[PB]

Thanks Steve. I ended up putting it in front of my LB White propane garage heater for a few moments...industrial hair dryer! I could almost push them through with my gloved hand. Worked like a charm.


A theory: original unitized wire sets are not numbered on the top side rubber. After pulling all my sets out, I noticed my early dated set did not have the numbering on the top, dated 2Q 73. All my later sets, 1 and 4Q 75, 4Q 77, were numbered on top. Also noticed the older dated one does not have the little nub on #7 and #4 wire.

Can anyone else chime in on this? Here's a pic:

[PB]

I think my theory holds up. Sometime after 2Q 73 built harnesses, there must have been a change to the moulds. May be a difference b/n production line items and over the counter available harnesses, I don't know. Here is a 3Q 71 harness on eBay without the nubs:

https://touch.ebay.com/tablet/item?i...55502032&rd=vi

All the later dated harnesses I've found have the nub and the numbers. So this appears to be good info for those "correct" restorations . But, who would know this? Guess those reading this now do!

[PB]

Steve, did you cut any of the new wires from electric limited to match the length of the original wires? Or did you match em close? I see some are a bit longer as near as I can tell.

[njsteve]

I measured the set and matched them to the intact old set I had (the one I had to replace the terminals on) and they were pretty close so I didn't shorten any.

Remember to take in to account that the terminals inside the rubber spark plug boot may be at different points in the boot, so that may throw off your measurement.

[njsteve]

I got the 1112127 unitized distributor back from Rocky, who set up the curve for me. (Thanks Rocky!). I installed it today and the car started right up. It actually sounds like its running smoother than with the HEI. The HEI had an old set of wires so it's probably the new wires helping things out.





Unfortunately it is snowing outside at the moment so a test drive will have to wait a day or two...

[njsteve]

I've been playing at the Votech class and doing more cutting and welding. It's quite amazing what you can get done in three hours when you have a dropdead time to move it out of the shop and head home when the class is over. I spent one class cutting and trimming the bad section of the upper drop-off that mated up with the outer wheelhouse on the passenger's side. The seam between the two panels was soft so I elected to cut the seam out so I had an easier area to weld from (inside the trunk), instead of trying to recreate the mated area underneath the car which is blocked by the frame rail.

Here's the before shot:



And after trimming:



I used the upper portion of the drop off and an extra leftover section of flange and welded them together to pre-form the mated seam between the trunkfloor and the drop off:





And here is how the replacement piece fits:

[njsteve]

The following week, I welded the replacement section in place and then grinded...a lot!



I also prepared the second replacement piece out of the aftermarket wheelhouse that I bought to serve as a donor supplier of repair sections. I also had to recreate a small section of the inner wheel house edge that the overlapping "flap" mates to. (All that crusty black stuff is old undercoating and will be scraped out of there soon).



And here it is after some minor body work and filler:



as compared to the opposite untouched side:

[cnc]

Steve I think you are doin a hell of a job man....Your attention to detail blows me away...love it....

[Formulabruce]

Looking good Steve. I think the factory helped these cars rust there by putting gobs and Gobs of sealer, and then the undercoating was thick underside, yours looking great!

[njsteve]

Youre right, the rusty spots on the wheel house were all where the heaviest accumulation of sealer was - it holds water like a sponge.

[LeighP]

That looks terrific!

[njsteve]

I finished up the bodywork and prep on the driver's side trunk drop-off. In order to reproduce the original heavy body shutz sound deadener I used a couple cans of spray-on bedliner instead of undercoating. It worked very well as long as you spray it from at least a foot away to allow it to hit the panel in a dryer state. You don't want to spray it on wet. It will look too smooth at a minimum, and will all "landslide" off the panel if it is too wet.

Here is the original drop-off from my 1972 Trans Am that was built a week before the Formula at Norwood:



And the finished result:



It's a helluva lot better than the way it came:

[Pepi]

Looks good Steve, great job as usual.

[weranc55]

The way it came looks a lot more aerodynamic. Nice work. I looked at a green 73 in MI about a year ago that had the same drop offs.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by weranc55

The way it came looks a lot more aerodynamic. Nice work. I looked at a green 73 in MI about a year ago that had the same drop offs.

Must be a Great White Northern Thing! (versus a "Jersey Thing")

:-)

[njsteve]

I got the trunk finished today. I spent a couple hours soaking the plastic tail lamp housings in PurpleStuff degreaser to remove the fossilized remains of that roofing tar/rustproofing that encased them. I also pulled the tail lamp wiring harness out and masked off the trunk area.

I first used some red oxide primer to spray a small area at the inner, tops of both NOS quarters because they were still in their original black E-coat, instead of red oxide dip primer. I then sprayed the areas that were going to get the trunk speckle paint with dark grey sandable primer. This really helped with the speckle paint coverage. I was able to do the entire trunk with one can of the Eastwood Trunk Paint, since the background dark grayish color was already there.

To get the right finish I really stood back a ways to get the spray as dry as possible when it landed. I was spraying from outside of the trunk opening most of the time and I used small one-second bursts with the can until I got enough coverage to resemble the original speckle finish that is still remaining in some areas of the trunk, such as the trunk latch bulkhead. I think it came out reasonably well for a spray can job.

Here's the original post pressure washing photo:



And today's results:

[eaglesan13]

I used the same truck paint on mine and it looked great, until I sprayed the clear coat over it that I got with the truck paint. The clear coat really changed the appearance, it looks too flat now. If I were to do it again, I would try the Eastwoods satin clear that they sell for the rally wheels.

[Formulabruce]

I think I might have used an etcher on the "dark" areas before a dry primer. I hope it stays and holds up for you. Looks great, as expected!! Is that the type that has to be clear coated after?

[njsteve]

Bruce, that "before" photo was from last summer after I pressure washed all the roofing tar off the trunk floor. I fixed the dark spots with phosphoratic acid and killed the rust, then applied POR-15 to the treated areas. I then did the minor body work last fall at the Poly-Tech class and primed the whole thing. The trunk floor has been in red oxide primer for the last few months.

[Formulabruce]

ah, ok Gotcha Yup acid... etch I forgot ya did all that..