Project GTO take 2
 

After lots of planning, I started to rip the gto apart today. Here are some pictures, I will be documenting the whole thing.

I restored it between 2004-07 but did not do many things together as I was between the ages of 14-17 and had little know how or money. Now that I am able to do it right, I want to return her to full glory.


What I started with this morning was a fully functional car that I would daily drive over the summer.
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That's it for today. I was doing most of the work solo till my buddy dropped by to help and my back is sore.

Great start!
Looks like a very solid car!!!

Last time I replaced the quarters and patched the floors and trunk pan. They really needed replacing, which is what I am doing this time. I am just about finished building a rotisserie so I can do a full floor pan from firewall to tail panel. Luckily the body work won't need too much this time, but I will be replacing the hood and drivers door.

Today as it was too cold, I made a run to the parts place and picked up the 1 piece floor pan, 1 piece trunk pan, core support, and a drivers door. I'm excited to get started on the floors once I get the rotisserie ready and the body mounted on it.

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Ya got your work cut out! Looks like a great project!

Looks can be deceiving for certain. Last time I did the car, I made it so it was safe and looked decent. There is lots of work under the surface. Today I took apart the rear end, dropped the bumper and gas tank, unbolted the body mounts and lifted it up and started cutting the trunk out.


For lifting the shell, I used the mounting bolts for the conv top assembly. They are fairly solid and built right into the structure of the body. They did quite well for lifting it up to start cutting. Note the use of engine hoist and engine leveler.

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Tomorrow I hope to finish cutting the trunk pan out and maybe start fitting the new one. That all depends on how fast I get all the old braces cut out and can clean all traces of rust off and get a coat of weld thru primer on. I would love to get this thing running by mid to end of June :usa2:

Just a little update as school and work have been keeping me busy. Can't wait till the semester is over in 2 weeks. Got the trunk mostly welded in, need wheel well patch panels to weld in to finish welding those areas.

I started cutting the floor Monday, and finished yesterday. I could not believe how crumbly the structure was as the air chisel started hitting the spot welds. Took me about 8 hours total to get the floor out, including making the front to back bracing to support the firewall. So far, the body hasn't twisted at all, both doors open and close just as well as they did before, even when lifted up with the hoist. The bracing is very simple, but very effective.

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Oh, the rocker panels are unbelievably solid (thankfully) given the amount of crud that was in them. There was a mountain of dirt, rust chunks, and insulation (guessing mice moved it there?) stuck in them to hold water. All I plan on doing to them is cleaning them off on the inside then coating the whole inner rocker cavity using a frame inner coat kit once I have the floor welded in.

Cool project, will be awesome when it's done!

Looks great, keep up the good work!

Thanks. It is going to be a lot of work, but this time around I feel like it is going much better just because I have done this before. Some more pictures coming from the work I did today.

Rear body bolts were in to keep it square and mounted, but still lots of room to pull the body up.

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The floor prepped for install
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Worked the back part in first as it has the part that curves up. This was a hard part moving the pan around by myself as I'm by no means a big or strong person.
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Setting the body down onto the pan. I bolted the pan down with all 4 mounts to square it up, but still loose to slide around. The body slid down onto the pan like a glove when letting it down. The rockers and braces all lined up perfectly.
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And how it sits after today. I have not started to weld the pan in yet, but that won't be too bad. Just lots of drilling and spot welding.

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I now need to order the firewall extension floor pieces to repair the remaining floor issues and then install wheel well patch panels too. Then I finally get to pull the body to detail the frame and clean the body up well. :)

Looks good. :)

You went full head on with this. Its looking good. Keep up the good work !

Man, for a backyard project that is amazing work!

Thank you. No better place to do this in my opinion.

Thanks everyone. I know there may be some professional builders appalled at how I'm lifting the body around, but the very simple bracing I put in it hasn't let the body twist at all during this. When sitting down, the doors still open and close perfectly meaning to me that the body hasn't moved one bit.

I wanted to do the floors right and clear out as much rust as I could as I'm only 23 and need it to last me the rest of my life ;)

Are you using the Eastwood frame inner coat kit? I've used it myself on a GP crossmember that I'm using on my Lemans convt; seemed to work fairly well.

