1966 2+2 Return To Glory
 

Got my PHS docs yesterday. Car was built in Southgate CA. So it looks like this car may have been in CA its whole life.

Has the YH 421 engine which appears to be standard for 2+2 automatics.

Order form does not identify what rear axle it had. Have to do some more research. Thought all 2+2s had SafeTTrack.

Can't wait to get it home and get started on it so we can DRIVE!!!!!!!!

On a 65 it's box 70. If it is blank it's a peg leg and most likely a 3.23 with an automatic.


ETA did you figure how to get it home?


ETA2 air and auto may be a 3.08

On a 66 it is box 73 and its blank.

Still working on transpo. Got a couple of quotes but pick up date not workable with the seller. I am moving it to a storage unit on 2/7 while I work out pick up. Thing is I will have to go to LA again when they pick it up.

I get it running good I will take you up on your offer for the AC.

Let me know when you want to come up.

Pictures!

We have lift off
 

:jumping:Went and picked up the 2+2 over the weekend. Have a peek.:jumping:

Damn sweet! Congratulations!

Picture of My Ex:

Beautiful car.

And that's a BIG trailer. You could land an aircraft on that......

Ian:ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

SCORE!!!
 

Going through the two tubs of stuff I got with the 2+2 last night and found this. Tag goes back to 1989. Going to try and figure out what was on the left side tag.

That is going to be a gorgeous car. Love the color combo since it is the same as on my '69 Bonneville convertible.
Are in KC or out in California?
My friend Doug in Richmond has a red '66 2+2 coupe. Absolutely gorgeous. It's the one car I'd gladly trade for.
Steve Phillips in Tulsa OK may be able to provide any parts you find that you are needing. Keep us posted with many more pictures.

That would've been the month sticker.

Here is the story. I live in Kansas City. Liberty, MO actually. I am currently working on a project in Phoenix. I found the car out in LA.

I am considering going to parchment interior to give it more contrast. I may leave the panels and carpet blue and just do the seats.

If it wasnt such a rare car I would consider an exterior color change. I think it would look killer in dark spiral gray with parchment interior.

Why change it????
 

As these cars get older the available pool of future buyers is inevitably shrinking. Thus I would have to comment that maintaining and enhancing its originality is going to eventually have a lot more appeal to a buyer than a modified car.

If your car is still factory original then why change it? All you are doing is starting a downward spiral of devaluing the car. Sure, if it's already modified and you like that then by all means keep on personalizing it to the way you like it. But we only have to look at the high value auction cars to see that the unmolested originals are the ones that return the highest dollar.

We all say "I'll never sell that car" but without question, one day IT WILL BE SOLD and an original car is always going to be easier to sell than a modified version

Just my opinion anyway:2cents:

Ian:ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

You are going to get those wheels off of there right?

I agree with you on the value issue Heybuck. That is why I would not change the exterior color.

I have a complete new interior kit that came with the car in the original color. If I did do go to parchment I would get another set of seat frames for the parchment. That way I just do a quick swap and presto, I am back to original interior.

What you want them PMD? I eventually will change them. Low on my priority list at the moment. I was thinking about putting some polished 17x8 Year One Rally IIs on it.

Here is the story. I live in Kansas City. Liberty, MO actually. I am currently working on a project in Phoenix. I found the car out in LA.

I am considering going to parchment interior to give it more contrast. I may leave the panels and carpet blue and just do the seats.

If it wasnt such a rare car I would consider an exterior color change. I think it would look killer in dark spiral gray with parchment interior

Get out of here. I grew up in Liberty. Go Blue Jays! PM me for more info.

My '69 Bonneville has parchment interior and I suspect your car may originally have as well. It looks better than white IMO.

It's your car so do with it what you want but my .02 cents is to keep the original color. It is a rare piece. Brad

Get out. I grew up (a long time ago) in Liberty, MO. Go Blue Jays!!
PM me for more info. Brad

Very nice ride!!! Congrats

I have a very nice set of original 14" steel wheels that fit this car if you have a need for them. Very reasonable.

Beautiful black with parchment interior '66 2+2 convertible for sale on E-bay now from a classic car dealer in St Louis. Lots of options: power windoes, powere drivers bucket seat, hard back bucket seats, 421, tri-power (not sure if that was an option), automatic, convertible, 8 lug wheels, red line tires.

