Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I've spent some time away from the T/A doing the holiday thing. But back to work now. With the rear dif all finished, it's time to hit the springs. I disassembled one of the leaf spring assemblies by gently tapping the spring clamps to each end with a wooden mallet so I wouldn't have to try to unbend them. I then removed the center bolt and wirebrushed each spring leaf, washed them, coated them with oxy-solv rust killer and then painted them in cast iron engine paint. I then greased the plastic insulator pads and reassembled the spring pack and then tapped the clamps back into place. The spring steel that the leaves are made of is really rough and pitted, even without having been rusted. I guess that's just the quality that came from the steel mills back in 1972.

I have been thinking about how to duplicate the factory stenciled part number and ended up with this solution: I took a photo of the part number next to a ruler, uploaded the photo to my computer and then reduced the file size until the image of the ruler on the screen was the exact size of a ruler I held up to the screen. I then printed the photo out in black and white and cut the letters out with a razor knife...and voila, a perfect stencil for the original PL-461612 1972 455 HO with a/c rear leaf spring assembly!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...68/spring1.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ingstencil.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here's the finished product. Now I have to do the other side, but I will be masking off and keeping intact the original paint mark.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...68/spring2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...68/spring3.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I spent the morning cleaning the frame rail area in preparation for installing the springs and rear end. I used lacquer thinner on a red rag and a lot of elbow grease and it worked great. It removed the years of dust and grime from the bottom. Interesting note: It looks like on 2nd Gen F-Bodies the factory had the rear axle snubbers installed on the body prior to being dipped in the primer bath at the assembbly plant. As you can see that is shiny metal under the area where the snubber was.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140003.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140002.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I kept going underneath, cleaning til I got to the other side...It also looks like they had the passenger side upper sway bar mount break away from the frame. Evidence of a sloppy weld repair is present.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140004.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140006.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here are some details of the inner trunk floor extensions. They were undercoated from the factory on this car. You can also see the seam sealer in the rear joint area.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140014.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

And here's the passenger side rear inner fender area. While scrubbing away with the lacquer thinner and a rag I discovered a non-scratching scraper tool on my garage floor...a plastic bottle cap! It was within arms reach so I grabbed it and it worked wonders. I was able to get into the tiny areas and it was soft enough not to scratch any of the original primer or paint. I should patent it!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140008.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140012.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Hey Steve, that was a pretty neat trick with the leaf spring stencils. Looking good! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

When all else fails, use the cranium! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Got the rear end installed, along with the sway bar and shocks. I ended up painting a set of KYB gas shocks in the GM grey color (did the same in the front). This way they won't stick out so much as not being original.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1150001.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I started to clean up the driveshaft and noticed that the original paint marks were still there, under the grey paint someone put on. Some careful cleaning and here's the remnants: From the front of the driveshaft the order is orange, white, then yellow. (This stripe scheme is corroborated by the '72 repair manual list as the correct code for the M-22 and M40 driveshaft for 1972) The stripes are brushed on and they are 1/2" wide with a 3/8" gap between them. (You can still see the brush marks in the paint) The front stripe is 19-3/8" from the front weld seam and the rear stripe is 22-1/2" from the rear weld seam.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1150009.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Great pics, & very informative

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I spent a few hours chemically stripping the paint off of the driveshaft and then polishing it with the coarse wirebrush disc on my bench grinder. It worked very well. The finish matched the shiny areas under the stripes exactly. I then restriped it with one shot striping enamel and a brush. I let the paint dry overnight and then installed the U-joints and sprayed the whole assembly with the wax based Nyalac metal preservative. It works pretty well at keeping natural metal from rusting.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../P1160002a.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Steve this is incredible work. I am blown away. Geez where the hell have I been? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/crazy.gif

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/worship.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Steve... I can have my cars at your door step... ahh... tonight if you want 'em? (all of them...)

