Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share my progress and continue to update as I move along. The car is a '65 GTO, 389, 4barrel, Auto, P/S, A/C, car (PHS verified). My father had this car since he was 18 - boy are there some stories that go along with this car.
This car has seen better days.. like most of this age. As much as I want to do a complete frame off resto, that's just not going to happen with all of the other projects I have going on (money pits). The plans for my goat are simple. Make it a driver's car.. keep the patina, keep the "outlaw" vibe I get from this vehicle from all of the stories my dad told me.
The motor was last built in the early 90's - with about 7,000miles on her since then. The transmission is a TH400 out of a 67 GTO - and getting the transmission rebuilt was the very first thing I had done to be able to get the car to my garage (didn't have a trailer at the time... and I just wanted to drive her!)
Here is when i first got her into my garage.
Pass Side by victor williams, on Flickr
Drive Side by victor williams, on Flickr
Hood off by victor williams, on Flickr
starting tear down by victor williams, on Flickr
Here is where I have her up in the air, starting to take the front end apart. Cleaning up the firewall and at this point starting on making a new wiring harness (used painless ATO fuse panel and wired her up). Yes, a dumb idea.. but I deleted the a/c (which was already disconnected and hadn't been installed in YEARS) & heater core. I'll likely run a small 12v system inside the car, plumb into the factory vents for a defroster.
Working on Firewall by victor williams, on Flickr
I really wanted to keep the factory gauges.. and I plan on restoring the original gauge cluster. But, in the mean time I figured why not throw this dash in there.
New Dash by victor williams, on Flickr
At this point I touched up around the block with period correct paint from Eastwood. I replaced the old worn out 750 Holley with a brand new. The wiring for the motor is ran, but need to be cleaned up when the front end gets put back together. At this point is where an HEI distributor was installed and my neighbor showed me how to tune with a vacuum gauge. The difference between first start up/drive when I first got her and now is night and day. She was running way to rich, timing seemed off, and it just overall ran like crap. She fires right up and boy does she rumble!
Starting Suspension Driver Side by victor williams, on Flickr
-More below (image restriction)
Just wanted to share my progress and continue to update as I move along. The car is a '65 GTO, 389, 4barrel, Auto, P/S, A/C, car (PHS verified). My father had this car since he was 18 - boy are there some stories that go along with this car.
This car has seen better days.. like most of this age. As much as I want to do a complete frame off resto, that's just not going to happen with all of the other projects I have going on (money pits). The plans for my goat are simple. Make it a driver's car.. keep the patina, keep the "outlaw" vibe I get from this vehicle from all of the stories my dad told me.
The motor was last built in the early 90's - with about 7,000miles on her since then. The transmission is a TH400 out of a 67 GTO - and getting the transmission rebuilt was the very first thing I had done to be able to get the car to my garage (didn't have a trailer at the time... and I just wanted to drive her!)
Here is when i first got her into my garage.
Pass Side by victor williams, on Flickr
Drive Side by victor williams, on Flickr
Hood off by victor williams, on Flickr
starting tear down by victor williams, on Flickr
Here is where I have her up in the air, starting to take the front end apart. Cleaning up the firewall and at this point starting on making a new wiring harness (used painless ATO fuse panel and wired her up). Yes, a dumb idea.. but I deleted the a/c (which was already disconnected and hadn't been installed in YEARS) & heater core. I'll likely run a small 12v system inside the car, plumb into the factory vents for a defroster.
Working on Firewall by victor williams, on Flickr
I really wanted to keep the factory gauges.. and I plan on restoring the original gauge cluster. But, in the mean time I figured why not throw this dash in there.
New Dash by victor williams, on Flickr
At this point I touched up around the block with period correct paint from Eastwood. I replaced the old worn out 750 Holley with a brand new. The wiring for the motor is ran, but need to be cleaned up when the front end gets put back together. At this point is where an HEI distributor was installed and my neighbor showed me how to tune with a vacuum gauge. The difference between first start up/drive when I first got her and now is night and day. She was running way to rich, timing seemed off, and it just overall ran like crap. She fires right up and boy does she rumble!
Starting Suspension Driver Side by victor williams, on Flickr
-More below (image restriction)