[Shiny]

Hope you all had a great Christmas. We were lucky to have 2 of our sons with us this year.

Before I put the brackets back on my rear bumper, I hit the back-side rust with a phosphoric acid product (SEM Rust-Mort) and overcoated with a matte clear aerosol. Hope is to keep the rust from continuing. Dry climate here will actually do the real work.

Before:


After:

[PAUL K]

Welp..... This job reminded me of my age. ):

[blueghoast]

Originally Posted by PAUL K

Welp..... This job reminded me of my age. ):

Doesn't get any easier does it.

GT

[salem1912]

Reminds me of pulling the 883 out of my Super Bee when I was 17. Had everything loose and just pulled it back not knowing how heavy it was! I laid under that car for 20 minutes with it on my chest. waiting for my brother to come out of the house

[Verdoro 68]

I got a new toolbox for Christmas and have been reorganizing all my tools. I don't know how I crammed so much into my old little toolbox. It was spilling over onto my bench, so I was able to reclaim my workbench with the increased tool storage space. So nice!

Cole's Ventura started running super rich on startup leaving black soot on our driveway. I saw him fire it up the other morning and it looked like Pig Pen from the Peanuts and was huffing and puffing. We also had small oil leak from the PCV grommet on the valley pan, so I took Butler up on their Black Friday sale and ordered a new Tomahawk pan for the car. With a few days off work and the rain and wind subsiding for a bit, it seemed like a good time to dig in.

The valley pan was a relatively painless install with no intake interference that I had on the GTO. I like the fiber gasket they provided over the cork FelPro version. I think the main culprit on the carb was a bad choke pull off. The one on the carb didn't hold a vacuum at all. The fast idle cam also wasn't working which made the starts that much more difficult. I removed the worn out plastic cam and replaced it with a metal one from one of the carbs on my bench. I also installed a heavier power piston spring since the car makes a ton of vacuum. Finished off the Ventura with an fresh oil and filter since it hadn't been changed since our road trip. Starts easy and seems to be a lot happier now.

[Scarebird]

The weather finally dried out enough for some test runs. The engine would not catch when warm - I suspect the PCM ground was not sufficient so went thru all the connections and noted some had light corrosion. I visited a Peugeot dealer and the head mechanic gave it a look. He moved his battery to the rear also on his Hondacar and same issue. He ran a tiny battery with a switch to the PCM; I think I will try dedicated power and ground to the PCM for less complexity.

[mgarblik]

Probably only those living in the Midwest can appreciate this. Two days ago it was 63 degrees F. in Dayton, OH. I uncovered the 62 Catalina and got it started. Ran it a good half hour in the garage. Would have loved to get it on the road and put some miles on it. Unfortunately, around here, when we get a 1 inch of snow we get 2 inches of salt thrown on the roads to melt it. So, I was unable to drive it. But just running it in the garage still makes me smile. Today, 27 degrees F and about an inch of snow on the ground again. Typical Midwest winter. Happy New Year everyone.

[jerry455]

We had 53* on the 23rd and it was the last day I drove my 1976 Firebird. We had an earlier winter here in metro Detroit this year. I didn't realize I only had a quarter tank of fuel, so I put on about 20 miles and then topped the tank and added some Stabil for the winter. It has been snowing and cold here for the past week and currently getting a couple more inches. Happy New Year to everyone!

[Drag Star Le Mans]

Found out my friend Jim Steen passed away a few days ago, he was the previous owner of the 64 War Wagon. I took it for a short drive

[Redpiston]

Spent 3 days getting ready to bring the 66 2+2 back to KC from Richland Washington. Emptied out the third car slot, painted walls and ceiling, built a couple of 4ft x10ft shelves to put all my car parts on, and packed away all the tailgating supplies since we are done for the year.

[Scarebird]

Found out that there is indeed a metric speedo made for 1969-72 style Lemans/GTO. 260kph calcs out to 160mph, I do not think that will be needed here (120kph max I have seen).

[kingbuzzo]

looks fast

[burd]

Original kilometers?
I drove my ta in Canada, so my orig miles are all messed up.

[carcrazy]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Found out that there is indeed a metric speedo made for 1969-72 style Lemans/GTO. 260kph calcs out to 160mph, I do not think that will be needed here (120kph max I have seen).

Funny thing, I owned a 1960 Chrysler with a metric speedometer.....nobody in my circle (other than myself) knew it was metric...they couldn't believe how fast that car was....lol!

[Verdoro 68]

Checked out a '74 GTO that's been sitting for almost 40 years (plates from '88, newspapers from '87) in the same color as our Ventura. Original engine was locked up, carb was frozen, water in the cylinders. Huge project, but I was thinking it might be fun to toss a 455 in and run as a cheap Duct Tape Drags car. Game over when we discovered the hatch and trunk pan were swiss cheese as those parts are really hard to find. The seller held fast on his price, so someone else can have it. Cool car though.

[1967SC]

Finally found a replacement for my Remote Outside Mirror.
Also replacing all the door panel clips too.

[1965gp]

Went by the body shop to see how the touch ups went on the 58 Bonneville. The car looks great in person. Going to pick it up on Tuesday and drop off the 68 Firebird for a full paint job and rust repair.

[Scarebird]

Purists need to look away...

Portuguese roads are/were laid out wherever the hell they felt like: GPS is a must. Of course our vintage Pontiacs have no good spot to mount a receiver or smartphone. I have been mentally debating where to mount mine with the minimum amount of wreckage and this is what I came up with.

I am NOT fond of drilling holes in areas where repair would be difficult, but no other place was sufficient. I made a test piece out of hardwood purloined from illegal signage. The most difficult thing was to hollow out the back with a router and wood chisel to clear the "PONTIAC" lettering so the mount would sit flush and not rock. This may not have been necessary. Either way the piece sat correctly and is placed ideally. I will replace it later with a proper 3D printed item. The file will be made available to all.

[Cosmic Charlie]

I siphoned out my ancient power steering fluid and replaced it with Lucas Oil 10011 Power Steering Stop Leak - 1 Quart which says its correct for any application, leaking or not.

My pump was slightly wet on the pitman arm (not really dripping) and the level would drop and inch a year +-

so I took the lazy mans method

[Scarebird]

First meet of the year. About 30 cars showed. The pickup to the right is a 1956 Austin; kind of a 3/4 scale Ford F1. Would love to have one but the box is next to useless at 1-1/2 meters.

Clutch mechanism was clicking when depressed - it is hitting the hanger brace a bit. Also noted the manual master is weeping a bit, no doubt thanks to the car sitting for 6 months in transit. Uses a 1974-80 GMC unit, ordered one from RA today. We will see how Portuguese Customs handles this...