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Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

Last Indian

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Everything posted by Last Indian

  1. Kiwi there was a shroud for the Bonneville, see pics, but I think you could make a better one. If you look close at the pictures of my Z radiator you’ll notice that it’s made of aluminum! The part that the fan would enter is rolled the rest is a flat sheet of aluminum cut and bent appropriately and then the aluminum ring is tig into it. This whole assembly attaches to the radiator itself! Even the radiator retention brackets are custom made for holding the radiator in place. I did the same basic concept for my wife’s Z.
  2. Wrongway, this particular parts guy really doesn’t know what he’s speaking of, sorry! Straight weight oil make no sense today in 99.99% of car engines! The problem with straight weight oil is cold start! First of all depending on ambiance temperature, shear stress, and or particulate, it could actually be thicker on startup! Which means the bearings could be at risk for damage because the oil pump and flow rate of the oils thickness starve the bearing for the proper film thickness! I would always run a multi grade oil! The Rotella is a good oil, just run a multi grade in it. If you like a 30 weight then run a 10w30 in the Rotella! It’s not your fault! Honestly it might seem like oil should be easy, but I assure you it’s not! It’s complicated! If I asked most folk if they knew what the difference was between Newtonian fluid and non-Newtonian fluid was they would stare at me like I was from outer space! Yet in many way that is exactly the comparative difference between a single grade and a multi-grade oil!
  3. It might just be the angle of the picture, but just for reference, as this picture appears, this would not be a desirable setup! The fan needs to sit at least just inside the leading edge of the shroud or a little deeper! Also there should be only about a 1/2 inch clearance between the shroud circumference and the tips of the blades. This is what make a good draw of air through the radiator.
  4. Oil Weight?! This measurement tells the flow characteristics of an oil at a given temperature! So when you see a oil listed as being a 10w30 it means that oil behaves like a 10 weight oil at 0 deg C (32F) but, at 100C (212F) it behaves like 30 weight! All multigrades behave this way and their measurements ratings are all made at these temperatures. Now with that said, when speaking of the viscosity of an oil some things need to be taken into consideration. What kind of motor? What kind of HP? How much bearing clearance? What kind of driving will be done? If you have bearing clearance of .0030 or more and or you have 275 HP or more and or the motor will see 6000 RPM or more you should run a 20w50 in warm weather! With respect to bearing clearance; bigger bearing clearances are typical in old skool motors! This means every time a mixture fires, that larger clearance allows the journal to hammer into the lead/bibbitt bearing. The thicker viscosity oil acts like an air bag does for the stunt man jumping off a roof! It slows down and cushions the impact of that journal. Lower viscosity oil helps with fuel economy and works very well with tighter motors! So some things folks need to consider is, what kind of motor do you have? What are your needs of your motor? What are the demands on your motor?
  5. Yup! For old skool motors it’s pretty hard to beat. Kiwi! I did forget to mention that these units are designed to run a seven or nine blade steel fan! They have a pitch in the blades that at low RPM, when active real pull some amazing air flow! These clutch units are thermostatically controlled! Meaning that only when air temps are high enough does the clutch engage! Otherwise the steel blade fan just sits in neutral, I.E. disengaged!
  6. Not getting it shot peened is probably ok since it checked out ok with no cracks! But if it had a crack in it I would advise you to replace it! Shot peening is the principal of folding metal, or hammering metal to compress it, which makes it denser! Which in turn makes the metal stronger! This is the principle behind anything cast vs forged! Ancient Samurai swords! The steel these were made from was folded into itself over and over again, using heat and a BFH! This makes the steel very dense, it cause the molecules to become very compressed! This make steel very strong and because of the dense molecular structure the sword holds a very sharp edge for much longer!
  7. JustA my two cents worth! Electric fans are ok, but bigger HP, old skool motors which actually have a different design in both metallurgy and pattern flow of cooling jackets, can be tricky to keep cool with electrical fans and standard size radiators! A three or four row radiator with a shroud and incorporating a good GM clutch fan does the best job at cooling in my experience. In my “69” Z, which had 600 HP in ran a 4 row with the custom aluminum shroud and a GM clutch fan! The motor really could make some heat! But with a 180 thermostat it never failed to stay at 185 to 190!
  8. You know! If you flip that small g around and complete the bottom tail of the g into a full loop, it might be more representative of their continued forward focus!! You know Bm! 🤭
  9. Pretty sure it’s connection point is the same as my Camaro’s was (see pic)! The wiring from the top, horn, turn signal, flashers, disconnects mid column & comes out the top, through the plastic sleeve that the wiring runs through! But if all he is doing is replacing the steering wheel he should not need to pull the wiring!
  10. I’ll apologize up front if I offend anyone! Oh what the hell no I don’t! This is in a nutshell the emasculation of American! It started quite a while ago, but really gained ground under the Obama administration, sorry just a fact! Want more proof, see what the Democratic’s did in congress two weeks ago? Now in congress sessions you can’t be a father or brother or father-in-law, etc... And the list goes on and on! This is to strip every single one of us of our masculinity or femininity, our civil rights under the constitution, which you can pretty much wipe your you know what with now! We must be gender neutral!! So psychologically it filters down to things like a logo, seriously it does! The old GM logo was bold, masculine, powerful! It said GM! Take notice of me! Now it’s going to says I’m fragile don’t look at me or I might cry!
