$74 bucks !!! Stuff that !!!

Hey bro, Amazon has that Dorman part# for $6 USD a pack & Ebay (sorry kiwi ) has them for $20 and below. I don't know if that'll work for you, again I have know idea how shipping to yall works.

Wrongway, as you can see from Allen's Fasteners the actual bolts are only about 80c each, but $44 to ship 10 bolts is just silly. If one of their employees went to the post office and bought a padded envelope, it'd probably cost $10 to send to me. I found a pack on ebay for about $20 but it's another $20 to post. I know - $40 isn't much, but for 10 bolts it is.

I can't find the correct size ones in Oz, well not cheap enough anyway - Holden ones are too small and anything else is priced like gold.

Maybe I should find a cheaper hobby, like share trading. What could go wrong there?

Oh, I tried to pry the little stainless caps off my existing bolts and it's impossible. Does anyone know why they even went to the trouble in the first place? I'd be happy to remove those caps and hand the bolts to the powdercoater and have them done as well.

$44 to ship 10 bolts!!!! Thats justa insane bro!

Once again I have returned from work and picked up the bumper today - that was far quicker than I could have imagined. The finish is really nice - almost like real chrome. For my old warrior it's defo good enough. One thing I wasn't prepared for was that after they blasted it, the pitting caused by the rust is still present and the powder has been applied over it. So, it's not perfect but neither is the car.

So, info for Wrongway specifically, it's a great result and is probably the closest thing you'll ever get to real chrome. Just be sure to properly prepare the metal to eliminate any surface imperfections. If I had known this, I would have done so myself.

Cost? Less than a quarter of chroming, plus no shipping costs because the guys were local.

I'll post some more pics later.

Thanks Fitzy, it looks really good from the pictures bro. I think I'm going to start looking into it.

Here's a bit of luck. I 'thought outside the square' last night and decided to look for similar bolts for the bumper reattachment rather than special bumper bolts. I made a list of all the relevant nut & bolt suppliers locally, dedicated an entire day to it and set off this morning. The very first place I went to had exactly what I wanted. Admittedly when I asked for 7/16" he looked at me like I had just parked my spaceship in the carpark, so I settled for M10 which made him happy. 

Total cost: 20 Australian pesos for 10 stainless steel bolts and nyloc nuts.

Happy? Beer will be consumed later to celebrate this occasion.

Wrongway - I'll reattach the bumper and get the car out in the sun and get some proper pics for you.

Thanks buddy. Super happy you got the bolts & nuts bro. No $44 shipping! 

I'm sure we're all sick of looking at my car but I'm almost done with this job, besides these are research pics for Wrongway. The rest of you may turn away if you want.

Bolted the brackets back on and manhandled that behemoth back onto the car. I supported one side of the bumper whilst I wrestled with the other. Coupla tips: ensure your bracket to chassis mounting bolts have been removed, derusted and lubed so that you can spin the nuts on with your fingers whilst 60kg of bumper is balancing above you. Secondly, if the factory punched square holes in the bumper have seen some activity over the years and are a little chewed out, you may want to upsize to 1/2" bolts. Some of my new M10s were just a little too small to stay put so I had to recycle some of my better original bolts.

By the time I finished the job, the sun had gone for a beer too, so I'll get some outside pics tomorrow. These ones were taken with a flash.

Once again: Super Chrome Plus from Prismatic Powders.

That looks pretty close bro. Wonder how it will sparkle it the sun.

4 hours ago, Wrongway said:

That looks pretty close bro. Wonder how it will sparkle it the sun.

yes, i would be interested to see it in the sun too Fitzy.

17 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Here's a bit of luck. I 'thought outside the square' last night and decided to look for similar bolts for the bumper reattachment rather than special bumper bolts. I made a list of all the relevant nut & bolt suppliers locally, dedicated an entire day to it and set off this morning. The very first place I went to had exactly what I wanted. Admittedly when I asked for 7/16" he looked at me like I had just parked my spaceship in the carpark, so I settled for M10 which made him happy. 

Total cost: 20 Australian pesos for 10 stainless steel bolts and nyloc nuts.

Happy? Beer will be consumed later to celebrate this occasion.

Wrongway - I'll reattach the bumper and get the car out in the sun and get some proper pics for you.

that fixes the issue, really fast mate !!

I promise these are the last pics of my land yacht - they are for Wrongway to assist in his decision re chroming. I took one of the back to put real chrome in context. In the sunlight, I guess powdercoating is somewhere between really shiny silver paint and weathered chrome. All things being relative it's a vast improvement on the ratty old chrome.

On a different topic - is anyone else experiencing weird image stuff going on? Ringo - you might not be aware of it but if I expand a photo, all sorts of pixellated detritus comes up. FYI I use a tablet.

Edited May 26, 20233 yr by Fitzy
Moaning again.

I'll take the blame for your land yacht picture posting Fitzy. I enjoy looking at the old girl. Yeah, I still think it looks pretty good, especially for the cost bro. I wonder how that would look with black candy shot over it. Kinda like a black chrome maybe. But I will say that your powder coat chrome looks a lot better than my chrome at this point. Thanks again buddy.