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Thanks for the moral support. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gifIt's amazing what you can do when you don't have the cubic $$$ to pay someone else to do it for you. I am running out of things to do now. Hopefully ENOCH can take the car soon to do the body and paint. I spent today under the car installing the driveshaft and then cleaning the rest of the underside with lacquer thinner and rags. Looks great from the floor looking up! (I don't have a lift, so it's all cold concrete here in Jersey). Thanks again y'all.

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

The one interesting thing I have noticed after the hours spent under this car, is that it appears that the factory undercoated the cars PRIOR to painting them. If you look at the wheelwell shots you can see the areas where the undercoating has chipped away: you see red primer and not white body color. (See the photo of the rear frame rail with the big red section where a large piece of stray undercoating fell off during the cleaning process)

So I guess if you are correctly restoring one of these 2nd generation F-body cars, the wheel wells should have body color overspray on top of the black undercoating (rather ugly in my opinion).

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Steve, Not sure I agree 100% with your statement about the undercoat before the color. Here is a picture of my 70Z it's unrestored and original paint (hugger orange) norwood car. All I did was clean and new exhaust, but you can see all the undercoat patterns.
I've enjoyed following this post, you've done a Great job and I love all the detail. Keep up the good work and continue to post the pictures.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL17/1.../120967600.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Maybe they changed the procedure by 1972 but from the photos there is no other logical explanation if you go layer by layer. Top layer is white, middle layer is undercoat and bottom layer is red oxide. If you chip off a piece of the oversprayed undercoating right next to a white section of metal, you only see red oxide. Here's a shot of the untouched front lower cowl area. You can see where the original paint has flaked away from the black undercoat/sealer from overzealous pressure washing (-my fault) On the rear frame rail the large red spot is where a large glob of undercoating fell off during the cleaning process, leaving only red oxide. If the car was painted white before undercoating, there should be white overspray under the undercoating and not over. (Now I'm sounding like a scene in the Movie Airplane: "Roger Over, Over Under, Under out") Do we have any former Norwood employees out there who can chime in???

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/a6d052e7.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/P1140002.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess: Radio/speaker Question
 

Got disgusted watching all the Barrett-Jackson stuff so I went out in the garage to play with the T/A this afternoon. Hooked the battery up just for fun to see what works. All the gauges actually still worked! I had worried there for a while after the initial engine run in without the right ground straps. I thought I had burned out the temp and volt gauges from the voltage feedback but they all seemed to work properly when the key was turned on today. Even the factory radio worked when I hooked some speakers up. That leads me to this question: Do you have to run 10 ohm rated speakers with the factory radio? I have the original 10 ohm dash speaker hooked up but the rear speakers were 4 ohm rated. Will this hurt the radio?

Re: 72 T/A progess: Radio/speaker Question
 

How are they wired? If they're wired in series (non stereo) for an 8 ohm load, they'd be just fine if there's a second set of outputs. Basically, its my understanding that whenever you drop the resistance (ohms) by half, the current the amplifier tries to deliver is doubled, and these high currents are what get you in trouble. I'm not familiar with what the factory did when you got the optional rear speaker on some of these setups. I would look at the factory wiring diagram, and just try to keep the ohm loads withing at least 60 or 70% of what the original setups were, and then avoid cranking it up excessively.

Re: 72 T/A progess: Radio/speaker Question
 

It should have an AM/FM stereo unit (very hard to find) but I found a nice non stereo AM/FM and put that in. I connected the rear speakers off of the single speaker output wire that comes out of the radio. So I believe that would be in series, giving me one 10 ohm dash speaker, and two 4 ohm rear speakers for a total of 18 ohms of resistance. It sounded fine in terms of volume and clarity. So hopefully it won't burn anything out.

