PontiacBob

Fabricated tank straps. Fabricated four bosses to mount straps to. Installed strap bosses to vehicle. Modified seat brackets to sit lower in vehicle. Mocked up steering column and master cylinder. Installed pedal box. Drilled out front of crankshaft. Pinned dampener hub in place. Installed dampener. Modified and installed timing pointer and verified when pointer is at zero number one cylinder is also at top dead center Installed hydroboost. Installed master cylinder. Installed steering box Installed A/C condenser. Started modifying radiator mounting. Fabricating brackets to install radiator securely Started fitting steering column and firewall pass through. Completed mock up of steering column. Fitted steering wheel quick release. Correction to audio about wheels sizes. Front wheel will be 9.5" and the rear will be 11.5". Tires size can range from 275 to 285 on front and 305 to 315 on the rear.

Assembled entire Holley front drive kit. Positioned steering box into place and measured for bolts. Removed and placed bolts on order Modified upper fender brackets to fit new billet hood hinges. Fabricated inner structure for hood louvers. Mocked up fuel cell location. Cut out to fit fuel cell. ( Trunk floor pan was rusted out anyway ) Cut out material for boxing in fuel cell. Fabricated box for fuel cell. Fabricated frame for fuel cell. Fabricated floor in trunk to seal off trunk floor. Welded up trunk floor. Metal finished trunk floor. Welded in inner structure and trim down to fit hood louvers. Installed hood and new billet hood hinges.

Weigh down suspension before making final sheet metal welds After final welds and mechanical test fits are completed components will be removed for undercoating, interior coating and other prep before painting. Final assembly will occur after the body is painted. Increase weight on suspension by: Installed hood Installed engine with transmission Attached nose Modified new trans Cross member to fit early year front sub frame. Front sheet metal alignment after vehicle weight is increased with motor and transmission TransAm body options: Test fit and mock up fender flares. Test fit and mock up front and rear spoilers. Installed and test fit fender vents Made mounting brackets for nose cone. Installed the hood hinges Preliminary fender and hood alignment Installed hood louvers. This is a fair weather car so hood openings are not an issue. Add new hood hinges I can NOT install a stock steering wheel because Silver State Classic Challenge requires a collapsible steering column with a padded hub for the 160-180mph classes. This class is on my bucket list. I first must succeed in the 155mph class before I can enter the 160-180mph classes. I have decided to added these items to the project: 1) Alarm system with hood and trunk sensors 2) Long tube headers and a race gas tune 3) Power door locks and windows

Body welds finished, ground down frame rail clearance for ease of access to lower link bolts and washers. Assembled suspension including axle and completed mock-up. Finished welding up spot welds on rocker panels. Detroit speed mini four link kit welded up from inside of vehicle. Rear suspension mocked up before disassemble and fully weld kit on the vehicle.

Taking body off of frame stand in preparation for rear axle test fit. Body on twin post rack. Pending mock up of rear arms and axle. Began roll cage planning and setup. Prepped all suspension components with weld thru primer Fit into locations then tack into locations. Removed chassis rack out from under vehicle and stage for suspension assembly. Began roll cage fabrication. Order replacement Leaf Spring Mounting Brackets for 4 link

Assemble front upper and lower control arms and coil over shocks Modified spindles to Wilwood 6 piston brake kit. Installed spindles and mockup brake kit. Continue with 4 link prep work

Rolled passenger side rear wheel house for tire clearance. Metal finished inside of cabin. Trim fitted to new panels. Trim fitment after new quarter panels and roof skin. The trim will be finished in either black satin or flat black Back seat fire wall (Blast Shield) Started Detroit Speed Quadra link installation Started Suspension Mockup

No work done this week. I have taken a closer look at past work. There is a list of coming attractions at the end of the video.

Fenders and radiator support added to front-end. Better video of boxed sub-frame connectors from passenger compartment and under carriage. Over size transmission tunnel had been tacked in. Waiting for delivery of inner fenders.

Rust repair on driver side A-pillar. Blend roof to driver side A- pillar. Rust repair on passenger side A-pillar. Blend A- pillar to roof on passenger side. Fit and weld sub-frame rail connectors. Put in front sub-frame with new bushings. Test fit oversize transmission tunnel for 6L80E transmission.

Prep inner roof structure. Removed rust on inner roof structure before installing and welding into roof skin. Weld in roof skin.

