I finally got a Chance to go up to Tampa & pick up the 66, the car is in great shape there is very little rust and all the parts I need are in great shape. I really got lucky with this car. The quarters are solid as are the fenders, floor, trunk and the whole section from the rear sail panels to the trunk It even has a new exhaust system. I'll be able to make great use of this car I'm pleasantly surprised and I think $550 was a great deal. I took a few pics but they don't really do it justice. Pete PS Thought I might add a Pic of my car to show why The rear sheet metal is so important Oh and look at the wheels it's got 5 of them they'r just like the ones on my car so I don't need them but cleaned up there a nice set some one might need
I hate to see any of these old cars killed off. They are classics and you can't go down to the local new car dealer and "just pick one up" anylonger. Is it going to cost a lot of money to fix it, yes. Will you ever get back what you put into it, no. I just wish we could save all of the old rotters that are out there :ball: :beers2: :ball:
I guess I need to kill this topic, I am going to fix my 67GS.I don't expect to make any money on it nor is it going to be a 100 pt concourse restoration. I'm going to fix it up to my needs as best to my abilities, a driver to just have fun with and be proud of. I love 60's - 70's Muscle cars there may be others that are more valuable but this is the one I have and its everything I'm looking for. Its a real GS thats well optioned and most important it has A/C. I got what I think is a good deal on the 66 that has all the parts I need short of a trunk lid so I think I have a good shot at getting it done. I appreciate the input from you all I'll try to keep you all posted on my progress it will be a long haul. Pete
power windows in a post car? wow thats rare..i mean effin rare.... I had a 67 post GS 400 that was a bucket seat console 3 speed stick car,,wish i would have saved it...
I got the heads off to change a head gasket and was cleaning the cylinders out and noticed a small piece of a piston broke off, no scare in the hole and the head was fine. The car ran good just over heated it made no bad noises and I have no idea where the piston bit made off to. I got a piston from a board member. I'm just going to drop the pan and replace it and hope for the best. The 66 post car I got for parts has perfect fenders, doors, rear 1/4,s and the filler panel between the trunk and rear window so its going to work out perfect.It also has alot of parts like the front grill & light bezels, hood and trunk lid that I hope I can sell or trade for correct 67 pieces. Even the glass is in great shape, better than mine so I may swap that out some where along the line. I'm not sure about the floor and trunk pans you can buy patch panel's cheap enough that it would be more work cutting it out of the 66 than it worth. all said I'm real happy with it but right now I just want to hear my car run. Pete
Wow. That 66 Special looks like my car: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=169526 Can't believe someone else made a Smurf 66.
I think yours is a little better than mine but it's strange my 66 paint code is j-c Verde Green-Attic white and my 67 is JJ Verde Green. I don't know what makes people change to strange colors Pete
Well I got the fenders off the 66 and they are in excellent shape no rust only minor dents and the hood that I am getting from a board member elliet is in great shape and its the same color as the fenders, at least they'll match. I had to drop the oil pan and man is that a pain,if I had a cement slab to work on I would have pulled the motor out in a heart beat This car is so original it still has the original grease and grime from 67 all over it,I sprayed degreaser and took a hose to it 3 times and I was still covered in that god awful grease.I'd kill for a presser washer. Getting that oil pan out was a adventure in itself I took the motor mounts off and raised the front of the motor with a cherry picker.I needed every inch Finlay having to take the trans dip stick tube off to get the clearance. It was way too much work especially swimming in all that old grease & dirt. At least I'm making progress. Pete
I say save them or sell them. Just dont let them rot away. Parts car looks a little better then the other in the pics. No one ever said you have to go full resto. Get it running and nice and drive the crap out of em.:TU:
From the looks of those cars I would swap in the engine and trans from the 67 to the 66... Looks like less work. :TU:
This is exactly what I have in mind, the motor is mostly apart and I cleaning and painting as I go along. The car will start looking better from the inside out sort of back-wards but I want to drive it to keep me motivated. So far I would say this car still has the original dirt and grease from 67 still firmly embedded all over the under carriage and now on me, it's a very dirty job but it's starting to look good. All i want for now is to hear it run again, that will keep me going for a while. I can throw in a pic of my Air cleaner, like I said kind of back-wards.
