59 Laurentian- Day 2 dismantle

QueenD · Member

59 Laurentian- Day 2 dismantle

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Yes, that looks to be a 78-79 305 casting number.

It looks like you are having fun!

59poncho · Poncho Master!

love seeing the pics, keep showing them!

68sd · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

awsome

1959
unknown 7519 261ci 2007 (910% blue) Alberta link
#743465 Laurentian 4dr sdn Snowcrest White QueenD

-- Edited by 68sd on Monday 19th of July 2010 10:51:03 PM

59poncho · Poncho Master!

heres the only pic i have of the back seat on the puter, i will get a better one for you though.

QueenD · Member

You moved the mirrors...did you keep the rest of the emblems on the hood?

59poncho · Poncho Master!

mine dident have the mirrors( they were an option back then i believe), those are hot rod type ones. I still have the pontiac emblem on the hood, its in rough shape though.

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

Personally I like the mirror placement on QueenD 's car because it is a stock looking placement, Trevor's go well with his flat balck hot rod look.

I noticed that the 305 engine is a St. Catharines engine, the first letter K tells us that QueenD. Not profound but just thought it was neat that it is stll Canadian right down to the power plant. Also being a 78/79 casting the engine is GM corporate blue. A V8 in a 59 Canadian Poncho would have been oranage, and they were orange from 1958 to 1976 and some early 1977's. Since a small block V8 engine looks pretty much the same from 1955 to it's last use in cars in 1993, only an expert like most of use on here would be able to tell. I'd paint it orange in keeping with the era of your car.

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

Agree about hating cotter pins!

You might want to get your dad or someone to buy you one of these, call it an early birthday present or something:

It is called a <drum roll> cotter key puller <cymbal crash> eh? You will discover other good uses for it too.

Sears has them, $8 and well worth it.

And speaking of hating things ...
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you will hate brake springs even more. Be sure to use a good pair of brake spring pliers, and when one of those little buggers goes shooting across the garage, you will have one more car-wrenching rite of passage under your belt

Dave

eeluddy · Uber Guru

Princess Auto has a good brake tool kit for a reasonable price if your dad doesn't already have one.

QueenD · Member

LOL, we had the brake spring tool, and I managed to do ok with that...only got one of the little ones in the chest. I think off will be the easy part...but how do you get them back on without killing yourself? Same with suspension springs...I think those will be fun.

Those stupid cotter pins tho ...sometimes the needle nose worked, sometimes they didn't. If an $8 tool works....its my new best friend! Thanks Dave. Maybe a ditty for Dad next time I'm home.

Ray, thanks for all the info on the motor! I had done some internet searching the other night and figured out where it came from...pretty cool that you can get all that info! Not sure about the orange tho....lol, it might clash with the rest of it! (How's that for a total girl comment?!?) btw, you can call me Denette! :)

Thanks for all the tips everyone!

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

Wow good work girl!

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

QueenD wrote:

LOL, we had the brake spring tool, and I managed to do ok with that...only got one of the little ones in the chest. I think off will be the easy part...but how do you get them back on without killing yourself? Same with suspension springs...I think those will be fun.

...

AH yes, it is the getting them back ON that is the real challenge furious

For the worst of the springs, I used the long skinny end of the brake pliers as a lever, put that rod

through the hook of the spring, about halfway up, then put the free end of the rod just past the pin that the spring has to hook on, then carefully levered the rod so the spring gradually stretched as it slid (needed a little noodge from time to time to slide) down the rod closer to the pin, finally as the hook of the spring was just resting on top of the pin, a quick final push on the rod to get the hook onto the pin and it snapped in place. But I did zing a few across the garage (wear safety goggles!) until I finally got those !#$%^*! spings on there.

Maybe other guys have techniques that work better.

When it comes time to do the rear drum brakes on my daily driver truck, though, I am going to pay the brake shop to do it, that's how much I hated those springs bleh

For the coil springs, you will need a proper coil spring compressor. Not real cheap, maybe $40, there are several different types, you will need to eyeball your spring to see which might work best for you, I use the kind that comes up through the lower control arm, into the center of the spring, looks like this:

It is the suspension springs that really can kill you, there is an enormous amount of stored energy in them, so be careful. I am not trying to scare you, just a reminder to make sure the spring compressor is hooked on well and the spring is compressed enough that it comes barely free of the frame/control arm, before you fully remove the ball joint nuts.

