Well, its finally time to start this thread. I have followed a number of other restoration threads here with interest and have appreciated the time and effort those owners have invested in telling their story, so I'd like to invite you all along for the ride. The car: 1967 GS400 vert, was born with the following, Sky blue/white top, light fawn (white) interior, bench seating 400cid, 4 speed, power steering,front power disc brakes, a/c, tilt wheel, speed minder speedo, 3.36 (I think) open rear, door edge guards Current changes/mods (as purchased): Non original motor, but still a 67 400 engine, has big port heads headers M21 from a 72 chevy with a Hurst Indy shifter bucket seats 4 speed console with tach half finished power window conversion Restoration Objectives: rebuild existing engine using stock exhaust convert existing M21 to M20 wide ratio reinstall original cross member mounted shifter Original color combination retain bucket seats, adding factory headrests and passenger side recliner retain 4 speed console add mini console between seats finish power window installation convert rear to posi I hope to cruise and enjoy this car, local shows, hopefully some of the bigger ones too. I don't want to be afraid to drive it or have so much money in it that I can't relax. The current status is that the car is very much apart, the engine and trans are in a million pieces. Engine machine work is underway. I bought this car in 2002 with he intentions of completing the restoration by 2004 or so. It was offered for sale by a guy in Connecticut as a package deal for this car and a 67 GS400 hardtop with an auto trans. He had a bunch of spare parts and was a car guy, but had no more interest in Buicks. The package price was $12000. The hardtop was not as clean as this convertible, and i was really interested in the 4 speed, so we made a deal to separate the cars and I ended up with this car and the parts for $6000. It seemed like a lot at the time, but in hindsight, I'm glad I did it. I had already made arrangements with the body shop and the car was there within two weeks of purchase. The goal was to have it finished for my son Blaine to drive for his high school graduation. Unfortunately, in late 2002 we found out that he had terminal cancer, so all of our lives took an unexpected change and this project took a back seat. Blaine died in April of 2004, and life in general has been such that only now has this project made it back to the top of the pile, with motivation, time and resources all converging to make it happen. The car has been at the body shop the entire time, just waiting for me to give the go ahead. The body was removed yesterday and I picked up the chassis to bring home and restore. I intend to fully disassemble, sandblast and paint it to original specs. New bushings, brake and fuel lines, brake hoses, etc. I am going to increase the front sway bar to 1 1/8 inches and add a rear sway bar to take a little of the wallowing out of the car. Overall, the body is in remarkable condition. There are no rust holes in the floors, rear quarters, inner and outer, rockers, trunk, fender doglegs, etc. Even the core support and inner front wheel houses are good. Plenty of scale and peeling paint all over. There will be a little door skin pinch weld repair needed, a little fender inner support repair and probably more to be found, but all in all, it's a great car to start with. The engine is apart and evaluated. It came with a bunch of poor quality workmanship, incorrect bolts, stripped threads, lots of silicone sealer etc, but did run and sound decent when I bought it. The block deck and heads have not been messed with since new. Bores, Rod journals, mains,valve stems, rocker shafts are all shot. I'm going with a largely stock rebuild, .040 over cast pistons. The heads are large port, uncut 68.5 cc chambers. I think I can come up with approximately 9.9:1 SCR and around 8.0:1 DCR with the cam i want to use. Currently considering the TA 212 or Lunati Voodoo 68000 cams. I'm looking for low RPM high torque, high idle vacuum, street friendly performance. I am going to use and Everyday Performance Qjet but am still searching for the correct number carb. Thanks to all that post here and share your knowledge and passion. Enough for now, comments and questions welcome, I will update this as needed. Enjoy the ride!
Hi Tom, great project. I have an NOS 67 4- speed carb that I borrowed from Carmen Faso. I'll have to get with him on a price, but this one is new in the box. I'll get some pictures when I get to the garage.
Tom Good to see it getting started. I just got mine together and running last year - still working the bugs out to make it consistent and reliable. Let me know if you need any info. I had to do some fix arounds on some things. Keep the pictures coming.
I bet it come out looking great, I like 67's. Your steering wheel. looks like mine, those thing must like to crack. 4 speed vert will be nice, good luck.
Keep the updates coming Tom. I'm really looking forward to following along with your project. It will be a gorgeous car when completed.
Tom it looks like the carb that I have is a service replacement. good and brand new but numbers are not matching the original ones.
