9 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Can you come over and move the steering wheel for me? I don't have any friends.

I was going to light some candles, supply mood music and some menus to give the rats a dining 'experience.' 

Tonight's Selection: silicone ignition leads, battery casing, assorted electrical wires and for the brave ones, the 240V cord that feeds the light. Mmm...zappy!

num num ht leads pleassssssse 

After doing yet MORE overtime at work for the last 3 weeks they finally bundled me onto a plane to go home.

Once I got home and after I settled in I scraped the dust off the GP and kicked it in the guts. Fired up instantly. Took it for a drive and it ran perfectly. Returned home and had a beer. I am definitely tempting fate by bragging about how well it runs but so be it.

Going to run a coat of wax over it this afternoon and give it a good clean inside & out.

You have no idea how happy it makes me feel to be able to finally report that I have arrived at the point where I turn the key and go for a drive. It's just like a big noisy red Corolla! I can only hope you all have a similar story one day...(except for the Corolla bit.)

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

Once I got home and after I settled in I scraped the dust off the GP and kicked it in the guts. Fired up instantly. Took it for a drive and it ran perfectly. Returned home and had a beer. I am definitely tempting fate by bragging about how well it runs but so be it.

i recon you have been underestimating your abilties mate !!!

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

It's just like a big noisy red Corolla!

It is not and never should be comparied to a jappo !

i cant wait to get over and go for a ride in your car !!!

i justa want to hear what a fresh 389 sounds like !!!

I held it in first gear today and gave it a squirt. Sounds totally awesome and really gets up & goes - way past expectations.

I'm ready to rebuild your 389 - you just gotta say so. But, save up for a Butler 472 stroker kit first. If you're gonna spend all that money, might as well chuck in an extra 3k or so. I was going to but was running out of money and I do regret it.

I never wanted a firebreather, but nothing beats the huge amount of lazy torque that big displacement gives you. 

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

I held it in first gear today and gave it a squirt. Sounds totally awesome and really gets up & goes - way past expectations.

I'm ready to rebuild your 389 - you just gotta say so. But, save up for a Butler 472 stroker kit first. If you're gonna spend all that money, might as well chuck in an extra 3k or so. I was going to but was running out of money and I do regret it.

I never wanted a firebreather, but nothing beats the huge amount of lazy torque that big displacement gives you. 

nah 

I wouldn’t want my 64 to be a race car ! I love it justA like it is .

 

I have a purple people eater that can scare the sh-t out of me ! 

9 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

I have a purple people eater that can scare the sh-t out of me ! 

Ditto.

I do like the idea of a Butler 472 though.

Think of it this way Kiwi, it's only money. And he who dies with the most toys wins! You are in the lead!

Edited November 20, 20241 yr by Frosty

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Ditto.

I do like the idea of a Butler 472 though.

Think of it this way Kiwi, it's only money. And he who dies with the most toys wins! You are in the lead!

most of my toys are crap compaired to yours frosty ! 

He may be winning the 'most toys' race but as far as his sanity goes, he's waaay down the list. In fact, we all are.

3 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

most of my toys are crap compaired to yours frosty ! 

KIwi - that's because my boss doesn't permit "yard art" at our house. So I need toys that are mobile.

45 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

He may be winning the 'most toys' race but as far as his sanity goes, he's waaay down the list. In fact, we all are.

Pfft....we are all in the boat. We have all done stupid things. Ride a bicycle without a helmet. Put our hand on a hot stove or plate. Got and stayed married. 

You know what recurring thought I have? It's that life is a series of learnings. You stuff things up, do the wrong thing, make silly decisions and you keep doing it your entire life because you are (hopefully) forever learning. Then, toward the end of your life you have finally worked out how to do it...and then you die. Does this sound like a well thought out system? No. We should be born endowed with knowledge and then slowly regress into infancy as we age. Now...how to stop thinking about things...

Beer! There's a short term solution! (Thanks Homer.)

40 minutes ago, Frosty said:

KIwi - that's because my boss doesn't permit "yard art" at our house. So I need toys that are mobile.

Pfft....we are all in the boat. We have all done stupid things. Ride a bicycle without a helmet. Put our hand on a hot stove or plate. Got and stayed married. 

Frosty reckons he once rode a bicycle. I can appreciate the occasional tall tale but a whopper like that one - come on mate, give us a break.

