[tooski]

Originally Posted by pontiacstogo

Front bumper, header panel, lower valance, spoiler and fender flares all fitted;


And I just have to throw this out there - I hate dealing with fender flare welting.

WOW!

[pontiacstogo]

The exhaust is went back on the car on Friday - so that meant startup time.

Filled the gas tank with fresh gas and refitted the (charged up) battery. After a bit of cranking the TA sprang into life and quickly settled into a smooth idle - so good to hear it running again after all of this time! I should've grabbed a video of the startup - but I didn't.

Some final adjusting and tidying up to do before the front and rear windows are refitted.

Flatbed is booked and the plan is to bring the car home on Friday

[kingbuzzo]

Does she have to be re-tuned for the foreign gas you got there?

You must be psyched...long journey for sure

[pontiacstogo]

Originally Posted by kingbuzzo

Does she have to be re-tuned for the foreign gas you got there?

You must be psyched...long journey for sure

No - 98 is available here so it should be fine as-is. I wanted to get it running (and stopping) at the bodyshop just to make it easier to get on and off the flatbed when it is transported home. I plan to give it a bit of a birthday when it gets here - new plugs, leads, hoses, belts, air filter, valve cover gaskets, complete fluid change etc. etc.

Very much looking forward to having it home and moving on to the final steps in this (long) process!

[kingbuzzo]

Makes sense...I am pleased you are taking very good care of my car's twin...lol

Also envious of that level of restoration - looks so good...

[pontiacstogo]

Quick update - car is finally home. Slowly working through the long list of tasks - starting with reinstallation of the interior.




Biggest problem so far? The body shop didn't fully seat the hood release rod in the latch so it came out in my hands the other day. I can 'just' fish it back into the latch through the lower opening in the valance but I can't get it to lock in place (there's a small retainer clip but I can't tell if it's orientated correctly). I can at least open the hood for the interim, but I'm going to pull the lower valance so that I can lay eyes on it and secure it correctly.

[pontiacstogo]

Started with the parcel shelf, that led to the rear speaker, which led to installation of the trunk mat, spare wheel and jack. All done. Pulled all of the fender flares to reinstall them and get them fitting tighter to the body. They are still not perfect, but I'm not sure they ever are. This is the first time since I've owned the car that the front and rear flares have all of the (3 per flare) mounting screws fitted. Glad to be done with them and hope I never have to remove and refit another fender flare EVER.



Backed the car out of the garage and into the sun. Outside is all complete now with the exception of the trim rings and decals. No hood bird on this car and no shaker callout so it's just the fender decals and rear spoiler decal to install.

[pontiacstogo]

Got a good chunk of the interior back in yesterday;



One of the 'bulb holders' came off the wires for the dome light so I need to fix that. I purchased new inner window sweeps for the door panels, so I need to install those onto the panels before I can install them (looks like a fun job).

[pontiacstogo]

Interior is all back in now with the exception of the dome light (waiting on replacement bulb clip/holders). I decided to reinstall the original shift knob instead of the white Hurst ball I had on there previously. My car doesn't have many options (no hood bird, no A/C, no power windows etc.) but it does have the 'custom' interior and AM with 8 track.



Replacing the old and brittle inner window sweeps on the door panels was a fun job. Glad to have that behind me. Printed up a new reproduction VIN decal for the drivers door.



Just a few minor things to do now (mainly decals and a handful of tuneup/mechanical items).

[kingbuzzo]

amazing

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It looks Outstanding
Congrats on the results and achievements .

Do they rate octane there , the same way we do in the USA ?
Today's 93 is equal to old days 100
Not sure what 98 new method would equal to by the old method.

[pontiacstogo]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Do they rate octane there , the same way we do in the USA ?
Today's 93 is equal to old days 100
Not sure what 98 new method would equal to by the old method.

NZ does use a different rating method than the US so 98 here would be 93-94 there (roughly);

From www.protune.co.nz;

In most countries (including all of Europe, Australia and New Zealand) the "headline" octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON, but in the United States and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), Road Octane Number (RdON), Pump Octane Number (PON), or (R+M)/2. Because of the 10 point difference noted above, this means that the octane in the United States will be about 4 to 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 91-95 (regular) in New Zealand.

[pontiacstogo]

Been slowly working through a ton of maintenance items. New plugs and reproduction plug leads, belts, filters etc. I did find one of the rear park brake cables was frayed so I've ordered up replacements for all 3 cables. Just working through everything on the car to make sure it all works as originally intended.

The interior and exterior are all done (I fitted the old US plate for a bit of nostalgia).



The car is (finally) booked for a compliance check on February 12th.

[kingbuzzo]

What you got for exhaust tips on there?

[pontiacstogo]

Originally Posted by kingbuzzo

What you got for exhaust tips on there?

Simple 2.5 inch tips - can't remember where I picked them up. Autozone?

When I bought the car it still had the original exhaust system on it (transverse muffler) but it was shot - the original tips were long gone. The exhaust on it now is a Flowmaster 'American Thunder' 2.5 inch system mated to Pypes downpipes on stock manifolds.

The body shop media blasted and painted the system while it was off the car;



A stock system with stock tips is on my wish list.

[pontiacstogo]

Been a long journey - but the car is finally off to compliance testing. Got the last couple of tasks completed; new engine mounts, fresh fluid change. I also put the original steering wheel back on - it was fitted with a reproduction wheel, but that things bends if you breathe on it too heavily.

Waiting for the flatbed to pick it up..



Will have a list of any problems within a couple of days (then 20 days to rectify them). If it passes I'm just going to throw the new plates on and drive it home.

[pontiacstogo]

Woohoo - all passed, no problems to correct. Picking it up early tomorrow - then driving it LOTS this weekend.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Real happy for you .
They should give you a lifetime plate and registration !

The scenery in that picture is incredible , and the car looks Great too

[kingbuzzo]

What a relief that must be...happy trails

[pontiacstogo]

Need to sort out the rear plate situation (standard NZ plate wont fit between the taillights).

But I couldn't wait any longer so I taped the plate in the rear window, filled it up with gas and just drove it to nowhere in particular;





At least I used blue tape to match the color of the decals