You will have a tremendous and well-deserved sense of accomplishment when you are done rebuilding your front end (I assume that you are installing new springs, shocks, balljoints, tie rod ends, the whole 9 yards) and the car will drive great.

Dave

68 427 · Poncho Master!

PROGRESS IS ALWAYS GOOD AND SELF REWARDING. ARE YOU GOING TO DRIVE IT WHILE YOU FIX IT UP, OR JUST WAIT 'TIL IT'S DONE? I HOPE TO HAVE MY '64 LAURENTIAN ON THE ROAD BEFORE THE END OF SUMMER, IF I SEE YOU OUT AND ABOUT I WILL GIVE YOU A HONK! smile

Ghost Post · Poncho Master!

Cool car!.

Yep the SB casting shown is for a 78/79 305..
The C3N Suffix further identifies it as a 1978 model year engine w/ a factory 2 Bbl rated @ 145 Hp..

QueenD · Member

Mike, I won't be able to drive mine this summer. I'll work on the interior this winter and hopefully be able to get it safety'd in the spring? Hopefully next summer I can drive her a bit....probalby not with the new paint...but the old stuff isn't bad for now! Do you ever come in for the thursday cruise nights?

Dave, thanks for the great tips on the springs! I think that will be an adventure for sure...I know Dad doesn't have the compression tool...I maybe will have to buy one for him...I'd rather not die putting the car together (some battle wounds are ok, but can't drive when your dead!) :) I think most of the components are new...I pulled some out of the boxes last time to take a look. New brake springs are purple and green....fancy! lol

Pete, this is going to be a girl question...so forgive me if I sound really dumb here.... 2 Bbl?
big block? or am i out to lunch?

Denette

67Poncho · Uber Guru

QueenD wrote:

Pete, this is going to be a girl question...so forgive me if I sound really dumb here.... 2 Bbl?
big block? or am i out to lunch?

Denette

Denette,

What Ghost Post means is that it originally was built with a 2 barrel carburator (2bbl or 4bbl). And the 305's are a part of the Chevrolet small block family of 265ci (cubic inch) to the 400ci small block. I, myself call it a 400ci small block in one breath because you can get a 400ci engine in Pontiac, Buick and Oldmobile as well. Just my way to describe which one I am talking about!!

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 21st of July 2010 05:17:16 PM

QueenD · Member

Thanks.... ....still learning

67Poncho · Uber Guru

Everyday for all the rest of us as well............. aww

68 427 · Poncho Master!

YES DENETTE, I TRY TO MAKE IT TO AT LEAST A COUPLE EACH SUMMER. I DON'T ENTER A CAR, JUST GO TO LOOK. I ONLY HAVE ONE OLD CAR LEGAL FOR THE ROAD AT THIS TIME, AND I'M PRETTY SURE NO ONE WANTS TO LOOK AT A FADED AND RUSTY IMPALA.

QueenD · Member

Mike, I'd rather look at a rusty Impala rather than some souped up Cavailer! ;)

eeluddy · Uber Guru

QueenD wrote:
Mike, I'd rather look at a rusty Impala rather than some souped up Cavailer! ;)

Amen to that biggrin

QueenD · Member

Got my interior samples today! Yay!.....so hard to picture how it will all look together tho.

57poncho · Uber Guru

QueenD wrote:

Got my interior samples today! Yay!.....so hard to picture how it will all look together tho.

Its easy just do what appeals to you. Don't worry what others think. Last week I had a guy say to me I would of left this car all stock. So I told him I still have all the parts I took off so give 30 grand and you can build it just the way you think it should be. Need less to say he shut his mouth and kept walking.

davelacourse · Poncho Master!

QueenD wrote:

.... New brake springs are purple and green....fancy! lol ...

Denette

Not only are they fancy, but they are color coded so you put the right spring in the right place

For example:

Hope your box o' parts has some instructions included, if not, let me know and I can email you, eh?

Dave