72 TA : New Project

[KevinW]

Gaps look sweet!

[Johnny Horsepower]

I keep track of my time on the car by buying calenders. It's easier than using a calculator. I bought the car on 11/11/2004 and have been working on it ever since - just about every weekend since!

I probably have at least another calender to go before it's finished.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOVE this car and can't wait till you sell it to me

by the way, you bought it the day my son was born!

thanks for the thread.

John

[southernfriedcj]

I think the factory was liberal with their door gaps. Yours look excellent IMHO.

[njsteve]

More finagling with the car. I got the lower inner fenders, battery tray and battery installed and the wiring and hoses routed. Finally found an NOS power steering pressure hose and replaced the 38-year old original hose - it looked like it was seeping around the crimped fitting so its better to be safe than sorry.

Pulled it out in the driveway and then it wouldnt start - no spark. Turned out I burned up another set of points. I think I'll go back to a stock Delco ignition coil. The Pertronix FlameThrower coil seems to be flaming my Accel points every six months or so. And it was even the model they recommended for points ignitions.

[gb70]

Really looks great!

[njsteve]

With the help of a member of the board here who identified the random old coil I had in my parts box as an original 1972 Pontiac coil, I was able to test it, clean it up and install it.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...e/0#Post429806

I then tossed the Pertronix coil that had been frying my points, into the "extra parts" box.

Here's the new/old "425 BR" coil in place.



And the third set of points I've replaced in the three years the engine has been up and running.

Both contact surfaces on the lever arm pad and the base pad have been crystalized to the point that they wouldn't conduct electricity any more. (Ignore the dust - I had it sitting on the sanding table when I was prepping the coil for paint). I guess I will stick to the stock ignition parts from this point on and forget the aftermarket crap.

[njsteve]

More minor things. Applied the "Trans Am" decals on the fenders. It took an hour to lay out all the tape to get the measurements right...and then took about 15 seconds to actually apply the decals.

Installed the original black rubber hood bumpers, three per fender. Got to use last year's X-mas gift: a set of plastic mini prying sticks. They worked great to push the rubber tabs through the slots in the fenders. Anything metal would have damaged the paint and split the original rubber bumpers.





Engine running nicely now that the original coil is back in place and the new set of points are installed.



Even the A/C is working nice and cold...now that it's nice and cold outside.

[njsteve]

Picked up another random part I needed: the RFI shield for the distributor. This is the two-piece metal shielding that goes over the points to reduce the static interferance on the the radio. It does actually seem to work, since I ran the car after installing it and the radio noise was reduced significantly.

[Dave Rifkin]

Any new updates?

[VIPERICH]

you should contact a publishing company and turn this into a resto book/by far the most detailed explanation of a resto on the net that ive seen.the car is stunning.