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havoc1482's Progression Thread


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Click for June 19th 2011 Update

Click for April 30th 2011 Update

With warm weather approaching and me being on spring break I thought it appropriate to start my progression thread as I start doing actual work on my car.

For those who don't know me, names Mike, I'm 17. I live in Granville, MA, about 20 minutes from Springfield and I'm a Junior at Westfield High School.

I have a metallic sparkle black 1978 Pontiac Phoenix with a 305 V8 (2 barrel carburetor) engine.

PICTURES WILL COME!

I just got a new computer and It doesn't have memory card slots like my old one.

I will list the current things that I have done and am working on

I am taking off my aluminum side panels (outlined in image) and getting all the tarnish off that has been building up.

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I also picked up some new orange bulbs for my front and rear directionals. 2 of the front bulbs (1 in each fixture) had worn contacts so that caused obvious complications because the power for each bulb isn't redundant so if one went the other went with it. Like your old Christmas lights xD

The 2 rear bulbs (Only 1 each) were actually White in an amber housing, but the housing was faded so they looked more like flashing back up lights. Replaced them with orange lights and now they look how they were supposed to 30 years ago.

I also went to my local CarQuest and got some headlight retainers. They are the rounded square (<<contradiction like Starburst right there) rings that are screwed in to hold the housing in place. One of my old ones broke and I risked having a headlight fall out and since these things come in pairs I replaced both.

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One of my higher priorities is to get some new weather stripping on my doors and trunk. I don't like getting dripped on when I drive in the rain. lol

Next on the list is an oil change and to install those spark plugs that I've had sitting around.

Blah don't even get me started on my interior. Back seat need to be reupholstered and new front bucket seats.

I also plan in getting an arrowhead (See that "haggard and huge" arrowhead above).

Do I see a future order at the GrafX shop for a new "Pontiac Racing" decal? :lol:

Phew now that my first progression post is done time to chill with various 90's Alt and grunge music... and a little Coolio.

UPDATE APRIL 25, 2011

So I found the cord for my camera and I'm posting the pics of my work below from last week.

This is my aluminum panel that I was talking about, as you can see it is pretty grungy.

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I picked up some Brasso metal polish at Walmart and started applying it to the tarnished areas. (I washed and scrubbed it pretty good to get the dirt and some tarnish off)

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You can clearly see the result of putting the Brasso on.

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I also went to CarQuest and bought some orange bulbs to put in my rear directionals. Previously white bulbs in orange housings. The housings became faded with time and lost their color.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6B5KaOfdbY

Had to order a 14 inch tire to replace the studded winters. When I bought the car it had 3 Radial T/As (Seen below) and 1 different one. I got 1 new T/A and got the odd one mounted as a spare.

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Oh well isn't this just adorable? Oldsmobile rims on a Pontiac. (blame the previous owner)

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These are my pictures of things to do:

Crack in the vinyl dash needs to be fixed. That will come out of the '75 Nova the junkyard is parting out.

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The indicator to tell my what gear I'm is in broken, I need get behind the dash and fix that. (Along with other things such as new dash bulbs)

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New knobs (also from the Nova)

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Reupholster the rear seat, the top is clearly cracked

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Get a new decal, its flaking off (Look at the "C" lol)

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This one is the killer, There is this hole under the passenger side floor. What you see there is carpet. (Rotate your head to the left and it is is kinda right-side up lol.

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Are those the headlight housings where you can use a 9007 or 9004 bulb?

Maybe. I currently have a 9003 bulb.

Actually they are 2 different, the left one is an h4 I believe?

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H4 = 9003, IIRC...

Ah...you can retro-fit to HIDs. I'm telling you right now...it's the best, and simplest upgrade you can do.

Well from what I've read the H4 and the 9003 are the same but the 9003 is the American adaptation of the H4. Both physically and electrically interchangeable but a little different. Might be why they have a different brightness.

And aren't HIDs blue(ish) not white? On a '78, that doens't seem to work you know what I mean? Not saying that you're a complete imbecile for suggesting it, just retorting my thoughts.

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In regular (non-projector) housings, you'll blind other drivers more than anything else. :lol: I'd stick to halogen bulbs. :lol:

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In regular (non-projector) housings, you'll blind other drivers more than anything else. :lol: I'd stick to halogen bulbs. :lol:

false. its called aiming. not matter how you put it, what kind of bulb it is it can be aimed. I dont care what internet fool told you that HIDs just scatter light or some shit. if its a housing that can be aimed, the light can be aimed, period. it may alter the pattern from stock so adjust for it. a housing will limit the direction that the light rays can flow. thats what they are made for. regardless of how the light leaves a bulb be it regular or HID, the housing will direct the light rays. a ray of light cant come out of a headlight straight then magically curve up to blind drivers.

