[andrewb70]

Originally Posted by Silver Judge

.....

So is the project that Andrew B did on his very nice '70 GTO

You guys are way better mechanics and trouble-shooters than I am, that's for sure.
......

Thank you for the compliment!

Andrew

[Silver Judge]

Originally Posted by andrewb70

Thank you for the compliment!

Andrew

For all of your hard work, it's a compliment that's well-deserved and your car is one tasty ride and B-Man's will be as well !

I'd love to drag race against you guys...I'm warning you though...I'm undefeated against big block chevies, 2-0

[andrewb70]

Originally Posted by Silver Judge

For all of your hard work, it's a compliment that's well-deserved and your car is one tasty ride and B-Man's will be as well !

I'd love to drag race against you guys...I'm warning you though...I'm undefeated against big block chevies, 2-0

Thanks again Sir.

As for racing, I am up for it. I think it would be very close. B-man might get you if he gets his suspension dialed in. I bet his car will be only about 3300 pounds, compared to my 3700.

Andrew

[b-man]

Originally Posted by andrewb70

Thanks again Sir.

As for racing, I am up for it. I think it would be very close. B-man might get you if he gets his suspension dialed in. I bet his car will be only about 3300 pounds, compared to my 3700.

Andrew

Andrew,

I'm hoping my car weighs in at 3600 when I'm done, and I'm not willing to bet it will be that light. It weighed in at 3780 with 3/4s of a tank of fuel and a big ice cooler in the trunk at my local drag strip before I started this reincarnation.

That included an all-iron 455 with Tri-Power and Ram Air exhaust manifolds, the intake and carbs alone weigh close to 80 #. This powerplant had to be close to 675 to 700# alone, so I figure I'm saving about 250 # with the new LS3.

But my new 4L70E will weigh more than the old TH400. The new 9.5" YANK converter will be lighter than the 13" Continental I had though so it's close to a wash there with my bet still being the OD trans package will add weight.

My old 17X8" wheels were 37# each bare, my new alloy 18X9" wheels are 20.8# each. So with all 5 wheels accounted for I'm dropping 81#, but I'm easily adding just about all that back if not more with the monsterous Z06 rotors and calipers all around. So that's a wash.

I'll be saving some weight up front with the aluminum ATS spindles & steering arms and tubular SPC lower A-arms and adjustable uppers, but no more than 20# in my estimation.

The new rear suspension parts will drop a few pounds and I'm going to a smaller rear sway bar (1" vs 1-3/8"), but the heavier 8.5" rear replacing the 8.2" one should even out the score there some.

The addition of the new Classic Auto Air 'Perfect Fit' system that I finally ordered a few days ago will easily add another 70+ pounds, I'm guessing some new Second Skin floor insulation will add 20 to 40 more compared to the old original stuff.

But I'll be dropping weight mainly from the front of the car, and most of any additional weight added from the various components will be fairly evenly distributed front to back and even help lower my center of gravity a little.

Originally Posted by Silver Judge

For quite a few years, I could not stand the idea of a chevy or corporate powerplant in an old Pontiac. And while, I still prefer poncho power in ponchos.........

I'm changing my mind--BMan, this project is the essence of hot rodding and ingenuity.

So is the project that Andrew B did on his very nice '70 GTO

You guys are way better mechanics and trouble-shooters than I am, that's for sure.

I give a great big hat's off to you for all of the hard work, research, preparation on this.
This tasty old Tempest is going to be pretty danged cool when you're done and I'd drive it any day of the week ...with a big happy grin on my face.

Nice work there and thanks for sharing so much of your knowledge and experience

Thanks for the kind words. I never thought I'd be dropping a corporate power plant into one of my old Pontiacs, but the power-per-dollar combined with the fuel savings and light weight makes these engines very attractive.

When I get into the wiring of this beast it will really test my skills and patience as I'm really not an electronics guy. I'm really just learning as I go, and so I far I've learned this is project is getting to be very expensive.

Originally Posted by Silver Judge

I'd love to drag race against you guys...I'm warning you though...I'm undefeated against big block chevies, 2-0

I'm ready, I used to do pretty well driving the Tempest at the bracket races. I have a lot of practice wheeling '64s down the race track with a bookcase full of trophies to show for it, most were earned behind the wheel of this old warrior shown below:

Originally Posted by 455HOGT37

LOL! As I recall, I didn't even get to complete the sentence "wanna drive it" before you were running for the house to change clothes!

You have a great project going there... I'm glad I could keep the fires of motivation lit in a fellow Pontiac "nut". You still owe me a test drive though.

