# 70 GTO Hardtop restoration...Where to begin...?



## sd-slider (Jul 24, 2007)

Greetings,

I am new to the forum and I have finally(after 10+ years of nagging) acquired my baby from a good friend and need a little advice on where to best direct my finances and attention for the resto.

The original engine(455HO) and tranny(4spd) are going out for complete overhaul within a week or two.

Any advice would be appreciated.

=Slider


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

Sweet! Nice find! Welcome to the forums. What shape is the interior in? Looks like you just need to get your wallet out and throw everything you have at it (and then some). :willy:


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## sd-slider (Jul 24, 2007)

Rukee said:


> Sweet! Nice find! Welcome to the forums. What shape is the interior in? Looks like you just need to get your wallet out and throw everything you have at it (and then some). :willy:


That's where the "advice" comes into play.... 

More pics are available @ Pictures of Sliders' Goat!

May main concern was what to do first since I don't ahve the $40-50,000 just layin' around to drop into her at once.


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## macgto7004 (Jul 22, 2007)

sd-slider said:


> That's where the "advice" comes into play....
> 
> More pics are available @ Pictures of Sliders' Goat!
> 
> My main concern was what to do first since I don't ahve the $40-50,000 just layin' around to drop into her at once.


Wow slider, you sure have your work cut out for you. I have seen worse.
My compliments on your choice of year. I have a sweet spot for the 70.

Anyway, back to your question.
I think the first thing you need to do is decide what it is that you want out of your project? Are you looking for a concours restoration? A cool old cruisin machine? An investment?
Deciding up front what you want from the car will direct your path.
For me, I couldn't really care if I ended up with a 100 point show car. For me, I wanted the car that I always dreamed of that I would not be afraid to take out of the garage.
My car did not have the original engine anymore. It is correct for the car, just not the original, so I didn't have to worry about all the little details that go along with an all original, though I wanted it to look original.
You have a good start, sending your engine and trans out for a rebuild.
Nice thing about restoring an old car is that you can have several things going on at one. While the engine and trans are out, you can be taking the body and interior apart to take inventory to see what can be salvaged and what needs to be replaced.
Are you planning on doing the work yourself, or having someone do it for you?
Just take your time and work at a comfortable pace. Don't rush and get frustrated when things don't go as planned. Just work on it a little at a time and before you know it, you'll be turning the key, and turning heads!
Good Luck man, I look forward to seeing it progress.

Russ


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

Nice Car with a ton of potential, I started a frame off on a 66 in March and here is what I have done;

Use some zip lock bags and a sharpie and label the location of all small parts, nuts and bolts that you remove.

Removed the front clip and seperated the core support, inner and outer fenders. 
Removed the engine and transmission.
Removed the interior to bare metal,
Removed the bumpers, deck lid and doors,
Disconnect the fuel line from the fuel tank and remove.
Disconnect the parking brake cable and remove.
Remove the body bolts and raise the body off of the frame.
Have the rolling chassis sand blasted,
disassemble the front control arms and replace the bushings and ball joints, inspect the pitman arm, tie rods, drag link and idler arm.
Inspect the front springs for damage.
Remove the rear control arms and replace the bushings. 
Inspect the springs.
Inspect the differential and replace the seals and bearings.
Replace the tranny cross member bushings, 

This is where the restoration starts,

Clean and paint (powder coat if funds permit) the frame, control arms and differential. (60% gloss black)
Reassemble the rolling chassis, rebuild the brakes and replace the wheel bearings.
Install the fuel line and brake lines.
Install the rebuilt engine, tranny and drive shaft.

Now start with the body, media blast or chemically remove all old paint, make necessary body repairs. If you have restored the under carriage you can set the body back onto the frame with new body bushings.

Now it is a matter of restoring and reassembling the car.

Good luck and post pictures of you progress.


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## bigcode99 (Jan 17, 2007)

just give it a good bath and a buff and air up the tires, might turn out good enough to cruize around in until the funds arive to do a good restoration.


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## sd-slider (Jul 24, 2007)

Thanks for the tips.

My ultimate goal is to have a sharp weekend driver. I intend to keep this car for as long as I'm around, so the little things that increase value are not going to be a major concern; however, I want to do it right so the show Nazi's don't pick her apart for all of the "wrong" things that I did, and had done.

