Starting my 67 Tempest Custom Resto (warning lots of pics)
 

Ok, after a long wait the car has finally arrived. I shot a few pics and was starting to put a list together of what I'll be needing. If you all see things off hand that I do not catch, please post up and let me know... As I've stated in my intro, this is my first Pontiac and my first 60's car.

Code on heads is YN- 250hp (ugh):(

Not sure how many pics I can post at one time so I'll split it up.

More pics...

With the price of gas these days, that is not a bad thing. You can burn Regular and feel good about it. ;) 250hp is not a bad thing.... it'll keep you out of trouble too.

From what I can see, yer gonna need lotsa paint too. ;) Not bad Boostmaster but you've got a lot of work to keep you occupied. Most have gone thru the same as you so don't feel bad or all alone. And from the photos, it doesn't look too bad at all. Remember, it could be in a lot worse shape.

more pics still

but wait there's more!

There's some rust as you can see but, I'm pretty happy overall with the car. It feels relatively solid to me. Doors shut like the car is new... I know it'll be some work--- Mostly for the body shop.:D Because I do not have the skill or patience to do body work... I'll pull the engine and trans and fiddle with that as well as the interior. I'm thinking buckets, I've scored a console and a his and hers shifter as well as stock A/C bit's and pieces....

250 hp is ok but we're sort of spoiled with fast cars and this project is to be a gift to my wife for her graduation from grad school in the next three years so I have a little bit of time... I may do a hybrid swap and drop a built turbo Buick engine in there just for fun (500+hp might be just what this car needs)LOL

I plan on having the frame sandblasted, powdercoated and returned to me for all new lines, fuel tank, disc brakes and SS hardlines; then the body shop can have it back to attach to the re-done body....

It'll be a lot of work but it will be magnificent!:usa2:


BTW, I'll work on decoding everything when I have more time, however, if any of the Pontiac experts know from looking at the plate offhand please don't be shy.... Post up... All input is welcome and greatly appreciated. Additional ideas are also welcome...

reminds me alot of mine when I started. Enjoy the process, and keep us posted.

09D = Built 4th week of Sept. '66
23507 = '67 Tempest Custom Sport Coupe PONT = Built at Pontiac MI plant
215 = Gold bench interior S-S = Champagne upper and lower body color

You mentioned before it was a three on the tree which means three speed manual with column shifter. What I see here is an automatic with column shifter. Probably a ST-300 two speed?

518 means it was the 518th Tempest Custom Sport Coupe produced by the Pontiac plant that year if I'm not mistaken.

The 5Y would decipher as Deluxe Seat Belts too.

Tim john---

I was under the mistaken impression about the 3 speed. Looks like a two speed auto... I guess mpg was not a big deal back then... :rolleyes:

Also, I had started decoding the tag as well and I was under the impression it was built last week of Sept 67. But, I suppose 66 makes more sense.

When I got down to the last details is where I got lost. The "guide" I found was not very definitive and mostly focused on GTO...

If anyone has more info, advice, suggestions, etc. please post up.

Thanks to everyone thus far...

BTW, can anyone tell by looking at what I've posted so far, the sort of rear end that should be in here?

Just my :2cents:.

If you want.... when you redo the rear deck put in drains in the corners by the sail panels. Use copper line with rubber hose to the outside behind the rear wheelwells. This will get rid of the water that sits under the molding if the car happens to see rain. ;)

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not but you may be able to get history of your car from Pontiac Historical Services. Here's a link:
http://www.phs-online.com/

PHS stuff ordered yesterday! Thanks for the heads up..

I'm thinking that I will be changing the exterior and interior colors while trying to keep a "stock-ish" appearance... Not yet sure on the GTO Clone ideas... Not sure I want to spend a bunch of extra money to make it look like something it's not... I do like the GTO look though, so we'll see.

Right now it's working on making sure the car runs ok- then the engine will be pulled, dismantled, cleaned and probably rebuilt to be on the safe side.

