#1  
Old 04-25-2021, 10:17 PM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Default 66 Bonneville Barn find, bringing it back to life...

This is gonna be my restoration/build thread.

I posted about bringing home a 66 Bonneville 2 door hardtop and a 66 Catalina convertible.

The Catalina will be in its own thread at some point, for now it is solid and runs and drives and I'm going to leave it be...

I'm going to focus on the Bonneville for now.

According to the PO, the car was in a barn in North Carolina, it does have a NC inspection sticker from 2001, so that checks out. It was apparently bought and brought up here by an older gentlemen around 2010, and he stuffed it in his barn and passed away in 2016, then the PO bought it from the estate. He stuffed it into his barn and left it sit for another 5 years, and I bought it from him a couple weeks ago.

It did start and drive in the yard, and it was really straight, so I bought it.

The engine is a389/4bbl. Code is YE so it should be 325hp. At least it's not the absolute base engine! It has a THM400, and an open diff with highway gears. It's a bench seat/column shift, so nothing exciting inside to speak of...

Did I mention that the the body on this thing is razor straight? The only real rust is in the trunk floor. There was a rotting cardboard box in the trunk when I got it and I'm sure that didn't help.

The interior stinks, I'm sure I'll find something dead when I get into it. At the very least the carpet needs to be shampooed. The seat covers are mostly pretty good, so that's a plus!

It does have 95k miles on it, and the 389 seems a bit tired. I dug my compression tester, multi-funtion meter, vacuum gauge, etc out of the tool box today so I can see just how tired it is and tune it up as best I can.

The brakes were toast, both front wheel cylinders were junk and spewing fluid, so I rebuilt the front brakes with new cylinders, shoes, springs, etc. They seem to work but the pedal is SOFT, so I need to get into the rear brakes. The wheel cylinders I took off appear to be original Delco-Moraine parts, so I kept them for later.

The carburetor was covered in filth and it wouldn't run at all after a week of sitting, so I pulled it off and rebuilt it over the last couple days. It must have had a half pound of green sludge in the bowls. I put it all back together and dumped some fuel down the vent tubes and a little down the throat and she fired right up. That felt good.

I was trying to adjust the carburetor today, and the radiator leak reared its ugly head. The seller told me it leaked and the car came with a replacement, so in it goes... But I'm stopping to clean and paint the core support and all the body support stuff I can get to while its apart, just to keep it from deteriorating.

I'm trying to ride the line between hacking it together to keep it running and tearing it apart and doing a full blown rebuild. It's too easy to go down the "while I have this apart, I may as well do that too" rabbit hole, next thing you know the engine is out and headed for the machine shop and the car sits for the next 5 years. Been there, done that!

As usual for a barn find, the list of things to do is a mile long... I can scratch front brakes and carburetor off the list... Radiator should be in with new hoses in a few days and then I can move on to the rear brakes and do the tune up and see if I can get it rolling up and down my street. The tires are dry-rotted, and I'm not a fan of hubcaps, I need to order some wheels and tires... I gotta admit, I read the whole wheel and tire sticky and it didn't help... As far as I can tell a 15x6 is with a 225/70 R15 is the safest bet? I'd love to run some 15x7s but that seems to invite problems with hitting the fender? If anyone has a definitive answer of what size and backspacings are "safe" I would appreciate it!

That's all I have for now. I'll try to add some pictures later...

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Old 04-26-2021, 09:33 PM
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Post pics...sounds like a fun project!

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Old 04-26-2021, 11:06 PM
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Good luck with the resto , you will live the dream in the Bonneville, look forward to some photos, darksider forever. John L

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Old 04-27-2021, 01:00 PM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Well, here she is on my trailer:



And here are some interior shots:





I don't know why, but the rest of the pictures I uploaded came in upside down. I'll hvae to figure that out...

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Old 04-27-2021, 03:13 PM
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Nice find...looking forward to details of your progress.

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Old 04-27-2021, 04:29 PM
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Congrats! Straighter body and MUCH cleaner interior than the things I stumble into.

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Old 05-12-2021, 07:24 AM
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Any updates ?

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  #8  
Old 05-12-2021, 08:45 AM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Originally Posted by 1965 Pontiac Parisienne View Post
Any updates ?
Well, it runs and drives now. That's a big improvement!

