65 GTO

[Thumpin455]

I like taking pictures... Wish I could paint better.

[tardis454]

Wish I could paint better.

That car looks great Todd.

Just keep reminding yourself what you started with and you'll feel fine about the paint.

[DanStokes]

I like it! And the paint looks just fine unless you're entering it in Autorama. Truck needs paint and I've decided to farm it out - being old, I just don't want to tackle it.

Dan

[Thumpin455]

It doesn't even feel like its the same car, and I did all the work. How strange is that? Might I be getting old and forgetting? Or is it looking back through rose colored glasses? Looking at the before pic, I can see a ripple in the quarter panel that I didn't get out, that was there when I got the car. I should have put skins on both sides and been done with it. Eh someday, already have one side sitting here.

Still trying to decide what to do about the heads. 69F yesterday, 36F today and chance of snow tonight. I bet in Texas its in the 90s already.

[Thumpin455]

Do ya remember this car? Well I decided to go ahead and pull the heads to run on the GTO. These heads are fresh, new valves, guides, seals, and springs. Throw gaskets at it and I don't have to mess with the transmissions, mounts, etc. I'll go see if anyone has the gaskets I need in town, and how long it takes to get them because I know they probably wont. When I get the gaskets I'll pull the GTO heads off and swap them around. I tell ya what, working on these old cars is so much easier on my knees with the lift. Pull the tires off and I can set it on the floor, then lift it into the air to reach just about anything. It was the most enjoyable a set of headers has ever been for me.

Two reasons, first this one requires premium gas or E85. Second I have some doubts about the block integrity of this particular block. The oil looked a little milky, but it could be fuel that drained into it past the rings from sitting and not getting hot enough after break in to boil out the condensation, could still be the assembly stuff, and could be lots of things. It smelled like fuel, and I saw that on the 455 in the GTO when it was fresh too, but better safe than sorry. Yank the heads and put others on this block then pressure test it when I get back. If it checks out ok, then no problem. If it doesn't well I have four blocks waiting for a .030 set of pistons this one happens to have.

Also kinda decided to put my corner carving suspension under this thing rather than make it a drag car. Seems like it might be more fun around here, since nobody races in straight lines.

[Thumpin455]

Making upgrades, putting the shifter on the floor is an upgrade.




Its so much fun taking things apart.

[DanStokes]

Good to hear from the North Woods. Please keep 'em coming.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

milky oil - I had a boat with a 472 Cadillac motor that would get milky oil the first run of the season but then it'd clear up after that. Condensation caused the milky oil.

can't say it enough, nice work on the GTO.

[Thumpin455]

milky oil - I had a boat with a 472 Cadillac motor that would get milky oil the first run of the season but then it'd clear up after that. Condensation caused the milky oil.

can't say it enough, nice work on the GTO.

Im pretty sure that was the deal with the 400 in the 68. It never got hot, didn't run long enough because the radiator wasn't the best. Ok, it leaks like crazy and won't hold pressure... Wasn't enough to be a cracked block, but I will pressure test it with another set of heads anyway. Needed the heads for the 65, which was the plan when I had them redone back in Nebraska two years ago. Was having too much fun driving it last year to do it, now it needs done before I take a long road trip to Nebraska.


Also added a swaybar to the rear. Since I needed the shifter from the 70 GTO, and it needed the other one since it has a 700R4 now and I couldn't get it in low gear with the 3 speed shifter, I pulled the rear swaybar from it while it was on the lift. When I rebuild the 70 it will get bigger bars, faster steering box, taller spindles, and bigger brakes. Might as well make it handle great. That means the 65 can have some parts from it that will be replaced. With the WS6 Trans Am swaybar up front and some air bags in the rear springs it handled really well, but now it should do better with a rear bar. If I could fit tubular control arms with headers on the 65 it would be getting tall spindles too. Not enough room.

[Scott Liggett]

Looking forward to seeing you and your GTO next month.

[Thumpin455]

Looking forward to seeing you and your GTO next month.

You can see it next week if you're around. I'll be home sometime between Monday and Wednesday.

It made the drive to Chicago great except for running 250ish in rush hour traffic in the last 20 miles. Pulled over and waited for things to get moving and it cooled down, does fine now. Got a larger fan for it today, and a new temp sender for the efi. It was reading 155 when the engine was at 220, so it was thinking it never warmed up, so it would be using more fuel, could contribute to running hot.

With the 2.56 eat it likes rolling between 70 and 80, but the aerodynamics of pushing what amounts to a rail car through the air means it uses loss of gas to go 80. Sweet spot is 65 to 70, does ok on gas under 70. Drives nice with the jeep steering box and big sway bars under it. Chased a 5 series BMW sons a decreasing radius clover leaf on ramp, he backed out before I did, the GTO stuck great through the corner. I wonder how much better these things do with the tall spindles and bigger brakes.

[Scott Liggett]

Everyone of my old cars suffer in the MPG department over 70 mph. The Impala likes 80 mph range, but it MPG drops down and the wind noise increases significantly. My Caprice was real happy at only 70 mph. That was at 3000 rpm on that 454. My Truck is happiest at about 70 as well. That thing has the frontal area of an office building.

My Fitech EFI came with a crap temp sensor that never read right either. I replaced it with a one I had during my collecting of parts for EFI conversions.

[Huskinhano]

Tod,do they make a longer ball joint or can you relocate the upper arm? I seem to recall the B bodies had taller spindles for some reason.

[Thumpin455]

Tod,do they make a longer ball joint or can you relocate the upper arm? I seem to recall the B bodies had taller spindles for some reason.

The B and F spindle are taller and work. B spindles use a larger rotor as well, and the 3rd gen F body 1LE rotors have the right bolt pattern for the A body. The upper arm need to be shorter, I have a set, but with the headers I have on it the arms hit the header with no room for alignment shims. The 68-72 frame has more room than the 65s do so the arms will fit those years with headers. I could go to manifolds, but they're twice the cost of headers. Still might do that, they seal better and I'd only need new head pipes to use them.

I cut part of the control arms off to clear the headers, one side still hits at full drop. This does really well considering the spindles and geometry aren't great.

[Thumpin455]

Have the new sensor in, reads the same as the gauge now. Seems to run better now too, not that it ran bad before. Looks like I didn't get enough water in it after the head swap, probably contributed to running hot.