Original TriPower 389/4speed car
Picture taken in 1982:
This is a photo of my car at the Pittsburgh
World Of Wheels 1982. My father purchased this car earlier in the year
& removed
the Rallye II wheels with raised white letters
and installed these ET aluminum wheels with white walls. Ughhh! As you
can see, this car
was in pretty nice shape. It was not original
paint and it did not have an original motor. There was a 4bbl 350ci Pontiac
motor in it.
My father spent the next two or three years
restoring the car to original condition. He even repainted the car the
correct Montero Red. The
car looked and ran great. He had installed
a 1966 389 with Tri Power. In 1985, he had an engine fire & the car
was damaged
pretty badly. At this point, he decided
to pull the body off of the frame & completely restore this car to
perfection. The whole
underneath of the car was cleaned &
painted the original Montero Red. The frame was sandblasted & painted
gloss black. All of the
suspension was restored to new condition
- all new bushings, ball joints, springs, hoses, etc. All new fuel &
brake lines were
bent & installed. The body was mated
back with the chassis with all new body mounts & bolts. At this point,
(1987) the car was moved from
his body shop to his home & that was
the last anything was done to it, until December 2006. Basically the car
had sat untouched (other than be
used as a junk storagetable) for 19 years.
You can see in the pics below what it looked like when I started this project.
December 17, 2006:
My first goal was to get the car out of the
garage, load it into an enclosed trailer & bring it to my house. This
was done over a period of
a week, the week before Christmas 2006.
Once it was moved to my house (12/19/06), I was able to wash it & start
to unload all of the junk in the trunk & the
passenger compartment. The pics below show
it in my garage after I had done this. The first pic shows it in my garage
the first night. You can see that I
installed the fenders & hood to transport
it home. The rest of the pics are after the car was washed.
December 19, 2006:
December 21, 2006:
As you can see, there are alot of parts for
this car. The car is pretty much complete, with a few exceptions. I have
been purchasing
items for the car to put it back together
and I have many more to buy.
The car had an engine in it, but not much
was known about it's condition, so it was pulled out of the car & put
on a stand. I pulled the oil pan off & everything was inspected. The
bearings all looked good, the crank is in good shape & the cam looked
good. The motor was reassembled with all new gaskets & a new
water pump. The original tripower intake
was bolted back on. The four speed trans you see in the above pics is the
original transmission for the
car (VIN# stamped into the case). It was
cleaned up &readied for installation into the car.
I have repainted the motor the correct color
since this picture was taken. Also the intake was glass beaded & painted
with a ceramic silver paint
before the silver blue paint was applied
to keep it from burning & rusting in the areas that you see above.
The motor had been painted before
this pic was shot, but it was found that
the color was too "green" & the correct color was found & I repainted
the motor & intake together. The
carburators still needed rebuilt in this
shot as well.
January 24, 2007:
I started to restore the instrument cluster.
The guages are all finished. This is a "before" photo. I don't have any
finished pics, yet. The housing
is being sent out to get rechromed. Once
this is done, I will post finished pics. Also, you can see the actual miles
on this car (60,982).
This is a pic of the same dash befoore I
converted it to A/C. The opening is larger for the A/C controls. This panel
will be sent out to be
rechromed & detailed to look like new.
Once I recieve it back, I will assemble the restored guages.
February 24, 2007:
I finally had a chance to roll the car outside
& get a good shot of it in the daylight. I have done alot of work so
far, but it does
not show in these pics. All of the heater
& A/C assemblies have been dismantled, cleaned, repainted, & reassembled.
The guage cluster
has been taken apart, cleaned, & reassembled.
The dash bezel needs sento out for replating. The one in the pic below
is not original, as it was
an extra one that came with the car.
The car definately needs repainted, but you
can see it is excellent shape. All those years of junk piling on it &
the few years it
spent in a body shop (that is why it looks
to have overspray all over it - because it does). There are a few dents
in some places,
but it is pretty decent otherwise. It has
most of the original sheel metal & the original spotwelds are still
visible in the bottom of the
rear quarter panels. The rocker panels are
perfect & the floor has only a few tiny spots where it was repaired.
March 9, 2007:
The weather is finally going to cooperate.
