FatfreeGTO

Thanks everyone! Clint I've never had a reason to go to California, now I guess I do!

Lizeec, not sure about the primer... After the 3rd coat of paint we turned off the lights in the booth and went around the car with a 500w halogen lamp to make sure there wasn't any primer showing through, so I don't think that could be the case. Probably just a little bit different tinting.

Cfester, I will post some more pics in the thread about how I did the gauges since I get a lot of questions about it.

Started to do some reassembly this weekend. Everything is on the back of the car, still have to install glass and put on my front bumper. Too bad mine is pretty bad looking but for now it will have to do.

RicOtt

Thanks again for the info on the gauges. We have installed the gauges into the "mock up" dash and everything is working as expected. There were two 1966 GTOs in the top 10 in Columbus. Both were drop dead gorgeous, one was a Gold convertible and the other a Blue Hardtop. It was a great show, but so hot it was unbearable.

Ricky

Crazier

FatfreeGTO

Ha LOL!

Rocketrod

iTrader: (2)

The paint job looks incredible plus the bezels and grill turned out fantastic!

FatfreeGTO

I will need to have the bezels replated someday, amazing how a picture can hide somethings. How close are you to trying to start yours?

lizeec

iTrader: (57)

Here is a pic of a pic of my 66 hardtop painted in the same color, the camera changes the color but it looked very similar to your color, but mine was just a little bit lighter, although in the pic it is hard to tell. I sold this car about 10 years ago to a fellow in Arizona.

Rocketrod

iTrader: (2)

I am finishing the wiring now. I had the wrong style terminal ends, which I have ordered. I also need to figure out where the L terminal wire off the alternator goes, I believe it is a 12 volt ignition source, but I want to make sure.

1989GTA

My drawing shows L going through a 50 ohm resistor to a switched 12v source such as ignition. Or through a "GEN" lamp in the dash and on to a 12v switched source.

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

I never thought I'd call a goat sexy, but yours....
oops

FatfreeGTO

Ha that made my day! Thanks.

Rod I will see if I can dig anything up on that L wire, but I believe GTA is right with what he said. If mine has a resistor in it though PSI buried it in the harness because I haven't seen it.

Rocketrod

iTrader: (2)

I talked to the harness builder for Travis, I bought my engine off him, and he said to install a 470 ohm 1/2 resistor.....we will see.

FatfreeGTO

Friday night I went ahead and installed my new windshield... I should have known better then to try this myself again. 2 years ago I tried to install my windshield and ended up breaking it while trying to get the trim to snap into place. I did have much better success this time and the glass is in and not broken but the trim is such a pain to get secured. After a lot of frustration it was all secured.

That meant the car was complete and roadworthy again so Saturday morning I took the car on a quick 15 min shakedown run, went home got the girlfriend and we went out for breakfast with it. Watched as an elderly couple well into their 80's stopped to check out the car as they drove through the parking lot We had a party Saturday night for my youngest brother's highschool graduation and everyone was really impressed with the color of the paint. So I guess the right decision was made to go with the factory color.

Then today I took the car to a friends house and the car is running great. All told I put just under 100 miles on the car this weekend. There are a few things that I am noticing that I want to take care of.

- Dash pad has a squeak and needs something to quiet that down, also need a radio badly.

- Rear disc brakes have always had a squeal when stopping since I put them in so I want to look into that.

- The lockup on the TQ converter seems to come in and out in the 42-48mph range. Its annoying to hold a steady speed there because the rpms will go up and down a few hundred rpm as you drive. Also getting above 50mph and tapping the brakes will not reproduce that same rise in the rpms like I would think it should since the converter is either not locked or wont unlock I'm not sure. I don't have a scanner to find out.

- Not much I can do about this but the 3 3/8" gauges are kind of small compared to newer cars, and my aftermarket steering wheel is about 13.75" diameter and I want to replace it with a 15" one.

I'm obviously still nervous about driving the car around since I'm the one who put it all together but that will go away in time, I will probably always have a fire extinguisher in the car just in case. The car is really powerful and is basically perfect for what I want it to do for now. It accelerates hard and can smoke the tires but its not a handful keep control of by any means. I used the 0-60mph feature on the speedhut GPS speedo and turned the tires into a cloud of smoke on my way to a 6.25 sec 0-60 run. I'm sure if I hadn't spun the tires so much it would have been a much better number then that.

1989GTA

"The lockup on the TQ converter seems to come in and out in the 42-48mph range."

Not saying this is the problem but make sure your VSS signal from the tranny is working properly with the proper adjustments. The VSS pickup has a certain range it needs to be in from the teeth it is seeing when they are rotating. The older couple may have had a car just like yours or very similiar back in the day.

FatfreeGTO

So a little while back I got a message on here that my car had been selected to have an article written about it on lsxtv.com or streetlegaltv.com

I was told I would be notified when it got published but never heard anything. Went and did a search and sure enough it was printed! I'm pretty excited to see it and honestly really surprised that it was chosen.

Check it out.
http://www.lsxtv.com/news/a-66-gto-with-vvt-say-what/

Jimbo1367

FatFreeGTO,
Vey cool. You should be VERY PROUD!!! It seems they use LS1tech alot for their swap source.

FatfreeGTO

Thanks Jimbo!

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

I've had some minor issues with my converter locking up too. Sometimes it just won't. Then I turn the ignition off and back on, real quick, and it locks up. It's a little weird, but I've been moving and haven't had a lot of time to work it out.

Also, any time I let off the gas, my converter unlocks. If I step back on the gas, it locks back up. Let me know if you want me to ask my tuner about this, but it did that on both my tunes.

the450r

iTrader: (1)

I guess I should of mentioned it. I'm a GTO guy and ls1tech member. But Ive only known and have been following your thread since reading the lsxtv.com article. Really like your goat.

FatfreeGTO

GTA about the VSS signal I would hope its set correctly, the trans only had 2k miles when I got it but its a good thing to check for anyways. Thanks

Yeah Dan I'm going to ask my tuner about it next time I get out by him. I will have to try the ignition thing next time I'm driving around.

450 thanks! I like your 68, I've seen it on here before it looks tough!