Update on my latest project - 68 GTO

Looks great Joe!!!!! It even looks like you have a nice straight hood, all the 68-70 GTO hoods are a weak piece. The one I have for my 71 Wagon has a small crease were the hood hinges bolt on. we had to brace it up.

Looking really good Joe!

-Mike

UPDATE March 23, 2103

The car is back from paint and I have started on re-assembly.

New parking lamp housings are very pricey, so I decided to refurbish my originals. I replaced the sockets and repainted the housings and the silver areas on the lenses. They turned out pretty good

and I won't have to worry about poor grounds; I added dedicated ground wires and 3-wire weatherpak pigtails.











I took the shifter apart, cleaned, painted, polished and lubricated everything as required:






Pulled out the old floor insulation and cleaned up some minor traces of rust before installing new deadener.
The orange areas are original primer:








Gardening (knee) pad sure comes in handy when you're doing this task...




Then on to the rear compartment/package tray area. I am installing 3-point belts for the outboard seat positions (front and rear).
Got the complete set from Morris Concepts. Nice stuff!

The rear retractor mounts on top of the package tray. The belt load is transferred down through a bracket that anchors to the pinch weld flange at the top of the wheelhouse, just aft of the rear

seat/trunk partition. The bracket is 316 stainless and about 1/8" thick. We discovered that the Pontiac (Tempest/LeMans/GTO) and Chevrolet (Chevelle/Malibu) body structure is a little different in

the rear wheelhouse area. On a Chevrolet, you can drill the attaching holes for the lower mounting bolts in the pinch weld flange and the back side is accessible. On the Pontiac, there is a box

reinforcement section behind the mounting area, so you can't get at the bolts. I installed heavy extruded J nuts for the lower attachments:







The rear retractor mounting brackets fit perfectly; more pics after I complete the installation.



I have not been able to get any outdoor pics due to the weather and the fact that I can't move the car, but here's how it looks in the garage:












Lots left to do, but it's coming along!

lookin good joe

Beautiful!!!

I'm drooling all over my keyboard....

Wow dude. Just... Wow.

Very nice Joe!!

Hey Joel that lift looks familiar!!

April 14, 2013 update.

It's been about 4 weeks since I posted an update; things are moving right along.

Completed the installation of the rear seat belt retractors:




Then masked and primed the lower dash panel:








Then painted the lower dash:






Installed carpet, shifter, rear seat divider, kick panels, E-brake mechanism and console:










Yes, I know it's a 69-72 console. Someday I'll find someone who wants to trade for a 68.




Then, on to the instrument panel, radio and glove box installation. Unfortunately, the in-dash tach did not owrk when I tested it. I re-installed the Rally clock:










Spent about 4 days getting all of that where I wanted it, including adding a ground terminal strip for the speakers, radio and 12V power port.

Then, it was on to the front end....

Surprise! I found a little area of flaking paint and a little bit of bent metal on the core support while I was installing the updated weatherpak connectors for the turn signal/park lamps:




Straightened up the damaged area at the outboard corner of the core support, cleaned/treated/primed/painted the area:






Now, time to install the valance panel:






And the headlight doors & grilles:




While I was working up front, I installed the new master cylinder and booster:





And re-finished the sorry looking washer bottle...it turned out great!




Now, I'm picking up steam!
My wife held the rear bumper in position while I bolted it up:




In the last couple of days, I got the front seats in, along with the 3-point belt on the driver's side.

When the sun made an appearance this afternoon, I pulled the car out for a few pics.
Here's what it looks like today (4/14/2013):






In the next two pictures, you can see the "Aux" input and the 12V power port mounted below the dash.
I plan to move both of them into the console, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut the holes in the new console bin liner yet.
Maybe I'll tackle that project later this year...













It looks pretty good in these pics, but it's actually covered with a fine layer of dust. Can't wait to see it in the sunshine after it's all cleaned up!

I've still got a lot of trim and detailing to do, but I'm very happy with the way it's looking so far.

Its looking pretty good to me too!LOL actually it looks awesome Joe and I am so jealous.

Jeez dude, that thing is amazing! You do some awesome work, man!

NICE!

Makes my weekend's worth of work seem pretty silly...

Very nice!!

Thanks for the kind words, folks.

I have always liked the looks, size and style of the 68-70 GTO.

I'm putting this one together with the intention of making it a long-term keeper/project car.

Eventually, I plan to upgrade to more modern suspension & braking, along with an OD transmission.

I just really enjoy doing this!

I stopped reading this thread,.
It,s depressing to live in the snow belt, in depressed ontariario.


but seriously Joe,. nice work,.

Nick

Thanks, Nick.

I'm DEFINITELY ready for some warm weather...been a LONG winter and a cold spring.

JoeT wrote:

Thanks, Nick.

I'm DEFINITELY ready for some warm weather...been a LONG winter and a cold spring.

yuh,. you're preaching to the choir buddy,.

love coming outside to eat at 9pm in shorts and t shirt, in the 80+ deg weather
its cooled off abit tho,. its down to 75,......

