1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Once again, stuffed Yo Olde Girle into the GP and toddled off to another pub for lunch. Car ran like a train - just purred. Whilst reversing in the hotel car park a Valiant coupe convertible rolled in - an aftermarket conversion. His car was also red albeit a retina searing bright shiny red. Of course, we swapped glances and both thought our own car was better than the other guy's piece of shit.

I had a chat with him afterwards. Our homegrown Val hardtops were actually rebodied Dodge Darts with no such thing as a factory soft top. It's currently running a 245 but he's going to chuck a 318 in it.

The food, beer, service & wait times were all excellent and I meant to take pics but was distracted by trying to look cool as I exited the car park...with both mufflers scraping the vestigial low speed hump at the entrance. You can be assured extra hydrocarbons were once again added to the patron's drinks as they admired (giggling when it scraped) my stately exit.

Oh, and I finally belatedly secured the rear parcel shelf to the sheetmetal - it would thump as I went over any sort of road imperfection. Just a tip for anyone else who had to fabricate their own. I used a sheet of ply and glued black marine carpet to it.

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Oh, and I finally belatedly secured the rear parcel shelf to the sheetmetal

Annnnnnd, when do we get to see it? You know how we feel about pictures around here Mr. Fitzy.

Come on, Wrongway - you guys have seen my car so often you must be sick of it.

Imagine...a sheet of ply cut to size, some marine carpet cut to size, a tube of glue, a couple of drinks and they unite in bliss never to let go of each other. Parcel shelf.

6 hours ago, Wrongway said:

Annnnnnd, when do we get to see it? You know how we feel about pictures around here Mr. Fitzy.

Yeah man

What he said

I did something Pontiac related today. I sold my Grant timber steering wheel yesterday to a Firebird owner I met at a car show some months ago. Damn thing cost me a LOT of money but the rim was too fat to be period correct and I was never happy with it, so the original refurbished skinny one went back on but this was ages ago. Anyway he invites me over to his to check out his Firebird. It's a 67 or 68 400CID convertible painted bright orange- pretty good condition...in fact compared to mine, it's as close to perfect as you're ever going to get. I followed him in the GP and we had a coffee. I remember thinking "get some pics for the Pontiac goons on FP." Of course, I forgot. Yes, I'll do it next time I see him. He lives locally so it'll be easy.

The other little thing I did was to reduce my tyre pressures from the 40psi I insisted on running with to a much more friendly 30psi. Car now rides much more nicely and no longer skips over corrugations and other road imperfections. I checked my 1965 Service Manual and it recommends 22psi but you gotta remember that was for crossply tyres. I'll tool about at 30psi for a while and see how it goes.

As an aside, I possess no fewer than 3 tyre pressure gauges. I adjusted the pressures at a service station then checked them when I got home. The Made In USA stick type that I have used for years was waaaay off. My 2 digital ones were within 1 psi of each other and the servo gauge. I mention this because I wonder what everyone else is using. Servo gauges have always had a reputation for being notoriously inaccurate although the one I used today is a digital set up.

Other than that, GP still goes like a train.

Hello Fitzy,

My best pressure gauges are all of the "Bourdon tube" type. Very accurate and with repeatable results.

I usually run my tires at 33-35 PSI except for my spare tires in each vehicle. The spares get pumped up to 38-40 PSI because I typically forget to check the pressure in these very often.

You only make the mistake of letting the car down off the jack with a flat spare tire one time in your life. Never again.

Rick

yeah mate, 30 is where i am at with the white walls on the 64 and the 59 , maro has big feet on the back so i have them at 28, and cat with its low profiles is at 38

only one i have that has high pressure is the work van and it runs 50 all day long, but thats a comercial tire too

I can only imagine a Bourdon tube is the type where the read gauge pops out on a stick. I've been using mine for probably 40 years so I guess it's time to move to digital.

I'm going to drop them to 28psi next time I'm home and I reckon that'll be the sweet spot.

