[fbrown]

I may have missed it Fred, but I see you gave up on the other dash? What was the problem and what are your plans for it? I might be interested.

The repro dash is the one on the roof. The problem is that it does not stay attached very well and comes loose too easy. There are really two problems. Both can be solved, however I lost interest in making further modifications and the ability to do them when I injured my elbow.

Problem one - Green arrow, the plastic retainer is too short. There are probably several ways you could lengthen the retainer.
Problem two - Red arrow, the plastic does not hold the metal clips very well. This could be solved by bonding some metal backing to the dash pad.


Greg if you are interested in the pad, call or PM me. I was going to Ebay it.


Corrections.

What gauge wire do you run to the trunk for the amps?

I ran 4 gauge not 8 as I first answered. It had been a long time and I forgot what I pulled. The amplifier calls for 2 to 4 gauge power wire.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by fbrown

Greg if you are interested in the pad, call or PM me. I was going to Ebay it..

I just might do that Fred. Thanks.

[fbrown]

I got a couple of things done today.

Installed the rear window trim. The trim restoration was not bad considering the poor shape of the trim. There were 80 grit scratches on part of it and it was badly dented. I took about two hours taping the dents out and another 6 hours removing all of the scratches. I had to sand part of the trim with 400 grit, then 600, 1000 and 2000 before I could even buff it. With the buffing compounds I had on hand, 2000 grit scratches were hard to remove.





I resolved the tail light problem. The wires for brake and turn were reversed in the right hand tail light assembly. Rather than remove the bumper I just swapped the wires in the rear light harness connector. I'm not even sure if it's even feasible to swap the wires at the light socket.




I continued hooking up the electrical system. Connected the console wiring. Bumped the starter and yes the engine turned.

I found I don't have the strength to crimp 4 gauge connectors with an improper tool with one hand. It was hard to do even with two hands. I guess I will be looking for the proper crimp tool. I need to clean up and shorten some under hood wiring.


Retro sound radio.

I don't recommend the Retro Sound Radio if you care about sound quality. I continued to play with eq settings on the amp, and while I think I got really decent sound, it could be better. There may still be some improvement when I get the front amp hooked up. If I had it to do again I would use a different head unit.

I didn't find and bad reviews of the Retro unit. In retrospect, I think that most of the people who bought RetroSound did not buy the unit with sound quality as a major concern. I think most were probably more concerned with it fitting their dash rather than how well it sounded. It you were to hook this up to a typical 4x10 front speaker, I guess you would never know how bad it sounded. The roll off of bass could be intentional, small speakers don't handle bass very well.

When I was young, I helped my dad do performance measurements for the radio stations he owned. (Annual proof of performance test as required by the FCC). Back in the 60's we actually worked on equipment and repaired it. As a result of my training I am very sensitive to any distortion in my sound system. I'm the type of person who thinks a BOSE Car Radio is only mediocre.

I should sum this up. The internal amp on the RetroSound is not flat. It rolls the bass off and the sound is awful . It sounds like a cheap transistor radio of the 60's. It you use a quality external amp the sound will be OK.

BTW my girl friend heard the radio today and thinks it sounds great and she has a BOSE sound system in her car.

[fbrown]

I'm having a hard time getting anything done with my injured elbow. But I did manage a few simple things.


Made a hose to go from the engine to the coolant tank. Really I just added the Tee (capped right now) Will connect to the Vintage Air unit eventually.



Hose installed, also had to cut the engine cover around the AC compressor.



The driver side engine cover hits the brake booster.


Trimmed slightly to clear



Tip of the Day. To remove the rear seat, use a pry bar. The notch will engage the wire and you can press and lift with one simple motion. I was able to remove the rear seat using only my left hand.


You will need to tilt the bar slightly to catch the seat wire.


Next I decide that adding antifreeze, power steering fluid and transmission fluid was something that I could do.

OK, the only thing I need is a little gas to fire the engine. So put a gallon of gas in the tank. Turn the key on and off a few times to prime the fuel line. Turn on camera and take a video of the first start since the body was reinstalled on the frame.

Startup video about 38MB
http://peripheraltech.com/gto/start001.mov

I did move the car back and forth about a foot. it's not really apparent in the video.

Oil pressure gage works, tach doesn't work. GEN and Temp not hooked up.

Next a detailed check for leaks.

[Aus Goat]

It lives !!!
Well done this is one hell of a build .

[cuz68]

Looks great Fred, That link is not working? I wont to hear that bad boy, Your friend Randy.

[fbrown]

Looks great Fred, That link is not working? I wont to hear that bad boy, Your friend Randy.