I'm hoping to get her to the body shop as soon as I can gut the interior.

Wondering if anyone has good resources for windshield glass and custom leather upholstery... (Ideally in ky.)

For glass Auto City Classics is your best friend.

They sell new windshields for $99 plus shipping and they have all the other glass as well, all for $99 for each piece except vent windows which are $50 each. I replaced all my glass last week with their stuff and it looks and fit great. All 8 pieces of glass, delivered to my house, was $844. www.autocityclassic.com

For all the other stuff, Performance Years is your best bet. www.pysales.com

I second the Auto City Classics. And, if they are coming to a car show near you they will bring it and save you shipping. I don't know if they will be in Pigeon Forge next month or not. I plan on going.

Good info to know! Maybe I can head down there....

On another note, we gutted the car interior today. Not sure how to feel, found some bad repair work and a little more rust than we had anticipated along with evidence of a damaged steering column.

The bench seats are pretty much wasted- someone stuffed some socks in a tear and then duct taped over it! The rears were even worse. Rusted to almost nothing. It's gone to the trash. All the door panels were moldy and were trashed as well...

Still had the paper headliner sound deadener which had a pleasant aroma... So, that's gone too.

Also discovered some custom hack job in the tail light wiring and the worst patch job I've ever seen... Looks like there will be more bodywork than planned...

Oh well, Next plan is to try and mock up an a/c retrofit, make sure she runs ok and pull the engine and trans and get her to the shop... And start shopping for all the odds and ends...

Welcome to the Forum, Boostmaster! The rear end for your 67 YN Tempest would be the 2.56. The ones with A/C have the 2.93. Also the performance upgrade axle for the YN is the 2.93. So it possibly could have come with that. PHS will tell you. The gas mileage should be very good with this rear end and 2 bbl 326.

Jim

Sounds like you get a mysterious prize as you rip it apart. Nothing new on a restore job. You will be surprised what people have found in cars sitting for years.

Sweet project.

Good News; my PHS packet arrived today... Not sure if I'm very thrilled with spending $65 bucks for such limited info... Most of it was already a known quantity... Oh well... Live and learn. At least I can confirm that the engine is numbers matching so, I assume the rest will be as well (I'll double check of course)

I guess the big part now is to figure out how much body work needs to be done...
Any body experts here? I can post some ugly pics.:gag:

The PHS is a great value - it confirms and proves what you actually have. Chevy guys would pay a fortune for such knowledge. Even if the only thing it did was confirm your matching numbers that is worth more than $65 for that alone.

Looks like you do have some body work ahead of you. No matter how bad it looks it's always twice as bad after it's taken apart. Don't ask me how I know...

We've played around with a few cars but this one is the first 60's car we've tried.

We're still mulling over how to build. The only thing that is 100% certain is that lots of body work needs to be done and we're contemplating blasting or dipping the body to make sure all the rust issues are address properly the first time- (ie: the ONLY time)-- I won't do this twice.:D

Here's a few pics:

Where can I find a new steering wheel like this one? I've looked at the py and ames catalog. No perfect match.

Take a look at custom body work in the rear quarters.... Nice huh? (Gives new meaning to "custom")

Also, do you think the trunk can be saved?

After reviewing my PHS materials I wanted to post what is supposed to be there to see if maybe some of you guys might be able to post a pic of what I'm supposed to have or what these items are supposed to look like:

1. Radio push button and manual antenna- radio is there, antenna is broken- (what does this antenna look like?)
2. Air Cleaner Dual Stage Heavy Duty- all there
3. Custom Foam Cushion- front
4. Seat Belts- Custom front and rear. - They were silver with raised coach emblems on the buttons (they were trashed so I threw them out) Catalogs say a different model is supposed to be correct (anyone have info or any pics?)