Nice work on the car, by the way. Keep the pics and details coming.

Scott

That's what I was planning on using as it seems to have good reviews and should protect the inside of a rocker as well as a frame rail.

I have one more week till school gets out then I can really get to work.

I guess you are a little older and must have more money now. You are doing some very nice work

Thank you.

Got the body off and on the rotisserie today. Finally so I can finish the floors and wheel houses then detail/paint the bottom.

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Spent my whole weekend off getting to this point so now I am just relaxing the rest of the day away.

Lookin' great!

I think you are doing it exactly right. Learning from the minor restoration years ago and hanging out here for a while before tackling the big job has obviously given you a good knowledge base to work from. Access to a good tool collection really helps too. And you obviously got skills!

I've been playing around with Pontiacs for 30+ years now and never pulled a body off the frame, but then working on southern cars is a benefit since there is generally much less rust under there to deal with.

Keep the pics coming!

How are you keeping track of bolts nuts and washers? Are baggin and tagging? Just wondering cause I took my 68 apart and its going to the body shop. Its a pita keeping track of everything.

Thanks. Reading lots of threads here is helping me for sure as just seeing the pictures others post is a great help.


Keeping track of the bolts is a pain, but I am just bagging and labeling them. There were many bolts that weren't correct from the first time I had it apart so jow is my chance to correct that as well.

I figure you have already done this, but taking lots and lots of photos as you disassemble is also a good idea. Not only is it fun to post some of them here, it really helps to have pictures as a reference when putting things back together.

Absolutely. I have lots more pictures of the disassembly as I would likely not remember how some items go back together.

Keep up the good work. :)

Realized I have not done an update for quite some time. A good amount of work has been done, but for about a month it sat as I had other things to do.

The floor is pretty much all done along with some additional patching of the lower body parts. I still need to grind down some welds, strip some rust then prime/body caulk/ paint the bottom. I have spent the past 2 weeks getting started on the frame. Got it fully stripped of parts and started running the wire wheel over the por15 (his stuff sucks to remove). I was doing it in small areas over a 3 day period to get most of the frame stripped and primed in epoxy primer. I need to now flip the frame over, check for any repairs needed there, then strip and prime that too.

First day of stripping/priming
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Yesterday's progress
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Finished up this today. Need to get my friends over for help flipping it. Will bribe them with free beer.

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Once the bottom is primed, I will use the eastwoods internal frame coating kits I have to paint the inside of the frame, then paint the outside with gloss black. I will be ordering some upgraded suspension pieces (I think) tonight for putting the frame back together. I want to get Upper A arms with taller BJ's to help geometry as well as get new rear lower control arms to put in a sway bar. Also going to research shocks for this thing, but will likely get Bilsteins.

I will try to be more active in the updates and see what pictures I can get of the floor replacement progress,

You are making nice progress. I assume you will be repainting the car? What color
will you be painting it, and what was the original color from the factory?

It will be going all original on the color scheme (unless I change the seats to newer ones). The original color combo was Matador Red, parchment interior, and white top. My main intentions are to do it as well as I can so I can still drive it everywhere and not feel worried. It gets to sit in parking lots, parked on the street and all that.

I have a question while I am doing the frame. The bracket in the picture below, I have no idea what it does. It had nothing to it and I can't tell what purpose it serves. Please let me know for when I put the frame back together. Thanks.

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auto trans lockout mechanism pivot bracket?

Yes, steering column interlock linkage pivot. Stick cars use it as well.

Most were removed because headers wouldn't fit around the linkage.

Ahh. I was going to say the car is original 4 speed so that would make no sense but the steering lock out parts were all gone when I got it. Looks like this is one part that will be getting stored vs going back on the frame. Thanks for the answers. :)

Worked on it from 8-5 today as I had the day "off". Got the road facing side stripped, primed, and top coated with the urethane semi gloss black I picked for it. Was a long, tough day in the 90* heat, but end results are looking good. This side still needs another coat of black, but I was beat. Will scuff the paint and shoot more paint next week along with flipping it and painting the other side. Friday I plan on doing the internal coating paint too.


