[Gator67]

I’m the one who bought the Keith K’s 68 Firebird 400 convertible. It was listed in the “For Sale” section back in March. I posted a recent photo below in case you missed it.

I was looking for a classic Pontiac that my wife would feel comfortable driving—something smaller and easier to manage than my GTO, a restored HO 4-speed car. I showed my wife the photos Keith posted, and she fell in love with it. I thought it would work well for us, and it has. The car is a great driver--reliable, rust free, highly optioned, complete, and original looking. It’s been great to see my wife jump in “her” Pontiac with her friends to go out somewhere. I like driving it too (more so that I thought I would being a GTO guy)!

In any case, I thought I’d start a thread. Although it’s in nice shape, there are many projects that I’ll be tackling myself or farming out to folks with knowledge, skills, and abilities that I lack. The car is very original with 70k miles, so my hope is that the photos I post will be helpful.

First project: Replace the cracked deluxe steering wheel.

As the photo below shows, it’s cracked all the way around the hub. This is unfortunate because the wheel is perfect otherwise, and I love how it looks and feels. My first inclination was to repair it, but I’m skeptical that a repair will last--especially given that the car will spend time in the blistering sun here (it got up to 115 today). Also, the PHS indicates that the car came with a custom wood wheel. That’s what I decided to go with.

I picked up a correct 68 wood wheel from a forum member, cleaned up the spokes, and shipped it off to our host for remolding/refinishing. See photo. Hopefully it will be back in a few weeks. I purchased the collar and horn pieces from our host. The brushed finish on the plastic collar looks funky—I’ll look for an original piece to use.

All this leads me to the following question. Why was this Deluxe wheel on the car in the first place? I recall reading that there was a problem with the wood wheels when they were first introduced and they were replaced under warranty. This could have happened to my car since it’s a fairly early build (October 67). This also leads me to wonder whether GM/dealers substituted Deluxe wheels for wood wheels or whether this was the owner’s choice? Anyone recall how this went?

[Greg Reid]

I would imagine that if the original wood wheel was defective, the dealer and the owner could come to any agreement that they wanted. If the owner was ok with replacing it with a Deluxe wheel, then I would guess that the dealer could do that. Just a guess though...
Nice car. Is it Meridian Turquoise?

[Gator67]

The next small project on my list is the cruise control. Most of the components were on the car when I purchased it. I only needed to find a correct servo, a ball chain, and ball chain clip secures the chain to the special carburetor bracket.

The servo consists of two end plates, a 4-inch compression spring, and bellows. I couldn't find a complete unit but I was able to piece one together. A member here gave me the end plates and spring—thank you very much pmdtech! I sent the endplates to Steve Gregori for plating in yellow zinc. I bought the bellows from OPGI. The ball chain came from ACE hardware. Finally, I bought a ball chain clip from Pete Serio. Photo 1 shows the servo assembled and installed prior to the plating and photo 2 shows the pieces after being plated along with the ball chain clip.

I installed everything, took it for a test drive, but unfortunately it didn’t work. When I hit the cruise button, nothing happened--and it didn't matter what speed I was traveling. I tested the servo by connecting it to the vacuum source directly, and it appeared to function correctly (important safety tip, remove the ball chain from the servo when you do this or the servo will pull the carb wide open—man, that was scary).

I rechecked the connections, and everything appeared to be in order, except for one thing. I believe the vacuum line to the bellows should have a tee in it with another vacuum line coming through the firewall to the brake release switch (hard to tell from the figure in the Service Manual).

Here’s my question, does this vacuum line connection from the brake switch need to be made in order for the cruise to engage (in which case, this may be the problem), or is this vacuum connection only needed to disengage the cruise (in which case, my problem is elsewhere in the system)?

Any other tips are welcome!

[Gator67]

I was hoping the cylinders could be cleaned up, but it looks like the block will need to be bored .030 over. The crank checked out fine, so I'm going to use it. I'll be going with forged rods and pistons (dished), a very mild custom ground hydraulic roller (068 mild), and a high quality valve job/cleanup/rebuild of the original 16 heads. I haven't decided whether I'll be sticking with stock distributor & points set up. Regardless, I'm pretty confident this combo will more than make up for the point of compression I'll be giving up to make it run well on pump gas. The original intake along with a correct 708264 q-jet will top it off. Here's a photo of the carb before it was sent off to Cliff Ruggles for assembly and set-up (thank you 6d7gto for your help putting this kit together).

[Gator67]

Thanks Greg. It's Alpine Blue...which to me looks slightly brighter than Tyrol.

[Greg Reid]

Just curious. I thought it could be blue since Alpine and Meridian really can look very much alike in photos.

[Gator67]

Here are the reproduction pieces I purchased. I'm wondering how well the finish on these compares to original pieces. In particular, I'm curious about the collar, since it looks so different than the horn base. Does anyone have a close up photo of original pieces?