A lot has transpired since my last post, time to share details and pics. My machine shop is very familiar with Buick big blocks and I have known them for many years, so I am confident in the quality and accuracy of their work. Everything was baked and shot blasted, then checked. The block sono checked fine for wall thickness, but a crack was found in the lifter galley and also near the valve springs on both heads. Apparently the castings are a little thin in those areas. I inquired about finding replacement parts vs the viability of repairing these areas and was encouraged to proceed with the repairs due to the frequency of cracks in this series of engines. The wall thickness was good around the the cracks and they felt that old school drilling and pinning was the way to go. I opted to go adead with their recommendations and when I picked the parts up, the pins were peened to the point that it is nearly impossible to see that anything was ever done in those areas. Pics will be added to show the work they did. Here is what was done: Block Bake and shot blast Sono check Mic and ck Main saddles for size and alignment ( no repair needed) Bore and hone cylinders ( each bore is sized to each piston, details under piston) Hone tappet and cam brg bores Square decks to crank centerline (deck height set to 10.553) Install new cam bearings Tap and plug oil galleys New freeze plugs Repair crack Heads Bake and shot blast Sono check Repair cracks Resurface Crank Clean and inspect Sono check Grind rods(.020) and mains (.010) Rods Grind and resize big ends Install ARP bolts Weight match set Pistons ( NOS 1974 vintage stock replacement) Weight match 8 pistons ( very large variations) Size check for final bore fitment ( size varies approx .0015 throughout the set) The rotating assembly was balanced including the balancer and resurfaced steel flywheel Once the parts got home I got to work. Basic oil mods 5/8 oil feed passage with radius and blend work as needed Main bearing oil feed holes matched Timing cover oil feed holes cleaned and blended as needed Booster plate and adjustable regulator installed Pump end play set to .002 I machined the timing cove front seal area to receive a lip seal. I know it can be installed from the rear, but I have a CNC mill, so it was a simple task to make it a nice job. I finished the heads myself: All new valves (valve guides needed no repair) three angle valve job New stem seals on intake and exhaust guides New springs(125lbs@1.800 360lbs@1.200) The guides had to be machined to accept the new stem seals so I made a simple tool to do it. It uses a carbide insert from one of the milling cutters I have and worked quite nicely. I probably could have purchased a store bought tool but preferred the challenge of doing it myself. Engine assembly was relatively uneventful with everything fitting together nicely. I checked clearance on every rod and main bearing, the mains came out between.0025 and .0028 and the rods are .002 to .0025. Hopefully this will work for a stock engine. I am assembling this engine with NOS GM steel head gaskets. (.020) I ended up going with a Lunati Voodoo cam and lifter setup. (10960700LK) The specs are as follows: Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 256/262 Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 213/219 Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .470/.484 LSA/ICL: 112/108 Valve Lash (Int/Exh): Hyd/Hyd After looking at all my stats and running the numbers I came up with the following results: 407.91 CID 10.01 SCR 8.49 DCR No doubt this engine will be sensitive to fuel and timing but in the end, I expect to have a really peppy street machine that grunts hard at low RPM. I have no intentions of drag racing this car so no excess RPM's are predicted. Hopefully this engine will last the rest of my lifetime!! Once the engine was assembled and painted, I moved my attention to the frame. The frame tear down was a remarkably easy task without so much as a single broken off bolt. Not even the brake lines! Everything was in very good condition, and if weren't for this being a frame off restoration, I could reuse all but one control arm bushing, all the steering linkage and even the brakes. Both ends of the trans cross member have been repaired in the past and I will do a nicer job this time cleaning things up. Also, the rear frame cross member had been re-attached at some point and was in the wrong location, so that required removing and cleaning up. After media blasting, I found a few pinholes in the frame on the passenger side where the front section joins the boxed section. I cut this out and sectioned in a patch. Also the Parish logo and PN 9786394 became visible confirming that the frame is indeed and original 4 speed frame. When I went to pick the frame and components up, there was a lengthy delay in getting loaded. At some point the blaster guy came out and said that they had overlooked a few of my parts and it would be a short while till they would be ready. no problem for me, I could wait. When the forklift came out with a pallet load of parts, I knew right away that there was trouble. First there weren't enough parts on the pallet, second, the control arms were the oval bushing style. Upon further research, we discovered that the blaster people had just epoxy painted all my control arms and sway bar thinking they belonged to the car with the other parts. I took inventory and found all the right parts were in one spot and fresh painted so I had to leave them there over the weekend. Monday morning I picked them up without incident. A week later I received a call from the blaster people asking my if I had any extra parts as they still had not located all the parts to the other job. I didn't have any and don't know what the outcome of that situation is. Just glad it's not my turn in the barrel on this one. That's about it for now. Out of cash and working on correcting that so I can proceed. Comments and questions welcome. Thanks for reading this and sharing in my experience. PS. I have a bunch more pics to upload but for some reason all I get is failed messages. Will add more when I figure it out.
Any updates Tom? I have started my 4 speed convertible last night. I will be in Langhorne, PA over Christmas would love to see the car.
