[242177P]

Originally Posted by mrgto69

B-man... I have to say,... you are not correct. Max Performance is still making items. With my help, they just made the 1969-1970 & 1971-1972 Grand Prix vinyl top moldings and the 1970 Grand Prix fender plate.
You have to understand that every request they can't say YES to. If they make it, it has to be affordable for the hobbyist AND profitable for them. There were some projects that were duds... Now a days companies have to be careful of what they do. Every request is considered, so please don't think it's being ignored. Mike

Aluminum hoods. 65-67 and 68-70 GTO. 70-76 and 77-81 Trans Am. I doubt it would be quite as simple as slipping a different sheet into the pile, but they're already stamping steel ones. Ah-loo-min-E-um.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by mrgto69

B-man... I have to say,... you are not correct. Max Performance is still making items. With my help, they just made the 1969-1970 & 1971-1972 Grand Prix vinyl top moldings and the 1970 Grand Prix fender plate.
You have to understand that every request they can't say YES to. If they make it, it has to be affordable for the hobbyist AND profitable for them. There were some projects that were duds... Now a days companies have to be careful of what they do. Every request is considered, so please don't think it's being ignored. Mike

Glad my reply garnered some attention and confirmation that this thread is still actively monitored and requested items are still being considered.

The lack of interaction from those who are in charge of new product consideration is why I decided to post what I did, I hope this exchange opens the door to further attention and information sharing on new products.

[dataway]

Originally Posted by mrgto69

These solenoids were made some years ago. I was the contact to the mfg who was a Mopar guy of all things. We got a batch of 100 of them in.. Several were not working properly, so I had to test every one of them. In the end, I had 70 were not working properly, and the mfg did not want to repair/replace them. He said it was a very limited production. So maybe I'll put a bug in the Prez's of Max Performance's ear this week... I still think I have an original one.. Mike

Thank you sir, that would be great. Not an emergency of course, but I bet it's one of the last missing pieces for a lot of folks.

[TxSportCoupe]

Originally Posted by OldSoul_YoungBlood

I have explored the idea of making repops of the lenses via additive manufacturing (basically a liquid acrylic 3d print) I work in that space and the margin of effort vs financial reward is pretty close. If there were enough interest it wouldn't be to difficult to print RH an LH repops of the side marker lenses as well as the front lower park lamp housings...those are even more difficult to find than the lenses. the park lamp housings can actually be printed with a high degree of strength and have a reflective coating applied cheaply. Trust me, I have a 70 lemans and through the years of it being disassembled and moved around they went missing, took me forever to find NOS parts only to hit a goose a year ago and really tear up the LH side, thankfully my front valance has never been a concern. Honestly...If i ever smashed up the front end beyond repair id would be much cheaper to put all of the repop GTO components on (including GTO fenders) than to ever try sourcing all the 70' parts.

I did source JUST NOS grills, valance, turn signal and side markers with housings. Already had hood. Would have been cheaper to clone over whole front end. Added it up both ways myself. Problem is… “it’s just a Lemans.” Hard loaded 1/1673 70 Sport Coupes ever built. I wasn’t about to give up that front end. So I spent more building “just a Lemans” than I would having “identified as” as GTO. I’d be happy to fly wherever and furnish NOS parts for the copy. If it could just be made to break even, keep existing cars in parts, and maybe save a Sport Coupe, T-37, GT-37 or someone’s dads “just a Lemans” from being cloned out of existence, I think that would be cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mrgto69]

If there was a market for 1970 Lemans fenders, grills, header panel, clear parking lamp lenses, and side maker lenses, I would be all over that. I have several NOS fenders, a header panel, grills, lenses and housings. It's just hard to find that small group of people who would be willing to dish some money out... Mike

[wase]

I could really use a few individual pieces from a Blue Orange Pink Judge stripe kit.

I have a complete set of Red Yellow Black stripes, plus The Judge decals to sell/trade.

Perhaps a vendor or manufacturer could make the individual pieces available in the near future.

Thanks very much, in advance, for any consideration toward this matter.

