as long as the fitting were the same it would work. He does it all the time on his Chevy's. I knew that wasn't right but wasn't going to argue with a man who hoist has my car on it. While waiting for the trans to come back, rising the floor and me putting trans in I decided that I was going to justa switch to 4 wheel disk brakes. 

[Wrongway]

Justa an update, I've got the stuff to do the conversion to disk brakes now and I am getting ready to start the paint job on the roof. More on that to come. But since we've been getting rain justa' bout every day I decided to go back to a project that I started a couple winters ago. Rebuilding the steering wheel. So you can see almost all of the acrylic or plastic is gone and some major cracks in the vinyl not to mention where the acrylic meets the vinyl its chipped and jagged.

[Wrongway]

After sanding everything down and cleaning it up I slide a small tube inside the vinyl to allow the new acrylic to flow inside the vinyl a little ways. Then I build it up and extended the ends about 1/2" with long hair fiberglass. Once cured I removed the tube and tape and trimmed it back. Added a bit of body filler to smooth and smoothed it out and shot it with self etching primer.

And she's painted! So, I let the paint sit for a few days to make sure it was good and hard. Time to add the acrylic.

[Wrongway]

So, keep in mind that I have NEVER worked with acrylic before. What a damn mess!!! I figured that I could use a hose to contain the acrylic. WRONG! I use a 1" piece of black hose I had leftover laying in the shop. Upon opening the hose, I realized it only filled up about halfway after it all leaved out. Second try, clear hose. I still couldn't contain the acrylic in the hose, its seriously thin as water and takes 24hrs to cure. It stops leaking around 10-11hrs into the cure. I tried multiple ways to keep it from leaking with no success. I finally justa started checking it and topping it off once every hour. Once cured and the hose off I could see that there's highs and lows and the distance between the frame and acrylic is way off. I spent a few days sanding by hand because I couldn't find a way to sand it easily. I finally hand enough of the sanding, stilled pissed at all the leaks and wasted acrylic I set it on shelf and moved on figuring Id justa buy one.

[Wrongway]

Justa the other day I came across a drum sander and thought hey that might work. So I order a set which allowed me to use the drill press to sand down the parts that were 1/2"-3/4" to thick. It took me about 2 1/2hrs to sand everything down. Still have some low spots that I'm working to get up to level but it's getting there. Only problem now is that each coat takes 24hrs to dry and its super thin and runny so no think coats. But here's what it looks like today. It did also get scratched up do to all the hand sanding and will have to be repainted.

The last picture is the acrylic that I decided to use. Its supposed to be UV resistant.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Wrongway

[64 kiwi boni]

holey cow mate !!! thats sooo clever!!! 

Edited May 17, 2023 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

As you know both me and fitzy have been there done that but not to the level yiu have gone too !!!

well done mate !!!

it looks really good !

[JUSTA6]

You are Da man!  Excellent job, lotta time work and $$$, but you should be very proud of the outcome.

[Wrongway]

Well, I got the roof shot today. I needed to shoot it first because I wanted to let it sit in the sun and bake for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I can start the brakes. Then hopefully go back and finish painting the roof and the rest of the car. It looks like a dirt road right now, that's a metric ton of metal flake NOT orange peel or trash in the paint. It'll all be flat after wet sanding. So here's a sneak preview.

[64 kiwi boni]

super hard to see the flake from the pics mate but.... so excited to see your progress...the weather must be getting better for you to be spraying !!!

what paint system are you using ? 

whats the hood off in the back ground that you have painted ?

Edited May 19, 2023 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

Now I justA looked again. At your post Mate and there was a video !!!

wow! That flake is sooo cool 🍻🍻🍻🍻

[Wrongway]

The sparkle from the flake will be a lot brighter once it all wet sanded, flattened out and polished. 

9 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

whats the hood off in the back ground that you have painted ?

Thats the old GP hood that we tried to straighten. I was using it for a test panel to try out a new flake gun.

The car next to it is the Delta I painted black right before winter. I still had to paint the inside of the trunk so I did that yesterday to.

9 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

what paint system are you using ? 

Not sure if by paint system you meant justa the paint or guns to bro, so the paint is all part of the Deltron 2000 paint system from PPG. The flake is a recipe of 0.004, 0.008 & 0.015 sized flakes to give it depth and they came from a company called Didspade, that I've been using from years. As for the guns, I used DeVilbiss Starting line guns for the primer, sealer, basecoat & clear coat and a Little Daddy Roth gun for the flake. With that air compressor I built a couple of years ago.

[Wrongway]

Only had a couple of hours to work on the GP today but I did get the rear axels pulled! 

[Wrongway]

Well, the new bearings should be here tomorrow, and I was bored so I decided to try and make my own spinner knob for the steering wheel. So, this was the first test, and since the GP's name will be Rosey once she's done, I thought it was fitting. I used the same acrylic that I'm using on the steering wheel mixed with the candy apple red kandy that I'll be using on the sides of the GP mixed at a ratio of 1 drop per ounce of acrylic. The ridge around the middle still has to be sanded and it all has to be cleared but I thought it came out pretty cool.