The headliner has been installed. There are still a few minor wrinkles that will come out with some more heat and time. The headliner is another area where my dad is not doing what is "correct" for a '70 model. He is putting a pearl white interior in the car, which means the car should have a white headliner. But he doesn't want to do that, he preferred to use a black headliner which would be correct on a '71-'72 with a white interior. So he also painted the inside A-pillar covers black (like a '71-'72) instead of the correct white. Also has the package tray and rear seat/trunk divider installed, along with a layer of insulation. The headliner is one of the very few things he will have someone else do for him. He has a friend that will come to his house and put them in. Although my dad has installed them himself before with good results, he said he would rather pay his friend to do it.
The car came with a tinted windshield but the rest of the glass was not tinted. At this point he has cleaned and reinstalled the regulators and tracks and reinstalled the original side glass on the passenger side. These aren't in perfect condition but are more than sufficient for a driver. A Also has part of the drip rail molding the door handle, and new window fuzzies installed. Moving right along....
Is that what we're calling this beauty??? :error: You're joking right? That's a show vehicle all the way!
You might remember I wanted your father to tackle my Suncoupe project but was too far down the line. While I am amazed by his talents I wonder about things like the unseen floor plugs being like the factory and the rear being a 9 inch (my personal favorite rear set up). I was very interested in this car when it came up for sale and thankfully I did not end up with it. I doubt I would have even gotten it apart by now. Also I like the color change. Watching this one closely because it showcases his talents that are outstanding.
Gary, I enjoy checking in on this thread. Your Dad does fanatastic work. Do you know what yr/models you got the 15x7 steel rims from (with the 4 3/4 bolt pattern)? I have been looking for a set at the local u=pull=it yards, but haven't had much luck. I am thinking that I'm not looking for the correct yr/models.
Yes, this is what he calls a "driver." And it will get driven on nice days to church, a few shows, to the local dragstrip at least once or twice a year, and if he had not retired from his regular job last summer, he would drive it to work. He's not building it to let it sit, that's for sure. My mom's "driver" had a similar restoration from my dad (because it was equally as rough to start) and and she drives it whenever the mood hits her. She even smokes in it. I think they have put about 10,000 miles on it so far. He drove it from TN to Florida (in the rain), I raced it at the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags, took it on part of the Hot Rod Power Tour a few years ago, etc. Great cruiser. Here is her car before and after he did the resto.
Oh I remember emailing about your Suncoupe. Ive always thought it was an extremely cool car and glad to see that someone is saving it because it just not something that anyone ever gets to see. Several people have told me that they remember when this brown car was for sale and they were interested in buying it. They would have found out exactly what we did, there were not even $1,700 in good parts on it. The car initially seemed like it was fair, but the more he took it apart the worse it got. No regrets at all, but it was crazy to fix this car. About the drain plugs, then the 9; As mentioned, he did the drain plugs like original because it adds detail under the car, rather than just painting everything on the floor pan black. And leaving them unpainted was less work. He also didnt allow any overspray on the floorpans or the bottom of the hood like he would have with a show car restoration because it looks neater than what is correct. Hes just doing this car likes he wants it, rather than following any rules. His idea about this car is that he wants it to appear to a casual observer, especially a non-Buick person, as a mostly original-type restoration, but just with headers, radial tires, and an after market radio. But if a real Buick purist did a close inspection they would notice lots of stuff that is wrong for an original car. Not worrying about dates codes, casting numbers, is nice for a change.
I've gone to the local pull-A-part and gotten 2 sets of wheels this year. I know that the last set I got definitely came from a 1983 Oldsmobile, full-size car (can't remember the model, maybe it was a Delta 88?). Also seen the 15x7s on a full sized Buick of similar year. All the Impalas seem to have 15x6, and the Cadillacs seem to mostly have big bolt pattern. I'm not sure if this is 100% true, but for the cars I've inspected so far, if a 3/4" socket will fit the lug nuts it is a 4-3/4 pattern, and the 5" pattern cars have had 13/16" lug nuts, but I also carry a tape measure to be sure. Our local pull-A-part yard charges $9.72 for a 15x7 steel wheel, also charges you for the tire too unless it is completely shot. I checked EVERY single GM car there last time and got the only 4 15x7 steel wheels in the yard (came off 3 different cars). I still need a few more for something else but will have to wait until they get some new inventory. So far every wheel we have gotten had a "TJ" code stamped by the valve stem, and we've collect 8 wheels from 5 different cars. I can now spot a 15x7 wheel from 5 feet away by looking to see if the wheel has this extra lip that is not present on a 15x6 wheel:
So the next area he has working on is the engine. He normally would have already had the engine finished before the body is ever even reinstalled onto the frame but he has delayed the engine build because it is so expensive. Here is the starting point. We initially had a '70 block but it turned out to not be usable for what we wanted to do, so we got this block from the machine shop that did all the machine work, Automotive Machine and Performance in Philpot, KY. This block is a '71 model and has now been bored to 4.35", decked so the pistons are .010" in the hole, main studs and line honed, decks drilled for the 8 extra head bolts on Stage 2 heads, etc, etc. It also received the oiling mods that Mike recommended. Here are some of the parts. The rods are 6.8" Eagle brand for a big block Chevy, the pistons are the custom Diamond brand pieces that Mike and JW both have used recently. They sure look nice. The crank was modified so the Chevy rods would work and the stroke is now 3.95" so the engine works out to be 470 ci. The compression for this engine measured to be 10.49:1. Everything that AMP did for this engine turned out beautiful and we are very happy with it. I don't have the photos of the heads or the flow sheet handy so I'll post 'em up soon. Along with more details about the engine.