I personnaly do not care for the fender skirts on the Catalina/Ventura/ GP's

Way to much money for me but a good source of pictures.

I live in So CAL and have a decent set of four 8 lugs and wheels mounted on white wall tires that would look great on your new 2+2. If interested, give me a call
Duncan
951-316-9927
BTW your car looks very nice...have fun with it.

I would be interested in the sizing of those wheels....B.S., tire size, etc....

Oh, sweet car!!

8 lugs
 

the 8 lugs are OEM hubs and rims. They are 14" size and the backspacing is very close to 4".
The tires are Cooper Dominator touring MRII size P215/70R14.
If you send me your e-mail I can send you additional pics and info. showing the condition and thicknesses of the steel liners.
my e-mail is [email protected]

Bath and some LUUUV
 

Attached are some pics after a bath and some LUV. Got to get it used to what it should expect and get the karma right with it.

8 lugs
 

I was looking to convert to discs to make it more drivable. I have to admit I think 8 lugs would look sharp on it. What is required to convert from 5 lug to 8 lugs on the existing drums?

Checking out the underside
 

Underside of the 2+2 looks pretty good. Would like to do something with the exhaust. Looks small to me. Will have issues getting larger pipes past the starter though. Floors are excellent. Need to replace upper ball joints as the grease caps are busted up. Shocks don't look that old based on the new bolts attaching them. Looks like my biggest issue at the moment is figuring out where she's bleeding. Power steering was practically empty. So I hope that is it. If not, its either the pan gasket,rear main or possibly the pan gasket of the tranny.

If you go with disc brakes, the 8 lugs I have won't work. There was a company making disc brake compatible 8 lugs...think it was called Arrowhead Industries.

Switching to 8 lugs from the 5 lug wheel is not too bad actually. The front finned 8 lug hub goes on via the front spindle nut. The finned hub is actually the brake drum.
The rear 8 lug drums bolt on using a std 5 lug pattern and again are the brake drums.
The spindle nut up front and the inside 5 lug bolts on the rear are hidden under the center caps.
The tires are mounted with an 8 lug ring wheel (similar to the old Model As) and lug bolt off & on.

The 8 lugs throw off heat much better than the steel wheels. My 2+2 convertible stops quite well with minimal fade. I had a 66 GTO years ago with steel wheels and the fade was lousy...almost no braking at the outer ends of stopping.

If you plan to drive the car a lot of miles you are probably better off with the disc compatible ones now on the market. Mine are OEM and the steel linings are OK and for typical local car show driving would be fine but won't necessarily last very long under high mileage use. There is a company that does re-lining but not sure of the costs...could be pretty pricey. The rear linings take most of the wear and the rear drums I have are down to about 1/16 inch. The fronts are still much thicker as would be expected.
I hope this helps. If you are still in PHX you are more than welcome to come over to take a look at them.

Checking out the underside
 

More pics:

Checking out the underside
 

More pics, last set:

leak
 

You probably know this but Pontiac used rope seals on the 66 engines, including the 421's.
They are a real pain in the butt to install properly and still often leak especially on engines that are only driven occasionally.
There is a preformed Cadillac seal that can be used but a long time friend and Pontiac engine rebuilder told me they often leak as well.
I also hope its the pan gasket as the rear main seal replacement is a biggie. Supposedly some of the old school Pontiac techs could do it with the engine in the car but I can't imagine even trying it. I did mine during the engine rebuild with the 421 on an engine stand.
Good luck.

Nice find. Like the color and a set of 8 lugs would set it off. If your rear main is leaking use the viton seal from BOP Engineering. I replaced the seal in my TA three times with rope with little success, then went to BOP's seal. No more leak. Barry

You might want to consider going with the Long Branch exhaust manifolds and exhaust for the car. It doesn't appear that the car has them installed. There is an aftermarket starter you can install that is smaller to allow better access once the long branch is installed. See the 67-76 Full size forum for more details from David Brown.

Another Find
 

Did some digging in the car tonight. Found 4 of the rocker trim pieces under the back seat. Just need the 4 short pieces that go on either side of the doors and the left rear wheel well trim and I think I will have all exterior trim.

