# 1964 Pontiac Tempest frame-on repair and build.



## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

This is not a GTO but when finished it will have all the muscle car features.
My nephew has built 20+ muscle cars. For several years I've drooled over them but never felt we could afford a luxury like that. Of all the muscle cars, the 60's boxy-body GTOs were always my favorite. My nephew found this car in someone's front yard. It was one of those "someday I'm going to restore this car" projects. My nephew was able to buy it and has had it stored for a couple years while he planned the work and bought the parts needed. He says it is a really solid car but did have some rusted out places in the trunk and floor and rocker panels. He's fixed all that with a frame-on restoration. I would say the body metal and frame are 90% at this point. I'm not a paint and body guy so he prefers to do all that himself. He just installed the engine, so now it's to mechanical stuff that I can help with.
All new front end assembly, 428 Pontiac motor, headers with cutouts, 400 turbo transmission, Eaton positrac, new seats, Dakota gauges, and lots of little things like a Stay Cool water pump, air conditioning, and other goodies he's learned to install to make the car a reliable and drivable hot-rod. It's going to be all black inside and out with smoked glass all around. Work is slow as he has other commitments, but this should be a nice Christmas present.


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## Joes1966GTO (Apr 27, 2020)

That Tempest is looking pretty sweet!


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## armyadarkness (Dec 7, 2020)

Love it! Out on the street in the general population, people are obsessed with GTO's and whether or not they're legitimate. In here, with the experts, I never once heard anyone car. We all love the Tempest! That one looks like fun!


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## 67ventwindow (Mar 3, 2020)

Out of the three Tempest has the best name. If I could have bought one off the show room in 1966 it would have been a Tempest.Maybe I should re badge mine. Easier than trying to make all the letters straight on a new quarter panel.
.


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## AZTempest (Jun 11, 2019)

I tell everyone mine started out as 67 GTOs and I cloned them into Tempests.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

You two are too funny.


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## 67ventwindow (Mar 3, 2020)

I sold my SS Chevelle and picked up a new 94 B4C Camaro in 1994 (police package) no badges. That got me on the kick of plain jane cars. I like a car with good lines not a bunch of Jewelry to take away from that. Yea I got rid of the F word on my Cougar as well. 😄


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## nick rice (Nov 10, 2014)

Great looking Tempest. Got to Love a post. 👍


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## CptTheAlex (Jul 17, 2015)

I have a 66 post car. Triple black. 😁 one of us, one of us, one of us


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## Joes1966GTO (Apr 27, 2020)

CptTheAlex said:


> I have a 66 post car. Triple black. 😁 one of us, one of us, one of us
> A real BEAUTY!!!  😎


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

CptTheAlex said:


> I have a 66 post car. Triple black. 😁 one of us, one of us, one of us


That is sweet. I like it. This '64 has door posts too. It will be similar but maybe we'll leave some chrome off and lower the rear to be level. Looking at 17" wheels too.


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## Captainfish#1 (Dec 31, 2017)

Agree with no badging or stripes or emblems. Am having my 70 Judge painted without the stripes and emblems put back on. I think it looks nice with all that but I feel it is a little adolescent for a 70 year old man.


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## AZTempest (Jun 11, 2019)

Captainfish#1 said:


> Agree with no badging or stripes or emblems. Am having my 70 Judge painted without the stripes and emblems put back on. I think it looks nice with all that but I feel it is a little adolescent for a 70 year old man.


Adolescent? Heck no, it's all about having fun no matter what a persons age. If I were riding a bike I'd want it to have high handlebars, banana seat with a sissy bar.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Work was delayed for a couple weeks. My nephew is recovering from covid so I can't go and help either. He is feeling better this week and got a little bit done today.


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## Old Man Taylor (May 9, 2011)

I also have a '64 post Tempest.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Old Man Taylor said:


> I also have a '64 post Tempest.


That looks like a lot of fun. 
I notice your tempest emblem is different than the one on mine. I think my nephew got a set from a 1966 for my car.


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## Lemans guy (Oct 14, 2014)

Tempest badging cool!…..Just as a note all of our cars are “Tempests” as Pontiac had the Tempest car line;…The line had various “models”…….Tempest Base; Tempest Custom; Lemans and GTO…….but they were all part of the Tempest car line….


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## Old Man Taylor (May 9, 2011)

kevin1727 said:


> That looks like a lot of fun.
> I notice your tempest emblem is different than the one on mine. I think my nephew got a set from a 1966 for my car.


I don't think they repop that emblem. I got all of mine used.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Old Man Taylor said:


> I also have a '64 post Tempest.


I found you on YouTube. 😀


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Little bits getting done. It's difficult to find usable parts.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Couple more items. I'm getting anxious to drive this car but it is going to be end of year before that happens.