5. Deluxe Wheel Discs (have no idea what they should look like)
6. Deluxe steering wheel (mine is cracked all over and the catalogs don't seem to have a replacement)- any ideas?
7. Power steering- all there from what I can see
8. Glass, Soft ray -windshield only (is this the green tint one?)- mine is missing
9. Tires 7:65 x14- white (I'm assuming white walls?)

Color is S S (Champagne Gold/ Gold Interior - I'm guessing the carpet too?)
Trim is - Z15 (not sure what this means)



All I've got so far. If anyone has ideas, pics, links etc. please post... I have spoken with the body shop and the rest of the gutting begins tomorrow!! I'll be taking lots of pics...

So, we managed to get a little bit of work done today... Really quite a pleasure- no rusted bolts, nothing stripped or damaged, no fighting, even with the exhaust...Everything is coming along smoothly.
Even the exhaust looks like it's stock and in decent condition...
Hopefully we can have the rest of the electrical, dash and trim out tomorrow...:usa2:

Please go and get your seat belts out of the trash. You will need them for cores if you want to run original looking seat belts. Send them to me if you don't want them.

There are people here that do steering wheel restorations. The tinted windshield is green at the top. Best price on it is at this site: http://www.autocityclassic.com/
Here is a scan of the deluxe wheel covers from the Restoration guide. Even though it is for GTO's, this guide would be a good thing to have as it helps with a lot of the little details like what gloss paint to use for different parts.

Andre: The seat belts are gone already. Only had the rears And they were really trashed. They seemed to be rusted solid and were stained with who knows what especially considering the mess we pulled out from under the rear seats. I hate throwing stuff away as I always worry that it's the one piece that I won't be able to find again... But these belts were nasty.

fyrffytr: As for the resto guide, I do have it along with every other book I could find. As par for the course, it is my experience that the service manuals are only helpful once in a while ad that they are usually useless with "real world" instructions. For example, we removed the lower rocker trim yesterday. We knew it had clips but didn't want to push or pull to hard and bend the delicate trim. After reviewing all the books for a preferred procedure I ended up using a 2x4 lengthwise and tapping it gently to pop the trim off. Worked perfectly!

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on the wheel covers.

As for the steering wheel, we were looking at tackling the resto ourselves but it may beyond my limited abilities- especially if we want it to look correct. I went to ebay and found some selling as high as $650! :eek: What should a decent resto run? If I'm looking at that much, I may as well give it a shot myself....

BTW, any ideas on the Z15 trim code?

More work completed yesterday. Pulled the dash, the doors and some wiring. Still need to finish the wiring removal and the rest of the trim and schedule a trim to the sandblaster... Should be ready to go in another week or two....

Now just need to start sourcing the bits and pieces necessary to put the car back together.

Anyone have opinions on suspension? (besides a $7k air ride set up:D) I'm wanting to go stock or as close as possible but if there are some improvements I can can make that still appear stock I would consider them...

PST sells a polyurethane bushing kit that will tighten up the ride. I used KYB Gas-adjust shocks and painted them grey to resemble stock ones. If you decide to replace the tie rod ends make sure you get the correct inners with the zerk fitting in the end of the tie rod. If not you will have problems greasing that joint.
Someone on here said they were going to use a 90 degree fitting in the back of the tie rod. I don't know if they have tried it yet. Maybe it will work but, I don't think there is very much space for it to clear the frame and other suspension parts.
Hopefully the other PYer will chime in and let us know.

I plan on redoing all the bushings as everything is pretty well worn. However, after looking at the prices, we were wondering if it would be feasable to upgrade a bit.

My other concern is that if i want to stay 100% stock, then keeping a crappy suspension might be required. So, my though was to see if I could add or upgrade a few items to keep is appearing stock while adding a little bit better handling.

For Example: I have been told by the restoration shop that they own some older cars and that they still maintain the 4 wheel drums and the cars stop fine... Not sure how but, that's I'm working with... I don't even have a brake booster... (Bear in mind this is my first 60's car so my points of reference are newer cars with modern tech)...