  11. Once you install the driveshaft you should check the driveshaft angle to verify it’s in the proper range. If it ends up out of range you’ll have to determine what you might change if anything! But knowing where it’s at is always good to know! The steering arm is most likely ok! First of all it’s cast steel, which is more ductile! Cast iron is pretty unforgiving. Plus 5/8 of an inch movement in the arch that your steering arm has isn’t much! Last if you have a concern you could get the arm shot peened and than magnafluxed!
  12. Been there! Done that! Not to take one damn thing away from the amazing job you did buddy! But at least you had a garage! When I did the full frame conversion on the “69” , I had a set of homemade wood sawhorses and a stone driveway! I still have indents in my back!😳
  13. Kiwi, It is reasonable to presume that the tranny pan should be parallel to the frame rails, but what is actually more relevant is that the mounting face of the carburetor on the intake manifold be level! This needs to be level! This can only be done accurately when the car is on the ground and the suspension is complete and loaded! I.E. car is basically completed, interior is in, all body panels on, gas tank full or at least approximated with weight, etc.. This is actually a fairly critical measurement as it then will give you the angle of the driveshaft to the differential! Which in turn is relevant, because you need a proper angle within a range to make the universal joints work, but not so great that it causes the driveshaft to whip!
  14. Yeah GM used the choke thing to help speed up engine heat up! Never liked it, never made any real cense! If it fails on the closed position that’s bad, but most of the time they just rust open! Then in time the cross shaft rusts through the shaft tends to fall out and the butterfly plate drops into the exhaust! If you’re lucky it sits parallel in the exhaust pipe, if not, it turns vertical and blocks off the whole exhaust. Long story short, get rid of it! Just drill & tap out the hole on both sides to the next closest size pipe thread and tap it! Get some Stainless Steel pipe plugs and seal them off. Just my two cents!
  15. To all a toast to a Merry Christmas & to all Cruze on!
  16. Now you’re JustA being silly! Finished product! this was the last one!
  17. JustA’s idea should prove good! As he indicates, in this type of bushing the only purpose the steel tube & bolt serve is to contract the bracket sides in against the steel tube! Once torqued the bolt, steel tube & bracket side should be married together. What I would do additionally though is this! Once you press the 9/16 bolt through the sleeve and than back out and replace it with a new bolt, coat the inside of the sleeve with anti-seize & when you install the bolt coat the bolt as well! This is because the bolt and sleeve will have a much closer fit than is typical! That will percipient corrosion between the two more than normal! Which may make it nearly impossible to get apart in a normal manner, if that time ever comes.
  18. Yes & no! It’s not, in most cases anyway, cold roll! Usually it’s a tempered steel, so it’s pretty tough! Meaning a standard drill won’t cut it. Also they are never round, which makes it all the harder to drill!
  19. I don’t like that kind of clearance! IMO you’re JustA asking for trouble! So looking at it I see two remedies! JustA’s idea is a good remedy! I would use at least 1/8” thick washers with a fairly close 1/2” hole, .510 to .515. Then tack weld them in at less three places! The other would be take a grade 8, 9/16 bolt that is long enough that when it goes all the way through the unthreaded part sick’s out past where you would put the nut. The turn down the shaft of the bolt down to .510 to .520. At the head end of the bolt leave a 1/6” wide step that’s .565 to .570. At the other end you will have to thread the new bolt size to 1/2” thread. The machine a special nut the has a step on it to match the .573 bracket hole, but a little smaller. I hope that’s clear as mud! If you need a sketch let me know & I’ll make one! No they did not, but they tended To run soft rear springs with stiff front springs! This made the car sit down in the back which has a stabilizing effect when cornering!
  20. First of all how big is the outside diameter of the inner steel sleeve in the vulcanized rubber? It’s a problem, but not to worry! You can fix it! You need one of two remedies! The simplest is two special washers for each side of the 1/2” bolt. So depending on how large the outer diameter is of the sleeve is will determine what those washers look like! Aarms like other vulcanized bushing need the center steel sleeve clamped to the frame/bracket by the through bolt! This is what make the vulcanized bushing do it’s job! Once you tell me what that O.D. Is I’ll determine what the washer should look like!
  21. Don’t tell Smokey Yunick that! Those cars dominated NASCAR in the day mate!
  22. Well yes it’s winter again! So it’s itch time again. I made the new shift knob a couple years ago now, but it just never grabbed me the way I thought it would so I’m back at it again! First I thought I would do one out of my amber Ultem material! I got about half way through and that JustA didn’t look like I was going to like how it would turn out. So I thought about a different aluminum design! there is an inlay piece that goes into the arrowhead cut out of the aluminum ball knob.
  23. Nothing wrong with a 4 door! Some of the best sleepers are 4 doors! Beware the 4 door that looks mean! It just might be!
  24. You’re right Indyman, that rear tray looks pretty nice ! Let’s see some more pics please!
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