33 minutes ago, Fitzy said:

Frosty reckons he once rode a bicycle. I can appreciate the occasional tall tale but a whopper like that one - come on mate, give us a break.

Hey!

I said ride without a helmet, I didn’t say anything about the training wheels did I?

Beer - the universal beverage. Its not just for breakfast anymore!

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

You know what recurring thought I have? It's that life is a series of learnings. You stuff things up, do the wrong thing, make silly decisions and you keep doing it your entire life because you are (hopefully) forever learning. Then, toward the end of your life you have finally worked out how to do it...and then you die. Does this sound like a well thought out system? No. We should be born endowed with knowledge and then slowly regress into infancy as we age. Now...how to stop thinking about things...

Beer! There's a short term solution! (Thanks Homer

Oh I like that idea!!!!! That means I get breast feed justA before I die !!!!! 

It's the weekend and I just about ran out of little jobs to do around the house. In desperation I turned to the ever faithful GP knowing that with enough inspection I'd find something to fiddle with. Sure enough as I was perusing the interior I remembered that I could NEVER get the e brake to work: that is, the pedal goes down and you can hear the cable apparatus groaning under the car but the pedal would never stay in the 'on' position. In all the time I've had the car I'd never bothered to give it any serious consideration. So I contorted myself once again into the driver's footwell and studied the mechanism. It's really simple. I figured that there must be a spring loaded ratchet somewhere that locks the pedal down. And then I found it! It was rusted in position but with some help I got it to move up & down. Tested the pedal - yep, it works. A little spray lube in the appropriate spot and I now have a functioning e brake. This has got to be the easiest 'repair' I've ever performed on that car and it only took 3 years.

Somebody deserves a beer.

This must be a common occurrence so if it's helped anyone, my work here is done.

One more thing: I'm thinking of removing the rear spats but it looks underdone because there's no stainless trim that follows the wheel opening. I've tried to locate some but nothing yet. Anyone got any laying around? There's talk that the Safari openings are the same because the spats will fit it but it's only anecdotal. I know this bloke in New Zealand with a Safari that's doing nothing...

You can buy universal wheel trim.  Bend and cut to your length. 

I will have a look on that spare shell in the paddock mate , it could very well have that trim , I will get back to you . We are up north at a party this weekend 

Hey JustA, I was thinking of perhaps making my own but had no idea the stuff is available. Where have you seen it?

And Kiwi, that sounds way too good to be true. I'll gladly buy them off you if you have them.

We've been through this before - I asked the question to anyone who was tuning in if they reckoned the spats should be on or off. General consensus was to leave them on but I now like the more muscular look of them removed. I went through some stock images of 1965 Catalinas and GPs and compared fhem - it made up my mind.

there are products like this that wouldn't be that noticeable. Let you go down the rabbit hole further on this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143386490492?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1JKoXuzePRnOXOLIzMZKLGQ38&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=143386490492&targetid=4580153138864424&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=603247546&mkgroupid=1224856947396832&rlsatarget=pla-4580153138864424&abcId=9316119&merchantid=51291&msclkid=1a9bfade0455170aa52c9d9c9016f8e6

this will keep ya busy.

https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=43&q=Universal+Wheel+lip+chrome+moldings&cvid=288292c25249446e92cff03ebd2386af&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQABhAMgYIAhAAGEAyBggDEAAYQDIGCAQQABhAMgYIBRAAGEAyBggGEAAYQDIGCAcQABhAMgYICBAAGEDSAQkyNjA3N2owajGoAgCwAgA&FORM=ANNTA1&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSE

4 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Hey JustA, I was thinking of perhaps making my own but had no idea the stuff is available. Where have you seen it?

And Kiwi, that sounds way too good to be true. I'll gladly buy them off you if you have them.

We've been through this before - I asked the question to anyone who was tuning in if they reckoned the spats should be on or off. General consensus was to leave them on but I now like the more muscular look of them removed. I went through some stock images of 1965 Catalinas and GPs and compared fhem - it made up my mind.

I always LIKED the skirts, Justa me.

Thanks to JustA for the info  I'll have a look this arvo.