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Time to crack a beer or two and eat some dinner.

First you paint the top then you flip it over and paint the bottom, drips should run upward.

Been working on the body the past week or so now that the frame is good except getting assembled. As of today, I have the passenger compartment on the first coat of primer. need to lay down seam sealer along all the new floor pan seams then shoot another coat of primer. That all may wait until the body is back on the frame to make it easier to get in and out of. My net plans are to spin the body on the rotisserie and clean, prime and paint the bottom of the car to make it ready to go back on the frame.


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I also have more suspension parts coming from UMI. Looking at the initial pieces I got from them, I couldn't resist giving them more business.

I have some UMI stuff on my chevelle, good stuff indeed. Looking good, you are making some progress there.

Cleaning the bottom of the body is not as much fun as the stuff you are doing now!

For me, cleaning the body will not be as bad as most since I have all new floors from trunk to firewall. There is some old tar undercoat in front to clean but the most part will be ok. Now I'll just be able to test my home built rotisserie even more.

Wish I had half your talent. very nice restore.

Can't believe I've never noticed this thread. Fantastic job!

You can come over and help me replace the floor in my GT-37. Nice work!:cool:

Thanks all.

2002Z4, just grab a welder and see what happens!

Lots of stuff done today!

Started with a good makeover of the drivers front corner area that was in terrible shape I found after I first started cutting into it.

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Don't have a done picture, but this was close.
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Finally went to use some of the rotisserie action but found out my garage needs a higher ceiling to go full sideways, but the rig held up perfectly.

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Finished up by sanding the priming the bottom of the car. Need to seal the seams then shoot more primer and paint. By then I will have gotten all my suspension parts and have the frame ready to take the body back.

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I'm pretty excited at how nice this is going so far. Keeps me motivated.

No real way to get a good picture using just my phone with no lighting under the car, but I got the underside painted today from trunk to firewall.

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Once I get the real axle and lower front control arms painted and get the rest of my suspension parts, the frame will go back together and I'll be able to reintroduce the body to the frame.

Some pics of today's progress. Got all remaining suspension parts cleaned primed and painted. Still waiting on the 4 springs so I can finish the frame and put the body back on. Its sitting waiting for the frame. Been months in the making.

Hung them all up for painting.
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I also discovered the cause of a weird noise I never could find. The car would make some type of clunk when turning the wheel and jabbing the brakes (like pulling in a driveway or parking spot). Turns out, the round bushing in the passenger control arm was pretty much loose. I could pull it out by hand and push it back in. I'm pretty sure this makes the LCA junk, but for the time being I tack welded the bushing to the arm all over to lock it in. I have plans for new arms in the future, but they are not a necessity right now and easy to swap out later. I just hope that resolved that noise.

Major milestone day
 

Got the body back on the frame today. Not a bad day of progress from about 9 to 5 putting the front suspension on, the fuel/brake lines and then the body. Nice having it in one piece again.


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I can tell already how the new arms in front help the suspension geometry as the tires don't tuck in as much as before it seems a full droop. The back suspension also looks real nice too from the back with the aluminum shocks as an accent to the black parts.


Next steps will be to finish the trunk priming and sealing work, paint the floors front to back, then start the mechanical work.

Making some good progress there, nice work!

Great progress!

You do really nice work!! Very good post. Did you remove the body by your self, or did you have anyone helping?
Thanks

Thanks! :)

For the body removal and installation it was my engine hoist (doing the heavy lifting), my friend and myself. Last time I had the body off, my dad had some friends come over, think about 8 men total just lifted it off. What I did this time was lift the back off the frame, mount the rotisserie, then lift the front off and wheeled the frame out from under the body. After then I brought the other half of the rotisserie in to mount and put it together.

Made some progress, and some damages today. I pulled the quarter windows (finally) and doors off to prepare for stripping the body. The damages revolve around me breaking the windshield while removing the top stainless trim piece, but the window had 2 rock chips already and needed replacing after 44 years of use.

I think my next project will be getting the trunk interior in primer, then start on the body. I'm glad that my metal work is only down to fixing 1 spot on the left quarter and fixing the dreaded windshield channel.

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