Leaderboard

I just found this site while browsing, & happen to know Frosty from years back meeting him on another site & realizing we both had the same friends in West Virginia!! I met him in person back in 2010 when I had my 64 Catalina 2+2 with dual Quads.Sold that one a few years back, & built a 51 Cdn. Pontiac Torpedo back coupe, on late model Monty chassis, 355 SBC with dual quads & 5 speed Tremic. Unfortunate I had a garage fire that burn't to the ground taking the coupe and a 69 Cutlass rag top to be totaled!!! New shop built & found a 64 Impala S/S409 4speed in "mint" shape!! BUT 3 months later, I found a 64 Pontiac [ Cdn] Safari wagon in western Canada on Cdn. Poncho site, lived all it's life out west, 350 SBC [out to 358], Borg-Warner 4 speed, 3:36 Posi & no rust anywhere!! Bought site un seen other than pictures & video & has it shipped to Ontario by car carrier, no surprises, exactly as described! Have driven it 3 times to Show in Charleston W V with no problems, whereas Impala gets trailered there as It's pretty stiff on fuel with non Hwy. gears[ but hauls "A$$" Guess I'm a 73 yr. old "KID" ???

The new circuit board for the back of Lucy’s instrument cluster came tonight. On Saturday I noticed it starting to separate at the main electrical,connector. It’s almost 50 years old.o

I love cars drag racing, muscle, Rat Rods, nostalgia is my favorite I built a 1955 Chevy Gasser back in the 70's from a total, tube front frame straight axle front end roll bar narrowed Dana 60 small block tunnel ram, and I had a 62 Falcon 289 9" ford rear end radiused fender wells 7" slicks my last year in high school and after a 1950 2 door HT Cadillac nice original, a good friend of mine when he got home from Vietnam bought a new 70 GTO 400 4 speed red with black interior 390 posi and shortly after buying it put a cam in it and a 433 gear, I have wanted one every since but today just can't afford it most of my friends have had and some still do have some awesome cars, but do to some problems and set backs over the years, and we all have them, haven't been able to get back on the road with anything, I have had quite a few other cars but don't need to go into that, another best friend had a 64 GTO 389 4 speed red with black interior real nice, this is my 55 before I put it on the street at Detroit Dragway and after when I made it a street car which wasn't very streetable it had a 557 gear in it when I first built it I put a 18 spline Hemi 4 speed in it then switched to a 400 turbo and a 5500 stall converter and the other is my Falcon and Caddy and 1965 Dodge Townwagon these picture were already in y computer so when I can upload my Pontiac I will there were a lot of Pontiac's in my family and friends but they were at the time out of my price range this is the first Pontiac I've owned.

Looks better than what I got in the hospital. I was in for heart palpitations so was in the cardiac unit and had to have the "heart friendly" meal. Baked chicken with nothing on it and veggies. Worst meal I've ever had for $1 grand... Good luck in there!

Foods ok Frosty, had lamb shanks and roast veg for dinner would have been nice with a ice cold Heineken

Let's get real - we shall continue to bash the Chinese, especially since the spring compressor I'm considering will be made there. I'm still working (doing my third consecutive overtime stint) and shall crawl under the car upon my return and will then 'assess' the mechanical situation under there. If I reckon I can get a compressor up there without exposing my own flesh & bone, I shall toddle off to the Ying Tong Super Happy Auto Parts Emporium and buy the sturdiest looking compressor I can. Let's also remember that the car will be suspended by my Chinese made jack stands and I will be raising & lowering said vehicle with my Chinese made trolley jack. Maybe my brain is made in China?

Better still guys, i have had them add a tap so now i can plug straight into a keg!!! HaHa

I used a bad word! Oh Crap !