Today I removed the skirts and decided they are now staying off. Next thing was to remove the 3 little bits of hardware that locate each skirt - of course I managed to snap half the attachment bolts. Never mind - the next owner can deal with that. Now the wheelarch was looking much neater but curiosity got the better of me and I carefully masked where the trim belongs and used up some old chrome paint I have. I purposely didn't prep the exising paint so that removal is easy if it comes to that. From a short distance it is more than acceptable, I think. Even close up it's a neat job but of course becomes apparent that it's paint. It'll do until I find a permanent solution.

Whilst I was in a good mood I walked past the driver's front fender. It has always had an ugly gap between it and the door that I was always too lazy to fix. So, I loosened a few bolts and shimmed it with some washers - much neater now.

Too early for a beer. I'll keep wandering about the car and see what else I can fix.

no point trying the chrome off my  dead car mate ! your wheel arch is totaly differnt to 64 !!!

for me .... keep that skirt high!!!!! i like the look of those wheels !!!

beer o clock here !!! after a looooong weekend at a 70th  party !!

Totally different 

and missing too !!

On 2/28/2024 at 8:28 AM, Fitzy said:

Hi Rick, I have already decided to bypass the original ammeter. I have an aftermarket gauge cluster sitting under the dash that includes a voltmeter - that's good enough. I have read horror stories of old ammeters failing and of smoke emanating from under the dash - who needs THAT shit going on?

It's raining today so there goes mowing the property. I guess I will look at the car and try to figure out what route to take re wiring.

Oh, and my car is already slightly modified so even though it's matching numbers (should have done the LS thing, in retrospect) I'm quite okay with a little deviation from stock.

LS be damned! If you had wanted a CommonDoor you should have bought one 🤣

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Thanks to JustA for the info  I'll have a look this arvo.

Today I removed the skirts and decided they are now staying off. Next thing was to remove the 3 little bits of hardware that locate each skirt - of course I managed to snap half the attachment bolts. Never mind - the next owner can deal with that. Now the wheelarch was looking much neater but curiosity got the better of me and I carefully masked where the trim belongs and used up some old chrome paint I have. I purposely didn't prep the exising paint so that removal is easy if it comes to that. From a short distance it is more than acceptable, I think. Even close up it's a neat job but of course becomes apparent that it's paint. It'll do until I find a permanent solution.

Whilst I was in a good mood I walked past the driver's front fender. It has always had an ugly gap between it and the door that I was always too lazy to fix. So, I loosened a few bolts and shimmed it with some washers - much neater now.

Too early for a beer. I'll keep wandering about the car and see what else I can fix.

 

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Thanks to JustA for the info  I'll have a look this arvo.

Today I removed the skirts and decided they are now staying off. Next thing was to remove the 3 little bits of hardware that locate each skirt - of course I managed to snap half the attachment bolts. Never mind - the next owner can deal with that. Now the wheelarch was looking much neater but curiosity got the better of me and I carefully masked where the trim belongs and used up some old chrome paint I have. I purposely didn't prep the exising paint so that removal is easy if it comes to that. From a short distance it is more than acceptable, I think. Even close up it's a neat job but of course becomes apparent that it's paint. It'll do until I find a permanent solution.

Whilst I was in a good mood I walked past the driver's front fender. It has always had an ugly gap between it and the door that I was always too lazy to fix. So, I loosened a few bolts and shimmed it with some washers - much neater now.

Too early for a beer. I'll keep wandering about the car and see what else I can fix.

Yep, I prefer the look without the skirts too.

Am currently getting g away with that on mine, but only because I keep telling the wife it’s no good putting them back on until the brakes are sorted.

That journey began in March, so I suspect she has seen through my deception by now 😬

On 11/20/2024 at 4:07 PM, Fitzy said:

I held it in first gear today and gave it a squirt. Sounds totally awesome and really gets up & goes - way past expectations.

I'm ready to rebuild your 389 - you just gotta say so. But, save up for a Butler 472 stroker kit first. If you're gonna spend all that money, might as well chuck in an extra 3k or so. I was going to but was running out of money and I do regret it.

I never wanted a firebreather, but nothing beats the huge amount of lazy torque that big displacement gives you. 

Do NOT, I repeat SO NOT, EVER, believe the “only an extra bla bla bla bit”.

And definitely apply for a second mortgage before you begin 🤣

TBH though, mine ended up at 400ci (due to several unexpected constraints), but the torque is soooo nice.