Tomorrow, it is supposed to be in the 50s, but possibilty of rain. I decided
to
prep the firwall for painting.
Also pics of the motor, ready to install:
March 10, 2007:
It was raining, but we decided to paint anyway.
Unfortunately, on the last coat of paint, the moisture caused
us some issues. We ended up with runs in
the paint behind where the distributer is. I am going to let it dry for
a few days
and then try to wet sand the runs out. If
this doesn't work, we will have to re spray.
Saturday, March 24, 2007:
Well, we had to respray the firewall, due
to the runs. Started wetsanding & went thru to the red, so I just wetsanded
the whole
firewall, and we resprayed it black again
on Tuesday 3/20/07. Today, I unmasked it & started assembly. The pedals,
parking
brake assy, master cyl/booster, throttle
cable, were all installed as well as the motor and transmission. When installing
the flywheel, I broke a flywheel bolt &
spent the next 2.5 hrs looking for a new set to replace the originals.
I finally
located a set and got everything all together.
The shifter is installed & adjusted, too. Here are some more pics:
April 1, 2007:
I installed the gas tank and exhaust today.
The gas tank is a brand new "canadian" reproduction. It is supposed to
be the better quality
tank these days. The exhaust system is a
Magnaflow Stainless 2.5" mandrel bent system made for the '64-'72 GM A-body
cars.
April 3, 2007:
Tonight I connected all of the brake lines,
filled it up with Silicone DOT5 brake fluid & bled the system. Also,
I bolted the carburators on & connected the fuel lines, linkage, &
cable. The fuel line routing below is correct for a 1966 GTO tripower.
April 15, 2007:
This car had an original 1966 Sport Wood Steering Wheel in it. The steering wheel was in poor condition at best. A replacement wheel is $500, and is not really exactly like the original. I decided to try and clean up the original & it doesn't look all that bad. Up close, the chrome is a little pitted, but otherwise it looks great.
It is amazing what a little elbow grease
& some OOO steel wool will do. I used it on the wood, asell as the
chrome.
Here are some 'after' pics:
April 20, 2007:
I went to Spring Carlisle to get some parts
today. I purchased most of the reproduction interior components needed
for this restoration (carpet kit, seat cover
kit, door panel kit, rear package tray, floor mats, welting, trunk divider,
door sill plates, and some other misc. items).
The following pics are of the new door panels, compared to the old ones.
You
can see how poor condition the old ones
were in. I have since transferred the moldings fron the old ones to the
new ones.
I need to paint the inside floors and install
some sound deadener, so I can begin to install the interior soon.
Some misc. pics of the inside of the car:
April 29, 2007:
Today, I decided to start taking the seats
apart. This was a whole lot more work than I thought. There are about 200
'hog rings' holding the covers onto the frames, as well as the foam, burlap,
etc. Everything is attached to the frame with these little rings. I got
the right front seat to a point where I decided to leave it as is for now.
I can tackle this at a later date. More than likely, I will be taking the
seats to an upholstery shop to have them done.
This is a sneak peak of the new seats. They
are finished, but this is the only one I took a pic of.
April 30, 2007:
The long awaited dash bezel had arrived today.
If you don't remember what it looked like before, here is some shots from
over a month ago. The first pic is before I took it apart. The second pic
is what it looked like after I took it apart & got ready to send it
off to http://www.mrgusa.com/index.html
They did an excellent job of restoring the bezel to new condition.
This is what it looked like out of the box:
This is what it looked like after I assembled
the guages & all the switches:
August 5, 2007
I installed the rear bumper today. This bumper is in decent shape, bui I plan on rechroming it in the future.
February 18, 2008
This car did not have A/C originally. The
conversion to factory was started many years ago & I did
not want to undo any of the changes, so
I am going to continue the install. I had to cut the dash for the A/C vents.
I found an-
other factory A/C car a few miles from my
home & made templates of the openings on both sides. Here is the dirver's
side pictured,
after I cut the hole & primered it.
It still needs to be painted.
March 29, 2008
I disassembled the steering column, took
it to a friend's shop & media blasted it in his cabinet. Once finished,
I brought it
home & primed it & painted it. It
looks good as new. Below is a pic of the column & some other parts
that were going to the blaster.