This is NON Pontiac related but I'll mention it anyway. My old ute (1990 Isuzu Pickup) has absolutely drunk fuel like it's a Bentley ever since I bought it. The GP is actually more economical! I had the injectors replaced, then the MAF sensor. Cleaned the intake, checked the timing & compression and it's all good. Then I read on a forum that someone had the same issue and replaced their Fuel Pressure Regulator, so I did that. It now uses about a quarter less! With EFI, the ECU receives engine temp info and adjusts the mixture when it reaches proper operating temp and the FPR has some sort of valve that switches the mixture from rich to lean. Oh, for a carby! Anyway, it's now ALMOST using an acceptable amount of fuel. Happy days.

So now you have a few more dollars to spend on go fast parts for the Crimson Terror!

-Or liquor!

Good on you mate!

Have you replaced the o2 sensor on your ute mate ? that can do it too like the holdens

No more dollars for the GP. It just gets regular maintenance from now on.

So Kiwi, interestingly my ute has no O2 sensor nor cat. Back in 1990 some commercial vehicles were exempt even though ULP was mandated in 1986. EFI needs the O2 info in order to complete it's mixture calculation but without that sensor, I guess it defaults to an acceptable mix from info from the other sensors & doodads. These utes were renowned for their awful fuel consumption but the engines have been described as 'tough as old nails.' I guess a few more dollars at each fill buys you the security of engine longevity.

I fly back to work today. I'm really getting over it. When Frosty retires, he may inspire me to do the same.

I just need to see when the last payday is at the end of January, and I am outta here!

Our Wet season has started, so the critters start coming out.

Here's a little green tree frog that has superlative automotive taste.

how cool !!! we hardly see any frogs anymore !!!

Happy new year Pete !!!!

so want to come over and see you next year/ tomorrow !!! 2026

You keep threatening to visit. Bring it on!

I resigned from my job yesterday. I was at work and was waiting for our plane to take us back to Cairns. 9 hours later, we landed at 2:30 this morning instead of 5:30 last night. Being a piece of shit contractor, myself & workmates were shunted onto the last plane whilst 'superior beings' boarded the earlier ones. It was the final insult. 10 years of incompetence, toxicity and favouritism have come to an end. It wasn't all bad...just the bad bits. Otherwise it was a doddle - money for nothing. Last day of work is April 7. I smell beer, hookers & blow. No, wait a minute - it's just beer.

Oh, and took GP out and brimmed the tank. I now have 100 litres sitting in it which I can draw upon if the Trumpinator decides to invade yet another country. I like how a war starts in the Middle East, so every Australian fuel retailer IMMEDIATELY hikes the price of fuel. Oh, it's illegal to do so but our various government appointed watchdogs are toothless tigers. So now we're paying top dollar for fuel that was already here. I feel so proud.

Well, it was sorta Pontiac related. I mean, I did take the thing for a drive! And it ran superbly.

As Frosty's signature around here always reminds me - "Freedom begins when you tell Mrs. Grundy to go fly a kite". Your job = Mrs. Grundy.

Rick

9 hours ago, Fitzy said:

I smell beer, hookers & blow.

Now that's the late 90s I remember!

good on you mate !!!!!! works over rated !!!

i hear you on the fuel price rises !!!! they bang on about nz having 28 days of reserve fuel yet the middle east farts and the price goes up that night !!!! some w..ker is proffiting off 28days of fuel !!!!

any who, good on you for stepping out of work.... ten bucks says your gona be bussier than ever !!! ... the boss will have you sorting the house..... think she mentioned a new kitchen ???? that laundry needs a......

oh yeah, didnt she say the house needs recladding in cedar ?

cheers mate

Yes indeedy. I'll be indulging in extreme pottering. Got stacks to do. There'll be no sitting down watching daytime telly whilst dressed in tracky dacks and eating pizza.

For our international viewers, tracky dacks are jogging pants...like what Rocky wore. They are the unemployed person's clothing of choice because you just pull them on. No buttons, zippers or belt to bother with, thereby freeing one up to smoke another cone or grab another beer.