You're first in line Mike. Thanks again for the spin in your 'vette, it was a rush.

Bart

[b-man]

.....to pretty much finish off the suspension upgrades, a new $300 set of Bilstein Heavy-Duty gas shocks. These are supposed to be one of the best riding and handling shocks available for a reasonable price, by just looking at them the German quality is clearly evident.

I really couldn't justify the purchase of single-adjustable shocks (about $700) or double-adjustable shocks (about $1500) since I'll just be doing a little agressive pleasure driving from time to time and really don't have any plans to autocross this car.

Part # F4-BE3-2972-HO front and AK2080 rear.



Soon the new Classic Auto Air system will arrive and it will be time to really dig into some 'real' work on the car. The new A/C system along with the Speartech harness and controller will both need to find a home under the dash and on/through the firewall.

Today I finally finished off the window channel rust sanding with some 180 grit paper and tomorrow I plan to seal up the front and rear window channels with some silver POR-15.

Staying motivated.

[b-man]

Today I got an early start so I could complete 3 coats of POR-15 on the window channels.

I started by scrubbing the already clean channels (cleaned with Simple Green) with some Scotchbrite dipped in PPG DX-579 Metal Cleaner (same as Metalprep) to etch both the rusted areas and the clean bare metal areas as well.

Then to keep the Metal Cleaner and rinse water from finding it's way down into the body I plugged off all of the trim clip screw holes with some wooden matches (of all things!) wrapped with masking tape so they would seal up the holes. I left the matches in place during the POR-15 application to keep it from plugging up or reducing the size of the holes.

All of the pics were taken after the first coat of silver POR-15 was applied.



The 3 small holes on the passenger side rear window channel were patched with 2 layers of fiberglass cloth.



Driver's side bottom corner.



Heaviest pitting is right in front of the driver. I plan to sand this down after the POR-15 cures for about a week and put down a few more coats to level out the surface for a better seal when the new windshield is installed.



Front and rear channels with the first coat completed and waiting 2 to 3 hours for a second coat.





Right now it's time to put down the 3rd coat of POR-15 before the day/weekend is gone.

I did call my Mom right after the second coat was down, Happy Mother's Day!

[Donovan]

Originally Posted by b-man

.....to pretty much finish off the suspension upgrades, a new $300 set of Bilstein Heavy-Duty gas shocks. These are supposed to be one of the best riding and handling shocks available for a reasonable price, by just looking at them the German quality is clearly evident.

good shocks I put a set on my Firebird after I rebuilt the suspension. Put in nyliner bushings, guldstrand mod, aluminum body bushings and hotchkis springs...

The bilsteins were super aggressive and made the car handle incredible, but with the other mods they were too much.

On stock springs it would have been perfect.

I don't know how your model bilsteins are valved though.

great shocks!

[b-man]

.....to prepare for the Classic Auto Air air conditioning system installation. I'll need to find room to tuck the Speartech wiring harness and controller under there somewhere as well.



I removed the gauge cluster so I could have room to work under the dash. The cluster housing itself will be replaced with nicer one that isn't warped from sun exposure, it will also have some paint work done to freshen it up a little at the same time.



The entire factory heater box assembly and control cables on the inside of the car were removed completely as they will not be needed, the aftermarket A/C unit has both the heater core and A/C evaporator incorporated into a single unit.

The only thing that still needs to come out is the old factory firewall pad and insulation that will be replaced with modern insulation from Second Skin. While I have access I'll put insulation on every surface under the dash and on the firewall that I can reach.



The heater and A/C evaporator main unit is shown here along with the two separate outside small A/C vents and the twin central vent, the vents mount at the bottom edge of the dash. There is a shallow plastic glovebox insert provided that mounts with the stock hardware. The size of the main unit won't allow the stock glovebox cardboard to be used, a very small sacrifice.



The other side of the unit that will face the firewall is shown here along with the thick composite/plastic insulated main firewall blockoff plate that comes with holes already drilled for the heater and A/C hoses to pass through. The new Sanden compressor and 2" underdash A/C and defrost ducting hose is shown here as well.



The factory heater blower motor and fan along with the stamped sheetmetal heater housing on the engine side of the firewall will be removed as well, they will be replaced with blockoff plates that are provided with the kit. The passenger side inner fender will have to come out to remove the heater housing. None of the factory heater parts will be retained with the exception of the stock heater control panel in the dash, it will be modified to accept the two new heat and A/C control cables.

Keepin' on it.