Gramma's Car: the new project!

[njsteve]

I used the lower window trim on the door as a guide and measured 2 inches below that line for the main section of the door stripe.

[njsteve]

And another part on order. The original dash speaker stopped working recently for the factory AM/FM mono radio. I pulled out the A/C ducting and accessed the wiring. I was able to confirm the bad speaker by using a jumper wire to an old Kraco 6x10 speaker.

I ordered a replacement speaker from Electro-Tech. I have bought their 4x10 replacement speaker before and it worked very well and fit perfectly into the factory under dash bracket. They are the correct 8-ohm rating that will work with the factory radios, versus all the 4-ohm replacement versions out there that will fry your original radio eventually.

With shipping it was around $59

http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm

I spent a couple hours today installing it. You have to drop the steering column and remove the gauge pod to access the speaker and get to the screw that holds the speaker bracket in place. Removing the A/C plastic ductwork really helps also. At the same time I replaced the non-existent foam seal on the main A/C duct. The original had turned to dust decades ago, leaving a 3/4" gap between the heater box and the main duct. Got everything buttoned up and now the front and back speakers sound just like new (like 1970's new, that is)

[9999]

I saw a write-up where the guy installed two modern 4" speakers in a modified tray that fit nicely into the center speaker bracket thing. http://nastyz28.com/threads/how-do-i...y-dash.210474/


I think when I get to working on my future-firebird project I am going that route.
I spent years on the fence about tearing into door panels for higher quality 6" modern speakers, because most jobs I've seen just really kill the awesome interior of these cars. However I don't want a car with a stereo that sounds that old, so I think I will end up doing door speakers anyways.
Two 6x9's in the rear, 6" in the doors, two 4"s in the center. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe a small 6" subwoofer suspended from the package tray to stay out of the way. At this point I'll probably also have to factor in a small amp.




I am not a stereo guy whatsoever, and this hypothetical car doesn't even exist in my life yet, so I've got a while to think on it.




P.S. One of my first theories was to substitute the door speakers by stuffing them under the dash on each side of the dash....But I don't know if they have anywhere to go.

[njsteve]

The other day I spent a few hours trying to solve the "bent nail puzzle" of removing the original transmission cooler lines and replacing them with new ones from Inline Tube. Quite an entertaining conundrum of turn, twist, pull, (curse) and repeat X10. Eventually got it all done with only a minimum amount of tranny fluid on the floor.

The original set had some bad kink/twists where they were over tightened onto the fitting at the transmission case decades ago. I was worried that they'd spring a leak one of these days at the least opportune moment.

So I now have successfully replaced every corroded steel line in the car over the past couple months. What did I win?

(piece of mind, I guess) :-)

By the way, I did not use the front sections of the driver's side fuel line that goes from the front fender well to the pump, and both passenger side vent and return line sections that go from the back of the subframe to the charcoal canister, and the fuel pump. My originals were still perfect from being covered in grease all those years. Does anyone need those lines? I believe they are unique to the 74/75 to 81 cars?

[njsteve]

Added three gallons of 100 octane leaded avgas to the tank today and took her for a cruise. Chirps second gear quite nicely without even trying...and the exhaust smells so nice.

[njsteve]

Looky what I found!

A NOS set of the same brown/tan/orange/yellow-ish "Plasticolor" floor mats that my Gramma bought for the car when it was new. The original set got rather chewed up by four and a half decades of foot travel.

Found them on ebay for $115. I have been searching for years for a set and got the search alert on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM. I immediately ht the buy-it-now button. They just arrived today.

Just need some scrubbing and cleaning and they will be fine.

[njsteve]

Did some suspension upgrades recently. I installed a Lares 974 quick ratio steering box (2-1/2 turns). Got it from rockauto to replace the original 3+turn, over-boosted box. It also comes with the new steering coupler. It was a direct swap and uses the same original-style flare fittings for the hoses. It now has a very tight feel to the steering instead of the heavily-sedated original steering feel. It took several fluid bleedings over a week to get all the residual air bubbles out. One of the symptoms of air still present is reduced assist at idle. After a week or so the assist at idle is good again.

Today I swapped out the original 1" front sway bar and 9/16" rear sway bar for the WS-6 optional 1-1/4" front and 3/4" rear bars that I got of ebay for around $110 for the set. (Shipping was a killer though - that front bar sure is heavy!) I also installed new Prothane bushings as well. Total time for the sway bar swap was a leisurely 3 hours.


New Lares 974:



Old 1" bar:




New 1-1/4" sway bar:

[A12pilot]

This is such a cool car, Steve. Although I’d have gotten Phoenix Graphis to make you a custom shaker decal: 455 -NJS. See, you could drum up a story at cruise-ins to further confuse the masses and spread rumors! “Oh, this is a special order car limited to one per county sold in New Jersey only. See, there was this executive at Pontiac named Steve, and he lived in New Jersey. He had an idea to amass all these cool parts that weren’t available in 1975 and make a “what if” car. He forgot that the sales orders for 1975 didn’t include the ordering option for the 455-NJS and apparently, didn’t tell anybody that they were for sale. So the “What if?” answer to that question is, one. This one.”

Nice work on this!!!! Love the Shaker!!!

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

Thanks Dave!

It's fun to have a car that you can do whatever the heck you want to, to it and it doesn't hurt the value because it wasn't a valuable car to begin with (other than to our family).
I think this is the third or fourth iteration of this heirloom in the 45 years we've owned her.

Now if I could ever find a stable, dependable painter within a reasonable distance, I would love to have her repainted. The current paint is around 28 years old and could use a refresh. Or I could just send her down to you to paint, after you finish my purple 'Cuda.

[A12pilot]

Hmmm....I don’t know, Steve. Being highly accomplished, multi-award winning, and having the incredulous and unscrupulous industry reputation that I do, you may not want me to do the paint. At $7.95/hr, and a turn around time of a week (including delivery), I make Earl Scheib look like Foose!!

You coming to MCACN this year?

Cheers
Dave