[dataway]

Originally Posted by roger1

I guess I could have. I never thought about that before.
But whenever I listen to my own voice, I think I sound kind of dorky.

EVERYONE thinks that, I like watching videos by someone with some character

[gtohurstjudge]

Here's a tip regarding the convertible top frame.......when the top is installed, it is necessary
to remove the rear rail from the car in order to move the tacks around when working to get all the wrinkles out of the top. Often this takes removing the rail numerous times to get it perfect. The way the factory did it you have to take a wrench and remove the bolts on
each side to remove the rail, then you have to reinstall them when putting it back. What I did back in the
early 80's is just screw studs into the bolt holes instead of the bolts. when you want to remove the rear rail all you have to do is grab it and pull it inward till it comes off the end of the stud (the rail is quite flexible) and you can remove the rail and put it back in seconds instead of minutes.

[roger1]

Ended up returning the Comp Cams poly lock rocker nuts. After trying one, I decided it would be better to go with ones a bit longer. So I ordered a set of ARP 300-8242 which are 1.2" long. These fit perfectly and still clear stock valve covers with room to spare.
After getting them installed, I re-checked the compression on the #5 cylinder and it did come back down in line with all the other ones at 155psi.

I then decided that it just wasn't working out great how I had my spark plug wires run. Plus, they were cut to length by the machine shop when the engine was on their dyno. So I decided to redo them all and needed to cut some shorter for how I wanted them to be run. Had to order some new crimp on ends to be able to do that. I'm much happier with the way they are routed now.



Also drilled a hole into the air cleaner base to install the Edelbrock air temperature sensor.



When I ordered the new ARP rocker arm nuts, I looked through my Summit wish list looking for an small item to add so I could get to the amount to qualify for free shipping. I decided to order something that's been in that list for a few years. A set of 10" Race Ramp wheel cribs. I should have gotten these sooner as they are really great.



While I had the car up in the air to try them out, I decided this would be a good time to finish up the wiring for the headlights and turn signals. First I blasted and painted the headlight backing plates and buckets and installed new springs and adjusting screws. Like I did on the tail light wiring I made modifications to the AAW harness to make it fit more like the original wires did. This completes the wiring for the entire car. I was overall very happy with the AAW kit and am really glad I went that route.





I plugged a few things in to test the wires and all works perfectly but I did find an issue with the horns. One sounded sick and the other didn't work at all. I should have tested them before I took the time to blast and paint them up real nice. At this point I think I'll order a set of the new reproductions from Ames.
Btw, I did receive the driver side grille trim I ordered to replace the one I broke and was able to get that bent to fit just fine using the same process I did on the passenger side. Not easy though and I probably spent an hour and half on it while I was watching the Masters.

At the end of the day yesterday, I started the engine up. Sounds way better now and no ticking at all. Idles really well too. I did notice a little shaking from about 1100 rpm to 1700 but that seemed to go away when the engine got up to full temperature. I'm sure I need to go through the tuning procedures again now that the rocker arm issue is fixed. I'll wait until I have the brakes done to do tha so can move the car out of the shop and not fill it with exhaust fumes again.

I had the rear wheels off the ground so I ran the transmission through the gears and so far it seems to shift just fine. With it in gear and the e-brake on, the engine still idles perfectly smooth too.

[Andretti]

Those wheel cribs will be a big help when you start buffing. She's looking really good!

[roger1]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

I notice you are using a repro brake booster....... On the ones I have installed on numerous GTO's including my own, I had to install a flat washer
on each stud for mounting the master cylinder in order to get the proper clearance at the master cylinder piston to push rod interface to prevent the brakes from dragging........no big deal, just put one flat washer on each stud...
not noticeable once the master cylinder is installed.

I am sure glad you gave me that tip! Thanks again. I had to put 1/16" thick washers behind the master just like you did. If you hadn't given me this tip, I can't imagine how long it might have taken me to figure out what was wrong! I think I would have have suspected a bad master cylinder first.