The radiator that came with the car didn't fit. it had a 28" core, and it seems most of the local auto parts stores try to sell you that size radiator, but it will not fit in the opening in the core support. So I took the original radiator to a shop down in Ferndale and had it re-cored. It came back looking brand new and I'm super happy with it. Ferndale Radiator is the shop if any of you are in the Detroit area and need radiator work done.

I got it idling decent. It's pulling a solid 16" of vacuum at idle, so the engine can't be too bad. The valve seals are shot. That first start of the day is SMOKEY! LOL.

All but one of the tail lights were out, so I went to replace them and found out that all of the sockets were corroded pretty bad. All but one would not work, even after sanding and cleaning the contacts, so I replaced them all. Now they all work, I have brake lights and turn signals in the rear. The headlights are another story. The indicator lights in the dash are all out so I can't tell when the high beams are on or off, but with the switch one way, I have no headlights, in the other the top comes on on the drivers side and the bottom comes on on the passenger side. I'm going to dig into that next. Do you guys know which lights should be on in the low beam position? Top or bottom?

I have taken it on a few quick runs to town (in the daytime only), and she cruises pretty nice. Other than the rattle from the broken exhaust, its actually pretty quiet. It rides very smooth. Sadly it is *not* fast, and I'm not sure the kickdown is working because it seems to labor in 3rd gear trying to accelerate if I mash the throttle in the 50-60 mph range. Those highway gears are a bummer.

I need to add some rear seat belts so I can take the whole family for a ride. I found some aftermarket ones that look like they'll do the job, so those will get ordered this week. Weird that it has front belts but no rear belts.

Also, the tires are dry rotted and I really need to replace them. The wheels look pretty ugly too, so I just want to replace them with the tires. I'm trying to figure out what will fit. I'm leaning towards 15x7 with 4" backspacing with some 225/70R15s. Seems reasonable from what I can glean from the wheel tire sticky thread.

Here are some pics from yesterday after I got back from town:





Next steps:

Figure out headlight and front turn signal issues and get them working properly

Shampoo the carpets and clean the interior

Clean the radio controls. The radio actually works, but the volume control is horribly scratchy. It is an aftermarket radio with a built in 8 track.

Replace all the burned out lights in the dash

Figure out what to do about the headliner. the stitching popped all along the front bow. I'm not sure if I can re-stitch it or not. I'm not very skilled at sewing, and I'm not going to try to replace the headliner until paint because it looks like the windshield and back glass have to come out to do it correctly.

The PO mucked up one of the fender skirts pretty good, so I won't be putting them back on until I drill out the broken screws and re-tap the mounting holes for the L brackets.

Buff out the paint to make it look as good as possible without a re-spray..

Replace the exhaust. It's really bad... Probably just going to get some local muffler shop duals installed for now.

Once that is all done it will be a fully functioning car, and I'll have to decide how deep I want to get into it. Any further work (i..e pulling the heads to do the valve seals, or just pulling the whole engine to do rings/bearings/gaskets/seals, or even re-painting the car) will require extended downtime and I don't want to get that deep into it until winter.

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Old 05-12-2021, 09:06 AM
gtospieg gtospieg is offline
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Nice progress...not necessary to pull the heads to do valve seals.

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Old 05-12-2021, 10:17 AM
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Looks like a nice, solid car. Good luck with it!

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Old 05-12-2021, 03:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtospieg View Post
Nice progress...not necessary to pull the heads to do valve seals.
I agree!
but....
If you pull the heads you can clean ALL the carbon AND lead deposits from the combustion chambers, a very good thing, AND do a valve job. IF you don't do a valve job, you can lap the valves and at least check to see how well the valves are seating, and get the heads cleaned at a machine shop. Make sure you replace the freeze plugs in the heads IF you do this.

At this time you should replace the valve springs (not expensive).

When and IF doing this, you can clean off the tops of the pistons, then take some scotchbrite and polish all the sharp edges on the piston tops and the edges of the combustion chambers on the heads (sharp spots can contribute to pinging).

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Old 05-12-2021, 07:43 PM
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First thing I would try with your headlight and dash light problem is to pull the switch and swap it with the one from the other '66 you have.

As I recall the light switch is unique to the '65 and '66 years and while they look identical to other years, internally they are different. Possibly someone has swapped in an incorrect switch?

