Hi I am restoring a 1972 pontiac luxury lemans, I would like to add poverty caps to the original steel 14x6 wheels, as I am going to be cloning it into a lemans GT. What is the correct poverty cap for the 1972 model year, specifically A bodies. What other items would I have to change out in order to make this clone or phantom car correct besides the obvious things like the luxury trim and emblems and wheel skirts, I have 3 sets of them painted wildforest green, thanks.
Standard wheels for a LeMans GT are Rally II's without trim rings.
You will need GT emblems, which you can purchase from the big US Pontiac houses. You will need hood pins. You will need a rear valance with dual exhaust cutouts. You will need split chrome exhaust tips. You will need dual exhaust. You will need a GT stripe. You will need to remove the words Pontiac from the grille but keep the grille silver argent for a 72. There might be more things but I am going from memory.
GT's required a V8 engine and most were 350 2bbls so you are ok there. If you want you could install a heavy duty three speed with floor shifter, the standard transmission for a GT.
When I get a few more minutes I will confirm my list and advise. I am sure I can illustrate with photos as well.
Wow thanks, any info would be very helpful. How hard do you think it would be to swap and locate all of the items required for the 3 speed HD set up, I have always had a thing for the 3 speed manual floor shift trans, almost never see one in a ride anymore, plus a 3 speed is probably alot cheaper than lets say a muncie M21 or some thing like that. Did Pontiac produce lemans GT's with a chevrolet drivetrain? thanks.
-- Edited by 72 luxo on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 12:26:48 PM
Wow thanks, any info would be very helpful. How hard do you think it would be to swap and locate all of the items required for the 3 speed HD set up, I have always had a thing for the 3 speed manual floor shift trans, almost never see one in a ride anymore, plus a 3 speed is probably alot cheaper than lets say a muncie M21 or some thing like that. Did Pontiac produce lemans GT's with a chevrolet drivetrain? thanks.
-- Edited by 72 luxo on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 12:26:48 PM
Probably not that hard, someone on here probably has that stuff lying around. Any A body Chevelle, Skylark, Cutlass will do.
Any 72 GT made in Canada will have a Chevrolet engine so yes.
Wow thanks, any info would be very helpful. How hard do you think it would be to swap and locate all of the items required for the 3 speed HD set up, I have always had a thing for the 3 speed manual floor shift trans, almost never see one in a ride anymore, plus a 3 speed is probably alot cheaper than lets say a muncie M21 or some thing like that. Did Pontiac produce lemans GT's with a chevrolet drivetrain? thanks.
-- Edited by 72 luxo on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 12:26:48 PM
Those are sweet, an ebay item I see, should probably make a bid, are those correct for a 72?
Those are correct for a base LeMans in 1973 and I am 90% sure correct for a base LeMans in 1972 as well. As I mentioned before correct wheels for a GT are Rally II without trim rings.
Have a look at two 73's built in Oshawa. I have to admit that i have installed the optional trim rings since this picture, Astro-Jet was embarrassed to be seen with me Ring Less so I took the advice of a good friend.
-- Edited by 73SC on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 03:09:42 PM
Thanks for all the info everyone, I really want to make my luxury lemans a GT but want to do it right. Would there be any swap issues with my automatic to 3 speed, what made the Lemans GT 3 speed HD actually heavy duty? thanks.
Thanks for all the info everyone, I really want to make my luxury lemans a GT but want to do it right. Would there be any swap issues with my automatic to 3 speed, what made the Lemans GT 3 speed HD actually heavy duty? thanks.
There were two 3-speed manual transmissiona available. The base manual transmission for non-high-performance models was the Saginaw 3-speed, M15. If no transmission option was selected, this was the tranmission installed. It was column shifted unless a console or RPO M11 floor shift was selected. An exception to this was GTO and GT 37 which required the HD 3-speed to get a floor shift.
Originally the heavy-duty 3-speed manual transmission, made by Borg-Warner, was available as RPO M13 . For GTO, M13 was standard if another transmission was not ordered. In 1969, the heavy-duty 3-speed was supplied by Muncie and changed to RPO MC1.
-- Edited by 73SC on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 11:56:42 PM
Dan Jensen's 455 HO T-37 - Astro Jet is a good friend of Dan's
John Sawruk's famous GT-37 - John has passed but he was a PMD engineer and Pontiac historian.
Reminds me of the Lucy Blue luxo I let get away.
NOTE to 72 Luxo: These all all 1971 or 1971 1/2. 1972 Luxury LeMans have a chrome front valance (see below) which imo does not look like a performance car piece. You might want to paint that.
-- Edited by 73SC on Wednesday 6th of January 2010 07:42:38 AM
Thanks for all the info everyone has provided, as for painting the lower panel and those different grill inserts. If I do go this route, I really want to use period correct bias ply tires, what kind of performance or ride do they have compared to lets say a BFG Radial T/A, not date coded originals, the repop ones from coker or some vendor like that, I am using the original 14x6 steel wheels, thanks.
Thanks for all the info everyone has provided, as for painting the lower panel and those different grill inserts. If I do go this route,
I really want to use period correct bias ply tires, what kind of performance or ride do they have compared to lets say a BFG Radial T/A, not date coded originals, the repop ones from coker or some vendor like that, I am using the original 14x6 steel wheels, thanks.
Ask Todd! lol the old bias plys, are like trading your color flatscreen TV for a BW TV... if you are not going to drive it, the bias are great If you are not sure, try going for a ride in a simular car with radials