April 5, 2008
I removed the doors & cleaned all of
the metal inside the car. Then I applied Chassis Saver paint to all of
the inside surfaces of the car. This
will keep any rust from developing, as well
as mask the odor (42 year old musty smell) of the original paint in the
car.
April 27,2008
I assembled the inner fenders, fenders, splash
sheilds, core support, doors, & radiator onto the car today.
I didn't have any shims, so I
still need to do the alignment of these
parts. Also I installed the steering column & tightened all suspension
bolts to spec. When all parts are installed,
I will need to figure out what springs to
use to get the correct stance. The front end needs to be lower than it
is currently.
New Griffen Aluminum 2 row radiator with
1.25" tubes. They say it is good for 600 hp.
May 3, 2007
I took the car to a friend's shop to have
some pipes bent to connect the Magnaflow exhaust to the original
exhaust manifolds., We then set the car
down & proceded to Clay Bar, wetsand & buff the entire car.
Exhaust Pics - May 2008
These two front pipes were not part of the Magnaflow kit. I had them, made & then they were TIG welded onto the Magnaflow pipes, instead of the clamps you see here.
Bodyshp pics - May 2008 - July 2008
The original idea was to get the right side
of the car fixed so it would look decent. This included the pass side door
& rear quarter panel. Mike Sanner (Sanners Auto
Body - 724-755-1020) talked me into stripping the burnt paint from
the tops of the front fenders & also the hood. Then it wwas ready to
paint the LF fender & whole right side.
Unfortunately matching 20+ year old lacquer
proved to be a challenge & the whole car ended up getting painted after
all.
July 16, 2008:
I brought the car home & it sat for a
few weeks until I had a chance to work on it. The paint needed to cure
anyways, so it worked out.
July 31, 2008
Rear speaker install:
My intent with this car is to make it appear original, but suit my own tastes. One of the items that must conform is the audio system. I do not want to see any modern audio compnents, yet I want decent sound from the system. The original AM/FM radio will be installed in the dash, but will not be functional. A modern, aftermarket CD player with iPod control will be monted in a conspicuous location, yet be accessible for use. The speakers are Boston Accoustics 4" front, installed in the single factory 4"x10" location. This is the new speaker plate below:
This is a shot of the front speakers intstalled in the dash, looking up from the gas pedal area:
This car had the optional rear speaker installed. It was a single 6"x9" speaker, mounted in the center of the rear deck. I installed a pair of 6"x9" Boston Accoustics under OEM 1966 grilles in the rear deck. There was some cutting necessary to make this work, but it was worth it for getting the sound desired.
This was how the original rear speaker looked:
Here is some pics of the new speakers installed in the rear deck, with a new reproduction package tray installed:
A view from the trunk area:
August - September 2008:
There was alot of assembly being done, but
I did not take pics of every single item installed on the car. The first
week of September 2008 is when the car really started coming together.
Most of the interior was installed, the dash assembly, rear seat, carpets,
etc. Then all of the mechanicals wer completed & the car was started
on Sept 7th. I took it for it's maiden voyage down to the local Gas Station.
Here are some misc pics:
September 14, 2008
I have been working to get
this car completely assembled. There are many things on my to-do list,
but for the most part, the car is nearing
completion. I installed the
header panel, grilles, and some misc interior parts.
This is a pic of the '66 LeMans
grilles that I had. The LeMans does not have a parking light in the grille,
like a GTO does. New reproduction
grille shells are $400, so
I decided to build a set myself. These are only temporary, but look good
enough to drive the car.
The picture below is the'66
LeMans grille with a '67 GTO parking light housing installed.
Finished pic of the grilles
on the car:
Some more misc pics of the
car on September 14, 2008:
September 21, 2008
Finally finished the car (cosmetically).
There are several small details that need taken care of, but for the most
part, the car is done. Took it
out for it's first show
today & to a couple of cruise nights. Got alot of compliments and got
to put about 150 miles on it.
May 9, 2009
Most of the work since September 2008 has
been 'behind the scenes' & is basically detail work & working the
bugs out. Today, I installed my new wheels/tires
Stock 15" x 7" GM steel wheels painted black
w/OEM '66 Pontiac 'Poverty' hub caps, & BF Goodrich Radial T/A's
225/60-15 front & 255/60-15 rear
