72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

Picked up the beak today and installed it. The 70-72's are pretty easy. The 73's are the hard ones since they have a ton (literallly) or extra 5 mph impact bracing inside the nose.

I just attached the little bracket do-hickies to the inside of the nose and then hung it in place with the bolts. The beak lined right up. I guess all that playing and realigning of the fenders a few months back, worked out well.

The real trick is to have the car jacked up by two floor jacks under the rear of the subframe. You want the front wheels to be off the ground and hanging. This way the front of the car is warping down. You attach the urethane nose, line it up and bolt it down. Then when you let the car off the jacks, it pulls the urethane nose closer to the fenders. If you try to attach the urethane nose while the car is on the ground, it tends to leave a gap between the fender edges and the nose.

I then took her for a ride around town. Definitely have to get used to these low revving Pontiacs. They don't seem to rev up very fast but they do have a ton-o-power! It was fun to see the shaker working, too, when you stomp the gas pedal.