#521  
Old 07-28-2018, 12:20 PM
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I spent a couple hours today installing the speaker. You have to drop the steering column and remove the gauge pod to access the speaker and get to the screw that holds the speaker bracket in place. Removing the A/C plastic ductwork really helps also. At the same time I replaced the non-existent foam seal on the main A/C duct. The original had turned to dust decades ago, leaving a 3/4" gap between the heater box and the main duct. Got everything buttoned up and now the front and back speakers sound just like new (like 1970's new, that is)

  #522  
Old 07-29-2018, 09:43 AM
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I had to do the same thing on mine Steve, including replacing that gasket, which had turned to dust! While I had it all torn apart, I washed every piece of AC duct to get the dust out of them.

BJ

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  #523  
Old 07-29-2018, 09:46 AM
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I took her to a cruise night last night. Definitely improved the air flow from the middle dash vent- always the weakest output vent in the system.

  #524  
Old 08-18-2018, 08:52 AM
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The other day I spent a few hours trying to solve the "bent nail puzzle" of removing the original transmission cooler tubes and replacing them with new ones from Inline Tube. Quite an entertaining conundrum of turn, twist, pull, (curse) and repeat X10. Eventually got it all done with only a minimum amount of tranny fluid on the floor.

The original set had some bad kink/twists where they were over tightened onto the fitting at the transmission case decades ago. I was worried that they'd spring a leak one of these days at the least opportune moment.

So I now have successfully replaced every corroded steel line in the car over the past couple months. What did I win?

(piece of mind, I guess) :-)

By the way, I did not use the front sections of the driver's side fuel line that goes from the front fender well to the pump, and both passenger side vent and return line sections that go from the back of the subframe to the charcoal canister, and the fuel pump. My originals were still perfect from being covered in grease all those years. Does anyone need those lines? I believe they are unique to the 74/75 to 81 cars?

  #525  
Old 08-20-2018, 04:41 PM
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I saw this and figured I might comment (even though you made a decision on the matter):

Quote:
Originally Posted by njsteve View Post
... Due to how faded out the original grills were, I never actually noticed if they had a black inset. From photos on the interweb it appears that the last inch of the grill (including the slats) on some models were all blacked out to begin with. Was this the same across the board in 75 from base model to T/A? I'm beginning think the Esprit had all-silver grills? ...
I believe that 1975 was like the prior years;
The grilles on base and Esprit models were left silver, and the Formula and Trans Am were blacked out;
The surrounding part of the grille inserts were always left silver.

Some angles might make it appear as though the whole grille insert was blacked out, that was never the way they were painted for the assembly line.

[img]http://pontiacformula.free.fr/photo/histoire/firebird75.11.jpg[/mg]


Quote:
Originally Posted by njsteve View Post
And another part on order. The original dash speaker stopped working recently for the factory AM/FM mono radio. I pulled out the A/C ducting and accessed the wiring. I was able to confirm the bad speaker by using a jumper wire to an old Kraco 6x10 speaker.

I ordered a replacement speaker from Electro-Tech. I have bought their 4x10 oval replacement speaker before and it worked very well and fit perfectly into the factory under dash bracket. They are the correct 8-ohm rating that will work with the factory radios, versus all the 4-ohm replacement versions out there that will fry your original radio eventually.

With shipping it was around $59

http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm
Thanks for this tidbit!
I will make a mental note of it!!

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Quite likely one of few '70 Muncie three speed Formula 400's left.


1991 Grand Am: 14.4 @ 93.7mph (DA corrected) (retired DD, stock appearing)
2009 Cobalt SS: 13.9 @ 103mph (current DD; makes something north of 300hp & 350ft/lbs)
  #526  
Old 05-19-2019, 04:50 PM
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Took the Gramma car out for a ride last night. Added 3 gallons of 100 octane, leaded avgas to the tank today. Sure smells nice!
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  #527  
Old 05-19-2019, 08:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by njsteve View Post
Took the Gramma car out for a ride last night. Added 3 gallons of 100 octane, leaded avgas to the tank today. Sure smells nice!
Oh yeah, love the smell of avgas!! /used to run that all the time in mine.

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  #528  
Old 05-20-2019, 12:54 AM
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Where are getting leaded at the airport?

  #529  
Old 05-20-2019, 07:13 AM
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At my local commuter airport. It’s 100 octane low lead. It was $4.99 a gallon.