Second thing is to ensure you have a GOOD ground wire from the back of the instrument cluster to the body of the car. I can tell you from bitter experience that while what connections you have might look good, they can give endless problems.

Do you guys know which lights should be on in the low beam position? Top or bottom? Bottom lights are low beam. Top lights are high beam but BOTH top and bottom should be on when high beam is operating


Let us know how you go

Ian

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Old 05-14-2021, 07:54 AM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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I pulled all the headlights late yesterday. Sometime in its history the owner swapped the high beams and low beams and plugged a high beam into a low beam socket. It was all screwed up. Sigh...

I hooked the correct headlamps to the correct sockets and they work fine. The headlamps that came with the car plug in, but they don't fit the mounting buckets because the alignment tabs don't line up with the cutouts in the mounting buckets. Ugh. Unfortunately by the time I got done screwing around with the wrong lights and picked up the proper lights it was too dark to go any further. I'll get it all back together today and then its on to the front turn signals.

I did take it to a local cruise in yesterday evening. It got a lot of looks and a couple guys came over to chat about it (new car on the scene and all). It ran and drove like a champ!

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Old 06-09-2021, 10:32 PM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Figured I would post an update on the Bonneville.

It's really starting to come around!

I got the headlights squared away, got the idle fixed after much screwing around, and Summit *finally* shipped my 4th wheel and tire. One got lost in the Fedex system and they had to send another. I also installed some air shocks to try and combat the rear end sag. She needs new springs, but I'm not doing that until my lift arrives in a month or so. Installing the shocks on my back in the driveway was bad enough.

Besides looking awful, the old tires were dry rotted and one had a major issue with a belt separation or something, it was bulged out on the inner sidewall so bad that the tread was bent out of shape. It was causing a pretty bad shake. Hopefully the new Cooper Cobras will remedy that.

New pics...

Every cool old car needs a chrome air cleaner right?


And with the new wheels and the air shocks aired up to 90psi...




I'm going to take it to the weekly cruise in here in town tomorrow.

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Old 06-24-2021, 05:32 AM
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Very nice with the Cragers

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1965 canandian Parisienne custome sport convertible AZ car. „Sold“
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Old 06-24-2021, 06:18 AM
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Very cool! Have fun!

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Old 06-24-2021, 11:41 AM
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Nice work, you're doin' great!

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Old 06-25-2021, 03:51 PM
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I like your Bonneville!!! I'm sure your having fun working out the issues and finding out what been done in the past. Looks like you need a new heater core? Fun, fun!!!! My 65 2+2 doesn't have rear seat belts either? Was rear seat belts a option?

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Old 07-26-2021, 02:05 PM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Originally Posted by 67GP428 View Post
I like your Bonneville!!! I'm sure your having fun working out the issues and finding out what been done in the past. Looks like you need a new heater core? Fun, fun!!!! My 65 2+2 doesn't have rear seat belts either? Was rear seat belts a option?
Yeah, the heater core is out, but it came with a new one in a box, so I'll re-install it at some point!

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Old 07-26-2021, 02:20 PM
Mwieczorek Mwieczorek is offline
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Well, I alluded to some idling issues I was having in another thread. I fought with that Carter AFB for over a month. I finally gave up and starting taking things off to see if I could figure out what was going on... I pulled the carb, intake, valley pan, and rocker covers. I did find that my PCV valve grommet was rotted, and big chunks of the valley pan gasket had rotted away. I pulled the rockers and pushrods and checked out the cam and lifters, they looked ok, so everything was cleaned and reinstalled (with some engine assembly lube for good measure). I cleaned and painted the valley pan and reinstalled it with a new gasket, then topped it off with a new intake manifold and a Holley carburetor. I also ditched the points and installed an HEI distributor. Everything that was removed was cleaned and painted before going back on. The TH400 kickdown wasn't functioning when i got it, so I found a microswitch on a 3D printed bracket that fits on the Holley so it works now. I also installed a new tachometer, but it is having issues, so I need to install a line filter to get the signal cleaned up.

It drives like a different car. Now it idles happily and doesn't die when I let off the gas.

I picked up a 400 from a 67 GTO engine in pieces... I'm gonna keep her on the road with this 389 and build the 400 in the background and have it ready for an eventual engine upgrade.








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