I intend to do as much as I possibly can, not for $$$ reasons, but because I want to do it. Any body welding or major fills I will have professionally done and will definately be coating the frame as 05gto mentioned.

*Bonus:* The previous owner, a long time friend who is 30 years my elder, not only gave me the car, but has offered to finance 50% of the resto just because he wants to see the car come back to life so he can recall the day he bought it in 70', before he's outta this place. 

New question. In stripping the interior, do I need to keep any of the carpet or upholstery(besides samples), or can I toss the majority of it? The reason I ask is during the 23+ years this car sat....under a messy Chinese Elm Tree....chickens and rats called it home. It's kind of nasty on the floor and under the seats.


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## macgto7004 (Jul 22, 2007)

sd-slider said:


> Thanks for the tips.
> 
> My ultimate goal is to have a sharp weekend driver. I intend to keep this car for as long as I'm around, so the little things that increase value are not going to be a major concern; however, I want to do it right so the show Nazi's don't pick her apart for all of the "wrong" things that I did, and had done.
> 
> ...


Sounds like you have a great set up there. It's really cool that the original owner wants to help you out with it.
As far as the interior, just ditch it. For the most part, if you try and save anything, it is not going to look right with all the new stuff and you'll end up replacing it anyway.
The quality of interior restoration parts is very good and you won't be disappointed. When I did my interior, I didn't replace the rear seat upolstery because it was in great shape. That was, until I got the new carpet and front seats in. Took me about two minutes to order the rear after that!
Just clean it out to the floor boards and start fresh.

Russ


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

You can trash the carpet, but you`ll more then likely need the seat frames. Most interior kits just have the seat cover material. Keep the pics coming as you progress.


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

Save the old headliner trim, kick, quarter and door panels. Those clips and fasteners do not come with the new interior kits. My old interior is stored in boxes until the restoration is complete and then everything will go into the dumpster.


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## sd-slider (Jul 24, 2007)

Here is the latest.....dilemma is in the pics....

Any advice. I plan to strip as much off as I can and soak the rest. Maybe I can "wiggle" the rest of it out. Damn that's gonna take a lot of BEER!:cheers 

BTW - This block has sat outside without heads and oil pan for 18+ years...

Edit to add: The previous owner does not recall any rebuilds or cuts made, so there should be some meat to shave once I strip it down...


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

IMO, Take the block, heads and crank to a machine shop, have them hot tank and magna flux the parts. They will let you know if you have something to work with.


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## brianberes (Aug 25, 2006)

Hey Slider congrats on the find. You've got great taste. My first GTO back in the 80's was a 70 and about a year and half ago I too found and bought my dream car another 70 GTO. I have been restoring it since then and below is what I've done. It's taken me awhile to do the work so far because I have learned and done all the work so far... So, just so you know it can be done by a novice.

