[Jack Peters]

I think you are right about running out of one and using another.
In some cases, emblems, cid call outs and even ram air stickers were left off. Been years on a couple of them but one I know had the cid call outs left off of it. '71 though.

[Mister Pontiac]

Took the GT thru emissions today, and got her tags. She's now legal to cruise to my heart's content...

$19 emission test, $27.75 for title and tags for the year (14 months actually!), and $62 extra every six months to add her to my driver insurance. So for about $170/year, or $14/month, or less than $0.50/day, I get to add another cruiser to the fleet...

Not sure where else I can get that kind of bang for the buck, not to mention the endless smiles on my face! I sure love my ole Pontiac's!

[Mister Pontiac]

Well the last couple weeks have been a bit slow for the GT, but things are progressing as funds allow. The windows are now tinted (thankfully!), and a nice little surprise arrived in the mail today... a set of '72 Rally Gauges! (Thanks, Dave)

After looking over the wiring diagram and the circuit board on back, it appears that this may not be an exact "plug and play" setup when swapping out from the idiot lights (as my '74 Bonne was)...

Any of you guys swapped out the idiot lights for Rally Gauges into your '72's? If so, was it a simple swap, or is there some rewiring to consider? I don't mind either way, just looking for the voice of experience here from you guys...

I'm probably a week or so away from diving in on this project, but aside from installing the correct sending units, are there any wires that need swapping?

Thanks!

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Mister Pontiac

Any of you guys swapped out the idiot lights for Rally Gauges into your '72's? If so, was it a simple swap, or is there some rewiring to consider? I don't mind either way, just looking for the voice of experience here from you guys...

Are you a seat belt warning light car or not? If so, supposedly you can just drop it right in (per conversations I've read here). If not, then you have to swap 1 or 2 wires I believe. Factory wiring diagram shows which one, I can't remember off the top of my head now.

Also remove the green wire from IGN3 terminal (this grounds the temp bulb when cranking the engine, which is not something you want to do on the gauge).

[Mister Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

Are you a seat belt warning light car or not? If so, supposedly you can just drop it right in (per conversations I've read here). If not, then you have to swap 1 or 2 wires I believe. Factory wiring diagram shows which one, I can't remember off the top of my head now.

Also remove the green wire from IGN3 terminal (this grounds the temp bulb when cranking the engine, which is not something you want to do on the gauge).

Thanks for the info, Ben. Hadn't thought about ground wire for the temp bulb.

I'm a seat belt warning light, 120 mph speedo car. (I decided to keep it that way as I have the 140 mph in my '71) From a quick reading of my manual and looking at the circuit board, I'm just not sure it's plug and play. Seems as though it isn't. But I do plan to spend some time this weekend looking at things in detail...

I'll report back my findings, but I figured someone might have the quick answer for me saving me some research.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Mister Pontiac

From a quick reading of my manual and looking at the circuit board, I'm just not sure it's plug and play. Seems as though it isn't.

Yeah, the factory manual doesn't cover the seat belt warning light system since it came out in January 1972 (HFR has posted the manual changes to it). If the gauges you have are for a '71-72 non-seat belt warning light system you definitely have to change pins since the car is a seat belt warning car (hopefully not change the plug itself: that's a B-body problem). Just compare colors on the cluster you have vs. the one installed in the car and it should be pretty obvious.

I want to say the temp and fuel sender are the ones that change, but it's got to have been 10 years since I last looked at this. Nothing else changes other than the IGN3 terminal and having to route the temp sending wire in the engine compartment from the passenger side head over to the driver's side head.

All the people I know who have done this have done it on '71 or non-seat belt warning '72 cars ;-)

[Mister Pontiac]

My oh my, has it really been TWO years since I updated this thread? Wow, so much has happened in the lapse, but suffice it to say, things are still going great with the GT! Last weekend was a productive one for me in the garage as the GT got some much deserved attention. I spent a couple afternoons swapping out all of the front end components, and making her handle and steer like she's supposed to.

It started a few months back when I took the original front end components from my '67 GTO and had them powder coated (A-arms, springs and sway bar). After installing a fresh set of urethane bushings and ball joints, I had them ready to swap out. So along with a new center link and tie rods, I completed the swap last weekend.

I decided this would be a great time to upgrade the rolling stock as well, so during the process, I did so. You can now see the new (15x8) Cragar Eliminator's and BFG Radial T/A's (235 60 15 up front and 255 60 15 out back). I decided that since both of my 67's are running Rally II's, I wanted to go a different route with the GT, but don't worry guys, the original 14x7 Rally II's are in safe keeping for any time I want to return the car to original.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics as much as I do! Even more, the car is such a pleasure to drive again. 91,000 original miles to date, and ever counting!

[Mister Pontiac]

Here's another shot, guys. Can't figure out how to upload more than one at a time right now...

One of these days I'll get back to the body work. Can't wait to see her with a fresh coat of Monarch and a new stripe!

[muscle_collector]

very nice. scarey how fast time goes by.

[Squidward]

Howdy, neighbor. Those wheels totally look like they belong on that car. Nice choice!

I have a 72, but a plain jane strippo model. I'll see you around at a Pontiac Power group event some day.

[MescaBug]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

very nice. scarey how fast time goes by.