[Cammer-6]

I ll see if I can get you a couple of pics
mine was perfect until someone dropped the horn button and it cracked.
It does look like the repros are a little bit shinier

[boater bill]

I say restore the deluxe wheel. It really isn't that bad. Seriously. Mine was busted up in the hub and was missing pieces about the size of a quarter. Had over 50 cracks in the rim. Dremel tool to notch the cracks, kitty hair for strength, then body filler and spot putty. Mine has held up in my 95 plus heat for almost a year now and there is nothing like that wheel anywhere.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by boater bill

I say restore the deluxe wheel. It really isn't that bad. Seriously. Mine was busted up in the hub and was missing pieces about the size of a quarter. Had over 50 cracks in the rim. Dremel tool to notch the cracks, kitty hair for strength, then body filler and spot putty. Mine has held up in my 95 plus heat for almost a year now and there is nothing like that wheel anywhere.

I really love the Deluxe wheels...they are rare as hen's teeth in decent condition. I would be surprised if one even exists in perfect, unrestored, condition. In other words, I think you could open the box on a NOS one buried in a warehouse somewhere and it'd be cracked.

[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I really love the Deluxe wheels...they are rare as hen's teeth in decent condition. I would be surprised if one even exists in perfect, unrestored, condition. In other words, I think you could open the box on a NOS one buried in a warehouse somewhere and it'd be cracked.

I think Ive already mentioned that..
passed on a few NOS ones many many years ago because they came out of the box cracked.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

I think Ive already mentioned that..
passed on a few NOS ones many many years ago because they came out of the box cracked.

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember another thread on Deluxe wheels and I do recall that.

[Gator67]

we decided to pull the motor. 70k, and other than the timing chain cover, it doesn't look to have been cracked open. Kind of feel bad about doing this, but it's time. Initially was just going to reseal to take care of leaks, but now will have it rebuilt to make it pump gas friendly. The car had enough timing pulled out of it so that it didn't ping, but was pretty lazy. It was remarkably stronger with timing in it, but the engine would't last without race gas. Haven't settled on what will go into the rebuild, but will maintain factory stock appearance...kind of on the fence between a relatively stock rebuild (dished pistons, 068 cam, refurbished rods & crank) and something with a bit more performance (stroker crank, mild H roller cam, forged rods, etc.). Either way, the car will be a joy to drive with the 200-4r...

[clyons]

Originally Posted by boater bill

I say restore the deluxe wheel. It really isn't that bad. Seriously. Mine was busted up in the hub and was missing pieces about the size of a quarter. Had over 50 cracks in the rim. Dremel tool to notch the cracks, kitty hair for strength, then body filler and spot putty. Mine has held up in my 95 plus heat for almost a year now and there is nothing like that wheel anywhere.

I want to try this kind of repair on my 68 Deluxe steering wheel. Where can I get the procedure for removing the wheel (so I don't ruin it in the process)?

[boater bill]

I used Jim Richardson's automotive restoration book. Basicaly create a V-notch at each and every crack. I then applied the kitty hair all around the spaces. Sanded it then went with Body filler, sanding and them glazing putty and sanding. Primer then sanding, then color coat.

I did the body work on my car and it was wierd having to go in the circular patterns of the wheel. It has been holding up pretty well for the year in notheing less than 80-90 degree heat. Winter is a week in the 50's, so I don't know how it will hold up in the cold.

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by clyons

I want to try this kind of repair on my 68 Deluxe steering wheel. Where can I get the procedure for removing the wheel (so I don't ruin it in the process)?

I haven't removed this particular wheel before, but I'm assuming it's similar to others: Pry the horn cap off, remove the nut and washer, use a puller to remove the wheel.

[Cammer-6]

Originally Posted by clyons

I want to try this kind of repair on my 68 Deluxe steering wheel. Where can I get the procedure for removing the wheel (so I don't ruin it in the process)?

just pull on the center cap,loosen the nut that holds wheel on by several turns,install steering wheel puller,pull until its up against the nut,unscrew nut,remove wheel

[Gator67]

We decided not to change out the rear gears. Instead, we're going with an overdrive transmission...specifically, an 200-4r that's been upgraded/strengthened. This will give the car the ability to cruise on the highway like it has better than 2.56 gears while at the same time increasing acceleration off the line. It will certainly take away from the car's originality, but it's an acceptable trade-off to us given how much we drive it. Also, except for the dip stick tube and TV cable, the change won't be very visible.

[keith k]

Hey Jeff,
Attached picture is of an original '68 Bird wood wheel (low mileage car from Rob Lozins' collection). The cap and collar do have a different finish.

I started looking into this when I got the PHS and realized that "custom sport wheel" was supposed to be a wood wheel... not deluxe. But ultimately, my gut just told me that wheel had been on the car its whole life... and I couldn't bring myself to take it off. Plus I feel sort of like Greg and Bill... just something about the deluxe I liked. And I'm also with Greg on the cracked hub thing - I've never seen an original that DIDN'T have a cracked hub. Not sure what was up with that...

Anyway, glad the car went to you. It seems to be in good hands

[Gator67]

I appreciate the photo, Keith. It helps. We'll certainly take good care of the old girl. By the way, I couldn't imagine having a more positive experience buying a car from a distance. Thanks!