[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Alvin - I'm not sure as the tank is coated with a heavy application of undercoating. Not sure it is worth trying to expose. Roundport's car is Norwood and mine is Van Nuys which might make a difference.

Originally Posted by Alvin

I stand corrected and many apologies:
Somewhere along the line I crossed info & mistakenly thought that Roundport's Martini Blu '78 was a Van Nuys T/A like yours and mine...
perhaps since he purchased it from original owner in Vancouver BC? It's an USA to Canadian export , so who knows eh?

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

First post on Roundports thread (78 T/A) shows the buildsheet from Van Nuys plant.

Ahh, that's where I saw it, Thxs here it is http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...9&d=1405746985

That's the reason that the PA Built USS Gas Tank was interesting.

Anyway - BTT, roll on Bentwheel Bob! aka: The Y88 Dude

[Bentwheelbob]

How cool is this.....The Gold Car has a new gas tank and the steel was born on my 15th birthday. Well, not really, but it sure looks that way now.

The original tank on the car was super coated with undercoating. I tried (sort of) to remove it, but for some reason it was a lot "stickier" than the floor pan undercoating. I gave up pretty quickly since the old tank needed to come out anyway. I bought a new Spectra and it looks OK. It matches the old tank very well, but I am a little PO'd that it had a small crease in it, and it needed a lot of work with OOOO steel wool to get dark blemishes off of it.

I bought the stencil from Inline Tube and once I got it I decided to do a little customization. I moved some of the numbers around and voila ended up with a tank made from steel produced on my 15th birthday. Ah, the little victories. I also moved the DO on the stencil so that it was sequential with the numbers following it like on Roundports original tank. It all went pretty well and was mostly straightforward. It was a pain pulling the stencil backing prior to paint and making sure it left all the little pieces and parts inside of letters like "O's" and "e's", but with a pick and exacto it wasn't that bad. I plan to satin clear it before installation.

Here's the picture. It still needs cleaned up where it was masked off and where I reconfigured the stencil, but I want to let the paint set up good first.

[Alvin]

Bob - You realize that you've warped the time space continuum as to future Pontiac "self proclaimed experts" who will document your tank stencil "as built" and all others will be unacceptable?!!!

[Bentwheelbob]

Two steps forward and one step back. The exhaust system install moved forward today, but it turned out I got the wrong head pipes so we are only finished from the tail pipe splitter to the X-pipe. The correct head pipes should be here Tuesday and then it should be easy to finish. I got the Pypes SGF11 system which is true dual with 2.5" pipes, X-pipe crossover and the TA splitters. Joey the welder came over and he TIG welded all the joints and man it looks pretty. It was pretty straightforward, but with all the joints it was pretty fussy. We found that the pipe which goes over the axle tube did not have what I would call adequate clearance, so we sectioned it removing 1" and Joey welded ot back together. This change helped a lot.

We used the new tailpipe hangers from the kit. These mounted in the factory holes and differed very little from stock. For the muffler hangers we were able to use the original pieces once we sectioned the pipe. I can't wait to get it finished and to hear how it sounds, and to see how the car runs with the freer flowing exhaust.

Here's some pictures.



The circled area is where the pipe was sectioned

[Bentwheelbob]

The interior fluff also got finished today. The dash bezel finally arrived from Randy Combs and it looks really nice. Probably an 8.5 out of 10. The overall interior looks great and it should as there was lot which got cleaned up and tweaked. New gauge lenses, new center AC vents, restored dash bezel, refinished right side duct below the glove box, re-dyed shoulder belt retainers, new heater core, new dash bulbs, lubed door latches, locks and window mechanisms, new door handle trims,,,I'm sure I am missing something, but that's all I can remember for now. The only thing which remains is a new decal for the defog switch.

Here are some pictures...The carpet and upholstery are original.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Here's some pictures....

That looks "exhausting" Bob! Sorry couldn't resist the chance for the pun.

Serious Q: Your system looks excellent, you've probably already posted & I missed it; is this a Stainless Steel exhaust pipe & muffs system?
- What will you do to the welded areas to keep them from rusting - something like a special "Eastwood" spray coating on the weld joints, or?

[Bentwheelbob]

I bought the Pypes SGF11 system. I purchased it from Summit Racing as they are offering free shipping and unlike the Pypes website you do not have to get a Pypes muffler. The mufflers I got were Dynomax Super Turbo's. Pictures from Summit are below.

On the TIG welds, properly done with the correct filler stick TIG welds should not rust.