New shop pictures, installed floor heating tubes but not hooked up yet, have Natural Gas overhead unit heater, that works well for now. 14.5 ft ceiling height so perfect for 4 poster lift. Luckily I had pictures of contents of tools & equipment & suggest you do the same as I doubt you can remember "everything that's in there" I sure couldn't & still go to look for something and say "oh ya must have lost it in fire!! but pictures helped. Have done the same for this shop. Lucked out on tool box, found it on line, approx. 45 grand in tools & got it for 10 g's took 5 guys to roll it onto trailer at dealership where mechanic worked before suffering a "stroke" !!! My contractor had it done in just over 3 months and was so well organized no waiting on material, arrived exactly on time as building went up!!! Org. concrete floor had to be torn up as heat from fire " pooched" it

I do but site says there too big and I have no idea what to do, not a computer whiz!! Have enough trouble doing this or a email !!! maybe it worked this time

Hello have 2 cars to introduce my daily is a 1 of 1 2002 Trans Am Convertible WS6 the star of the show is my 72 Formula

My wood veneer was toast so I replaced with a Thin Carbon fiber veneer.

Wow man, that had to be a pain! You did an amazing job! She's absolutely gorgeous bro! So the coin slot, an old coin operated pool table? One of the big surprises I found while wiring up the GP was the bright light indicator on the dash. Now remember this is my 1st Pontiac so I'm sure yall have seen this before but it was new to me. When the dash lights up the indicator lit up red, not blue and the light was in the shape off an Indian head. Man i showed everybody that stopped by that week lol. Still blows me away that they took the time to do that. Just cool lol

Gotcha. My GTO was a bracket car before I got it. Had one toggle switch to fire engine. Took me all winter, but rewired the entire car using the wiring diagram for the 66. All wires were cut at the fusebox. Was able to find the flat front to rear floorpan wiring to the back of the car. And finally cut out the dash light wire from a 67 dash harness. (wrong color for my app but worked perfect and got all the bulbs as well.

Look! It even has a sampling port! Those NZ! What will they think of next! Tell her it’s a king size bed frame, but it needs a little work first! Glad to hear you’re doing well and on the mend mate!

You won't be sneekin it by yourself. Tell her you saw strange lights around your shop. Blame it on the Aliens!! Now how do we get it in and set up? Aaaaa, social distancing for your cars! The highbeam light Wrongway brought up that has me going crazy.

Last time I was in the hospital I was eating Cream of Wheat. Ugh. I still remember how much I hate Cream of Wheat and hospital food in general. Yours looks like bloody gourment by comparison! I've never seen lamb served at a hospital here before. You're a lucky man Kiwi. Glad to know you are on the mend. What sort of restrictions are you under at the moment?

I've actually ordered a reco box ftom Ames-I just wanted the pitman arm and believe it or not, this was not only the ONLY way to get one but probably about the same price. I'll fit that pitman to the reco box and maybe it'll work. The next concern is if the idler arms are different between man & p/s. If they are, the drag link could be crooked. You can be assured that I'm going to share my stories of pain, anguish & mental suffering, but I just KNOW it's gonna be worth it. Truth be known, I have no-one else to share such misery with. My missus couldn't care less, I have no children, my friends already think I'm loopy and my workmates exist only on other planets judging from their concentrated weirdness. That leaves you guys. Enjoy!

Wow whata Lincoln bro!!! I looked at a white convertible a couple of years ago in commerce township. Loved it just couldn't swing it lol. Thanks for the pics. I'll take a look at Retro Sound when I get to that point Frosty. My thought all along was to build a panel in the trunk with a Bluetooth head unit to my phone so I could keep the interior looking factory. But those blend pretty well it looks like from wdl182's pictures.

I've had them in 3 different cars and sound quality is Fantastic !! Highly recommend. You can see mine in previous pictures I posted.

Thanks Frosty-I agree. I'll get it later today. They seem to be rare in manual format so I can always sell it later if required. A splash of black paint and it's a 'remanufactured' unit!

Dude - you live in a very flat state.

HI 64GoatGirl. Welcome to FP. Most stock Pontiac spark plug sets have wires that vary in length. The longest plug wires go to cylinders #1 and #2, on either side of the very front of the motor. The shortest wires go to the closest to the dsitrbutor, to cylinders #7 and #8 at the back of the motor. So could the lengths be mixed up on some of your plug wires? It is also possible that with headers that you may have to buy a set of unterminalted universal fit set of plug wires and cut them to length and run them to a spark plug wire loom on your valve covers to route them proper alway from the headers. That's not uncommon either. It's just time consuming but it's not hard. Pictures help us visualize what problem you are having too.

