72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

Belay that order!

Turns out that those aren't the correct screws after all. The guys on the Pontiac website provided me with photos of what the original screws are...and they coincidentally look just like the regular, round indented, philips head wheelwell trim screws I randomly grabbed out of my toolbox and used on the car in place of what I thought were the right screws.

You gotta love when the haunted tool box knows more than you about what the right fastener is, for the job at hand.

[njsteve]

Found them at Napa! The large, flat ridged head looks just like the originals from the Pontiac guys' photos.

[njsteve]

Nose in final (hopefully) primer:

[njsteve]

It's nice to get your faith in humanity refreshed once in a while. I got a recent email from southernfriedcj (Jim), here on the site asking me if I wanted the leftover box of parts he had found in the garage from the 72 T/A he sold a while back. I replied that I'd take whatever he had. I asked him what he wanted and he said just pay the shipping and you can have it all!

You can imagine my astonishment when two large boxes arrived and all this stuff was in it. It was like Christmas in April! A lot of the misc parts were things I had been searching for, unsuccessfully, for years.



Here's some of the stuff:

The original, correct zinc chromate colored, cowl weatherstrip clips (next to the not-so-accurate repro clip)




The correct A/C compressor rear bolt spacer:



Original 455HO valve cover bolts (yes, they had their own bolts as they were longer than the regular Pontiac bolts due to the fact that the 455HO used a much thicker valve cover gasket to allow the valve covers to clear the rocker oiling guides.)



An original set of rear bumper guards - very rare item:



An original 455HO A/C compressor rear bracket (yeah, they had their own unique part designed with a cut out to clear the shaker hot air stove pipes.)



A really nice set of the assembly line, heavy gauge steel 1972 exhaust tips (after cleaning and chiseling off the remnants of the still attached exhaust pipes):




All I can say is Jim, you are one heck of a carguy!

Thank you!

[Xplantdad]

Very, very cool!

[SS427]

There are still a lot of really nice guys/gals in the world who are not in it for the money but rather for the friendships. Jim is one of them. I know the feeling when you get a box like that in the mail. Better than Christmas as a 10 year old!

[RPOLS3]

That's cool.

[el hemi]

Bravo! . Steve...I see you are very near completion.

[njsteve]

Thanks to Norwood, one of the members here and on the PerformanceYears.com website, I have the correct shaker rivets.



My bodyman was very familiar with these types of rivets since he does a lot of Corvette work and they use a similar rivet, so he got the honor of installing them.

First step was drilling out the hole in the repaired fiberglass shaker lid:





The rivet mandrels:







The shaker is then set on top of the rivet and mandrel and the upper mandrel is gently tapped.

[southernfriedcj]

[ QUOTE ]
All I can say is Jim, you are one heck of a carguy!

Thank you!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Steve!
Now I can claim that I was offically part of the greatest car restoration thread on the internet!
I appreciate the reimbursemnt on the shipping as well as the "tip". I'll hoist a couple in your honor.
I'm glad you were able to use some of that stuff. I forgot I had it until I found it cleaning out the downstairs garage. I didn't even remember what it was until I saw the valve covers & the exhaust tips.