Fit & installed passenger side door skin. Removed passenger side cali to firewall extension/filler panel. Rust repair lower corner on passenger side firewall extension. Fit new cali to firewall extension. Weld in new cali to firewall extension. I do not know what the cali is. Place a comment if someone knows. Removed roof skin and prep for new roof skin. Fit new roof skin.

No construction progress this week. The skin for the passenger door was delivered too late in the week to be installed on the rebuilt frame. The new roof skin is on order and should be delivered by March 4th.

Weld up passenger side quarter panel at roof joint. Removed both doors off of vehicle and cut off lower section for rust repair. Fitted new door bottoms and weld into location and metal finish area. Prep new door skin for installation onto door structure. Fit new door skin to door structure. Passenger door skin has been misplaced so this door rebuild can not be completed. Fit driver door onto vehicle to verify body line location and fitment. Installed driver door and reshaped door edge to fit body contour. It was determined that the roof panel is too rusted and pitted for economical repair. New roof panel has been ordered and will be installed.

Here is a summary of this week's progress: 1) Weld in trunk hinges and weld up trunk lip edge. The torsion rods have not been installed. 2) Fit passenger side rear tail pan to quarter panel. Fabricate new filler piece for tail light pan to quarter panel. 3) Welded up driver rear tail pan to quarter panel. 4) Gap trunk lid and modify to fit trunk filler panel I give a view of both mini-tubs from inside the passenger compartment. Here is a bit of trivia about the new trunk lid. I was able to find one that had the holes for rear spoiler center section already drilled out

There was not a lot of new stuff to show. I took the time the describe the next steps with some of the sheet metal. The roof panel must be blended into the new rear quarter panels. The trunk lid and quarter panels must be gapped to match on either side. The temporary bracing under the rear section of the body will be removed once the other panels are aligned and welded together. At this time the rear 4 link suspension, coil-over shocks, sub-frame connectors and narrowed rear-end can be installed. A 22 gallon fuel cell will be placed in the trunk and replace the stock gas tank which will NOT fit with the narrowed rear-end.

Minimum progress at the shop.New trunk lid was fitted to the new quarter panels. The rear glass was fitted to the filler panel. New tail light and lower filler panels were also fitted to the new rear quarter panels. New tail light assemblies were fitted into the panels, then protected with yellow tape.

The passenger rear quarter panel was replaced this week as well as the new rocker panel was installed and aligned with the original door. The lower door frames will be replaced at a later date as well as new door skins will be fitted. The passenger side tub was installed. In the trunk area the tail light panel, lower cross panel, and trunk filler panel were replaced. I have added before and after photos that were taken during the work week.

Limited progress this week. Installation of the right rocker panel was completed and welded. The passenger door mock-up was installed and aligned to the new rocker panel. The right rear quarter panel was removed and the inner tub installed.

Little work was done this week. The craftsman assigned to my project was pulled off for 4 days to help complete another project. The passenger side rocker panel has been modified, installed and welded in place.

Driver side rear quarter panel and tubbing have been installed. Updated status of the passenger side outside rocker panel is also included. This chapter is longer because there were an unscripted discussion of the current and future work. The project coordinator was very articulate in his descriptions so I decided to include them in this chapter. I found them very interesting and entertaining. I had an epiphany that this project will truly be a hand crafted car.

The left rear quarter panel has been cut out. Both new quarter panels have been test fitted with no issues found. This should make the installation straight forward. The content length has been reduced because of the holidays. The mini-tub kit parts are shown. I have added two new project items. These will be fleshed out at the appropriate time. The first is a front tow ring connected to the front sub-frame. The second is the addition of A-pillar, window, forward roll-bars. There will be a connecting bar along the windshield line. There will be no door bar at this time.

Driver side outer rocker panel installed this week. It appears the new floor panel and firewall were welded in. The inner rockers were also welded. There were problems with the outer passenger side. The new sheet metal was misshapen and could not be made to fit. A new rocker was on order this week. This appears to be common with replacement sheet metal.

Week 11 has little new to show. The floor pan and firewall have been fitted but welded. The inner and outer rocker panels are being fitted from 16 gauge sheet metal. The PONTIAC doors turned out to be for a CAMARO. The give away was the crease along the bottom of the door. No PONTIAC doors are available so the fabricator will mend the inner door and install new outer skins.

Please turn down or turn off your audio before watching this video. There was a loud compressor running next to my car. New firewall has been test fitted and is ready to be welded. The rusted out floor pan has been removed and will have the new one installed this week.