Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Thanks guys! It's been a lot of work, but i do love it, and man it should be protected, at least 5 coats on all 6 sides!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

It's been a long weekend! After blocking all the boards 1000, i used the DA to do 1000/2500/3000/5000 yesterday. Today I used the buffer and the white/black/blue pads and compounds, took the tape off, wiped them all down and took some shots before stacking the wood and bringing the truck back in. I am very pleased!

Speaking of bringing the truck back in, glad to have it back in the garage to get it together! Going to try and have a back window made and installed and get the windshield installed, then get the bed together. Will sand and buff the roof and doors, and probably the fenders but do the fenders off the truck. Just got a call from the motor guy and should be good to go quickly. I have the feeling i have some late nights ahead of me!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

That's some serious attention on the bed wood and it was worth it.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Now....you better NEVER EVER haul ANY dirt OR ANYTHING AT ALL in that bed with THAT wood in there!!!!! That is just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to nice to get dirty! :metal::metal::metal:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Your bed came out amazing !!!
Well done !!

The wife just spotted your Pontiac and was wondering if there were more photos of it?
It has some similar body lines to her 72 LeMans Sport, so it caught her eye from over my shoulder....

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Thanks for the compliments guys! Believe it or not, the photos don't even do the bedwood justice. It's not quite as smooth as the example i posted above from someone elses truck, but i am very pleased.


The 71 T-37, very close to the 72 lemans (except of course she probably has a hard top and this is a post sedan...)

Here are some pics throughout its life. It has the 17" ralleye 2s from year one on it now, there are some of the older pics with the 428 in it and the older wheels also here (also i lowered it 1.5")

This car is both fun and frustrating at the same time, because i can never stop fiddling with it and just let it be!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Couple more...one was from our wedding, when the car was barely together (clutch didn't disengage right, had all sorts of weird issues.)

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Beauty T37 :metal: When I was a kid my neighbors had a T37, it was a fairly base model, but I thought my neighbors were pretty cool.

Btw, that is one beauty 57 in those pics, I drove a 57 short stepper when I was in high school

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

The T37 was base six cyl, bench seat, auto when it was made (and limekist green! Ugh!) It's been through a couple changes ;)

That 57 is my father in laws, there are some pics back in the thread from when we had it at my house, it is a sweet ride. Mild 454, great interior and paint, 700-R4, just an overall great looking and riding truck.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

That wood for the box floor is beautiful. The grains really pop, by far the nicest I've ever seen. Awesome work,

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

My neighbors T37 was the same color, no idea what was under the hood, I was a wee lad, just loved the look of that car

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Still waiting on glass and motor, so been blocking and sanding the doors and roof and the back corner of the cab. It's exhausting, the clear is SO damn hard. Sanded through a little in 3 spots: One is covered by the fuel filler gasket, one is covered by the sail panel trim, and one is super slim on a edge that you won't see, so, i guess for how hard it is to sand those spots, i'm pleased.

The roof and other door and back of cab is already done blocked and DA to 1000, so three more stages of DA and three stages of buffing, hopefully no more burn throughs, and only little pieces i can do on a work stand left!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

That T-37 is a beautiful car, thank you for sharing those photos!
I have to show those to the wife.

She and I just love the older Pontiacs, this is her second 72 LeMans Sport Convertible, her first one was too far gone to save. She picked this one up as a gift to herself for her deployment:
Attachment 1253308

After some kids shot out the rear glass it got a new top and she wanted black this time. Then as a birthday-wedding anniversary gift I arranged to have the body fully restored and she opted for the new Camaro metallic red. This is right after we picked it up, it is missing the tail fin because they were on back order from AMES:
Attachment 1253309

Here is it parked next to my 66 Tempest Custom on the day we met Bomp in Spokane:
Attachment 1253310

She has a Pontiac 350, not sure of the trans (auto) but she has been snuggling up to me for exhaust cutouts. Something about smarmy kids in Hondas and stop lights.....

Again, thanks for sharing.
Now back to your tuck, otherwise I could talk these cars all day !! :metal:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Man those are some sharp pontiacs, i've seen the 66 tempest from your link, and i like that car a LOT! Her car is nice because, besides being a ragtop, she has the whole GTO front end in the lemans sport! Very sharp!

Pontiacs are cheap to build any more, EASY to make gobs of power, and of course all sizes of motor are the same so you can built a 455 for the price of a 350. Keep an eye out in the local classifieds, pick up a 400 or 455 block here, some decent heads there, get the right cam, and then swap for that 350 so she can make those Honda kids cry!

We did totally derail the thread, but it's ok, because i love my Pontiacs! If pontiac made a truck, i'd be at 67-72pontiactrucks.com instead of here ;-)

You can see the 4 door Catalina in the background here and there on this thread. I have a 428 in pieces for it, it has a switch pitch TH400 tranny in it, and plan to add a trips setup. Then the wife can cruise around in that, since it's quieter, less grumpy, and she doesn't like to drive stick.

If you're ever looking for a good pontiac forum, head over to pontiac street performance, mostly good guys over there: psp.aquacomp.net

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Ok one last distraction :)

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

You sure know how to make a guy drool.... nice engine....always wanted a 455 HO !!!
I am 100% with you on the Pontiac Truck !!