Updates:

Got the master cylinder installed and brakes bled using my vacuum bleeding canister. I always think I can do this without getting fluid on the floor but it seems to never work out that way.



I thought about painting the master with cast paint but decided to try something new this time. I had read that coating the bare cast iron with this protectant works well so I bought some to try. I haven't applied it yet though.



The car now moves under it's own power. I moved it outside briefly so I could get my floor cleaned up. I stacked up some outdoor furniture cushions to use as a seat.



Oops. Couldn't resist:



I haven't gone through the Edelbrock tuning procedures again yet but intend to do so soon.

Receive my bumper back from being rechromed. Looks like they got all the dings out perfectly and I think it looks very nice but I wouldn't say the chrome quality was absolutely 100% perfect. But, I'm happy enough with it so no complaints.



Before installing the bumper, I removed the trunk lid extension stainless trim from the quarter panels so I could color sand and buff the paint in that area and reinstall the trim. They can't be removed once the bumper is in place so this needed to be done first.
When installing the bumper I was surprised to see it didn't fit the same as it did before. I guess all the ding straightening they had to do on it changed the general shape a little. It was the passenger side the wasn't fitting the same. It was a little low and too far out. To correct, I needed to loosen the both the bumper and frame bracket bolts so I could move and realign the bracket. It time consuming and pretty much took the better part of the day yesterday to get it to where I was satisfied but I did get there.





The trunk lid extension trim stainless is polished but I haven't done that to the other 3 trunk lid trim pieces yet. They are just mocked up for now.
As you can see, I have bulbs in the taillights and they are working. And btw, I know I raised a few eyebrows when I mentioned I bought the plastic repro tail light bezels but I really like them. I see zero wrong with going this route.

I had read that using oven cleaner works well for stripping the paint off of the plastic front grille pieces so I bought a can and gave it a try. I did 3 applications and it did work pretty well but I will finish it off with Scotchbrite to remove the few spots of paint remaining.

[MUSLCAH]

Looks like you even got a little 2 gear rubbah too….lol

[Brewster]

Looking good and wow she's come far. Wish I had your body and paint skills.

[Mark Simiele]

Looks great.

[MUSLCAH]

Little tip right here….for those plastic grill parts. Spray a light coat ..from this aerosol can…let flash for 15 minutes …then put your SPI on it.

[n20ta2]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Attachment 589260

Little tip right here….for those plastic grill parts. Spray a light coat ..from this aerosol can…let flash for 15 minutes …then put your SPI on it.

Great stuff right there

[vertigto]

Your progress is pretty amazing...to be commended. Seems like you are ahead of your goal.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by vertigto

Your progress is pretty amazing...to be commended. Seems like you are ahead of your goal.

Thanks!
I did have some goals as far as wanting to get the car painting and any outdoor blasting I needed to do done before the heat of summer and I did make those. I've been asked a few times when I thought I would have the car done but it's still hard for me to even make an estimate for that and haven't set any goals. It still seems that I have a long, long list of things that I need to do so I just keep plugging away and don't give it a lot of thought.

Updates:
Cleaned up and painted the convertible top frame with SPI epoxy primer. I think it came out really nice. Looks brand new to me.





I did remove the first crossbar to paint since I didn't want to get paint on the rubber spacers or chrome screws and had just reinstalled it before I took those 2 photos. I buffed the original chrome screws and that made them look new:



Both the original left and right hold down clamp assemblies were bent and I opted for new reproductions I bought from Ames. I'm very happy with the quality of these and like the fact they have stronger than original pins where the chrome hook bracket connects. Bought a new alignment pin as well.



I do have new steel side cables for the top frame but I haven't put them on yet. Both original cables are frayed some. It looks like they will be easier to remove and replace with the frame installed on the car.

Also sprayed black epoxy on the Ram Air hood pan. I didn't strip the ecoat first. I just scuffed it with 320 grit and a maroon Scotchbrite where I couldn't get to easily with the sandpaper.