JustA have to be careful not to melt the transmission 😳

Jeez - who poked the bear? Oh - it was me. Soz.

To clarify: an extra 3k will buy almost 100 cubic inches, so about $30 per cube. There's not much to a cubic inch but then again $30 might buy you 3 beers which will last much less time than a cube. If you're in the $8k range already whilst rebuilding, you may as well go the extra bit. If he had 3 kids, a mistress and a second mortgage to service, well of course he shouldn't do it!

As far as the LS route goes, email Summit Racing and order a free catalogue. Then sit down and look through it and shake your head at the amount of stuff that exists for Chevs, and then look at the (cheap, in comparison to everything else) LS goodies - the ones you can add to your reasonably priced brand new LS (carb or EFI - your choice) crate motor.

I love my 389 (incidentally - now bored .030, so effectively now a 394) but it was a hard, expensive road washed clean by my tears and then mopped dry with endless wads of cash. 😁

1 hour ago, Fitzy said:

Jeez - who poked the bear? Oh - it was me. Soz.

To clarify: an extra 3k will buy almost 100 cubic inches, so about $30 per cube. There's not much to a cubic inch but then again $30 might buy you 3 beers which will last much less time than a cube. If you're in the $8k range already whilst rebuilding, you may as well go the extra bit. If he had 3 kids, a mistress and a second mortgage to service, well of course he shouldn't do it!

As far as the LS route goes, email Summit Racing and order a free catalogue. Then sit down and look through it and shake your head at the amount of stuff that exists for Chevs, and then look at the (cheap, in comparison to everything else) LS goodies - the ones you can add to your reasonably priced brand new LS (carb or EFI - your choice) crate motor.

I love my 389 (incidentally - now bored .030, so effectively now a 394) but it was a hard, expensive road washed clean by my tears and then mopped dry with endless wads of cash. 😁

The Bear here 🐻 🤣

I agree with you entirely-I love my 389/400-it sounds amazing, and that torque is addictive! But the bloody thing cost me way more money and stress than I expected it to.

And yes, a very good mate of mine owns an Impala with a Commodore engine (LS), so I am aware that may have been the better path. Mind you he has had some of his own issues, but that serves him right 😊

But, I was told we could “freshen” mine for under $8k, which became $12ish k after it was stripped, which ended up almost $20k once I built motor, heads, replaced carb, distributor, alternator, etc, etc, etc.

So whenever I hear it “should only cost…”, I laugh maniacally and run around the room beating my head against hard things🤣🤣🤣

Anyhoo-another example of this has just landed on my doorstep.

A heavy duty sway bar that was going to cost me $420 and be turned around in 2-3weeks, took 7 weeks and cost $560.

Which is why I’ve been quiet recently, because my beautiful cat has been marooned in the garage…

Gotta Love Pontiacs 😍

 

 

When I embarked upon the restoration of my car, I promised myself to keep all receipts but resolutely refused to track expenditure because I knew it would upset me. Fixing up an old car is certainly NOT a lesson in sound economics. I did it for the same reasons everyone else has- because it was enjoyable. I also made damn sure that I had no other major outgoings and that it would not impact me severely.

Unfortunately, prices for everything have gone through the roof and even shipping a cotter pin from the US is going to cost more than if it was made of gold. Labour costs are also prohibitive and I feel that when you walk into a shop that does mechanical work, they can sense your desperation and feast upon it.

I THINK my rebuild may have cost about $8k but I did all the teardown & assembly myself - otherwise it would have been horrendous.

There's always someone else worse off. I heard the other day from a trusted mechanic that his next job is to tear down & write a report on what is wrong with his customer's $40k rebuilt Ford XR8 engine (done 500km since rebuild) - built by a bloke who now refuses to answer phone calls and whose shed is now closed. The bloke is going through Small Claims to try and recoup some of his money.

Tread carefully - there are sharks everywhere.

Edited November 25, 20241 yr by Fitzy

Hello Fitzy,

  If I could not do some of the work on my Cat and on my El Camino, this hobby would simply be unjustifiable from a cost standpoint.  I do it because I enjoy it and this makes it OK.  I also don't go into debt spending money on these vehicles and budget things in over a few months getting a task accomplished.   

  I also keep receipts and stuff them into a big envelope, but I never add them up.  Why would I want to mentally shoot myself in the foot?

Rick