Thanks guys, I love that he's so into cars and enjoys working on them. Its memories that he'll be able to share with his kids and your right bro, its priceless!

i used the carbon fiber on the HQ dash, 👍

Thanks Everyone, what a great unanticipated response. I now feel empowered to decapitate myself. My uselessness & ineptitude know no boundaries! Nah, I'll be right. I've been working on cars my entire life-I'm just getting older & lazier. I'll look forward to posting gruesome photos of what went wrong!

All great advice, as always! So all I'll add is the spring compressors really aren't that hard Fitzy, I heard how dangerous they were and all the stuff about the tool braking and spring flying off and killing you also bro. JUSTA take your time and go slow bro. You can see how I did mine on my 63. I rented the tool from the local parts house and in that pic my son is ratcheting to compress. Now I wound NOT let him remove the springs but I did let him compress. Good luck bro

Fitzy, sorry we hijaked your thread! As far as taking out the springs, yah most people are a little unnerved about it when they haven’t done it before! There are many ways to remove them, but for the type of springs you have I would recommend the standard standby. See below this type is fairly inexpensive, not much to store after the fact and when used right very safe! you simply take out the shock, install the compressor arms through the center of the spring then the treaded shaft installs to them! Using a socket and ratchet tighten, which compresses the spring. Once you’ve done that, you remove the castle nut, but it’s a good idea to break loose the nut first before you take the tension off the Aarm from the spring, but don’t remove the nut. once the spring is compressed you need a, preferable, floor jack under the Aarm. Take the castle nut off, turn it upside down and thread it back onto the ball joint shaft, leaving about an 1/8 of an inch of the nut sticking above the ball joint shaft. At this point, using two hammers, place one hammer on top of the castle nut and hit it with the other, you could also use a chunk of steel in place of the first hammer, but the second hammer, the one you swing should be a good beefy one, two pound short handle sledge would be good! This will release the ball joint shaft from the steering knuckle. Now lower the floor jack slowly. You will need to most likely push the Aarm down further than it will go on it’s own, so make sure you have the car raised up high enough. Now remove the spring! Place the spring, if you can in a vise, side ways to remove the compressor. To remove the ball joints is fairly easy! All you need is pipe! Get yourself a piece of pipe that fits the outside diameter of the ball joint. This goes on the bottom side of the Aarm, between the Aarm and the ground. It should be as close of a fit as you can get, but the ball joint itself should be able to fall right through it. The top side needs a piece of pipe the fits the top of the ball joint! Again this piece of pipe should fit a body edge of the ball joint, but fall through the hole in the Aarm when the ball joint is out. Placing a flat piece of steel, 1/2 thick or better, on top of the top pipe and using your big hammer, strike the flat plate with good force! This will drive the ball joint out, but it will take multiple hits to do so! Making the bottom side pipe as solid to the ground and Aarm as possible will make all the difference in transferring the energy to drive the ball joint out easily! To install the new ball joints put them in the freezer overnight! While keeping the ball joint cold use a burnz-o-matic and heat the hole area where the ball joint goes, about 500 degrees f. Doing this will require almost no press fit, just some light tapping at best, but you must be quick.

the carbon fibre looks great mate and it goes nicely with all the chrome

Congratulations @360Rocket for winning our August 2020 Pontiac of the Month!

Here ya go bud. Its just cool lol.

Check The Box !! Stewy is right these things are great!! Used them on my rewiring kit this past winter!! Be careful though the first batch I got would burn thru the plastic and not melt the solder, but I made them aware of the problem and they sent me a new and improved set that worked great! Make sure after use you let them "cure" a bit before you tug on them!

Copy that buddy! All the tree huggers and touchy-feely don’t hurt my feelings, so call liberals drove this country straight into the ground! Trump may not be great, but he’s 1000 times better than any democratic in the past 100 years! IMO!

Damn it!

Been standing in the same line for many years. Finally have a real President that stands up to the bastards and reset the trade agreement.

Ahh, there is! Don’t buy anything made in China or built in China or parts made there and assembled here! Dah! Now look what you did! You got me started! Dang!

