72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MrsBillyBobcat</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-size: 14pt">CONGRATULATIONS Steve!</span> [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img] <span style="font-size: 14pt">It looks AWESOME! </span> [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Just in time for my wife's birthday. She will be so surprised when I give her an autographed copy as her birthday present. Stay tuned for further updates! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

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[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img]

So....how'd she like it? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img] </div></div>

Rita,

Actually I chickened out and gave her our customary family gift of a home-made limerick. We do it for everyone's birthday in our house. Even the kids are required to draft one up.

Here is my &quot;gift&quot; for my better half. It covers her two biggest gripes: we have way too many dogs and I have way too many hats stashed all around the house. Of course she also says there aren't enough cats, even though we have the same # of finicky felines as dastardly dogs (all are rescues, including the blind one in the lower right, in the picture).

She loved it!



We should have enough limericks to fill a book by next year. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[MrsBillyBobcat]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Rita,

Actually I chickened out and gave her our customary family gift of a home-made limerick. We do it for everyone's birthday in our house. Even the kids are required to draft one up.

Here is my &quot;gift&quot; for my better half. It covers her two biggest gripes: we have way too many dogs and I have way too many hats stashed all around the house. Of course she also says there aren't enough cats, even though we have the same # of finicky felines as dastardly dogs (all are rescues, including the blind one in the lower right, in the picture).

She loved it!



We should have enough limericks to fill a book by next year. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] </div></div>

<span style="font-size: 14pt">LOL Steve! That is way COOL!!! </span> [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]
Homemade cards/ gifts are the BEST! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] Thanks so much for sharing! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

I finally got some tires for the rims that I won from Year One for my Gramma Rose's 1975 Firebird. They will be going on Gramma's Firebird but I wanted to see how they fit on the T/A in terms of clearance and ride.

They are the 275/40x17 BFGs as recommended by Year One. They actually fit fine with no rubbing whatsoever! I drove around some windy/bumpy roads to check for rubbing and didn't hear or feel a thing. The car does handle and drive a bit stiffer than the BFG 235/60x15s I normally run, but the ride is nowhere near as jarring as the orginal bias ply F60x15 Polyglas tires.







I compared the height measurements of each tire and they are as follows:

F60x15 Goodyear Polyglas: 26&quot; tall
235/60x15 BFG Radial T/A: 25.5&quot; tall
275/40x17 BFG Sports: 25&quot; tall (of course the BFG spec sheet said they were 25.9 tall on a 9 rim [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img])

I'll try to get the weights of each tire later today when I move them over to Gramma's car but I can tell you the 17&quot; set up is really heavy (one of the tires landed on my pinky while moving them out of the truck and I was not a happy camper). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

BTW, these are the original 114,000 mile front and rear springs on this car. You do see a bunch of space above the tire in the wheelwell. If I had it to do over again, I might go with a 45 series tire to get a bit more fill in the wheel well.

[njsteve]

Here's the three tires on the car:

F60x15 Polyglas:



235/60x15 BFG:



275/40x17 BFG:

[njsteve]

And here they are where they belong, on Gramma Rose's Firebird:





[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

Looks great Steve... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[njsteve]

Thanks to Norwood and his expertise (no doubt using surplus, Area 51 Alien replication technology), he has come out with another unique part for our cars. This time it's the heat riser shroud mounting bracket for the 72 455HO engines.

Here's is the problem. The only repro available for the 72's is the wrong style bracket that is used on the 70s and 71s. Pictured on the top and bottom, it has two big &quot;ears&quot; that come up to protect the vacuum hoses. This was not used in 72.



Here is a borrowed shot of an original 72 bracket on top, and Norwood's exact duplicate on the bottom:



And a borrowed photo of the 72-only shroud unit that employed a locater tab to engage in the slot in the bracket:



Compared with the repro piece that is sold by all the venders and mistakenly described as fitting all the 70/71/72 cars. The triangular piece needs to be trimmed down into a small tab, and then it works just fine with Norwood's bracket:



And the modified shroud and new bracket, assembled and mounted. (...and it looks like I need to do some detailing and repainting over the winter).