When we left the "farm" and moved into the city when I was in High School, we left a couple of station wagons.
A 67 Catalina and a 69 Bonneville.... I think I know where they went to, so this summer one of my side projects is to see if I can track those down.

Too bad GM had to orphan us Pontiac folk.
Can you imagine if they had caught the clue from the Dodge Rams, and the PT Cruisers like the Mustang folk (and lastly the Camaro guys) did, and reimaged the GTO in a like manner?
They had all the perfomance, but in a Grand Prix body....such a waste.

A throwback nod design to the muscle car era could have saved the entire product line !!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

A throwback trans am and GTO would have for sure brought that company back, i would get one!

It's not a "real" 455 ho, but as you probably know, the HO in 455 HO is low compression round port heads, a better camshaft and little bit better CFM carb. This is a 462 (455 .030 over) with ported medium compression heads, port matched intake, HO oversized cast ram air manifolds and a custom Q-jet. Confirmed 361hp to the wheels on a mustang dynojet, which is right at 430 hp at the flywheel and 500 ft lbs of torque. I have some minor tweaks to get it over that 450 mark but the garage is full at the moment...

Back to the truck! Got the back of the cab and passenger side done tonight, the color is off in these photos since it was dark, but i am very pleased.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Fast forward 1-2 years and you two dudes are building what Pontiac would have done with a 60-66 truck in the day! GTO grill for starters! Here come da Judge:lol:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Beauty paint work BTW:metal:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

I got the head lights figured out !!!!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

The tach obviously gets mounted on the hood, not sure how you figure out the rear spoiler, hahaha, hopefully we are not wearing out our welcome on this thread...

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Well if we start with an A body we can...wait! No more projects! The wife will kill me!


Got the roof sanded and buffed.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Shiny!!!:metal:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

That white shines

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Paint looks great!!!!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Thanks guys! I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do next as motor isn't quite ready (probably just a couple days away) and glass guy isn't ready yet. I imagine i'll clean the chassis (covered with polishing compound, dried sanding slush, etc.)

I could sand and buff the small parts this weekend (rear wheel tubs, corner fender cover cowl panels, fenders) and be done done with all that, or i have a pile of small parts (booster brackets, clutch rods, engine brackets, etc) that all need sand blasted and painted. Only have one day this weekend, hitting local airshow with the family on sunday. Still feels good making progress!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Just got this home today, time to get back to work! Guessing glass should be in next week, allow us to put the whole bed together and get THOSE parts out of the way.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Engine paint color fun here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=1#post6691362

Probably won't paint engine until late next week, going to try to get glass done first, and do lots of sanding/buffing on last of parts i have to get it all done this weekend, and maybe small touchups that need done here and there i never got to.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

looking awesome, hope it doesn't end up being too pretty to drive!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

That roof is shinier than the glass on my truck.

Keep it up, you're almost home!

At this rate, you'll be done your truck before I install your old trim...

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Jay, I am SO excited to almost be at the part to put the trim on! You know when you make all the little mistakes and go "the trim will cover it!"

Spent all weekend sanding:

two fenders
tailgate both sides
bed header panel
two fender cowl pieces
front nose header panel
windshield valance
two bed wheel covers

I didn't do a good job apparently on some spots of the wheel covers and bed header panel, i am going to re-do those with the 4 stages of DA (just the bad spots) and i didn't get a chance do DA the fenders to 5000. So, as it stands, i should be days away from being done with body work, and glass guy could be coming any day. Once the windshield and rear glass are in, we can assemble the bed, and then it's just drivetrain + front sheetmetal time. I'm down to about 7 weekends until columbus!

Here's one of the best parts of one of the wheel covers:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Glass guy made a new accurate template the other day, glass should be in any day..in the meantime, blasted a ton of little parts, and primed them. Will get them in color maybe this weekend.

Also, everything been sanded and buffed! A couple sand through spots to touch up, but very please.

I have SO many parts, harness, etc landing this week. Once glass is in, should be a ton of fast progress.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

I remember those days !!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Painting SO many small parts, and the engine today.

In other bad decision news, saw a 62 tempest convertible for sale locally today...

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Glass guy installed yesterday, going to do touchups on areas i sanded through and maybe some bed assembly today...might make it yet!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

looking really good man. the paint work is top notch... and after wrestling with the deluxe trim on those windshields, i also brought in a professional on that. what took me and 2 other guys 3 hours, the glass guy popped it in perfect in about 45 minutes. i really like the little parts tree too. doing great work there.

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Thanks! yeah, i was glad not to handle the back and front glass, especially the back because it needed something custom to fit tight because my converted BBW back opening wasn't perfect. The windshield, i didn't know the custom trim had to go in first, so that would have screwed me!

The parts tree is SO damn handy, best $15 in the project besides the bed wood jig!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Getting ready for bed setup this weekend...here's to some progress!

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Man!!!! This is nice looking!!!! :chevy:

Re: '66 Longbed 327 w/AC project
 

Please do a little tutorial on the side trim fasteners. It will be nice to see what goes where. I'm ready for trim... are you?

:D