More progress
 

Finally finished the rest of the trim. What a PITA!! And pulled the door guts off... Yippee. I think that's as far as I'm going to go with the tear down. I'll let the body shop have something to do as well. They should get the car this week and start the sandblasting. I will have them give me back the frame so we can assemble it while they do the body work on the rotisserie. I'll be doing a tear down of the engine today and will start looking for a decent "Pontiac" engine builder that can get the block prepped and ready to go.

Anyone have a recommendation for a builder? Ideally one that is close...

Here's a few pics....

Also discovered that this car still has the original exhaust, no holes! I may have to keep it too. :)

And found that there are some old replacement Sears shocks in the rear with air lines...

Could this be the Superlift option? My resto book says RPO code for this year is 634. I don't see it... Any thoughts?

Update!
 

Body is on rotisserie. All the body bolts came off easily! Yippee...
Now comes the expensive part (or at least one of the expensive parts- LOL)

I cannot do body work nor do I have the facilities to even attempt it so it's gone to the experts... I will be doing as much as I possibly can in order to keep my costs in check so hopefully this won't turn into too much of a money pit.

Here's the latest:

Those look like aftermarket air shocks. I upgraded from front drums to discs without any modifications and kept the old drums in case the next owner wants to go back. My car had power brakes so it came with a booster.
I am pretty sure you can get a kit to add power front discs and it will have everything you need.

Resto shop thinks the shocks were used to bolster the worn springs...

My initial plan was to do 100% original. Been kicking around the idea of upgraded suspension and brakes... Pros and cons?

Pros: readily available parts, nicer ride. Cons: won't be original (which it won't be anyway)....have it your way! Enjoy,Eric:usa2:

I got to thinking about it more when I was removing the old original bushings from the control arms... Those ball joints seem to be riveted in...

I was thinking how much easier it would be to buy them all done... :)

Update: I've been busy with other projects for a while so I figured I should have some update on this one.

This week the car should have been blasted. I go to the body shop tomorrow. I also will be dropping off the rest of the suspension & brake parts to be cleaned up and painted... Hopefully I'll have the frame back shortly - blasted and painted for my suspension and hardlines and then it will be ready to go. :cool:

If I have good news tomorrow, I'll post some more pics.

manual drums all around
 

I have a 66 GTO with manual drum brakes all around. Quite a bit more pedal effort is required than with power brakes, but for normal driving around town, they work just fine. They even work pretty well coming down from high speed in an emergency, but they get hot and fade quicker than disc brakes. They will not stop you as quickly and repeatedly as the brakes in any modern car, though, no doubt about it.

My car also has manual steering, so the driving experience is totally different from any modern car. If you want this car to be original, and to feel different from a modern car, I say keep the 4-wheel manual drums.

If you are not really interested in keeping it original, and want better performance, go for one of the upgrade options previously mentioned in this thread.

I do not think you ever mentioned where you found the car? Looks like it had been sitting somewhere for a while.

Good luck with the project!

No matter how you go for brakes, use a dual master cyclinder.

If you keep your manual brakes the one thing to do is change to a dual master cyclinder for them. If you break a rear line, you'll still have the use of the front brakes. No not original but so much safer. You can ask me how I know, but you already know the answer. LOL

Sorry for my slow response time... Been playing with my other projects and waiting for the body shop... They were supposed to blast last week but some 69 GTO convertible was hogging the attention...

Anyway, to answer the questions:

PSW: the car was from GA. It spent it's whole life there and was last registered in 82 IIRC. The guy I bought it from had it for a year in his shop to restore but had too many projects so he sold it to me...

GT182: The car has a dual master cylinder and Power steering and we're sending the drums to be checked and turned if they're good. They are original all the way around and the rears look better than the fronts but we'll see what the shop says... I looked at the replacement drums and they're about as pricey as upgrading to discs! So I guess we'll see.