  #530  
Old 05-20-2019, 10:41 PM
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Use this link:

https://www.airnav.com/fuel/local.html

  #531  
Old 08-15-2019, 08:13 PM
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Looky what I found!

A NOS set of the same brown/tan/orange/yellow-ish "Plasticolor" floor mats that my Gramma bought for the car when it was new. The original set got rather chewed up by four and a half decades of foot travel.

Found them on ebay for $115. I have been searching for years for a set and got the search alert on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM. I immediately ht the buy-it-now button. They just arrived today.

Just need some scrubbing and cleaning and they will be fine.
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  #532  
Old 08-15-2019, 08:21 PM
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Nice score!!

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  #533  
Old 08-22-2019, 06:20 PM
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I have been walking on this set for years. Opps!
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  #534  
Old 08-22-2019, 06:24 PM
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You Monster!!!!!!!

  #535  
Old 08-23-2019, 03:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by njsteve View Post
I spent a couple hours today installing the speaker. You have to drop the steering column. Removing the A/C plastic ductwork really helps also. At the same time I replaced the non-existent foam seal on the main A/C duct. The original had turned to dust decades ago, leaving a 3/4" gap between the heater box and the main duct. Got everything buttoned up and now the front and back speakers sound just like new (like 1970's new, that is)
Could I ask what you used for the replacement gasket? Is there a repop or did you fabricate one out of foam? How does it attach to the duct - contact cement?

Thanks.

  #536  
Old 08-23-2019, 04:04 PM
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I just used some adhesive backed foam insulation in roll form that I got at home depot in the plumbing aisle. It worked fine. Just cut four pieces to make a rectangle and you are set.

  #537  
Old 08-23-2019, 04:07 PM
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Thank you

  #538  
Old 02-01-2020, 01:53 PM
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Did some suspension upgrades recently. I installed a Lares 974 quick ratio steering box (2-1/2 turns). Got it from rockauto to replace the original 3+turn, over-boosted box. It also comes with the new steering coupler. It was a direct swap and uses the same original-style flare fittings for the hoses. It now has a very tight feel to the steering instead of the heavily-sedated original steering feel. It took several fluid bleedings over a week to get all the residual air bubbles out. One of the symptoms of air still present is reduced assist at idle. After a week or so the assist at idle is good again.

Today I swapped out the original 1" front sway bar and 9/16" rear sway bar for 1-1/4" front and 3/4" rear bars that I got of ebay for around $110 for the set. (Shipping was a killer though - that front bar sure is heavy!) I also installed new Prothane bushings as well. Total time for the sway bar swap was a leisurely 3 hours.


New Lares 974:



Old 1" bar:




New 1-1/4" sway bar:



Last edited by njsteve; 02-01-2020 at 02:37 PM.
  #539  
Old 02-01-2020, 02:14 PM
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And the rear bars, comparison





Last edited by njsteve; 02-01-2020 at 02:33 PM.
  #540  
Old 03-31-2020, 11:13 AM
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More tinkering since we are sitting around on cootievirus lockdown.

I decided to update the speedometer in Gramma's car.

In 1975 the Federal Government frowned on the blatant braggadocio of the automakers producing cars with speedometers that encouraged their drivers to irresponsibly drive 160 mph simply because their gauges encouraged them to.

So they made cars with 80 and 100 mph speedometers to appease the powers that be.

The 1974 and prior Trans AM speedos bolt right in place with no other parts needed. I had one sitting in my parts stash in the garage but made the mistake of trying to wipe the dust off the dial and proceeded to wipe the silkscreened ink off during the process AHHHHHHH!

I did some searching on the internets and found a guy in North Carolina - Daniel at GaugeMarks who sells the silkscreened dial numerals in a kit for Camaros and Trans Ams and other cars. He was willing to sell me just the speedometer face and it worked out great. He actually has a video on youtube which shows how easy it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKHmxl0Ljs0

Anyway, here is the bad dial after removal from the speedometer. I then wiped off the rest of the numbers with rubbing alcohol and painted the face with semigloss black. After that it was easy to place the new "decal" on the face and peel away the backing.

Another youtube video helped me set the spare speedometer's odometer to the exact number that the car has for mileage in its present speedometer. It took a few headscratching moments to understand, since most of the videos only show you how to wind it back to zero. But after several minutes of Rubiks cube wrassling I was able get it to 81,884. I then reassembled the whole thing. Next step is taking apart the dash to put it in.










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