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## Olds455 (Mar 31, 2014)

I dig the dash 😁. I can’t wait to fire up my Dakota gauges.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Got the shifter and sound deadening mat installed.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

The only radiator support we could find was bent. Tried everything we could to straighten it but had to cut it apart to get it straight. Thankfully my nephew is a pretty good welder.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Took all day to clean these up. They had been clear coated with spray paint and it was a mess of runs and puddles. Five cycles of paint stripper. The old anodizing is a little dull and we may try clear coating again to see if that will brighten them up.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

The car is still a work in progress, but I did get the third bay done so it will have a nice place to stay when it gets here.


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## RMTZ67 (Mar 12, 2011)

AZTempest said:


> Adolescent? Heck no, it's all about having fun no matter what a persons age. If I were riding a bike I'd want it to have high handlebars, banana seat with a sissy bar.


I guess I fall into the adolescent category. Here are two bikes I built all because my brother sent me a pick of a muscle bike chopper like we had when we were kids with the wording "remember these?" So I decided if I am gonna build one its got to be the one that got our juices flowing. The iconic Captain America fro the movie Easy Rider. While looking for parts on Ebay I ran across a rusty old frame and couldn't helpbut build a patina version of what I had back then. Didn"t mean to hijack your build thread Kevin1727. sweet Tempest....looking awsome.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

RMTZ67 said:


> Didn"t mean to hijack your build thread Kevin1727. sweet Tempest....looking awsome.


Thanks. That's okay. I had one of those too when I was a kid. Banana seat, sissy bar, high handlebars, slick tire on the back too. Riding wheelies.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Front fenders in process. Rear bumper installed. Working on the rear trim. A paint pen worked great on the black lines once I trimmed the tip. I noticed the "T" was crooked on the gas door trim but after checking photos of other cars, it looks like most are the same way.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Making progress.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

I've got all this trim but I'm not happy with how it looks. I think it is going to detract from the rest of the work that's been done. The photo doesn't show it, but there are lots of marks where someone must have used a can-opener on it. Plus the anodize is cloudy and dull. My builder says we should paint them to match the body color. He says he can hide the imperfections. I have nice aftermarket rain drip edge for the roof so not sure about painted window trim and chrome drip edge.
The Tempest base model has body color trim but I can't find any close up photos to see how it would look. The trim on the base model doesn't look like it has the stepped edge like this aluminum does.
I tried oven cleaner to remove the anodize on one extra piece but I'm not liking the results. The anodize doesn't come off evenly so there is either some anodize left or some rough areas where too much is removed. And there are still the little dig marks.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Getting closer to being done. Aligning the rear quarter windows to crank up and down took a while. Still have to install the entire interior. Still looking for a couple pieces of trim. Still have to wet sand and polish the entire car.
Maybe in another month or two? Just in time for nice weather.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Installed a really nice gas tank trim piece but I think it looks strange without the side pieces. I 've got those but they aren't as nice as the center piece. Missing a little piece of trim on the door too.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Builder wasn't happy with the paint on the roof so he redid that. A bit of a setback, but hoping I'll have this in my own garage soon.


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## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

kevin1727 said:


> Installed a really nice gas tank trim piece but I think it looks strange without the side pieces. I 've got those but they aren't as nice as the center piece. Missing a little piece of trim on the door too.
> 
> View attachment 151013


Go to your local auto store and look at the "good" 3M adhesive chrome trim. My dad uses thus stuff on his cars to trim them out and it looks good and holds up very well.

I think if you got the 1/4" wide trim, I would butt it up to the gas filler panel at the top/bottom to follow the top/bottom chrome on the filler and then go straight out to your tail lights. So you will have 2 pieces of trim added on the left and 2 pieces of trim added on the right side (or add a piece in the middle top/bottom stips to each side for 3 rows of chrome extending out from the filler). This would break up the blacked out panel and take the direct focus off the gas filler panel and even the appearance out. You could just use a piece of tape for now to see what you think, then if you like it, get the adhesive chrome trim - comes in a roll.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Got the Flowmasters and the Holley 650 HP installed.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

PontiacJim said:


> Go to your local auto store and look at the "good" 3M adhesive chrome trim. My dad uses thus stuff on his cars to trim them out and it looks good and holds up very well.
> 
> I think if you got the 1/4" wide trim, I would butt it up to the gas filler panel at the top/bottom to follow the top/bottom chrome on the filler and then go straight out to your tail lights. So you will have 2 pieces of trim added on the left and 2 pieces of trim added on the right side (or add a piece in the middle top/bottom stips to each side for 3 rows of chrome extending out from the filler). This would break up the blacked out panel and take the direct focus off the gas filler panel and even the appearance out. You could just use a piece of tape for now to see what you think, then if you like it, get the adhesive chrome trim - comes in a roll.


We found a good trim piece for the gas door and put the side pieces on. Actually looks pretty good. I guess holding the side pieces in our hands up close made them look worse. The imperfections aren't really noticeable on the car.


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## kevin1727 (Aug 4, 2021)

Going to the shop today and check out my car. It's 99.9%. Maybe I can bring it home this weekend?


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