[njsteve]

Thank you, fellow members of the Never-Ending Trans Am Restoration Support Group!

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by 666 the legend

..Whats the DEAL with the VALVE COVERS..?? were they all PAINTED..?? Cause I wanna go with the chrome look on mine..and also the INTAKE..?? I wanna go with the RAW ALUMINUM..

Painted valve covers and intake in '72.

[666 the legend]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Painted valve covers and intake in '72.

...DAMN IT..!!

[njsteve]

Hey, it's your car, do what you want if it makes you happy. It's pretty easy to swap a pair of valve covers back. (a little harder if you have A/C, though) :-)

[666 the legend]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Hey, it's your car, do what you want if it makes you happy. It's pretty easy to swap a pair of valve covers back. (a little harder if you have A/C, though) :-)

..Yeah I know..I was just hopin they had BOTH styles...But Im definitly not gonna paint the INTAKE..I would think the PAINT would HOLD in the HEAT.Plus..I think the CONTRAST of the colors looks nice...

[666 the legend]

While were on the subject.Are the VALVE COVERS for a 72 just for that car..?? or are there INTERCHANGABLE years..??

[njsteve]

Same old valve cover. There is a much thicker valve cover gasket and longer bolts, though, for the 455HO engine because of that metal cage contraption under the valve covers that help direct the oil.

[njsteve]

With the help of a board member on the Yenko.net website who identified the random old coil I had in my parts box as an original 1972 Pontiac coil, I was able to test it, clean it up and install it.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...e/0#Post429806

I then tossed the Pertronix coil that had been frying my points, into the "extra parts" box.

Here's the new/old coil in place.



And the third set of points I've replaced in the three years the engine has been up and running. Both contact surfaces on the lever arm pad and the base pad have been crystalized to the point that they wouldn't conduct electricity any more. (Ignore the dust - I had it sitting on the sanding table when I was prepping the coil for paint). I guess I will stick to the stock ignition parts from this point on and forget the aftermarket crap.

[Transamric]

So Steve,....this is a #425 or #424 coil?

[njsteve]

425. I am still trying to figure out whether it should be a 424 since 424 is what is listed in the 1972 repair manual. But then again the coil spec section of the repair manual has several typos including a typo under the ohm ratings for that coil saying it should range from "3000 - 2000" ohms". (It should read 3000-20000 ohms like the 71 manual says).

Anyone out there have a definitive answer? If its supposed to be a 424, what application does a 425 fit?

[Transamric]

Well, I've always believed the #424 to be correct for '71 & '72 Pontiac V-8. Maybe I need to check this out further. Best I can do for now, is these two pics. The one in the bracket is my 05D '71 84,000 mile VN TA, that I have owned since '84. The other out of a bracket is the coil from my 45,000 mile '72 Esprit, built 10D. They are both #424.
Perhaps the 425 was a Service Replacement coil, since you mentioned someone stated a parts catalog showed the 425 as "correct". I do know for sure, that for many of these years, the M.P.C.'s showed Chev ID numbered coils as a replacement for the Pontiac part. So can't always rely on that source.
More on this later.

[njsteve]

The 71 and 72 Service Manuals I have, do show the 1115424 coil for the V8s. I guess I'll stick with the 425 until I find a 424.

I'd love to know the exact application for the 1115425. The guy that linked it to my application did not have any Pontiac books to cross reference the 425 coil. Anybody out there have an old parts book?

[Transamric]

Steve, I have original MPC's for every year printed from 1969 to 1983. I'll do some research & post the results. but as I said above, the catalogs I have checked, show Chevy part numbers for Pontiac Service Replacement coils. So they may not be of any help.

[tdavidl]

for kicks & giggles i grabbed the coil that failed on my car 2 years ago @ 125k miles & it's a

424
B-R

can these be refurbished & what would be the cost & is it worth it ?

[njsteve]

Did you test it?

For a coil that is out of the car, get an ohm meter and run the leads to the pos and neg terminals and see what the meter says - the spec is 1.7 to 2.1 ohms (remember to pre-check the meter itself by touching the leads together and if you can't zero the meter, then subtract whatever is showing from your test results. My meter showed .6 for its own leads so I had to subtract that amount from the coil test results). The secondary test is done by running one lead to the coil output and one lead to one of the terminals. That spec is 3000 to 20,000 ohms. My corrected results were 1.8 ohms on the primary and 10,900 ohms on the secondary.

Dont know if anyone restores them.

[njsteve]

More minor things. Applied the "Trans Am" decals on the fenders. It took an hour to lay out all the tape to get the measurements right...and then took about 15 seconds to actually apply the decals.

Installed the original black rubber hood bumpers, three per fender. Got to use last year's X-mas gift: a set of plastic mini prying sticks. They worked great to push the rubber tabs through the slots in the fenders. Anything metal would have damaged the paint and split the original rubber bumpers.





Engine running nicely now that the original coil is back in place and the new set of points are installed.



Even the A/C is working nice and cold...now that it's nice and cold outside.

[keepat]

Steve,
Looks great!
Pat

[165th]

Steve some of the pictures you post really show off the nice body lines, especially the lower line above the rocker and the mid line through the door. Your body man did a fantastic job.

[CaptCrunch]

Looking great!

[72Formula]

Steve, never give me your address. I'd become a car thief or a crying car lover. We don't want to find out which.