- I removed the front clip and the core support.
-Removed the bumpers. 
-Disconnect the fuel line from the fuel tank and remove. (didn't find build sheet)
-I didn't have to worry about removing the drivetrain it didn't come with it.
-Then I DA'd the whole body one panel at a time including the front fenders and hood down to bare metal. (luckily there were only 2 coats of paint on her)
-As I got each panel down to bare metal, I could see all body damage so I body hammered all major and minor dents that I could get at with dollies and a body hammer to straighten her out as best I could. Then I sprayed each panel quickly with PPG DP 40 Epoxy Primer Sealer to seal each panel from rusting.
-Then I worked on each panels dented areas with body filler. Going from 40 grit sandpaper then 80 grit and then 120 grit. Reapplying more filler as needed at each grit to get rid of any low spots until the area was smoothed out. (not finished just enough until I guide coated and then sprayed primer filler down the road)
-Next I had my brother-in-law show me the basics of cutting & welding and then I cut the rusted areas (driver side bottom back window channel & passenger side package tray area-Yes it had a vinyl top so it rusted pretty good there, driverside & passenger rear quarter panel area- luckily very little rust here)
-I then repeated the applying body filler & sanding steps from above to each one of these once rusted areas & now new welded metal patched areas to get them smoothed out and flat.
-And now that I have completed all the major body work three weeks ago I just sprayed a heavy coat of PPG Acrylic Primer Filler to the whole car and I am now in the middle of board sanding with 2' to 3' sanding boards each panel area of the car with 120 grit & 220 grit to hopefully get her fairly straight. Once I have complete this stage I will find and fill in any minor low spots or hammer down any minor high spots and then I'll apply glazing filler those low & hammered high areas and sand down the area with 220 to hopefully smooth out those minor low & high spot areas on each panel. The final stage of the body work will be spraying 3 additional coats of reduced (to thin it out some) PPG Primer Filler and then I will sand the whole car down now with 300 grit and then I'll swithc to wet sanding each panel with 400 grit & then 600 grit finally to take out all final minor lows and highs.
-Then I'll spray the whole car with one final 2 or 3 coats of PPG Epoxy Sealer Primer to seal all the body work from rusting.
-Disconnect the parking brake cable and remove.
-Removed the interior to bare metal and doors.
-Remove the body bolts and raise the body off of the frame and put body on make shift body cart. (any ideas guys???)
-Disassemble the front & rear control arms from frame.
-Have the frame & front & rear chassis parts sand blasted & powdercoated with 60% gloss black.
-While body is on make shift body cart and frame is out at powdercoater I'll get underneath with a body suit, goggles & 3M brillo pad material discs on a drill and with some sort of grease cleaning solution I'll clean the underneath of the body and reapply undercoating where needed. (I'm not looking forward to this part.... ~ nasty job! )
-Once I get the nicely powdercoated frame & suspension parts back I will replace all the bushings with graphite bushings and replace all ball joints, inspect the pitman arm, tie rods, drag link and idler arm, replace springs front and rear with progressive lowering springs, remove the rear control arms and replace the bushings with graphite ones. 
-Either upgrade rear end to posi or replace it with a 12 bolt differential.
Replace the tranny cross member bushings, 

Then the fun starts by putting everything back together to build her back!
-Reassemble the rolling chassis, rebuild the brakes and maybe upgrade rear to disc and replace the wheel bearings.
-Inspect the fuel line and brake lines though replace the soft parts front & rear.
Install the 468 570hp motor that I just bought.
-Install a transmission (maybe an overdrive) and drive shaft.
-Install new interior & have dash fixed by Just Dashes.

Hopefully get her goin' so that I can enjoy driving her. Ahhhhh... one day.


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## 70455goat (Nov 5, 2007)

Hi Slider,
Great Goat for restoration. Tilt steering... that's a nice option, 455 4 speed. Your Goat is equipped prettty well. I like the price you paid! Even better, someone else paying 50% of the restoration price.

I just picked up my 70 in October. Fortunatley for me, it was in fairly nice shape already, so I was able to do what one of the other guys suggested...."cleaned it up and it was good enough for cruising. I can definetly identify with your comment "the sky is not the limit!" I need to pull my 455 one of these days. I broke off 2 bolts in the heads trying to get the exhaust manifolds off. It will give me a chance to reseal and paint the engine and clean up the engine compartment. I got a rear deck Judge spoiler for Xmas. Now I'm just waiting for enough money to get it painted.

You can get parts to replace just about everything from Original Parts Group, Ames Performance, or Year One. The dash pad isn't being reproduced yet. A place in LA will restore your orginal one for a modest price of $850! I just installed a dash cap from OPG, and it looks pretty good. Most people won't even notice that its only a dash cap unless they really look close.

I haven't seen any updates lately. How far are you with your restore? Any current pics? Keep us updated.

Dale,




sd-slider said:


> Greetings,
> 
> I am new to the forum and I have finally(after 10+ years of nagging) acquired my baby from a good friend and need a little advice on where to best direct my finances and attention for the resto.
> 
> ...


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

I saw the pics of your 66 project....my compliments on your excellent "laboratory' what looks like a great car!


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## GKling (Jan 8, 2008)

Lot's of great info your getting from everyone. I'm on the downslope side of finishing my frame off 70 resto and just wanted to add one more thing-Take lots of pics-especially of the things you think you will simply 'just remember'. Have fun!


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## 70455goat (Nov 5, 2007)

Good point. I haven't done that much to mine and already wish I had taken more "before" pics.


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## Rukee (Feb 8, 2007)

I`d recommend putting the motor and drive train in before assembling the front clip. It`s alot easier when there`s no front end on, and you won`t take the chance of damaging any front end parts installing it.


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