Hopefully I'll have more pics and updates in the next few days.:D


BTW, anyone here have a rear bench seat bottom spring assembly they'd like to sell? (I already posted in the wanted section also) I only need the springs (no material) but they have to be in good condition (ie: not too rusted) . I'm going to blast and paint them too before affixing the upholstery.

BLASTING HAS BEGUN!!!
 

So, I stopped by the shop today... Blasting has begun and everything is looking good! Here's a few pics.

Body looks pretty darn solid. You is one lucky fella. :)

This is the first I saw this thread. Nice project and good luck. That car would be sharp in the gold color. Not too common aorund these parts.

I agree with psw about 4 wheel drums being adequate (if you plan to drive easy). I have a '67 GTO here that I am doing some work on for a guy, and I was surprised how well it stops for 4 wheel drums. It doesn't really handle all that well, but it has bias ply 14" redlines on it too.

If you wanna really enjoy it, then at least power disc/drum would be needed.

On my '66, I did front single piston discs, rebuilt the rear drums, and added power. I also did Global West del-a-lum bushings, lowering springs, and rear lower control arms. Also 15" wheels and decent radial tires. What a difference in the 'fun to drive' factor.

The difference between these two cars is amazing. My '66 can be driven on twisty roads much faster that it should be driven, yet still has an original look to it. The '67 is original/unrestored and drives like it.

6 Grrrs: We're sending out the drums to be checked... I wanted to go with discs but the boss would like to keep it stock. We'll see... Originality and price are driving factors... Brakes and seatbelts WILL be priority over price... However, the driving we do is more like putting about since we hate to damage our toys... We have a few "fast" cars and when we drive them - which is rare, it's only on nice days and usually never over the posted speed limit- usually slower... :)

GT 182: Body is pretty solid but the quarters will need some work... Someone had been in there previously "fixing" stuff so it needs to be unfixed.

The blasting has revealed that what seemed like pretty solid floors are a little less than solid - more like cheese of the Swiss variety so, I'm going to replace the entire floor from the firewall to the tail. This will be like brand new when we're finished!

I think from now on all my projects will get blasted. That stuff really is amazing. I'm willing to bet that there's a ton of ugly body work hidden under paint driving around these days... I'm glad we're going this route. I think it will make all the difference in the finished product...

BTW, all of my trim has been pulled. I have been able to clean up some of it but I am not sure what is supposed to have the brushed vs. polished look...

Additionally, the drip rail trim that I have refuses to polish using my primitive techniques. It also has some scratches. Does anyone have a way to bring these back to life. I'm trying to use every stock piece I can. (for originality and for wallet retention purposes):D

Any ideas?

The drip rail mouldings are anodized. You need to remove the anodizing before they can be polished. There are a few ways, but I found good old elbow grease yeilds the best results. Start with about 400 or 600 grit paper and work up to about 2000 grit paper, then use a liquid or paste polish. Unfortunately they will need to be re anodized again or you will have to keep up on them as the bare aluminum needs to be protected.

I did my beltline moldings this way and I usually need to polish them twice or three times a season.

Cool info!

How about the other trim? Is there a comprehensive list of what is what? I have the resto books but I cannot seem to find something that is all in one place and easy to reference.

I am going to try and tackle all of the trim and misc little things with elbow grease to save some dough... All the body work, however, goes to my bodyshop... I know my limitations.:o

A little hint for refinishing any trim... Try to re mount it on the body and do all the sanding/polishing so it doesn't get bent/damaged. My beltline moldings were on a set of junk doors. I removed all the door hardware (vent windows/glass/fuzzies) and re attached the moldings to the junk door. Aluminum trim is pretty delicate, so you gotta do what you can to protect it.

It is fairly easy to tell what is what on the trim. Either aluminum, pot metal, or stainless. Aluminum has a whiteish appearance. Stainless will still look pretty good, and pot metal is usually pitted.