'66 Longbed 327 w/AC project

[McMurphy]

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 !!

[cortcomp]

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.

[CRGRS 66]

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

[CRGRS 66]

Beauty paint work BTW

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by CRGRS 66

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

I got the head lights figured out !!!!

[CRGRS 66]

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...

[cortcomp]

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.

[Ta2Don]

Shiny!!!

[Jeff La]

That white shines

[1963c-10]

Paint looks great!!!!

[cortcomp]

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!

[cortcomp]

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.

[cortcomp]

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.

[CRGRS 66]

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

[jayoldschool]

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...

[cortcomp]

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:

[cortcomp]

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.

[McMurphy]

I remember those days !!

[cortcomp]

Painting SO many small parts, and the engine today.

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

[cortcomp]

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

[clemdaddy]

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.

[cortcomp]

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!

[cortcomp]

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

[TJ's Chevy]

Man!!!! This is nice looking!!!!

[jayoldschool]

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?