This is a gereat documention piece. Why don't you put it into a book on how to restore GM A-bodies? I would be the first buyer.
After being disappointed with more than 1 machine shop in Nashville, it's worth making the two hour drive from Nashville to Philpot, KY to know that someone familiar with Buicks is doing the machine work. Maybe with the next car I can get more photos, especially more photos of HOW the work is actually done, and do a book.
The piston rings are file-fit, but AM&P had already filed them with the proper gaps, so the crank & rods/pistons went together quickly. AM&P provided a sheet that showed what all the clearances turned out to be, but my dad double checked and everything he checked was right on the money. This block had to have a sleeve installed in the #4 cylinder due to some rust pitting. If you look closely you can just barely see the new sleeve.
A T/A steel oil pan is being used. It will have a simple baffle welded into it. This pan has a full size sump like a '67 pan so it holds a little more oil than a stock '68-up pan. However, the main reason this pan was purchased is that we didn't have a good looking pan, all of the extras we have are badly dented and look terrible. Since we are using a stock type pan, the stock 5/8" pickup tube is being reused. However the original clogged mesh screen has been removed and replaced with an insert that AM&P sells for a few bucks. Just peel the lip around the edge to remove the original, then clean the pickup tube really well, install the new screen which is already cut to the correct size, then bend the lip back over to hold it in place. My dad put a few small welds on it to be sure it stayed in place.
A couple of stock replacement engine mounts were purchased from a local auto parts store. We've had a couple of old mounts break in the past so now whenever one is being replaced a couple of grade 8 bolts are added, as shown here. There will also be a small piece of steel welded between the inner and outer steel shells to make sure they don't separate.
We did not have a timing cover with a nice oil pump cavity, so a new T/A cover was purchased. The cover comes with a new seal already installed. The cover looks slightly different from an original cover, but since this car is not a concours restoration it doesn't matter. It's not cheap, but it does appear to be a very nice piece. And we didn't want to take any chances when it comes to oil pressure/volume/supply. The rubber looked bad in all the stock balancers we had lying around so a new SFI balancer was purchased. We decided to go ahead and pay a little extra for the made in the USA balancer rather than the cheaper part that is made overseas. This also seemed to be the most stock appearing aftermarket balancer. After it is painted red and has a stock pulley mounted on it, it will appear almost stock.
The water pump bolted to the new cover in the previous post is the T/A high performance pump. I recently put this same type pump on my '67 but haven't yet got to try it on a hot day (hey it's winter). But after comparing it to a stock pump it sure seems like it will help, so we decided to also put one on this '70 GS. Here is a comparison of the T/A pump a stock pump.
Here are the heads. They are T/A Stage 2 Street Eliminators. AM&P ordered bare castings from T/A and installed guides so that valves with 11/32" stems can be used instead of the larger/heavier valves with 3/8" stems. As a surprise Christmas gift for my dad I had AM&P do their "street/strip" port job to these heads. Our hope is that we don't have to pull this engine apart for a long, long time, so it was either do this port work now, or never. Flow #s: @ .500" 315 / 223 @ .550" 325 / 232
While waiting for the engine to come back from the machine shop the heater blower motor wire was moved down to the correct location, on the front face like it was originally (this car was built in Dec '69). Also decided to go ahead and install a line-lock since this car will be taken to the track occasionally. It's easy to install at this point in the restoration compared to when the car is fully assembled. He considered hiding it under the car by plumbing it into the brake line running to the rear wheels, but decided that since this car isn't being restored to exact original condition, he would just mount it under the hood. When the car is complete, most people will likely never even notice it in this location.
