# Project: 1967 GTO Mechanical Restoration



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

I want to begin by introducing myself. My name is Keith and I work for a restoration shop in Cookeville, TN called Mid-Southern Restorations. www.midsr.com We are now in the process of doing a mechanical restoration of a 1967 GTO with 400. Our customer has decided to have a good fondation before having the car repainted. We will be replacing the driver's floor and the trunk floor. There was lots of patch work performed prior, and it needs to be done in a better fashion. We will pull the drivetrain and have it inspected and rebuilt when nessesary. The car actually runs pretty strong. I feel that others would like to see the project as it unfolds and is completed. I am in no way a perfessional know it all of GTOs, and ask they everyone understands that this is not going to be a chalk mark restoration, but a freshing up. I will be posting pictures at every post, and ask that all comments be put onto another thread as this will make the project more enjoyable to read. PLEASE DO NOT POST ON THIS THREAD!!!!


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Bumpers to be rechromed*

The custmer requested we have the bumpers rechromed, so I removed them for shipping. We try to find places that will triple plate the bumpers as it seems to be the standard now.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Begin trunk floor-new metal*

Ordered new trunk floor(3 piece with body mounts) and drivers floor from Ames. Look to be a pretty good selection of replacement metal. Looks like it will take a while to remove the original trunk floor and retain some of the rear outer panel areas from underneath. I began by chiseling out the seam sealer, as this will let me see how the seams are made on the trunk. The trunk appears to have been cut out, and then put right back in-very nasty looking seems. They used some kind of plumbers putty. Anyways here are some pics
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Gas tank removal and floor cut out*

Here I pull out the gas tank, which ended up being quite easy. I like the way the sending unit can be removed with the gas tank in, or at least the wires ran to it. I begin with a plasma cutter and cut along where the panels will be close to meeting up to, then I can get better access to the final metal removal process.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Trunk floor making progress*

I've been tied up working on a Packard to even be able to touch the GTO until yesterday. I was able to spot in the main trunk floor and then today I am working on the underneath areas, like gas tank mounts and body mounts. Our original trunk wasn't bad, but the PO (previous owners) obviously cut it out, and then rewelded it (the same floor) back in. Well not really rewelded it as it was obvious they did not have a welder. They used kittyhair and mesh screen to bond it. I should have more updates more often for you. We are talking with the customer about doing other things as well.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Floor primed*

The trunk floor has now been primed and seam sealed on the underside. The multiple piece trunk is a tough one to get everything right on. They are not perfect stampings, although I have not seen one yet unless it was NOS. Anyways I used a self etching primer here for bare metal use. The customer decided to not undergo a frame off at this time due to budjet, so we are forced to work around these areas. Its not 100% this way, but it is taking care of the metal at least. Hopefully for the paint job years from now these areas will be detailed out and brought up to where the mechanical will be. Have to start somewhere. Next I will begin engine removal, and work into doing the driver's floor. The pictures show underneath the trunk, but being black, will not be of high detail. Hard to get proper lighting on these shots.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Gas tank*

We are installing a new gas tank. Doesn't seem like new senders are available, but fortunately ours was in excellent shape, and after a quick ohm test, its in the new tank. I installed the tank and will run new fuel hoses to it as well.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Engine being removed for rebuild*

Engine is getting ready to be removed for complete rebuild. It appears to have had prior work done...but to what extent we do not know. It runs strong, but does smoke on the one bank. So we know some head work will be required. Here are the pics
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Driver's floor section replacement*

While the engine is being rebuilt-(found head was cracked), I have time to do the driver's floor section that has some rust. It appears that water or moisture built up around the wiring channel and caused the rust. It was patched with tile putty or something of that nature. I Pulled back the interior to do this, All these procedures would be easier if the frame was removed, unfortunetly we have to work around that. I will finish coating the trunk and floor, and we will then be working on the engine bay and rear end. It will visit a steam cleaner first.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Steam cleaning*

I finished the floor section and it turned out pretty good. We find that steam cleaning the undercarriage and suspension areas really make it easier to work on these cars. I strip the paint and all on the front crossmember, and the backing plates of the brakes are blasted as well. These were covered with thick hardened grease as well and you can see how clean they got. I did underneath as well due to we are now going to wire buff underneath and undercoat this car. Also more news on the engine, the block was cracked. Fortunetly we had a block to use for it, so everything on the rebuild will continue to go smooth. Hopefully there will be no more surprises on that. The car will be moved back to the lift so further dissassembly can take place. The front suspension will be redone with new bushings from PST. Also the rear end will be removed for bushings, springs, and rebuild.
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Dissassembly of drivetrain*

Pulled the car back on the lift after pressure washing. We immediately began removing the rear end and front end components. Found something interesting on the passsenger front wheel. The previous owner made spacers out of oil cans to space wheel out???? Possibly a bent wheel or drum??? We will look in to that later. Rear end was not too much trouble to remove. The exhaust will stay in place as it was welded on and really has no reason to be removed as it is fairly new. Here is a pic of the spacers
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Front suspension parts*

Here are pics of the front end components sandblasted and new bushings from PST installed. The kit is very high quality from what I can tell and made to specs. This car had the original joints, and probably needed some new components after 40 years. I have wire buffed under the car and began undercoating. Will have pictures later of that
Keith


----------



## Mike_V (Mar 10, 2006)

opelspyder said:


> The previous owner made spacers out of oil cans to space wheel out????


Now come on, you have to respect the creativity. Hurry up so I can see the finished picture (PLEASE).

And I know you said don't post - but oil cans - lol.


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Front suspension done*

We completed the front suspension and front brake parts. We are keeping with the original front brakes. We also painted the engine bay a semi-gloss black to freshen it up until later on when the paint job can be performed.
I wire buffed the underneath and undercoated it using 3m's body shultz. It is a great fast hard-drying product that can be painted as well. We use it for trunks floors, you name it. Maybe one day we will paint an offroad car with this stuff like Line-X -ha. Here are the pics
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Underhood areas*

We did a cosmetic freshening up under the hood area of the car. There was alot of overspray and such, and it needed a good scuff down and repaint. I also finished underneath. Here are some pics
Keith


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Bumpers are back*

We got the bumpers back for the GTO. They were excellent, and fit back great. They had some dents in areas and were tweeked a bit. We had them plated at Knoxville Custom Chrome and would reccommend them for large bumpers. The turn around was quick as well.
Keith


----------



## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

*Sorry for posting in your thread, but..*



opelspyder said:


> I wire buffed the underneath and undercoated it using 3m's body shultz. It is a great fast hard-drying product that can be painted as well. We use it for trunks floors, you name it.


With such an extensive restoration, is doing something like changing the texture of the finishes something that you want to do?


----------



## opelspyder (Jun 21, 2007)

*Update*

Unfortuneately there is no update as we are simply waiting for the engine. As far as correct finishes and such, this car isn't really going through that extensive of a restoration...noting that it will not be painted as of now, and the customer decided that undercoating would be suitable. Please note this is not a concours restoration by any means, simply a freshening up and made into a suitable driver, that could later be shown at car shows after paint and detailing of the interior completed, but in a GTO national show, it would not stand a chance, like 95% of GTOs out there today. It cost 4-5 times more to do a so called "chalk-mark restoration"
Keith


----------

