Hi guys over the last few weeks I've been trying make the old yellow barge more drivable as i'm planning to pull my 51 Airstream Flying cloud around the province for my work as an Air Attack guy on forest fires. (not a busy season so far)
So far I've messed with the carb quite a bit. The power piston in the Quadrajet was seized tight so it wouldn't idle worth beans and still needs more work in there.
To make sure the fuel system doesn't get corrupted again I put on a new Spectra gas tank. It really is good qualilty and fit with no problems.
I also had a heavy duty receiver hitch built so that can be unbolted at some point when I don't want it back there.
Also put on air shocks and have yet to install the electric brake controller and trailer plug but that will be done today.
The big upgrade was to get new upholstery done by Carl Stevenson's guy down in Morris. Nobody is reproducing this unique 66 Grande Parisienne pattern and I didn't know anybody local that knew what they were doing but after seeing Carl's red seats I thought that even with the freight back and forth it would be worth it. I'll let you judge as I now have one seat assembled with the second one waiting on the bench. My stock back seat is really quite nice so I'll leave it for a bit but with Carl;s mucho help and encouragement i also got a 66 Grande Prix back seat with the fold down arm rest (sourced from Carl of course) done up that i will have to assemble on a nice hot day so the vinyl will be easy to work with.
Heres a before shot and a couple of afters. I'm very happy with them! The seams are straight, tight and most of all they smell new again unlike my mouse damaged originals.
.....Looks super, yes I agree he did a very nice job. those headrests really add to the look. I think you'll have enough power to pull anything , better use grade 8 bolts on the hitch to frame. Air shocks is a good idea too I think. Good job 66 Grande guy.
Thanks guys, re upgrades I've just been debating if I should put on a tranny cooler more than the stock one in the rad or at least a transmission temp gauge, or both.
As for the distance to the upholstery guy, he lives near Carl S so he's probably just as close to you as he is to me. He doesn't get courier service so we had to work out a way to send everything through Canada Post. Carl as usual was a massive help and I actually couldn't have made it work without him. He ended up using one of Carls back seats from a Grande Prix parts to make the back seat cover so I wouldn't have to try to ship the whole back seat assembly. there and back. I disassembled my front buckets into 4 packages and was able to ship them for about $200 each way. i will still have to put on the rear seat cover myself but I don't think it will be a big deal as I know it will fit. We also ended up swapping the centre arm rests so I would have one already put together. Kind of a slick arrangement in the end and again I couldn't have done it without Carl helping me to figure out the complicated logistics and doing the freighting service at that end.
Seats look awesome!
I'd go with a cooler, gauge is also a good idea, just to keep an eye on things.
Just wondering if a deeper trans pan would be useful?
Have the same seats and need to get mine done.
Can source the maroon coloured material from the US, just have to find someone talented to do the work.
Maybe I bring them out the next time I visit family in Winnipeg.
How long did it take him to do the front seats?
Maybe I could drop them off before I hit ThePeg and pick them up on the way home, a week later. LOL
Looks great!
Thanks guys, re upgrades I've just been debating if I should put on a tranny cooler more than the stock one in the rad or at least a transmission temp gauge, or both.
again I couldn't have done it without Carl helping me to figure out the complicated logistics and doing the freighting service at that end.
Ken puts me up on this big pedestal but this was virtually NO effort. Here's some important facts he left out.
Fact-
Ken mails the seats to the post office where I get my mail. I pick up 4 boxes and take them to Stan which is less than 5 minutes out of the way on my way home.
Fact-
I pick up the seats when Stan is done. Again, he lives less than 5 miles from me. I live in the country, that takes about 5 minutes.
Fact-
Ken gets Stan to pack them all up again when he is done. I take 6 boxes (more stuff to go back now due to the rear seat covers being included on the return trip) to the post office 45 seconds from my work and mail them to Ken. Pretty tough stuff, huh???!!!
If any of you guys is serious about getting seats done and want to talk to Stan about getting work done, send me a PM and I can give you all the info etc. you need. I have yet to talk to anyone who has a complaint against Stan's work other than sometimes he's slow if he is backed up, he's a one man show out of his home. However, this is his full time career, he has no other source of income.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I'm just curious? Did the GTO originally have the older style buckets and he wanted to update them? Great looking car for sure!
As for getting Stan to do work quickly I can't complain about mine but apparently according to Carl (my intermediary) he happened to have a hole in his work schedule so he stuck mine in. I don't think he would actually take very long at all to do the physical work on two buckets (if that s all you need) as he has my one old good cover as a pattern and has just done mine so it will be fresh in his mind. He may actually become the 66 Grande specialist if the pent up demand by all the guys who need it done takes off here! I have his phone number if you guys want it just PM me. Hes kind of shy and I actually only talked to him once. Good old Carl did most of the leg work on that end.
Yes, it had the old square bucket. The newer seat feels much better. The original door panel did'nt go over the upper sill, so he used the upper metal part from a Cutlass and attached it to the lower Grande, then trimmed the cardboard to the same shape as the GTO and rerapped the material. The rear seat is from the Cutass with the built in arm rests that were refit with the Grande covers. Makes a classy interior for the old goat.
Old goat? You talking about your brother or the car? heh heh
Nice interior though. Gives it an original look but a bit more stylish and comfy for sure. The 65 and older seats were kind of big and flat all right. Its too bad the 66's seat were kind of death traps though with no locking backs.
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Monday 9th of June 2014 10:24:35 PM
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Monday 9th of June 2014 10:26:00 PM