I Haven't seen the guy I got this 67 from for a few years and I have been looking for him. He has the original warranty card, protect-o-plate and original bill of sale. Well I got lucky Tuesday and out of the blue he stooped by my house, he knows some one that might want to buy the car, so all around this is a great turn of events. He could see I was deep into taking the car apart and i told him I was fixing it up but for the right price anything is possible. I really want to get this car back on the road and with the 66's parts things are really shaping up so I'm moving forward with things and see what happens. The really great news is I have a chance of getting all the original documentation and I've never had a car with that other than my work trucks. Reading other projects has inspired me to do things a little more comprehensive than I first planned. I have the front clips removed from both cars and am prepping things on the 67 for reassembly. The piston is replaced, I picked up a TA cam & lifters from a forum member and I ordered all the gaskets needed as well as a new neoprene rear seal so barring any disasters the motor will be back together soon. I'll try to get some pictures if I remember to while its still light out.
Well naturally there was a few disasters but nothing too serious, the rear main seal would not come out so I got to fight that for a couple days and I finally got the new one in. I've been looking for a oil pick up gasket with no luck so I'll have to order one from TA and hurry up and wait, I just want to get the oil pan back on so I'm not tripping over the hoist I used to raise the front of the motor up. I took a close up of my front brakes rusty as they are big, I was hoping some one would know what size wheels came stock on cars equipped like this? My car has 14" wheels and it seems to need the spacers in the pic's even then they're tight, I doubt the factory equipped the cars with spacers. So do I need 15" wheels? one more thing I have to find but that will be a long ways off in the future, I'm fine with the spacers for now. Like I said I going much farther than I planned but the fenders, inners fender wells and doors are so nice on the 66 that I had to use them. The fact that all the other projects were so nice on this forum kind of shamed me into tearing the car to pieces, hoping I'll be able to put it back together. I sure hope I can.
I don't know what I'd do with out TA Performance i needed a oil pick up tube seal and you'd think I was looking for plutonium locally. TA had the gasket to me in 3 days and they treated me like I was actually buying a big dollar part not a 98 cent gasket, I can't thank them enough. The best thing is that let me button up the oil pan and get rid of the motor lift I've been tripping over for the last week! I painted what I could in the front with Por15, I was so worried about all the horror stories I've read about how hard it is to work with but it wasn't that bad really. Other that the fact that the can's lid was all 1 piece, you couldn't open it up very strange. I had to poke 2 holes on the lid so I knew I had to use the whole quart in 1 shot because I couldn't reseal the can. It all worked out OK I took some pictures I mostly just wanted to get everything I thought needed to be under coated to prevent rust, things are starting to look a little better. I ran into a problem installing the new cam. When I tried to take the water pump off I snapped every bolt off, I was careful and soaked them with liquid wrench, put a torch to them and snap, snap, snap off they went. I never have any luck with easy outs (ya real easy) so i called out for help in the "Parts Wanted" section and GStage1 is going to help me out with a used cover so another disaster dodged. I have not seen a timing chain gear that was so screwed up as this one so another surprise cost$$$ I'm just glad i caught it. A before and after with that engine hoist in the way So Nice!! Here are some pictures of the newly painted front end parts-
I had to address the rear window and trunk filler panel aria, it didn't seem to be going away so after I got the rear window out i got a good look at the mess I had to deal with here's a couple shots- And this is what was left after I cut it out- Not much to work with I've never done anything like this befor so it's all been guess work as to how to proceed my first move was to cut the whole filler section complete with the braces out of my 66 parts car and I got this - From this - I took me forever because I didn't want to mess things up and not knowing what I was doing meant cut, stand back and look at it for a while then cut, repeat on and on. it took forever but it came out all right. Then i had to cut the 67 up to receive the new piece, another first for me and even more unnerving as this could turn my GS into a parts car instantly so more slow going and cutting- Nothing to it right? After breathing into a paper bag for a while i was ready to move on to putting the piece from the 66 and fitting it into the 67 I lined the holes in the package shelf that over lapped and trimmed things up and it seemed to fit - I obviously have more work to do but things are turning out just as I had planned. Its a step in the right direction any ways.
Pete, I love watching your progress and I am envious! I just wanted to let you know that I will be home next weekend if you plans are still the same on picking up the hood. (I know you mentioned about coming up for the Zephrhills show). Call me a day in advance on a approximate time. Regards, Tom
