[Keith Seymore]

I think they look great!

K

[Jerry H.]

I have not had a good week working on the car. I thought I was going get a couple of the problems fixed that were on the car when I bought it. First, the front seats had the covers reversed. Next, they had painted the whole dash the same color, not painting the 'suede' correctly on the top part of the dash. And third the new winshield was already leaking. The guy who does all my upholstery work also does glass work. So he comes to pick up the seats and pulls out the windshield for me. This is a great time to repaint the top of the dash. While looking over the project yesterday morning, I notice that the interior A pillars look like they have never actually been painted. So I sand the A pillars and paint them semi gloss black. Everything good so far.

Next I sand, tape off and prime the upper dash. I wouldn't have even used any primer, but the 'suede' paint is lacquer, and I didn't want it raising up on me. After priming, I pulled off all the taping before scuffing and painting. I didn't notice any problems at that point. Then I scuff the primer/sealer and retape and paint. The paint looks pretty good and the lacquer drys almost as quick as you spray it. I leave it, clean the spray gun, put everything up and then go back about 30 minutes later and pull the tape off. Guess what? The tape pulls off some of the old paint underneath it! So now it looks like I get to redo the lower dash too! Evidently this wasn't prepped properly. One damn thing leads to another. Why can't people just spend a little time, do some research and do the job right the first time? Crap like this really gets me pissed off.

[Jerry H.]

Good news and bad news today. My new helper showed up for work today. He is a good guy and a great mechanic. We worked on a few minor things, then he started underneath the car. He was getting the axle tubes and diff. cover ready to putty the pits. He told me he believed it would be a lot easier if he pulled the diff cover off and blasted it. OK by me. After draining the dope out of the rear end, he was cleaning out the bottom of the housing when I heard a big OPPS! He crawled out from under the car with a chunk of a 'tooth' that he found in the bottom of the housing. Sooo, here comes out the rear end. At this point he only had to take the 4 control arm bolts out as everything else had already been unhooked. After he gets the housing out, we inspect everything. Thank God the ring gear and pinion look OK, so he pulls the chunk out and is taking it to check the spider gears.

I did get the dash repainted and the block off plate for the heater control panel installed. I'll be glad when we can start going back together instead of continuing to tear apart.

[Tin indian GTO]

do you have any pics of your heater block off plate? I have a 65 tempest I was going to use a 2nd radio delete plate if I have to.
Also I would like a template of your towhooks if you still got it.

[Jerry H.]

Originally Posted by Tin indian GTO

do you have any pics of your heater block off plate? I have a 65 tempest I was going to use a 2nd radio delete plate if I have to.
Also I would like a template of your towhooks if you still got it.

PM me your email and I will email you the template. I'll try to get a pic of the block off plate in a couple of days.

[Jerry H.]

Here is a pic of the heater block off plate. It is home made. I think it turned out ok. (Thanks, Terry Hunt). Also a pic of the spider gear that we replaced in the rear. We're making slow progress. Start work at 11, work a couple of hours, take a couple of hours for lunch, and then knock off at 3. Then rear housing should be detailed and ready to be reinstalled by the end of the week.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Jerry H.

We're making slow progress. Start work at 11, work a couple of hours, take a couple of hours for lunch, and then knock off at 3.

Sounds like good hours....are you hirin' any more "free help"?



Seriously, glad to see you are making headway and the heater plate looks great.

K

[Jerry H.]

FINALLY got the rear axle bolted back up yesterday. Maybe I'll get some paint on it today. Has two more issues with it. One axle bearing was bad, and believe it or not, it was assembled minus the drivers side axle seal! I had to look at it several times because there was no signs of leakage, but sure enough, there was no seal in the housing on the drivers side. I did get the firewall painted last Saturday. Hope to get the rest of the front clip and the underneath painted by the end of the week. Then the reassembly starts.

[wytnyt]

Originally Posted by Jerry H.

it was assembled minus the drivers side axle seal!

how did it not leak?
was it full of fluid?

[Jerry H.]

It had plenty of 'dope' in it. I have no idea my it wasn't leaking. There wasn't even any sign of leakage. I only drove it about 30 miles before I tore it down, but from the looks of the engine and undercarriage, it looked like it had been driven several thousand miles since the restoration.

[Jerry H.]

Been working a bit the past few days. Got the rear reinstalled today. Also got the gas tank, shocks, rear springs, air bags, etc. installed. Also got most of the firewall loaded up. Hopefully no more tearing apart, just putting back together. It should go pretty fast now. These pics are in my dusty shop and they don't really do it justice.

[Jerry H.]

Had a productive week. Got the engine back in the frame today and started reinstalling the front brakes. Mounted the slicks on the back and have the front tires ready to bolt up. The bumpers are polished and ready. Note the tow hooks on the front bumper.

[wd45gto]

thats sure looking sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jerry H.]

We should have it rolling early next week. We have to roll it out of the shop were I can paint the inner fenders and radiator cradle, and then it should go back together fairly quickly. Then a ton of clean up. Hope to have it ready for a Nostalgia Drag event the first week of December.

[Jerry H.]

Always one little part that has to be ordered holding things up. The pitman shaft seal on the steering box sprung a leak. It should be in tomorrow. Someone didn't put the self adjusters back on the front brakes, so it didn't have long enough 'nails' when we got the new adjuster kits in. We got one side of the brakes done, with the aluminum drum installed. The engine is complete. Maybe it will be rolling tomorrow.

[Jerry H.]

Back rolling again! Finally!! Rolled her out of the shop today to be able to paint the inner fenders. Hopefully we'll have the all the sheet metal and bumpers hung by the end of the week. No big hurry now. The hard work is behind us.

[65gto69]

WOW, Jerry, That is looking great.

Bringing back a lot of memories when my 65 was at that stage. Funny my 65 has the same exterior and interior color codes as yours. Isn't that teal turquoise great in the sunlight?

I even had an offenhauser 2x4 setup on mine when I was finished. It is amazing, like looking back in time.

Keep up the good work,
Mark

[Old Blue 66]

Jerry, its been fun watching you build such a beast. Cant wait to see the final product.

[Jerry H.]

Wow, I didn't realize it had been that long since I had posted. Car is coming along nicely. Went today to the muffler shop for exhaust and to get the cutouts installed. The pinstriper was supposed to come by yesterday and align the front fenders, put on the hood and lay down the white pinstripe. It spit snow all day long, so I guess he had an excuse for not showing up. That, along with a lot of cleaning and final sanding and polishing the body and the final tuning and it should be done.

[Tempest]

That looks really good Jerry. With all the set backs you had, it's nice to see such a great looking car in the end. Great job, and great pics too