GTO Hood

Bought a GTO Hood from eBay for $100. It has some rust, but overall not in bad shape for the price -- that coupled with the fact I could do a local pickup saved another couple hundred dollars.

I am not thinking of creating a GTO clone per se, not that there were tons of cosmetic differences between a Le Mans and a GTO, I just think the GTO hood gives the 68's alot more character.

Header Leak

Oh the joys of owning a 40+ year old car... it has been running well and I've been enjoying the car being more reliable but last week it developed a header leak. When I had the exhaust done a couple of years ago, the exhaust guy said they are prone to leak..

Inspected

This past Spring, I got involved in a little home remodelling project that I thought would take about a month but has drug on now for 4 and is still isn't quite done. The problem has been that it has taken all my time away from the rag top.

Rather than let the car sit in the garage all summer, I had it taken to a shop and had a couple of core things fixed. I had them look the car over, try to stop the tranny and thermostat cover leak.

In the looking the car over, they discovered a kinked gas line under the car, the rear mount on the drive shaft had been "hand crafted" and welded and they weren't comfortable with the engineering, and finally a valve cover leak as well. I said, go ahead and do that and change the oil, plugs and wires -- I just wanted to get it on the road. I guess it was pretty much an adventure down there, trying to get the right parts for the drive train because the engine, tranny and rear-end have become mix and match over the years.

They were able to stop the 3 leaks, its inspected and it runs fairly well -- although it still does have a mild hesitation when you just jump on it.

Anyway, after a few weeks away from home, its back in the garage.... and if it ever stops raining here; maybe I'll get it out on the road...

New Locks

I have lived without having door locks since I bought the car; and so I saw an eBay auction ending that hadn't been bid on yet for a set of 5 repro locks + keys. 2 doors, ignition, glove box and trunk.

Putting them in was pretty straightforward. Of course, I'm jinxing myself because I only had time this weekend to put in 4 of the 5 locks... still have the passenger door to do.

I found the 68 Pontiac Body by Fisher book useful for the doors, trunk and glovebox locks. The ignition lock was documented in the 68 Pontiac Mechanics book.

After having the panel off the drivers side door, I could see that the door itself was in pretty good shape -- no rot holes covered with bondo...

So now the doors match the ignition and the glovebox and trunk match... with a spare set of the early Pontiac keys..

Electrical Problems

It's been a busy summer and while I haven't had a lot of time to work on the car, I have been enjoying it. In driving it around, I have had several instances where the car would pretend to have a dead battery.

The previous owner had replaced the battery and put a modern alternator with a built-in voltage regulator on it -- the battery is fine and charging system is fine. The cables to the body and starter seems to have developed some corrosion and fail to let enough voltage through to turn the car over.

When the car won't start, I get out, jiggle the negative and positive wires at the body, starter connections and viola. I need to get disconnect, lightly sand the connections, and put some dielectric grease on them to prevent corrosion from building it back up and preventing the starter from turning over.

Spring Sprung

Had the car out for a few drives this past week and really need to get these leaks stopped. It was just warm enough to have the top down, but windows up; and as long as the sun was out, it was nice. Sure was nice to cruise around again. With 93 octane pushing $4/gallon its a little pricey to drive around.

The battery has needed to be charged a couple of times, and I can't figure out where the drain is.

In the past few months, I've purchased a view things from eBay, I have the 68 Fischer Body Manual, and the 68 Pontiac Service Manual; both original publications, which I purchased for about $20 each. Reprints are going for $30-40. The books are give very good detail, with reasonable assembly diagrams. I couldn't see why I would by reprints when I could get originals for less.

One of these days, I will have to try to do some forensics on the 350 motor that is in it. It is a Chevy, not a Pontiac -- which I really don't have that much of a problem with but it would be nice to know more specifics about it. It doesn't seem like a crate motor, it seems like it was taken out of one car and put into this one. I would not be surprised if this car started life as a 6 cylinder. Actually, for $50, you can get the Pontiac Historical Society to look up the original equipment and copies of the dealer order forms, factory billing history and other information about the car's original configuration, like color, options, hardtop, etc. I could see where that would be important for a correctly restored car, but this Le Mans is unlikely to ever be restored to original condition... and usually, this restoration kind is generally reserved for Le Mans' big brother the GTO.

Winter Time is Forever in the East

Winter has never been longer than this past winter.... The convertible has been just sitting in the garage looking at me the whole of winter. Even so, it has been tough to find the time (or desire) to go out in the freezing garage and poke around.

I find it hard to get started on a project that you don't see immediate benefit from. Maybe I'll be more likely to start working on getting her back out on the road. I literally have done nothing but start it in January. I did try to start it last week and the battery is dead. Early spring time, I want to address the transmission leak -- jeeze, seems like deja vu from last spring; give it a tune up and oil change and enjoy it this summer.

Here's looking to April and May and the end of being in limbo.