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here's a tech tip for the day: I've been trying to figure out where the short was in the wiring for the blower motor. I got so frustrated after an hour or two under the dash that I gave the damn motor a smack with my hand and what happens? It starts working. Typical. I then sprayed the heck out of the internals with WD-40 and it works fine now. So remember when all else fails, smack it with a bigger hammer...it just might help. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I have to say that this has been my favorite thread to watch throughout the past few months. I love to watch the progress and see the various tips and tricks that are being used to restore such a nice TA.
Keep the updates coming........I really look forward to them

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

The last thing to do before taking it off the jack stands was to adjust the subframe and tighten it up. I loosened the bushing bolts and then used a tapered 3/4" brass drift to align the holes in the subframe mounts with the pilot holes in the body mounts. It worked great. I then tightened the 4 bolts to 95 pounds. I finally was able to put the T/A back on the ground again and then rolled it out of the way to sweep out the garage and clean up the workbench. I found all the little clips and nuts and things that have been flinging out of sight over the past 6 months or so. It's amazing how they all migrate to the center, underneath the car.

I Hooked up the battery and cranked the engine over just to get the oil pressure up. The factory gauge is actually still accurate. After about 5 seconds of cranking it was reading 75 pounds, which is the same as the mechanical gauge I had hooked up.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...Jan06front.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../Jan06rear.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I unbolted the rear spoiler, tail panel, rear lamps and bumper. You can still see where the remnants of the original set of tape stripes were. Interestingly, the factory was about 3/8" inch to the left of center. So much for assembly line precision.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...rearstripe.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here's the finished dash and gauges. I removed everything and cleaned it up (mainly removed all the dust). The 1970-73 engine-turned dash panels are nearly impossible to find in nice shape -they all turn yellow with age. I ended up disassembling mine, removing the factory clear varnish with lacquer thinner and then sprayed a new layer of clear over the aluminum. It worked great -really pops now. The switches all function properly now too, even the A/C stuff: you can hear the compressor clutch click when you trip the switch. All the gauges work too, even the clock. That was actually fun to restore. It's even rather easy, just remove the unit, take a small file (your wife's favorite nail file works perfectly) and file the set of points flat. Then spray all the gears and internals with WD-40. That's it. The clock runs, well...like clock now.

Here's the "before" shot, complete with cheesy aftermarket Grant steering wheel and stereo:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ss11-20-04.jpg


Here's the "after" shot, complete with my daughter's baby shoes hanging from the mirror -she's already claimed the car as hers.
I guess that means now I have to teach her how to powershift an M-22: https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../Jan06dash.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I removed the doors and trunk lid and loaded the front sheetmetal up, to bring them to Enoch tomorrow so he can start on them. This way he can have 1/2 the car semifinished when the body arrives. More evidentiary photos show that these cars must have had their doors and trunk lids installed when they went through the red oxide primer dip. Notice that there is no primer under the hinge area at the door jam and only some seepage on top of the trunk hinge where the shims left a gap.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/drhinge2.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...trunkhinge.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here's how she looks at the moment:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...268/feb06a.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...268/feb06b.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here is the original plastic front valance from the car. All of the mounting points are broken and it is cracked in several places...and the parts that aren't cracked, are melted from a past carb fire gone out of control. Next to it is the "Parts Place" reproduction. The upper flanges seem to be wider than the originals and of course the whole thing is much thinner tha the original factory piece, but it's all we have to work with at the moment until someone makes a better one. I would think that these pieces would be in high demand to accurately reproduce as the cars look so much better with the plastic valance than the steel one: you don't see the unfinished lower nose flange with the plastic valance as you do with the steel ones.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/valance1.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/valance2.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...valcompare.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Hey Steve, good job on that dash panel. Following this thread is kind of like watching old episodes of "McGyver". Keep the pics coming.

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I don't know about McGyver but I feel more like Cliff Clavin on Cheers sometimes:

"As a matter of fact there Normy, the 1972 Camaro and Firebird, or F-Bodies as they are more commonly referred to by those in the know, were the lowest production year of any of the years from 1967 to 2002 due to the fact of a full strike against the Norwood Assembly Plant was instituted by the United Auto Workers, resulting in thousands of unfinished cars left on the assembly line being scrapped as they would not have passed the more stringent 1973 emission and bumper standards...." https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/scholar.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I took a little break while getting the Camaro sold and delivered, so now it's back to work. I sent the original radiator out to be recored and got it back a week later. I went to reinstall it and it wouldn't fit. Very strange, it was 3/4" too wide for the saddles. The following Monday I called the radiator guy (very reputable, long-time radiator overhauler and custom tank fabricator) and he was scratching his head also. Until finally he says: "Hey wait a minute I was recoring a Camaro radiator the same week...could I have switched the cores? He picks up the phone and calls the Camaro guy and asks him if he installed the rad yet. The guy says: "I was just about to, right now." The rad guy tells him: "Just bring it back now, I'll explain later." Turns out he did swtich the cores and there was a 3/4" difference in the widths for the same year cars. He redid my radiator with a new corre (and the other guy's too) and had it back to me in a few days. No charge. I have to say he was a stand-up guy about the whole thing, no questions, no excuses. You don't find that very often these days in service industries. I would definitely recommend him: Arts Radiator Fabrication in Flemington, NJ. He was surprised that I wasn't angry. I explained it this way: if it was a simple mistake that I could have made, there is no way that I would fault anyone else for making the same mistake. So I guess the lesson for all of us is the old saying: "measure twice and cut once." Or in this case: "measure twice and install once."

I also found a correct, original master cylinder on ebay for $18, complete with the bleeder screws and had my local auto parts store send it out and had it rebuilt. I installed it and filled the system with silicone brake fluid and bled it. I prefer the silicone fluid on restorations because if you ever have a leak or a drip, it won't hurt the paint. Easy insurance.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...adinstall1.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I found another 1971-72 charcoal cannister and restored that. My original had some slight nipple damage (insert joke here) from the previous owner's fire. Being the dummy that I am I always wondered why they called it a charcoal cannister. That was until I pulled the filter off the bottom while having it right side up. Here's what came out: about two pounds of charcoal.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...8/charcoal.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here's the new one back in the car. I reused the original hose clamps after cleaning them up a little. I went to the local pet store and bought two pounds of activated charcoal (for fish tank filter use) and poured that into the cannister and then capped it off with a new filter on the bottom. I then reinstalled it on the base and bolted it back up to the radiator support. It should actually work as intended now.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...adinstall2.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Wow Steve...looking great! This is better than any restoration book... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

But now you have cheap repo charcoal in your car...

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Well, as a matter of fact there Normy, if one were to perform carbon dating on both samples of charcoal they would both date back to the early Pennsylvanian period, when the majority of the Earth's coal supply was formed.
-Sincerely, Cliff Clavin

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

I've been working on my other project lately (1987 IROC Z) and have been collecting parts for the T/A. I recently received my Gardner exhaust system and trial fitted it this afternoon. Amazing quality stuff! It took longer to bolt up the hangers than it did to hang the entire system. Everything slid into place by hand. The only problem I ran into was trying to finagle the intermediate pipes under the car without the car being on a lift. I was like one of those twisted nail puzzlers that you see in novelty stores. There was only one way to move, twist and rotate the pipe(s) around to get them into place. But after using my brain and lifting the car as high as possible on the jack stands, they eventually fell into place. I highly recommend their products. I trial fitted (no clamps) everything so I can start the car with an exhaust in place. The engine hasn't been run in 6 months or so and now that I have the radiator, power steering and everything else hooked up I want to get it sorted out. I'll try to link some photos in the next day or so.

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Here are some photos of the Gardner exhaust trial fitted to the car. The pipes hung perfectly -no tools required.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/nk15268/exh1.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...5268/exh2a.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/nk15268/exh3.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/nk15268/exh4.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/nk15268/exh5.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b216/nk15268/exh6.jpg

Re: 72 T/A progess
 

Once in a while you actually find a bargain on ebay: I have been looking for an NOS front spoiler for the T/A. When you can locate one they run between $300 and $400 dollars. The reproductions are total garbage. This one was somewhat mis-described in its auction and I ended up getting it for $128! It is definitely an original NOS GM piece that came factory pre-painted in white. Here it is alongside my slightly used (smashed and burnt) original one:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../fspoiler3.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../fspoiler4.jpg