[njsteve]

I drove the Formula to Newark today to have a friend at a local bodyshop try to remove the acid rain waterspots from the 25 year old enamel paint. He was able to reduce the waterspots a great deal. In the end he had to gently colorsand and buff to get most of them out. You can still see a lot of them but they are not nearly as prominant as they were before. I am not really that concerned since I am eventually going to strip the car and get it repainted but it looks a lot nicer now.

And what do you know, I go to get on the on ramp to I-78 East at my exit this morning and what enters the highway a couple cars ahead of me?



I pulled along side and yes, it was a 73 Cardinal Red SD455. I wasn't close enough to read the VIN but it sounded nice. We cruised alongside each other for about 4 miles, saluted each other, and then he went south on I-287.




Just when you think you have something unique on the road, someone has to immediately burst your bubble :-)

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

I am going to second this, These were AC sub assemblies and GM threw them the specs and decals. This is why the decal isnt in the assy manual, because they were all sub assemblies made by AC.

Back on page 5 of this thread we were debating about the "455HO" decal on the air cleaners and whether the F-bodies had them or only the A-bodies.



Look what I found in the 1972 assembly manual. It documents that the 455HO engine in the Formula got the decal but the T/A did not.

[FunctionalShaker]

Steve, I wonder if the owner of the car you saw is on the forum?

[RicksGTO]

great find on the decal use Steve! Very nice to see a reference in a factory manual on it with dates, etc.

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Back on page 5 of this thread we were debating about the "455HO" decal on the air cleaners and whether the F-bodies had them or only the A-bodies.



Look what I found in the 1972 assembly manual. It documents that the 455HO engine in the Formula got the decal but the T/A did not.

Well . . . color me wrong all this time!

Thanks for setting me straight, Steve!

[njsteve]

No problem Lloyd!

Now, if I could get the wife to say your quote, one of these years, that would be a real accomplishment! :-)

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Now, if I could get the wife to say your quote, one of these years, that would be a real accomplishment! :-)

Uh, right . . . don't hold thy breath, my friend.

Gonna have to give PB a jingle and buy a couple of his awesome 455HO air cleaner decals now. I'll even install it on my Formula's AC, if'n it ever runs again . . .

[Lloyd-TX]

Forgot to add . . . as rare as it is to see a '72 HO Formy WITH that decal, I'll wager that Norwood Assy must have run short of those.

No WAY Pontiac brass would have allowed Norwood Assy to halt production for a silly decal!

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by Lloyd-TX

Forgot to add . . . as rare as it is to see a '72 Ho Formy WITH that decal, I'll wager that Norwood Assy must have run short of those.

No WAY Pontiac brass would have allowed Norwood Assy to halt production for a silly decal!

Dealers had em in '75 thru 80 anyways

[njsteve]

To save some $$$ I signed up for the intro to bodywork course at the local poly-tech located at our high school. It's a night course and its filled with old guys who want to hang out and work on their cars in a nice shop environment. I am having quite the fun time. The teacher is a local body shop foreman and is happy to give advice, and supply extra dented fenders to practice on.

He said if you have a project, by all means bring it in. So last Tuesday evening I worked on the scale on the trunk floor. The poly-tech supplies all the materials and air tools to work with. They have a state of the art paint booth and even have a nice sandblasting cabinet.

It is well worth the $400 tuition fee for 12 weeks, every Tuesday night. The only rule is that you have to be able to get whatever you are working on, home at the end of the three hour class. So I drove the Firebird there, worked on it for three hours and headed home at the end of the night (covered in dust, of course).

So here is the trunk. As you may recall, I had previously derusted it and then painted POR15 on the now cleaned scaley spots. Here it is in mid sanding.

[Formulabruce]

wow Im just doing that now on mine! ( part 2 for me)Not sure it ever going to be perfect but the spatter paint will hide well. Are you going to use the two step spatter paint that requires a clear so it doesnt fall apart?

[njsteve]

Dont know yet. Has anyone had any experience with the correct style spatter paint that requires a spray gun?

[Formulabruce]

Thats what I used on my other car. I did not like the thick brittle finish I was putting the clear on..( spray gun) hope to hear from others as well..

[RicksGTO]

mine has the oil based Parts Place trunk spatter, came out very nice, no clear needed. I didn't apply the paint but they recommended using a cheap spray gun with a large tip to flow out well.

[The Boss]

I did my 73 with the 2-part & cleared it when done - I was happy with the results.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

For the long run, or a car that really gets used, or a car that won't always see pampered climate control environment - i wouldn't recommend using the water based splatter product, or any aerosol product -- Unless you put an exterior urethane quality clear over top, after splatter is fully cured.

Can even be a Matted Clear / Semi-Gloss, Egg Shell, etc....

Have seen the long term results of aerosol splatter/aerosol clear.
Flaking peeling popping shrinking

Also seen the long term of Dupont water base splatter left un-cleared.
Car has been sitting unfinished in a non-climate garage for about 20 years now.
After about 5-6 years it was already showing multiple malfunctions.
After 10 years it showed it would need to be completely redone.
At 20 years its crap - and a bigger project now than it ever was to start with.
Was an excellent clean original trunk floor to start with. lol
He just wanted a fresher look.

The oil base product mentioned sounds like a best bet.
All of it can look good to start with, but not all will go the distance. imho

[njsteve]

I believe the oil based parts place stuff also look a lot closer to the original finish than the spray bomb stuff.

[njsteve]

I finished the trunk freshening. I will wait until I get the dropoffs fixed to do the splatter painting. No sense in doing it twice.





I purposely left the original caulking mess around the rear drain plates to keep the factory made look.

[njsteve]

And after sandblasting the original air cleaner lid, I repainted it and applied the correct decal.

This decal is made by member PB here on the website, PB specializes in 455HO stuff. Here is his website: http://www.455-ho.com/

The decal is an exact replica of the original in font, color and material. It's nothing like the cheapo sticker sold by the repro venders.



Maybe next week I'll sandblast the rest of the air cleaner. It's a much more involved process due to the complex snorkle assemblies.

You know what's gonna happen eventually:

Give a mouse a cookie.....

[njsteve]

After running the car for 400 miles since it hit the road, and using up an entire quart of oil in the process, I went out and bought a quart of the Lucas Engine Stop Leak last week.

http://www.lucasoil.com/products/dis...tid=7&loc=show

I put the Lucas stuff in and then spent an entire day with 0000 steel wool and lacquer thinner removing all the baked on oil residue from the new Gardner exhaust system. I had made the mistake of removing the bellhousing inspection plate and driving the car with it off for several weeks. I figured that would help me find the leak....not really. All that did was create a giant tornadic vortex effect that coated the entire underside of the car with oil (and anyone traveling behind me). It also directed a bunch of oil onto the right manifold pipe, creating what looked like a burnt hamburger of carbon on the pipe.

Imagine trying to clean a lasagna pan after overcooking it in the oven for a couple weeks.

Anyway, I reinstalled the inspection cover and have been driving it for a week and there are no more drips under the car. So either the entire bellhousing is filled with oil and hasn't breached an internal levy yet, or the leak stopped. Only time will tell. :-)


(Oh, and yes it does still have oil in the crankcase. I just went out and checked the dipstick)