[1_Wild_Cat]

Thanks. I don't think it will come to that - but I'll keep it in mind.

[1_Wild_Cat]

For those following along....

Well - We had traction for a minute. But Cam was roller skating with his daughter recently...and managed to shatter both bones of his lower leg. Rods, screws, plates and 2 surgeries kind of break. Man...he has some tough luck. Looking like 8 weeks for recovery...


Thanks everyone for following along...I really do appreciate you taking this journey with me.

[Cardo]

Uhhhhh! That's rough. You'd better go find something else that needs to be done for a while. Start polishing the stainless or rebuild something... It's gonna be a hot minute before he's back at it.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Everyone -- I can't believe it is true but...It was 9-years ago today that I bought this project.

It was a crazy weekend. I drove Boise to Susanville, California (Friday, 500+ miles). My friend in Susanville - had a diesel truck and enclosed trailer. He had also volunteered to be the "voice of reason". Saturday early we got rolling to Las Vegas (500+ miles) and after getting lost several times in residential areas finally found the car.

The car was rougher than I hoped. And as a basket case the parts were less organized than I would have liked. But I had pulled the PHS - so I knew with certainty it was a factory Tri Power GTO.

With everything invested in going to look at it with truck and trailer in tow, and the old fella selling it leaning on me and dropping the price several times...Well the pressure was intense.

So I stepped away...I walked out to the street and said (out loud) - I am not going to buy it. Funny thing - the pressure just disappeared.

I walked back in - and looked with fresh eyes. It needed a lot. Everything. But one more discount later it was mine.

(The "voice of reason" by the way -- had quietly decided to buy it if I didn't.)

Back to Susanville on Sunday. Back to Boise on Monday. Two weeks later I drove down with another friend and a truck and trailer and brought it home.

Whew...Just remembering all that makes me tired.

I hope you enjoyed the story. And thanks everyone who has been following along. We will get there in the end...(Photos from back then).

[Cardo]

Cool story! You've got to be dedicated to buy in with a basket case! So many people do that and never finish. Glad to see you hanging in there. I have a buddy that bought a basket case 68 Cutlass 442 convertible. He brought it home 3 or 4 years ago and hasn't touched it. Says it's too intimidating.... I'm sure he'll sell it if there's anyone out there looking for one! I brought my LeMans home in boxes. Some assembly is required.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Thanks Cardo. At least 64s are still relatively simple especially a low-optioned car. I'm sure that there are some little things that will trip me up along the way. Honestly, even on the cars I've taken apart and put back together there are always a few areas that throw me (and my memory/notes) a curve ball. Look how good your Lemans came out! (It can be done).

In other news -- Cam is back at work for the last couple of weeks. He has been working on a client's Nova - not the GTO. (The work on the Nova is easier on his leg - some can be done sitting down). Moving back to the GTO soon though.

We will get there...eventually.

[Brad_bb]

The heads and intake are not too hard to find I think. But you have to think about how important looking original is compared to having fun and going fast. That money might be better spent building a more powerful engine, but that's up to you. Regarding manual transmissions, I've watched a youtube channel called gearboxvideo with Paul Cangialosi. His product site is 5speeds.com. Paul builds brand new Muncies with his own custom housings that are upgraded from the oem, and I think all of his M20's, M21's, and M22's are made with the larger 1" countershaft. I think he has all of the shafts and gears etc made with upgrades to get rid of the weak points of the Oem Muncies. He will also take your original housing and machine it for the upgrades and all new internals. I'm on the fence on what trans I'm going to put in my 64. I have the same trans that OMT talked about that I got form Paul years ago. But I'm reconsidering and might have him build me an M20 with my housing. On another note, a common problem with 64 frames that had a manual transmission, is a broken rear crossmember on the passenger side due to the twisting under load. Brackets were made late in production to reinforce for the twist and I found an original set and I also bought a reproduction set years ago. They bolt on to the rear lower arm bracket and the crossmember. Check your car to see if the crossmember is cracked or broken where it is welded to the frame, also check the upper spring plate that will either be riveted or welded to the rear crossmember. My Silver 64 had the broken weld at the frame and either that frame or my other one had the broken upper plate connection.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Brad – Thanks for following along. I have always preferred stock-appearing rides with stronger than stock performance. It occurs to me that I haven’t done a summary update on the project since the beginning so here is where it’s at now.

Engine:

The date and code correct block (probably original) that came with the car is cleaned up and stashed away. I know I have a heavy foot and see no reason to risk it.