2 hours ago, Wrongway said:

I'll take the blame for your land yacht picture posting Fitzy. I enjoy looking at the old girl. Yeah, I still think it looks pretty good, especially for the cost bro. I wonder how that would look with black candy shot over it. Kinda like a black chrome maybe. But I will say that your powder coat chrome looks a lot better than my chrome at this point. Thanks again buddy.

i like your thinking Wrongway about the black chrome/ candy.. but you have to theme your car to it... for me, sorry fitzy. i will want full on chrome. the front bumper is ok, but...thats justA me.

 i fancy the girl to shine like she was brand new if i am going to pay money.... but for me its about showing her age gracefully... well thats my idea for the 64 ...

The 57, is getting fully rechromed, max !!!!63 has what looks like good bumpers, i have left them sitting out side my shed door, so if i get a wet day, and have nothing to do, i am going to clean them..... fitzys thinking at this point wtf is kiwi on about.

Each of us has their own ideas and mind set on what they want out of there ponti... and thats the cool part about what we are doing here

By the way pete, dont you dare stop posting pics of the 65 !!!

I agree, Kiwi. That's why I'm in such a lather over the impending paint job. As I've said, I like it's weathered look but...there's nothing like running your hand over shiny new paint. The dilemna continues.

If rechroming had been just a bit cheaper then of course that would have been my chosen route, but the cost is prohibitive. Never mind - it's done now. The Atherton Car Show is on in a few weeks' time and although I'm rostered on, I have been given permission to be absent, so they're going to fly me home a few days early that week. At least the car will be a bit more presentable this time.

Fitzy, that’s exciting !!! Your first show 

What are your plans … are you going to do a display or make a picture board of all your hard work ? 

Uh, no. It's my second show - same venue just a year later. I'm simply going to park up, open the hood and all the windows and field questions & comments from mostly old men who rattle on whilst I can feel my life draining away!

It was a really good event last time (remember the Cortina on a trailer for sale?) and I'm looking forward to it - it's about as social as I get these days.

34 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

Uh, no. It's my second show - same venue just a year later. I'm simply going to park up, open the hood and all the windows and field questions & comments from mostly old men who rattle on whilst I can feel my life draining away!

It was a really good event last time (remember the Cortina on a trailer for sale?) and I'm looking forward to it - it's about as social as I get these days.

ah yes !!! of course ! 

bet you will enjoy it while being drained by old fellas banging on about,, back in the day i had...... blah blah blah! hehehe .

hay, do you remember all my pines trees when you visited !! the buggers are getting chopped down !! i have a contractor coming in with a harvester to take them down!! am sooo pleased, the things have made such a mess with their neddles everywhere !!

its all part of my master plan!!!! as notallthere would say... muhahahahaha...

Let me guess...you're going to replace them with Pontiacs buried nose first a la Cadillac Ranch. Nice. The Boss is going to kill you.

I had a VERY quiet day today, didn't even make it to the front fence in a bout of extreme pottering. Most of the pottering was domestic crap around the house & yard but I also managed to remove the light mould that had formed on my headlining - the tropics aren't ideal for car storage. As I was circling the car looking at it's paint I decided that it MUST get painted. Unfortunately it'll highlight all the bits that aren't perfect but maybe I'm the only one who'll notice whilst regular punters ooh & aah at it's shiny new coat. There - I have made the commitment ro the wider FP audience so am now accountable to follow it through. Where's my beer - there it is. Cheers.

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Let me guess...you're going to replace them with Pontiacs buried nose first a la Cadillac Ranch. Nice. The Boss is going to kill you.

What a great idea 

down side is … I dont think there is enough spare pontiacs to go planting them ! 

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

I had a VERY quiet day today, didn't even make it to the front fence in a bout of extreme pottering. Most of the pottering was domestic crap around the house & yard but I also managed to remove the light mould that had formed on my headlining - the tropics aren't ideal for car storage. As I was circling the car looking at it's paint I decided that it MUST get painted. Unfortunately it'll highlight all the bits that aren't perfect but maybe I'm the only one who'll notice whilst regular punters ooh & aah at it's shiny new coat. There - I have made the commitment ro the wider FP audience so am now accountable to follow it through. Where's my beer - there it is. Cheers.

Sooo with this beer infused idea of a repaint … that’s going to lose all her history .. that will mean you can’t retire yet ! As you will have this great big fat panel n paint bill 

Edited May 27, 20233 yr by 64 kiwi boni

I have been saving furiously for the paint and have a 5 figure amount now ready to dedicate to it. If it's going to exceed that, I'll buy 4 litres of red paint and a coupla brushes.

6 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

I have been saving furiously for the paint and have a 5 figure amount now ready to dedicate to it. If it's going to exceed that, I'll buy 4 litres of red paint and a coupla brushes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZynVAqeIpY

Home again, thank goodness. What a week. Last night on the plane coming home I'm reading the current issue of Unique Cars - as the name suggests the main body of content is anything to do with classic cars, plus cars for sale and all sorts of articles. I get toward the end of the mag, turn the page and I see a red 1965 Grand Prix. Then I realise it's mine and there I am standing next to it! My 15 mins of fame.

I forgot to mention last week that a mate came up to mine for a visit (on his Ducati Monster) and presented me with a Pontiac garage sign. He said he found it in a curio shop in Tasmania. Nice.

That is soo cool mate !!!! well done ! what issue is it ? i will see if i can get a copy !

woop woop !the sign looks good under the trcc plate