so I finally got the old girl moved inside the shop so that I can start work! Going to be a long project but I think I have things well planned out.
-all new wiring under hood....it's scary. Someone upgraded the alternator to a 10si but did a real hackjob on the wiring. just going to run all new powers, grounds, relays, etc to everything and a ford solenoid as well.
-needs exhaust...going to go duals with H pipe and undecided on mufflers and tailpipes
-major tuneup....points, condenser, fluids, filters, new hoses under hood, etc blah blah all the usual maintenance items
-have a 4 barrel intake and quad i'm going to rebuild and use
-brakes were supposedly new but NOPE. someone did put new drums on old brakes so at least those are useable.
-wheel/tires. Found a nice set of dog dishes.
-helluva good cleanup and some detailing/bit of work on the interior
-paint....decided on a colour called "lava red"...will post a pic. also have a new set of skirts that are going back on
-new suspension.. car came with all new balljoints, bushings etc new in a box. have new shocks for it and am going to lower it some
-new gas tank.....came with that too
-stereo system.....going to install the deck in the glove box to keep the dash original. couple of amps and some subs all nice and tidy in the trunk
Hood off! Sure makes life a lot easier
a good "before" pic.......going to be doing some major cleanup and painting. Adding a bit of chrome, some braided lines (not the covers but actual lines), all new wiring, 12si alternator, etc
Did a quick cleanup on the interior and it's actually quite good......needs some TLC but pretty good. Need to modify the seat brackets since they aren't the original seats and just don't fit quite "right."
-- Edited by hutch400 on Tuesday 10th of October 2017 01:59:04 PM
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
yeah the master is kind of bizarre........not really sure where that came from but it looks quite new.
Carl, as for the 2 bbl I agree that there's nothing wrong, but I have a 4bbl intake and QJet sitting on the shelf begging to be used in SOMETHING so I figured this fits the bill! Should wake it up a bit I would think. Wouldn't be surprised if I get better mileage out of it either. I'll keep the factory 2bbl and intake though as well.
It sure won't hurt the mileage but my experience with a Q-jet on a 283 was that it sure didn't make it much faster. Sounds better though!
I did the same with my 283, took off the 2bl and added the Q-jet, did not like the result at all. Could not get it to run that well so went with an Edelbrook and love it. Gas mileage is not bad at all.
spent most of the weekend working away on the car.......
sanded down the engine compartment and masked off a bunch of stuff and started painting.
I had already flushed the cooling system out and it was pretty nasty, so i'm glad I did! Changed the heater hoses and both rad hoses/water neck/thermostat as well. replaced the vacuum hoses, cap/rotor/points/condenser and tidied up in general. Put a new 12si alternator on (108amps). also painted the ram horns with duplicolour exhaust paint with ceramic. ive used it in the past and it holds up quite well and looks sharp too. yes i know the motor should be orange not red but i had a bunch of this stuff left and I'm not a fan of orange......New chrome valve covers went on.....it was actually really clean looking under the old valve covers so that was good! looks like it was actually almost cared for. lol. Still need to change the plugs/plug wires. i'll worry about swapping out the intake and carb once its running properly first.
Time to start the wiring next........
started polishing the stainless and chrome a little bit and its going to come out really nice.
vacuum and wiped out all the interior and did some cleanup in general.......gonna be alright
used rubberized bedliner in the trunk. figured it would seal things up well and it's also super durable. Going to do a nice stereo install back here and it will all be carpeted and you won't see it anyway but why not?!
Those seats and console look like 78-87 A and G body stuff. These were the first downsized but still rear drive boxy Grand Prix, LeMans, Grand Am etc before they switched to front drive.
Changed the plugs, wires, fuel filter, rest of the hoses/vac lines, and belts. Got some little stuff polished and cleaned up as well.
The rest of my parts came in which is fun! Took next Monday and Tuesday off work and my Dad is coming up to visit and is a retired engine builder/hot rod guy/professional mechanic who grew up working on these cars so he's super pumped to work on it with me as well for a few days. Should be awesome.
So here's this week's plan:
Tonight/tomorrow night: all new under hood wiring for the charging system and grounds
This weekend: relays for the lights (if I don't get it finished before then), all new brakes, set the timing and dwell and get it running right so we can go drive it and set up the transmission/kick down. Change fluid/filter on the tranny and maybe start the exhaust.
2 of the plugs looked like this.................. I can only assume they were dropped or hit when being installed. Also they were autolite which I know isn't a big deal, but I've always gone AC Delco in GM and Autolite in Ford.......
Looking better for sure......it's coming
-- Edited by hutch400 on Wednesday 25th of October 2017 08:22:28 AM
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
been plugging away on the old girl between other projects, other jobs, and my day job and it's coming together! thought i'd post up a couple of quick pics and an update.
under the hood is basically done for now. Only thing left would be to rebuild the q-jet and install it along with the intake. Not a huge deal but will get to it before spring! Did ALL of the brakes.....lines, shoes, cylinders, hardware kits, adjusters etc and turned the drums since they were almost new.......why someone would put new drums on old brakes is beyond me, but whatever.
few pics:
painted the rims satin black and found some trim rings......polished up the center caps as well. New tank and sending unit on the roof waiting to go in
all new wiring under the hood. relays for headlights and horn. new horns, new 12si alternator, power distribution post, bigger wiring, etc etc. Also a new washer fluid jug....mine was taped back together. lol
all new wiring..........i know the loom isn't correct for the age, but i had about 200 feet of it in various diameters so i figured it would tidy it up and still look decent. Not really going for a factory look anyway so no biggie. Certainly looks a LOT better
Hoist should be here tomorrow which will be great to start working under the car!!! Plans for the weekend include starting the new trunk gas tank supports, balljoints, bushings, links, etc as well as all new shocks and lowering springs.....
still have to do:
-re-upholster seats/work on console/recover rear deck lid behind seats and add speakers there -install stereo system (hiding deck in glovebox) -some work under the car....mild frame repair/new gas tank supports -exhaust -service transmission/filter/new cooler -body and paint -1000 other little things
-- Edited by hutch400 on Monday 15th of January 2018 10:49:10 AM
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Very nice! I was watching a movie on TV once (Dazed and Confused maybe) and a car at the drive-through in the background totally caught my attention. I took a picture of the TV so I find out what it was, and it was a 1965 Pontiac. So I'm a big fan of the 65 as well.
will post some pics up later............here's what i did last night
previous owner had rivited/welded a new floor on top of the old one..........ARGH. Should have waited until i dropped the tank instead of assuming i had a beautiful PROPERLY DONE new floor.
Good part is that pretty much all of the old floor is actually solid except the middle section which was above the gas tank. ANYWAY, cut out all of that section along with the gas tank strap supports so i can weld in the new ones i bought and get it all tidied up under there.
-Pulled the driveshaft and got the old ujoints out........nasty stuff. I'll put the new ones back in tonight.
-Cut off the old exhaust system
TONIGHT:
-going to go over the whole underside with a scraper and wire brush to get rid of any rust scale so i can clean it all up and i'm going to try some rust "converter" that my buddy has been raving about.
-new u-joints/clean and paint driveshaft
-cut out 2 small spots on frame and get all underbody parts ready for welding/repair