Fitzy I started my woring career at AC Spark Plug many many years ago. Even then, counterfeit Chineese knock off products were a problem. I saw fake AC filters that were simply stuffed with old rags. Fake plugs where the eletrodes would separate once you opened the box. I can totally relate to your story about quality parts. Good for you! Makes you wish you could figure out a way to under mine their economy.

Yeah Fitzy, I felt bad about her toe but she was just so cute fussing on like she did lol. We hadn't been married long and the transition from being single and having car parts in the house to being married and NOT having car parts in the house took a while. I think the big one was I took the rear end out of a 1966 Lincoln Continental. I spent 2 days cleaning it in preparation to put in under my Lincoln. Since I didn't have a garage back in those days I had no place to store it. I came up with what I thought was a great idea. So a friend and I carried the rear end into the spare bedroom and stood it up in the corner. Buddy, I'm talking rims, tires, leaf springs and all. I popped an old TV on top of the tire so you could watch it. Yeah my wife TOLD me when she got home from work how that really wasn't the greatest idea and hinted to how if it wasn't removed tonight that I would probably be sleeping on the Continental seats I moved in there also! Bless her heart lol, I was a gearhead race guy and she was patient lol. And yes, that really DID happen!

I totally understand the shipping dilemma you and Fitzy face. It’s not like your made of money. Certain parts aren’t cheap period and then you tack on international shipping charges, you feel like you’ve ridden hard without a kiss or any Vasoline. I can appreciate it if you find local mates to help each other out.

I am a purveyor of quality goods Frosty, that filter is from Ames, is made in the US (I just checked the box) and is shorter than a regular one to clear the Doug's headers that I am waiting on. Good to see at least SOME things are still homegrown. Just about nothing is made in Australia anymore and is a source of national disappointment. Once we dig the last ton of iron ore out of the ground, it's Goodnight Gracie for us. Let me tell you an imported oil filter story. Many years ago, I was driving my little $500 1968 Renault 10 around the country, an epic trip. Don't forget that Australia is the same size as north America. I changed the oil in Perth and fitted a cheaper oil filter. Halfway through a 300km stretch of desert my oil pressure light came on. I switched off the engine immediately and coasted to a stop - the El Cheapo filter had let go and spewed oil everywhere. I eventually hitched a ride on a Greyhound to the Sandfire Roadhouse and bought a respected brand Ford filter that I knew would fit. I never forgot that incident and will never go cheap again on vital components, if I can help it. It's the flood of cheap Chinese crap that's destroying global manufacturing and the thing is that it doesn't have to be cheap & crappy. They can manufacture quality, but nobody wants to pay for it. By the way, that little Renault lasted for 300000km whilst in my possession and never let me down. I eventually rolled it and it still went, but a bit bent. The cops eventually pulled me up, declared it to be unroadworthy and I had to say goodbye to it. I regret it to this day. I'd still be driving that tough little car.

I loved Wrongway's story of his wife's stubbed pinky toe. Imagine being a fly on the wall and sniggering at the torrent of language that must have ensued, and then watching her as she attempted to pick up one of those cast iron monsters. She probably burst into tears, and then plotted her revenge. What staggers me is you had heads in the dinner room? I'm on your wife's side there - I would have burst into tears too! Kiwi's suggestion of going to my local spring shop is also funny. Up my way, it's all about lift kits in 4WDs. Having said that, I have contacted King Springs (about 2000km south of me) and they may be able to fabricate a set. More overtime coming up!

That's funny. Yeah, the sneaky migration of parts into the spare room was a long slow exercise and I think she's just given up. The car sits under our big carport at the entrance of our dwelling (actually a converted shed in the bush) so any visitors who make it past the shotgun blasts are forced to admire the car as they attempt to enter. Once I steal all their money, they are allowed one glass of home brewed beer and then told to never return. To my credit, I keep everything in the Pontiac room neat and orderly and everything that goes in there is clean so, you know, I'm not completely evil. Note the windscreens on the bed - a great excuse as to why nobody can stay the night!

Growing old is mandatory. Up is optional. I told me wife before we got married that I would never act my age. So far, I've lived up to that promise.