I think I have figured out the photo thing, so in this installment, I will be attempting to insert relevant photos as needed. That said, here are a few shots of the engine during the assembly stage: View attachment 299414 View attachment 299415 View attachment 299416 View attachment 299417 View attachment 299418 View attachment 299419 The engine is done except for reconditioning the distributor and installing the accessories. Here are a few pictures of the frame: View attachment 299420 View attachment 299421 View attachment 299422 View attachment 299423 View attachment 299424 After looking over the frame and repairing the rear cross member, painting and assembly took place. All new stock rubber bushings were used, and I installed a 1-1/8 front sway bar along with a rear sway bar. New ball joints, front and rear springs, shocks, etc. Since these pictures were done, I have also installed F41 frame braces to strengthen the rear axle cross member. The brake and fuel lines are stock steel from Inline Tube. View attachment 299425 View attachment 299426 View attachment 299427 View attachment 299428 View attachment 299430 View attachment 299431 View attachment 299432 I discovered several things about this car during disassemby that I did not know or simply assumed to be correct, but were not. I'll cover those items as the thread progresses. First, this is not a factory disc brake car. It came equipped with later model disc brakes (70-72 vintage) with brake hose hardware and proportioning valve from that era. While I am disappointed in that fact, I am somewhat relieved to not have to deal with the problematic four piston calipers. I have decided to keep the later calipers but have installed the correct 1967 distribution valve and brake hold off valve at the master cylinder. I think this will appear correct to all but the most discerning observer and will offer the performance I am looking for. View attachment 299429 The steering pump and box were torn down, evaluated and overhauled/ resealed and repainted and then re-installed. This is not concours correct as far as finish, but I think it will serve well as a nice driver/ local car show restoration. View attachment 299441 All new steering linkage parts were installed except for the center link which was in great shape. I cleaned and repainted it to match everything else. (bare iron color) View attachment 299442 I took the 1972 M21 trans apart for inspection and was please to see that it was in good shape, however I wanted to change a couple things. All new bearings and seals along with blocking rings were installed. I installed a M20 first gear and counter gear to achieve a 2.52 first gear ratio which should be better than the original 2.20 ratio. Also, the side cover and shift shafts are being changed to allow me to use the original frame mounted shifter. The car came with a Hurst shifter mounted on the tail shaft housing, which is an improvement over the oem setup, but my goal is to do a stock appearing restoration, so I am going with original parts. The engine and trans were installed. I will add pics of the unique shift linkage setup when it's all installed. View attachment 299443 View attachment 299444 View attachment 299445 On to the body. This is a full rotisserie restoration, so the body is disassembled down to the last possible nut and bolt. I found a couple more surprises. First, this is not a factory A/C car. Someone in the past took the time to install all of the factory parts to make this car look like it was born with A/C. The right side kick cowl panel was sectioned in from a donor car so the evaporator mounting flange would be there. It's not the cleanest job and was a ton of work for whoever did it. The dash panel was cut to install the original center vent. Fortunately, the screw bosses are cast in non A/C dashes so location is correct and the cut job is nice. It's very hard to tell that it's not original. All the rest of the hoses, lines, control head, vents, etc are correct. The firewall was cut to allow the evaporator case to fit through. The floors under the drivers and front passengers feet, and near the rear seat all have some rust through. Also, the trunk floor near the wheel wells. I have decided to replace the floor from the firewall to the rear bumper. The rest of the body is in good shape, even the lower quarter panels, outer wheel well lips, etc. The body is now mounted on the rotisserie and waiting for soda blasting before continuing. They are not pictured, but the door openings have been braced to hold dimension. ( Thanks for noticing , Gary) This picture was taken just after removing the doors. That's about it for now. If you've made it this far, thanks for following along. Questions and comments welcome!!
Ed, Langhorne is less than an hour from me. I will be out of town from Christmas to the new year, but if you are around a day or more before that, I'd love to share my project with you. Let me know your details, and we'll try to work it out. Tom
Hey Tom, We are heading out Saturday morning (driving out) and plan to pull in Sunday morning. Maybe we can get together Monday night or Tuesday. I have one spot to fix on the floor on the drivers side and fix the 4 speed hole as somebody wanting to convert it to an auto car?????????????? Also did your car have the plastic things on the top by the latch area and this white plastic thing in the middle of the top where it meets the windshield?
Awesome project! Gotta love all the new parts! Let me know if you need any parts. I have 2 '67 GS parts cars.
Thanks for the views and comments. I have finished and installed the correct 67 shift linkage. I can really see why it is a one year only setup. It's wobbly and somewhat vague in feel compared to the Hurst shifter that that came with this car. I'm planning on sticking to stock as much as I can, so we'll have to see how it actually is on the road before final judgement is passed. Not much else has changed, although I am picking up a 67 GS400 hardtop for parts along with collecting other things I need. The body is still waiting for soda blasting and installation of the floors.