The Great Power Chase
 

Looks like I have lots of electrical tracing to do. None of my interior lighting or equipment work. Fan doesnt blow, AC compressor does not engage, top motor does not engage, radio does not come on. Will have to get the wiring diagram and start testing for power everywhere starting at the fuse block. The only lights I have are the dash. Brights indicator does not light though. Top headlights work and change to bright, but lowers do not illuminate at all.

Top should be on a breaker in engine compartment off the hot buss.

AC requires both the heater fuse ( to power the master relay) and the AC fuse in the harness by the alt. to work.

I'll have to think about the headlights. :)

Great find! Top headlamps are lowbeams, but go bright when Hi beams are selected. The bottom lights are Hi beam only. As for your license plates, the "T" prefix plate you have is a 1966 vintage plate. It would have been on your car in '66. Starting in the mid-late 1970's, California required a month sticker on the license plate. Prior to that, the sticker was swapped side to side every year. The car owner was instructed to scrape off all of the previous year stickers on the L/H side of the rear plate, and install a month sticker. Been that way ever since. I like the idea of parchement seat covers and maybe door panels, but keeping everything else blue. It would really look sharp. Love those big boats!

Very nice looking 2+2. You need to register it at www.Pontiac2plus2Registry.com.
Welcomer to "The Darkside"!

IMO all Big Pontiac's of that era are enhanced by the look of 8-lugs. Installation is no more complicated that swapping out your wheels - unbolt old ones, bolt on 8-lugs. As for braking, the 8-lug hubs are very fade-resistant. I have driven my '65 over 22,000 miles, including many 1/4-mile passes at the drag strip @ over 100mph, and my (manual) brakes worked fine with the 8-lug drums. I don't feel the need for disc brakes.

X2 If you use asbestos shoes you will have no problem. If you use shoes with any level of metallic in them, that is where the problem is. And, with 8 lugs, you do not want the metallic either for wear. I run the hell out of mine, and while it may not stop the way my '01 2500 HD does, it works.

Also second the Viton seal from BOP. Like it better than Graphtite. BUT, you must follow instructions exactly. I used a small file to get it perfectly flush.

I registered it the day I brought home. Still need to load a couple of pics. Mine is not as nice as the one pictured on the site.

Janitor at work
 

Did a little work today. Worked on the taillights and blinkers. Left side wasn't working. Cleaned up the sockets, got the springs broke loose, and redid the ground. Work great now.

Also did a first pass of cleaning on the dash and console. Going to take some work to get it smoothed out.
Before pics:

Janitor at work
 

After pics of dash cleaning.

Out for a jaunt!
 

:)Took the 2+2 out for a little drive today to see how she runs. Took it out on the 101 and the 303. Little tiger kept wanting to cruise at 80 mph. Rode real nice.:)

Went shopping today
 

Went shopping today for some goodies. Found me a couple of good tail lights, back seat chrome trim, and a nice horn bar and button cap. On little setback though, one of the lenses ended up being broken. Will have to see how well they clean up.

Also found a good looking radio and AC control along with a good looking set of gauges (gas,battery, and clock). Going to go back to get them in a couple of weeks

Seat Removal
 

Took all the seats out over the weekend and started taking them apart. Floor is in really good shape. Just needs some clean up and maybe some POR to take care of it.

Going to replace hoses and motor while I have everything out back there. Already changing out the rams. I got them to break free but the rods are not super smooth. The system had brake fluid and the connections have been open for over a year that I know of. The hoses look good, but they are 50 yrs old. No need to risk a line breaking. So changing the whole system for piece of mind.

By the looks of the carpet in the rear driver's side, the line or something dumped all the brake fluid or oil back there. I doesn't have an oil odor though.

Going to need a new plug for the passenger rear window switch. I haven't seen this item offered at AMES or OPGI. So I guess it is back to the reclaim yard.

You can get the 1/4 window harness from American auto wire or m&h. You might find a pigtail for the switch at in auto parts store in the help section

That is a fine looking car you got there Red.

Thanks - Once I get my seats done and the top working it will be a good driver.

When I say a new plug, I am talking about the part that has three holes in it for the pins. What is M&H? I see American offers a power window harness for the rear windows for $114.