Nick

UPDATE June 7, 2013

We've been on the road for several weeks; we returned from an extended (31 day) vacation trip at the end of May.
I picked up my stainless steel trim - all straightened and polished - and got started on installation.

I was able to get some loop carpet for the doors. Made my own bindings from some black vinyl I had laying around. They turned out great.

Here's the carpet cut to match the door panel shape:





Made the binding by cutting a 1.75" wide strip of black vinyl left over from a previous project:





Binding and carpet ready to be sewn. You sew them "face to face", then wrap the vinyl around the back of the door panel after bonding the carpet to the panel board.









At the same time, I also decided to move the 12V power port and the radio "Aux" plug out of sight.
The 12V port is now in the console and the Aux input is tucked up under the dash; not visible, but easily reached.





I made new water barriers for the doors using heavy-gauge plastic instead of the coated paper and replaced the foam seals aound the door pull handles and window cranks.







I removed the stainless steel moldings from the door trim panels and polished the moldings.
Re-sprayed the trim panels with vinyl/fabric dye and put everything back together, including new "fuzzies".




Door trim looks great!





Moving on to the exterior moldings and trim...
I removed each wheel, undercoated the fender liners, touched up the brake drums and the visible portions of the frame rails.







Then I installed the freshly polished wheel opening moldings, new trim rings and snazzy new lug nuts.
Looks like new, except these are 7" wide instead of the original 6" wheels.







I decided to replace the side marker lamp lenses and bezels; the old stuff looked really bad when seen against the new paint.
Lined up the GTO emblems on the quarters...







I'm having trouble with the rear window molding installation.
First, I had the wrong molding clips; they were too short and made the moldings sit too low in the channel.
Even with the correct clips, the moldings don't sit flush at the bottom, left corner of the glass.


I think the glass is miss-formed, but I'm going to try to put some weight on the window when the temps get a little warmer.
Hopefully, a couple of days with 50+ pounds and temps over 80F will squeeze the butyl down a little bit.
No pics of this area yet; still working on it...



Still cleaning, but I'm just about ready for our first show:

*clap*

*clap*

*clap*

Brings a tear to my eye, dude. Absolutely gorgeous! Nice friggin work!


















































(wouldn't be me if I didn't say it though... Needs more lower! )

toomanytoyz wrote: "(wouldn't be me if I didn't say it though... Needs more lower!"

Too funny, Bill!

Drove it about 25 miles to a local POCI chapter show today; I'm building my confidence with it.
Runs pretty smooth!


Got a BIG show (EyesOnDesign) next Sunday; that will be fun!

UPDATE: June 8, 2103.

Made it to our debut show today; the POCI Widetrackers 25th Annual Spring "Dust-Off" in Davisburg, MI.
It's almost 25 miles from my home, so I got a little seat time in!

The view from the driver's seat:


Speedo actually reads a little high...


At the show:


In great company!

UPDATE June 14, 2013

Getting close to "done"!

Wipe the grease and fingerprints off your camera lense!

And, as much as I look forward to the updates on this car Joe, it makes me feel like a less than adequate car guy because I can't do half of what you have to this thing, and that makes me sad, but yet... happy.

Thanks for the tip, Bill! I'll have to take some more pics; it looks like the lens had some sea water film from our last vacation...DOH!

toomanytoyz wrote:
"And, as much as I look forward to the updates on this car Joe, it makes me feel like a less than adequate car guy because I can't do half of what you have to this thing, and that makes me sad, but yet... happy. "

Are you kidding me? Haven't you flipped about 6 cars in the time its taken me to not quite finish ONE? I wish I could turn stuff around like you do!

Considering the quality of assembly and the difficulty of making a factory black paintjob look as good as yours does, means there simply are no words left that can describe this GTO properly!

Looks awesome. Great job.

Looks very good! But I have one complaint.....lose the nasty red heater hoses.

I'll get to those hoses eventually. Been focused on getting it ready for a "closed hood" show...tomorrow!

Supposed to have thunderstorms all night tonight and most of the day tomorrow. Might not be the best day for an annual "rain or shine" charity event.

Great work Joe!  But I agree with Bill, it is bitter sweet looking at your work.  

I'M NOT WORTHY!!!!

Nice job,.  but to be period correct,. (and i had a couple of old rusty gto's, i turned cars over back then like billy does now ) 
The very first thing we did was look around for a set of L50-15 tires, G60's minumum,.
Mags with lots of offset so they stuck out,.(before headers or the aluminum intake,.)
No good having lots of power if you can't get it to stick,.

The factory sized wheels and tires look kinda silly to me,.
The ansen mags would look right,. but a black goat with keystones would be boss.

Nick
jmho

Now I am depressed, as I don't think I'll ever get any of my cars looking that good.  Phenomenal work Joe.  The shine in that paint is ridiculous.  I can see into your neighbors house looking into that paint!

Wow!!!!!!!!

ooo I want a set of slot mags for the Cougar

Had a set of these on a 57 Corvette, then also on a 67 Corvette coupe many years ago.
They were bitchin'!

Not new Vettes; I had them on those cars in the late 70s and early 80s.

I'm getting kinda ancient...