Hey Fitzy,

Wishing you all the best in your endeavors of the future. We are all behind you!! Keep that beautiful GP up and running!!!!

Fitzy, good on you mate! Congrats on getting out of the toxic mess you called work. I talked to my old boss yesterday and the work drama I left at the end of January was ratchetted up several more notches. Can’t say I miss that shit!

So what’s next for Fitzy? Retire or find something else?

BTW - what’s wrong with tracky dacks? It is less confining for Big Jim and the Twins!!!!

On 11/23/2025 at 5:52 PM, Fitzy said:

I did something Pontiac related today. I sold my Grant timber steering wheel yesterday to a Firebird owner I met at a car show some months ago. Damn thing cost me a LOT of money but the rim was too fat to be period correct and I was never happy with it, so the original refurbished skinny one went back on but this was ages ago. Anyway he invites me over to his to check out his Firebird. It's a 67 or 68 400CID convertible painted bright orange- pretty good condition...in fact compared to mine, it's as close to perfect as you're ever going to get. I followed him in the GP and we had a coffee. I remember thinking "get some pics for the Pontiac goons on FP." Of course, I forgot. Yes, I'll do it next time I see him. He lives locally so it'll be easy.

The other little thing I did was to reduce my tyre pressures from the 40psi I insisted on running with to a much more friendly 30psi. Car now rides much more nicely and no longer skips over corrugations and other road imperfections. I checked my 1965 Service Manual and it recommends 22psi but you gotta remember that was for crossply tyres. I'll tool about at 30psi for a while and see how it goes.

As an aside, I possess no fewer than 3 tyre pressure gauges. I adjusted the pressures at a service station then checked them when I got home. The Made In USA stick type that I have used for years was waaaay off. My 2 digital ones were within 1 psi of each other and the servo gauge. I mention this because I wonder what everyone else is using. Servo gauges have always had a reputation for being notoriously inaccurate although the one I used today is a digital set up.

Other than that, GP still goes like a train.

I'm a little late to the party, but have been running 45psi since Day 1 on mine.
I have replaced the tyres, and they wren all worn pretty evenly so I can only assume that pressure is right?

Tyres are 215/75 Maxxis White Walls on the standard 14x6" rims.

On 3/11/2026 at 5:31 PM, Fitzy said:

I resigned from my job yesterday. I was at work and was waiting for our plane to take us back to Cairns. 9 hours later, we landed at 2:30 this morning instead of 5:30 last night. Being a piece of shit contractor, myself & workmates were shunted onto the last plane whilst 'superior beings' boarded the earlier ones. It was the final insult. 10 years of incompetence, toxicity and favouritism have come to an end. It wasn't all bad...just the bad bits. Otherwise it was a doddle - money for nothing. Last day of work is April 7. I smell beer, hookers & blow. No, wait a minute - it's just beer.

Oh, and took GP out and brimmed the tank. I now have 100 litres sitting in it which I can draw upon if the Trumpinator decides to invade yet another country. I like how a war starts in the Middle East, so every Australian fuel retailer IMMEDIATELY hikes the price of fuel. Oh, it's illegal to do so but our various government appointed watchdogs are toothless tigers. So now we're paying top dollar for fuel that was already here. I feel so proud.

Well, it was sorta Pontiac related. I mean, I did take the thing for a drive! And it ran superbly.

Well done on your retirement mate - happy days ahead! I hear what you're saying about being a "dirty contractor", & being treated an afterthought. Although I'm full-time (have been with the same company for 15 years), it really bothers me how you guys get treated. My guys always get treated the same no matter what shirt they wear, but the company itself doesn't work that way unfortunately.
I'm in "wind down" mode this year...have taken roughly every second month off (Long Service) until next January. Towards the second half of the year I'm going to start putting feelers out for a "retirement job" (want to stop doing what I'm doing, but keep working so I still have an income stream). If all goes well I'll return next February & snatch it, otherwise I'll keep up the ½ time gig until I run out of leave or get to September (I'll be 60 then), then go. Always promised myself I wouldn't keep doing this shit after 60.