So true. When I bought the 72 GTO 6 years ago as a turnkey car, I thought I'd have the little details and incorrect things fixed in a year or so. Yeah right.

Nice car! Keep us posted

[Gator67]

Car looks great Todd! Look forward to catching up at some point.

[rexs73gto]

Mr Pontiac, did the hood tach come on the car originally or did you or some one else put it on ??? If you didn't or don't know there is an easy way to tell if it came on the car from the factory .

[Mister Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Squidward

Howdy, neighbor. Those wheels totally look like they belong on that car. Nice choice!

I have a 72, but a plain jane strippo model. I'll see you around at a Pontiac Power group event some day.

Thanks Squidward! I'm sure we'll run into each other too @ a Pontiac Power meetup. Be sure to say stop by and say "Hi!"

Originally Posted by Gator67

Car looks great Todd! Look forward to catching up at some point.

Thanks Jeff! Indeed it has been too long my friend. Hope to see you soon as well!

[Mister Pontiac]

Originally Posted by rexs73gto

Mr Pontiac, did the hood tach come on the car originally or did you or some one else put it on ??? If you didn't or don't know there is an easy way to tell if it came on the car from the factory .

Hi Rex. I'm the one who put the hood tach on this car. I like hood tachs. I had this one as a spare in my stash when I bought the car, and since there was no tach in the car, I decided to install it. I'm one of those guys that likes a clock in the dash, and the tach on the hood. I run the same setup on my '67 wagon.

But I'm curious about your statement now... How can you tell if a hood tach came on the car from the factory?

[rexs73gto]

When I use to judge fro the GTOAA I got the luck of the draw to judge the at that time the 70-72 class GTO's not judges. The way you can tell if a 71&72 came with a hood tach from the factory is that it HAD to have the hood tach with the vent in the bottom of the tach , plus it HAD to have the vent hose that went over to the heater case with the 1 way valve about half way between the heater case & then it would have a special plastic fitting that went into the heater case. Also the vent hose would be 2 different sizes. The vent hose would kinda lol pull hot air from the heater case to keep the face of the tach clear. It kinda worked if you drove about a 1000 miles or so. I have an original hood tach that was installed on my 73 GTO when I bought it new. It came with all the parts in the tach box & I made sure the dealership tech installed all the part on my car at that time. I didn't know about it back than but glad I did it now. It seems every time I go to a real Pontiac show someone with a 71-2 GTO asks if I will sell the fitting to them. I don't remember how long a go now but at 1 of the GTOAA NATS a guy offered me $ 500.00 for it. I said no , & then he asked if he could take a pic of it which he did . He said he would try to make one. But it is a very special fitting for the hood tach.

[Mister Pontiac]

Oh boy... another 2 years has gone by since I last updated this thread! I beginning to sense a pattern in myself here.

The good news is that the GT has been progressing, slower than I want, but progressing nonetheless! The car has become my main driver, and maybe because I'm driving it all the time, getting to the projects seems to get put off?

Nevertheless...

A few months back, I got most of the interior work finished (pics attatched). I laid in a new carpet kit, and had the seats recovered. I found a shop that had some of the original Saddle brown, so we used that, but I also went with and a cloth center for both seats. It gives a little 'two-tone' look to the interior, but mainly it makes the seats more comfortable during the warm summer days we get around here.

I still plan to R&R the dash (to get rid of the crack), and there is a tilt column in the future too. My goal is to have those installed in 2018 as well.

Up next though, I'm assembling a mild 455 for her. I've had a spare (72 vintage) 455 block sitting in the corner, and it just seemed like the right time to finally get it together for the GT. This will be a low compression build as the car is my daily.

I dropped the heads @ the machine shop yesterday, and I plan to assemble the short block in the next two weeks. If all goes as planned, and I can source the last few small pieces needed, I should have the engine ready for install this spring. I'm looking forward to the added cubic inches as it will allow me to run a little taller gear for better highway RPM and MPG. And yes, the 3 speed manual will stay in the car.

Hope this encourages some of the rest of you to keep after your projects too. Time moves on for sure, but there's always something fun to do to keep us engaged in a little Pontiaction.

[Kurt L71S]

Eric,
Let me tell you that I love your "score"....I can't tell you enough what a find you came across...
As being a photographer, This photo REALLY should be printed and framed for your den or man cave...
Keep up the great work and again, Congrats...

[ponchjoe]

I really like the two tone seats. It gives the GT a little luxury that it otherwise would not have.

[Mister Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Kurt L71S

Eric,
Let me tell you that I love your "score"....I can't tell you enough what a find you came across...
As being a photographer, This photo REALLY should be printed and framed for your den or man cave...
Keep up the great work and again, Congrats...

Thanks Kurt! I originally took the shot just to get a closeup of the carpet color, but it has turned out to be a very cool pic. Appreciate the kind words.

Originally Posted by ponchjoe

I really like the two tone seats. It gives the GT a little luxury that it otherwise would not have.

Thanks Joe. I like the look of the two tone as well. I also added a woodgrain insert to the lower dash (where the engine turned aluminum goes on GTO's) as well as a 72 custom wheel with the woodgrain inlay. All together, it does give the interior a more luxurious and rich feel.