The link is to a .mov file. A .mov file is an Apple quick time format. Depending on which version of windows and/or media player you have, the file may not play. You can download a quick time player for free.

A way to play MOV files in Windows is to download a Quick Time player or install the video codec pack so that Windows Media Player can play .mov files.

My camera is to blame for the .mov format. That is the format it records in. Don't spend a lot of time trying to play this file. With open headers, the sound is extremely loud and overloads the camera. (Distorted Sound)

[fbrown]

I had a couple of forum members asking for updates. It's been slow going, I keep hurting myself. I was dealing with an elbow injury and then hurt my back around thanksgiving. Only got a few things done.

While recovering I found a picture of my first car. The photo was taken around 1973. I had the car repainted 1968 verdoro green. The photo is faded and does not represent the true color of the car. A GTO would have been my first choice, but being 18 and in college, a GTO was not a possibility.



I installed the inside lock for the hood. This is something I should had ordered and installed while the car was apart. It was very difficult to run the cable. This system simply locks the hood so the release under the bumper won't work. It is not a inside hood release.



My aftermarket core support needed to be cut to allow the latch to be inserted. I still need to clean up and paint where I cut the core support.



Cleaned up on of the fittings on the steam line.





Hidden Headlights.

Starting condition





Work in progress



Here is a cleaned up schematic of the vacuum lines on the hidden headlights. This was cleaned up from the 69 assembly manual which was very hard to read.

http://peripheraltech.com/gto/hidden.jpg High resolution (For printing)



That's about all I've done.

[fbrown]

It's been a while since I updated, shortly after my previous post, my girlfriend fell and broke her knee cap and severely twisted her ankle on her other leg. As we all say, life gets in the way of our restoration projects.


The mock up for the hidden headlights did go very smoothly. First the vacuum actuators would open the door but not close the doors. On removing the dust shield, this is what I found. Turned the seal around and found the actuator worked fine.



Next the driver side spring did not hold the door open or closed. Turned out the bottom of the bumper was bend so that the distance was 7/16" shorter than it should have been. On close inspection I could see that the edge the actuator bolts to was bent. The bend didn't cause any other problems or than shorting the distance of the spring. I spent a couple of hours fooling with this, finally using my hydraulic jack to bend the edge back where it should have been.



I'm glad I tested the operation. It would have been bad to find this out after repainting the bumper. This brake bleeding tool is a good way to bench test and check for leaks.



I put the bumper back in place for a final inspection. I know the grill and headlight doors are for a 69. The 68 parts only became available recently, long after I had already purchased 69 parts



It would have been preferable to drill holes for chrome before painting the valence, but at the time the only available chrome was selling for around $400. I just wasn't willing to pay that much for two small pieces of chrome. After painting the car I found cheaper chrome on Ebay. After much careful measuring and drilling I have the valence panel drilled and ready for the chrome. The chrome I bought is a PY part.





My next goal is to repaint the hood and bumper. There were some runs and too much trash in the hood and I have some bad runs in the bumper. Hopefully I can get this done in the next few weeks.

[Greg Reid]

That's looking good Fred. I had read where the valence trim didn't fit too well...Looks like they got that worked out? Yours looks perfect. I may change mine...they're kind of cloudy.

[fbrown]

From all of the pictures I have studied, the chrome didn't fit all that well even from the factory. That is it doesn't fit with no gaps, flush with the edge etc, if you look up close, but from a few feet away it looks good. I think mine is equal to the fit and finish from the factory.

[Greg Reid]

The one I saw in another thread was so far off that the opening in the valence had to be cut and bent to conform if I recall correctly. I think I can find the thread. I could be 'mis-remembering' ....maybe it was a repop valence that had the problem and not the trim.

[fbrown]

Was it the older repro chrome or the new PY one? Also I don't know exactly where the holes would be in the GTO valence. I located the best spot for the PY chrome and drilled mounting holes.

My valence was a original beat up LeMans piece.

[rohrt]

I went back to the first post. Dec 2008. You have been at this a long time. I look forward to seeing you on the road.

[fbrown]

I look forward to seeing you on the road.

Yea, me too. I hope to get the car on the road this summer.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by fbrown

Was it the older repro chrome or the new PY one? Also I don't know exactly where the holes would be in the GTO valence. I located the best spot for the PY chrome and drilled mounting holes.

My valence was a original beat up LeMans piece.

I found the post I was talking about...
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...&postcount=126

[fbrown]

The valence in that thread was a 69 not a 68.

[Greg Reid]

I realized that the valence was different but I did not know whether the trim was different or not. Is it?

[fbrown]

The size of the opening is different as well as the trim.

[Greg Reid]

Ok...that's good to know that the '68s fit better...Just in case...