The block I have for the engine build is a 64 – 389 big car block in standard bore. This block will get the full treatment at the machine shop. I have a Molnar 4-inch stroke forged crank and 6.7-inch Molnar BBC rods for the rotating assembly. It will end up with custom pistons. Final displacement isn’t set yet (probably 413-425 cid). The cam is up in the air – but it won’t be a roller. Currently leaning toward a traditional solid lifter.

I have picked up two sets of 1964 – #716 heads and one 1964 – Tri Power intake. Heads and intake will get worked over – port work, etc. I have a set of Doug’s headers.

The goal is an honest 1-hp/cid; about 425 hp. Should make killer torque.

Transmission:

I have bought parts from 5speeds.com in the past but thanks for the reference. I still have the M22 that came with the car and I’m still not planning on running it. A little while ago a purchased an Autogear M20 (never run) from a local guy who had a long term project and decided to go with the TKX. (I love it when people buy expensive parts and then change their mind). That transmission has most of the trick stuff – their “super case”, upgraded mid-plate, etc.

Suspension:

The cross member in this car has been welded at the control arm attachments. The top riveted area looks OK (I think). I have to decide whether to clean-up the welds that are there or to replace the cross-member with a salvage piece. It will be getting the reinforcement brackets. It will also probably be getting adjustable upper arms.

The car is going to the frame shop as soon as I get it back from Cam. The body sat down on the frame well when I put body mounts under it – but it has been in too many wrecks for me to trust it is OK without checking.



Thanks again for everyone following along on this journey.

[Brad_bb]

One thing to watch for, wherever it’s been welded at the frame rail, look for spider cracks around the weld and that area of the frame rail. When we re-welded mine, we had to chase a bunch of spider cracks.. This tells me that the frame was heat treated somehow..

[Shiny]

Originally Posted by Brad_bb

One thing to watch for, wherever it’s been welded at the frame rail, look for spider cracks around the weld and that area of the frame rail. When we re-welded mine, we had to chase a bunch of spider cracks.. This tells me that the frame was heat treated somehow..

Feel free to ignore but I'm always interested in how stuff fails. Were these cracks in the weld material or in the frame? If in the frame, is it possible these cracks were already there and caused by fatigue, but the heat of the welding process caused them to open up or propagate? This would make some sense to me, given the need to repair was likely a result of fatigue failure.

I'll admit to being skeptical about a frame being heat-treated, given the size of it and the economics.

Does anyone know what alloy was used in these frames? I would expect a cold-rolled low-carbon steel, but I'm just guessing.

Mike

[Brad_bb]

The spider webbing cracks were in the frame emanating from the weld point. I’m sure they were from fatigue. The constant twisting of the frame, and as it proved, was not properly braced, thus the need for the braces late in production and in 65. I have no proof that the frames are heat treated, but I suspect they are. Stiffer frame with a lighter weight. I know that steel rims in the 50s were much softer than the steel rims in the 60s, and I believe they were either heat treated or a stiffer alloy. You can definitely tell the difference between my 55 Chevy steel wheels and mid 60s GM steel wheels. The 50s wheels are much more prone to deformation and damage.

[Brad_bb]

Is your frame as clean as it looks? I'm used to seeing them with either surface rust(western cars) or pitting rust(midwest cars). You have black paint. Did they paint over the rust or did someone blast and paint it in the past? I'm not sure where you're talking about welding having happened? upper control arms or lower at frame. FYI some of those factory welds weren't the prettiest as they drag their stick across the frame. Is there an original cone style posi in the rear end? What gear ratio do you have? I installed an eaton posi in mine with 3.90's. Hopefully you can still get bushings for the upper control arm in the diff. Back 15 years ago I installed NOS bushings, and the only others available then were urethane and I think you had to reuse your original bushing shells. Don't destroy your upper bushings getting them out. You can make a press out tool with threaded rod and tubing and washers. I made one and it's down in my tool box.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Brad --

Is your frame as clean as it looks? I'm used to seeing them with either surface rust(western cars) or pitting rust(midwest cars). You have black paint. Did they paint over the rust or did someone blast and paint it in the past?

The frame is pretty clean. Honestly - there was almost no rust on this entire car. Just what we found where the fuel tank filler came through, what was in the pinch of the door seams, and a little in the wheel lip (probably because someone had cut the lip to fit bigger rubber).

The frame flange is bent in a couple areas from people jacking up the car. And a couple of pieces of metal have been welded inside the frame channel in those locations. I will need to cut those out and straighten the flange.

The PO told me he had blasted the frame. It was in black when I got it. Really cheap paint so it will get redone.

