[Transamric]

Originally Posted by bossbirdta

when did the blacked out mirrior's replace the stainless ones?
was that a Jan 1st 1972 thing like the seat belt retractor's??

Yes. The non-reflective mirror back was supposed to be a safety thing to help prevent glare. Never did quite figure that one out. Who did they think they were benefiting? Certainly not the driver.

[njsteve]

Maybe they could see into the future and figured that in 40 years, due to global warming, the sun reflecting off the guy's mirror housing behind you, would shine into your rear view mirror and then flash into your eyes and distract you from texting on your cellphone, while eating a cheeseburger, and chugging that 72 ounce Big Gulp with no cupholders. Can't be too safe, ya know.

[Formulabruce]

The DOT mandates were actually for the Calendar year, so bolt on options waited till the actual calendar year to implement. Example of NOT waiting, is side marker lights in 68, however, the shoulder straps were NOT installed untill Jan, 1968.
Great analogy Steve!, but true was the refection. The upper window chrome on top of the windshield was full chrome in 67, and brushed aluminum look on back half in 68, as well as the horn button and steering wheel chome to brushed. This is why the 1970 chrome rings on gauges surprised me.

[tdavidl]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

... This is why the 1970 chrome rings on gauges surprised me.

no kidding, in todays litigeous world people would be crashing their cars into buildings claiming the glare off the chrome guage rings blinded them, suing the car company for millions....

[njsteve]

Not being satisfied with the wrinkles that were left in the back edges of the headliner after my amateur installation a year or so ago, I took the car out for a 70-mile round trip drive today, to a long-time upholsterer I have used for other work.

He's been doing this stuff for 45 years and he still says he's learning new methods every day. After about an hour or so of tugging, heating and massaging, all the wrinkles are gone. He said one of the mistakes people tend to make is not to trim away enough of the fabric channel that holds the metal bows. If there is too much of the channel still attached to the headliner on the ends, it will cause bunching and wrinkles in the edges and corners.

All in all, he said he has seen a lot worse backyard jobs than mine, so I guess that was a compliment.

(P.S. I think it's time I cleaned the camera lens.)

[ta man]

I've gone over this post a few times since it started...I may be doing the same to my 76 it has been heavily oiled since new and at one time the underbody was sprayed white.The white is starting to peel very easily you can rub it off with a rag no problem...underneath is all the factory red oxide primer.Once it warms up around here I will be powerwashing the undercarriage to its original primer.

[njsteve]

Did the annual oil change yesterday. I put 1,150 miles on her since the last oil change in April of last year. Five quarts of Castrol GTX 10W40 + a can of STP + 3 ounces of Camshield zinc additive.

Changed the plugs back to the NGKs. It really runs a lot smoother with those NGKs in. I had swapped back to the set of Autolites during the ignition trouble-shooting episode a few months ago but I noticed it runs "different" with the Autolites - it kind of surges at a steady RPM. That doesn't happen with the NGKs.

Took her out for another spin today to test drive the new oil (needed an excuse). I'm beginning to like this thing.

[tommie69]

Originally Posted by njsteve

The factory manual has the 72 float spec as 1/4" (which, if my math is correct is 4/16").

Lloyd, my question is this: Isn't 5/16" going to be a lower float height which means less gas in the float well?

Once I get your parts here, I check the float spec and update you all.

Hi Steve
What height did you end up setting the float?I'm taking Lloyds advise on the jets and rods as well!thanks,Tom

[x-bird2]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Did the annual oil change yesterday. I put 1,150 miles on her since the last oil change in April of last year. Five quarts of Castrol GTX 10W40 + a can of STP + 3 ounces of Camshield zinc additive.

Changed the plugs back to the NGKs. It really runs a lot smoother with those NGKs in. I had swapped back to the set of Autolites during the ignition trouble-shooting episode a few months ago but I noticed it runs "different" with the Autolites - it kind of surges at a steady RPM. That doesn't happen with the NGKs.

Took her out for another spin today to test drive the new oil (needed an excuse). I'm beginning to like this thing.

needed and excuse .... shame on you Steve lol .... in regards to plugs, have you tried ACs yet ...only ones i'll stick in the SD. autolites are for furds ;~) ...

[njsteve]

I set the float at the 1/4" factory spec in the 72 service manual, which Lloyd agreed would be the better setting. I think he was just ballparking the figure.

As for plugs, I bought a one step colder set of UR5GP NGK plugs to see how they burn. After 35 years of wrenching I'm still learning about stuff, like how to read the electrode and where the burn mark should be.

Here's the UR4GP, burning a bit too hot, as the flame mark on the electrode is closer to the base than it should be. (Too close to the tip would indicate too cold of a heat range).



And the UR5GP burning the preferred area, halfway up the electrode:



And here is the base ring color with a consistent brownish tone, allegedly indicating proper carb jetting/fuel mixture:




Any tuning gurus out there, feel free to chime in with your opinions!



This looked like an interesting article on plug reading:
http://www.wallaceracing.com/plug-reading-lm.html

[OVERULD]

Steve - that is one of the lost crafts; tuning an engine like this. I have a good resource here in Atlanta - a guy who started out back in 68 working for a Pontiac dealership here in town (Boomershine). He now does all my tunning work and my car runs amazing! He has one of the old Sun machines and knows all the tricks. I'm going to share these photos with him. Cool stuff, thanks for posting.

BJ

[njsteve]

I have an old Sun machine too. Bought it ftom a local Chrysler dealership. Same type I trained on in 1980.

[njsteve]

My new (old) project, in case anyone is interested in the start of another (hopefully not neverending) thread. It's located in the 74-76 Firebird Section. :-)


http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=664082

[OVERULD]

Thanks for the heads up Steve - now suscribed and look forward to following the new thread as well.

BJ

[njsteve]

Had a fun time at the Performance Years Open House yesterday. Great bunch of people there. Hung out with a few other members of the site. Here's a shot of their 71 and 70, next to my 72.



Also spent some time with Tom D, and his High Performance Pontiac crew. They spent a good two hours shooting the T/A at a nearby barn, in the early evening. (You have to shoot a white car either first thing in the morning or the last thing at the end of the day, in order to get the exposure right. Here's a sample shot with my point and shoot camera at about 7:00 PM.



The car performed flawlessly. It was only 45 miles or so, so my son and I drove the leisurely hour to get there. The only stop was to rescue a female box turtle trying to cross Route 202 in PA.

The return trip was fine too. Ended up using a quarter of a tank of gas for about 90 miles of travel. We had the A/C going full blast on the way home. It was definitely a hot and humid day. Despite the heat, the temp gauge never went above 165 or so (stayed below the first notch on the gauge the whole day).

[Martin1264]

Hi New Forum Member here...Great Thread. Car looks Great.

[eaglesan13]

Welcome.

Originally Posted by Martin1264

Hi New Forum Member here...Great Thread. Car looks Great.

[njsteve]

Martin1264, welcome to Poncho-Villa, the house of Pontiacs! :-)

Where in CT are you? I grew up outside of New Haven.

[Martin1264]

Thanks.... from Southern CT...Redding/Newtown area




My 1973

[Martin1264]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Martin1264, welcome to Poncho-Villa, the house of Pontiacs! :-)

Where in CT are you? I grew up outside of New Haven.

Thank you ....I'm in Southern CT Redding/Newtown area.

Again Great Car... Was this in HPP a few months back?