MD

[nas t eh]

1973 Firebird grill “Pontiac “ emblem

[RamAirPwr]

One of our PY members had reproduced rear leaf spring rebound clips some time ago but recently retired
It was a great quality product

There is no other source for these clips that come close to matching the originals

@Max Performance
This is a part that has a wide application (70-81 firebirds)

[Trevor78]

Originally Posted by dataway

If anyone was listening they would have reproduced the quite simple idle solenoids by now that go for $250-700 used

And still cost tens of thousands in engineering for a limited run that won't cover costs and still sit on shelves for years. The guys would still complain it didn't match original and costs far more than it should. It often comes down to if it is a feasible business proposal, not just filling a need because it exists. And now we know why China exists.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally Posted by Trevor78

And still cost tens of thousands in engineering for a limited run that won't cover costs and still sit on shelves for years. The guys would still complain it didn't match original and costs far more than it should. It often comes down to if it is a feasible business proposal, not just filling a need because it exists. And now we know why China exists.

On the '68-72 Pontiac Q-jet Idle Stop Solenoids, there was a concern that reproduced them, first for 383-440 Mopar applications, then a near identical (if not identical) solenoid for Pontiacs. By having a wide usage of this part, the costs were spread to a larger audience & it was feasible to bring this part to market. Unfortunately, whatever entity actually mfg this reproduction solenoid didn't do a stellar job & in use, the repro idle stop solenoids quickly crapped out. Initially, Performance Years & Ames offered the report for sale, with eventually years after the merger, Ames no longer selling them. Am sticking with nice originals here on own manual trans Pontiacs that run this solenoid. Have sold to PY members quite a few nice used solenoids, as well as the early & late style brackets, but it has gotten to the point, that working on own cars, am determined to have at least a few spares.

[dataway]

Wish there was something at least close still available .. I'd do whatever is necessary to fab a bracket long as the throw and specs on the solenoid where the same.

[blackadder]

I fortunatly found a pair but the 1965 quarter panel extensions (Taillight housings) are getting hard to find good ones.

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

Vacuum line harnesses for HVAC systems, with the transparent rubber female connector that the vacuum lines attach to, which then connects to the main rotary switch. These have never been reproduced, and duplicating the vacuum lines is difficult due to the unavailability of the thin plastic tubing and black rubber ends.

[alsalp]

68-72 Bench seat plastic armrest bolt "finishing covers"

[Fearne]

Weird question, but with the intro of 3D scanning tools coming out. Couldn't we get a group together at Pontiac Nationals, etc to have people bring in rare items for scanning? It wouldn't be too much to get the scanned in models QC'd by someone with CAD experience and have 3D printed or molded for reproduction by companies, etc.

[dataway]

Forum members have gotten together and done this with a few small items. And you are correct, these days, if you have the CAD file, you can get most anything replicated for a reasonable cost assume it doesn't involve manufacturing techniques that are complex or no longer use.

Simple parts made of uniform metal, or plastic are typically doable, but combined items like for instance pillar post covers that are stamped metal, foam and skinned with vinyl it gets way more complicated for us DIY'ers to do.

[Red80TA]

Probably mentioned 10x on previous 500 pages, but the white crumbly plastic fillers that go between dashpad and A-pillar cover on 70-81 Firebirds. But would need a low mileage sample and retrieving it would likely destroy it. But perhaps be enough to get idea of size and shape to create something. #20105596.

[Bobby Peru]

Great to have reproduction parts available, but it would be nice to have American companies, reproducing these parts with American materials, built by American workers, for great American Pontiacs.
One of my pet peeves is seeing a beautiful GTO, or Firebird hosed down with ill fitting parts made in China, from Chineseum and fitted by unskilled labour, who's favourite restoration parts are self tapping screws.
Popular with online muscle car flippers that sell their cars to people who only go off photos and buy the cars without driving them, let alone actually seeing it in person.
I guess it's true that a fool and his/her money are soon separated.
Sorry for the spelling, I'm from New Zealand lol.

[Keysup]

Need rear window rubber for aerocoupe window

[north]

What’s an aero coupe?