I'm not sure where you're talking about welding having happened

I don't have a good photo. But the welds are done vertically on the frame cross member right next to the upper control arm attachments. Longer on the left side. If you zoom in on the photo in the last post next to that weird piece of metal you can see the weld.

Is there an original cone style posi in the rear end? What gear ratio do you have?

The car originally had 3.23 gears and based on rotating the wheels and watching the pinion it still does. I haven't had the cover off to see what kind of posi unit is in it - probably still the cone. But it does click and pop when moving the car around.

Thanks for the heads-up on the bushings. I did find the correct size a few years ago - sourced them through Summit. I don't remember the brand. They are in my parts bins somewhere.

Thanks for following along.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Everybody -- I hope some of you still have the patience to follow along with this project.

After another long hiatus -- we are back in action. Our last stopping point was with the passenger door - which turned out to be pretty messy and was hiding quite a bit of rust in the area where the door skin pinches to the shell.

There were two distinct areas of impact/damage. One a push in with a linear dent - probably were someone backed into it. And one dent that crossed the body line at the other end of the door.





Also -- The door needed a rust patch on one corner. Two patches were also made for the shell.





I didn't get a final picture - but this door is back in one piece and the work on it is done.

More update below. Thanks for following along.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Everybody -- Continuing from the last post (needed room for a couple more pictures).

After the passenger door we moved on to the driver side door. The news here is actually good! This is a very nice door - needing some work but nothing like the other side.

Here it is in bare metal...



These are after coating with Dykem and long boarding...





You can see that there are a few areas that need attention - pretty low underneath the handle area, a bad repair below it, etc.

The best news at this point is we are running out of panels...So far both quarters, the roof, firewall, fenders, trunk pan, rear panel and one door have been repaired.

So I have hope it will be home soon...Thank you everyone who is following along.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Everyone -- I hope some folks are still following along patiently with the metal work on this poor goat.

In the end - the passenger door could not be brought up to Cam's standards. He fought the compound damage and the previous attempts at "repair" - but some of it was intractable. So he fabricated a partial door skin for it. Here are some views of this process.









Here is both doors nearly finished. The passenger door still needs hemmed to the structure a bit and the cleaco holes filled/final planish.



Amazing isn't it? Starting with a flat sheet of metal and ending up with most of a door skin. Not to mention the results of welding it in.

The work has moved on to repairing the radiator support. This will allow us to assemble and gap the doors to the car. The edge of the door can then be finished account for the spacing.

Thanks everyone for checking out the work. I hope folks are enjoying the process.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hi Everyone -- Moving onward to the work on the core support. Here is a look at it in the before state...Not the best pictures - but you can see the damage from the hit to the drivers front.






It is a big piece of metal - so it was broken down into pieces to allow straightening. Areas needing fixed were the driver headlight section, a portion of the upright beside the radiator and two holes cut by a PO for aftermarket A/C.



The headlight area was rough...Here is a shot early in the straightening process and one later in the process (although not complete).





More in the following post...

[1_Wild_Cat]

Still on the core support - moving on to repairing the upright area. Beginning with the piece missing from the upright beside the radiator.



Patch fabricated.



And welded in.

[1_Wild_Cat]

And finally on the core support we need to repair two holes cut by someone for the installation of an aftermarket A/C unit. Here is that process...







Cam certainly put a lot of work into making this unseen part of the car straight and right. We definitely needed to get the core support right in order to get the fit of all the parts that attached to it and near it to look great.

A final shot -- all the core support parts in SPI epoxy primer.



I hope that everyone is still following along. For me it is very exciting to be making progress. The light at the end of the tunnel might be daylight instead of a fast-moving train.

Thanks for taking the time to watch my project.

[1_Wild_Cat]

Hello everyone -- Thanks to those of you still following along with this saga - I appreciate everybody who is rooting this project along. Things are starting to come together.

We return to Cam's work on the doors. Replacing the lower portion of the door skin on the passenger side provided an opportunity to establish good, even gaps around the door.

First the door structure was shot with SPI epoxy to provide corrosion resistance and inside of the door skin was also epoxied.



The skin was then fitted to the door structure on the car and the outside of the skin edge marked to reflect a 3/16" gap at the point where the skin wraps around the door structure.





The skin was then trimmed, the edge is upset with a tipping tool. Following this the skin is hemmed to the structure with hammer and dolly (guided by experience and a deft hand).

The result is a door with an excellent gap all the way around.



The other side looks great too...



Thanks again to those following along. I will be making more updates in the next few days.