Yesterday, I sprayed black epoxy primer on the back sides all the wheels and flipped them over and painted the gray epoxy primer on the front sides today.





I'm going to do a bit of block sanding on the spokes to make them a bit flatter. Only the 3 15X7 factory original wheels need this. The castings are better in this area on the 2 aftermarket 15X8 wheels.

[gtohurstjudge]

A couple of things to consider.......first of all, the factory fit on the
rear bumper was a little lower than the way you have it on your car. If you lower it
a little it will look better because then the gaps between the light bezels and the deck lid, the light bezels and the bumper, and the bumper ends and the quarter panels will all be pretty much the same......it should look like this picture......second, although everybody seems to paint the master cylinder cast iron, they were painted black from the factory. Your car is looking gorgeous! I'm
glad I was able to help on the master cylinder washers.

[north]

Nice rear fitment except the outer upper corners of the bumper (under the ends of the quarter panels are a bit out and down. Common issue with rechromed bumpers.

[north]

The last post was not my opinion, it is what the assembly manual specifies. This rear bumper (sorry, don't have a picture of the entire rear of the car) is an original factory chromed bumper (luckily never dinged in back) and we installed it as per assembly manual rear bumper alignment specs (they are quite detailed).

[roger1]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

A couple of things to consider.......first of all, the factory fit on the
rear bumper was a little lower than the way you have it on your car. If you lower it
a little it will look better because then the gaps between the light bezels and the deck lid, the light bezels and the bumper, and the bumper ends and the quarter panels will all be pretty much the same......it should look like this picture......second, although everybody seems to paint the master cylinder cast iron, they were painted black from the factory. Your car is looking gorgeous! I'm
glad I was able to help on the master cylinder washers.

Like all the rest of the gaps on the car, I adjusted the bumper how I thought it looked the best to me and didn't even look at the specs in the assembly manual.
After your post, I looked up the specs for the bumper to body gaps and you are right, the minimum gap from the deck lid to the top of the bumper is .55 inch while mine is about a 1/4". The next thing I did was search photos of '69s with google and noticed that probably half or more of the photos I saw looked like they would have less than 1/2" at the center.
So then yesterday I went out and studied the look of mine more for a while. Here's photos I took of the top gap at eye level with the lens of the camera set at normal with no wide angle or zoom:







I then dug out an old photo of the rear of the car as it was when I bought it. I don't believe the bumper had ever been off since it left the factory. At least it had never been adjusted anyway as there were only a single set of washer marks where the frame bolts were.



It may have been set just a bit lower than I have it now but barely and certainly still well less than 1/2" gap in the center.

But the bottom line for me is how I think it looks and I think I like it better the way I have it than if I lowered it for the center gap to be .55 to .67 in spec range.
When looking at the bumper while standing up and looking down at it, I tend to see the top of the tail light bezels above the chrome strip and judge the gap from that. So to my eye, the gaps look more consistent across the entire bumper with having about 1/4" at the center than it would set at 1/2". If I were to lower the bumper, I wouldn't move it any more than 1/8" for sure.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by north

The last post was not my opinion, it is what the assembly manual specifies. This rear bumper (sorry, don't have a picture of the entire rear of the car) is an original factory chromed bumper (luckily never dinged in back) and we installed it as per assembly manual rear bumper alignment specs (they are quite detailed).

That looks great to me. Pretty much identical to how I set mine.
However, the spec for the gap at the corners of the bumper are .49 to .61". But I'd say yours is closer to 1/4" just like mine is. I wonder how many of these cars actually left the factory with these gaps within this spec.

[MUSLCAH]

We’re getting a little Anal here……………………………..

[Shiny]

I think anal may be a little harsh! The bumper fit looks fantastic and your own eye delivers outstanding results. Your work continues to be amazingly impressive.

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by Shiny

I think anal may be a little harsh! The bumper fit looks fantastic and your own eye delivers outstanding results. Your work continues to be amazingly impressive.

It looked fine to me…but Roger was called out ,in a previous post… that’s where the anal ,came in.