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Well from what I've read the H4 and the 9003 are the same but the 9003 is the American adaptation of the H4. Both physically and electrically interchangeable but a little different. Might be why they have a different brightness.

And aren't HIDs blue(ish) not white? On a '78, that doens't seem to work you know what I mean? Not saying that you're a complete imbecile for suggesting it, just retorting my thoughts.

Yeah, they're interchangeable. Just get a 9003 HID kit. They aren't "blue", most are pure white, which to most people "look" blue. Just look at pure white LED bulbs.

Honestly...who cares if it's a '78? The difference between HID and halogen is staggering, I'll never go back. As Crimson said as well, aim them correctly, and you're fine. Also...make sure that the HID kit you get are bi-xenons, since you have a dual filament headlight bulb.

If color is that important, get this spec HIDs: 5000K w/35 watt bulbs.

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  • Founders

There are certain things that a classic car can have that are not from its era and I have to say HIDs is one of them.

Very nice Phoenix though!

and :lol: for the Springfield area of Mass!

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I'll definitely consider it in the future as a replacement because my Halogens are still fairly new. I just don't want that blue color, not just because of how they look, but because I have blue eyes and HIDs rape my retinas and I don't want to do that to other drivers. I had an asshole come at me wit HIDs leave his highs on at night and I thought I was going to get into an accident.

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  • Founders

I'll definitely consider it in the future as a replacement because my Halogens are still fairly new. I just don't want that blue color, not just because of how they look, but because I have blue eyes and HIDs rape my retinas and I don't want to do that to other drivers. I had an asshole come at me wit HIDs leave his highs on at night and I thought I was going to get into an accident.

Like said above if you aim them correctly, they shouldn't bother people. Most people don't know how to aim their HIDs so that's when it goes in your eyes and just about blinds you (or they're aholes like you said that leave their brights on). There are different shades of HID, you can get White all the way to mega Blue. The higher you go up in temp, the more blue it is and obviously the bluer shades are illegal depending on your cops :lol:

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I still love this car. It is looking good. In case you are looking for more power I have done aluminum intake swap with a 500 cfm Q-jet will help performance but not suffer the mileage as much.

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why did you post the update in your first post? and if no one has fixed your pics by the time im on with my computer, then ill do it. :lol2:

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why did you post the update in your first post? and if no one has fixed your pics by the time im on with my computer, then ill do it. :lol:

Its what Ringo recommended in the sticky posted in this section.

What do you suggest?

Should I post the update in a new post and make a anchor from my first post to the new post?

Regardless I still don't know how to anchor :lol2:

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i think posting normal is fine then doing that anchor thing. i think Ringo made it where you put anchor points or something in your first post so they go to the page they are actually on. i think. and i dont know how to do anchors either. too much learning. :lol2:

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I figured out the Anchors! Here is a repost of my latest. I move it down here.

UPDATE APRIL 30, 2011

I'll start off with a list of things I did:

Mostly engine bay work:

April 29: New wheels put on. 14 inch, 225/60 aspect ratio.

April 30:v

I started off by painting my grinding down the crap off my oil cap and painting it canary yellow. I did the same with the tip of the dipstick. I painted the Transmission dipstick the same way but a nice bright red. Both of them were just grey with engine grime on them.

I then took out the radiator coolant overflow container out and cleaned it the filled it back up. While I was at is I took the container for the wiper fluid out and clean the little pump and took out the crap gunking it up.

I then took out my battery pan (had to take battery out to get to coolant) so I said "What the hell" and painted it gold as a tribute to my car's original factory color.

What I REALLY did today was grind down, prime, and paint my carburetor pan. It is now a metallic sparkle silver (sparkle went well in my mind because the cars paint is also sparkly)

I was black and rusted, the inside was worse because it had water sitting in the pan for a long time.

And just because I could I replaced the nut that held it in place with a wing-nut. smile.gif

New Tires! No more studs!

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Transmission and Oil Cap/Sticks

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Inside of the wiper fluid container

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Toothbrush and stick ducktaped to clean the wiper fluid container xD

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Gold Batt pan.

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Metallic sparkle paint on carburetor pan

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Fun pictures smile.gif

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Someone got a little paint happy lol. Looks good though!

I did haha. But it was a nice Saturday afternoon, sunny and dry, great for painting.

Here is a comparison to what it used to look like.

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I will tell you that the inside where the filter and carb opening didn't even have a trace of black anymore, just orange. Safe to say this paint-job helped my engine too because the rust flakes wouldn't get into it.

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oh snap! i forgot to fix your pics. good stuff. i really like the parking sign.

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