Am I at a Crossroads?

As I started drafting this missive, one word kept coming to mind – disheartened. It’s been one year since I posted the first video in my LeMans restoration series - the one where I extracted the car from its stall behind my garage and rolled it into the sunlight for the first time in nearly ten years. What have I accomplished in that year? Two doors and a fender have primer on them. That’s about it. At this rate, I will be in my eighties when this car is finally roadworthy. There’s just too much going on in my life so I can't devote enough time to this project to complete it in a reasonable amount of time. The original plan to have it painted, upholstered, and running by this spring was a folly I quickly replaced by hopes for its rollout in the Spring of 2019. At my current crawl, however, that, too, is a joke.

Then there’s the Corvair that sitting behind the garage with a bashed in front end. Repairing that is supposed to be a father-daughter project – one I promised myself wouldn’t occur until the LeMans is on the road. Will my youngest daughter, Mikhaila, still be willing to work on it with me in two years (or more)?

Now I’ve got another project crammed into the garage next to the LeMans. I recently bought a ’96 VW Golf GTI for Mikhaila. Her current daily-driver has over two-hundred thousand miles and, while it’s been reliable lately, it is showing signs of possible issues that will sideline it. I got a good deal on the GTI since it needed a water pump, a clutch, and a heater core. The water pump’s been replaced, and the car is currently on jack-stands in the midst of the clutch replacement. It’s going to take another couple of weeks just to finish that project, and then the heater core job will be an additional eight hours of removing front seats, console, and dash just to get to the leaky piece before putting it all back together. Once it’s done, I’ll trade her for her Mazda MX-3.

So what’s a very frustrated car-guy to do? What’s a new, near-term plan that’ll remove “disheartened” from my vocabulary? Is racing part of the solution?

Fortunately, my current daily-driver Mustang is not part of the equation since it’s: 1) a blast to drive, so my credo (“Life is short, drive what you like”) is met; 2) reliable, so I never have to spend time fixing things; 3) rust-resistant, so I can happily drive it year-round; and 4) practical, so I can haul bikes, pull a trailer, fill it with camping gear, etc.

What else can’t change? Getting the GTI on the road must take priority. With all that being said, here are what the options I came up with.

Option 1 is to just come to grips with the current state of things and consider myself very lucky that I have a nice, newer Mustang as my daily-driver and a desirable car in the works, albeit a long time in the works. The MX-3 will be sold; the LeMans will take as long as it will take; and Mikhaila’s Corvair will get attention. At this point, I’m not considering putting the Mustang on a road course, so my racing would be limited to autocrossing and drag racing.

Option 2 is to swap Mikhaila’s Corvair for the LeMans, so she and I can get that car back on the road before her time is harder to garner. Once that work is done, I’ll be at a crossroads again, but at least I’ll feel good about getting a car on the road and I’ll free up space behind the garage to provide more options. The cost of this option is some paint to re-spray the front clip (sheetmetal in front of the windshield) once all the welding is done.

Option 3 answers my desire to have a track car – one that I’m willing to risk on a roadcourse. Think “Zoom-Zoom.” I’d keep the MX-3, squeeze it into the garage, strip out the interior, lower it, install a GUP (Good Used Part) seat and harness, GNP (Good New Part) shifter bushings, decent tires, and hit the track. Yeah, yeah, I know it has a lot of miles on it, but a replacement engine from a junkyard is a small investment. An upgrade to the V6 with it’s commensurate 20% increase in power is feasible or maybe a turbo. Stock these cars are lightweight (around 2400 pounds) and handle like a go-kart (Zoom-Zoom).

Option 4 is the dramatic one. Assuming I’ll never get the personal satisfaction equal to all the hours and dollars the LeMans will suck up, I’ll sell it. What could I get for a running, driving (after I bolt on the fenders and doors), rust-free 1965 A-body convertible? Hagerty says ten grand in fair condition. Even though it’s not restored, the rust-free-ness of it should cause it to hold its value, but let’s say I get $8500 for it. What would I do with that much cash? There are many, many fun vehicles that would be on my track-car list. It’d have to be a smaller car to better fit in the garage, so no Camaro or Mustang. The candidates would include the aforementioned V6 MX-3, the first-gen Tempest I've written about, a V6 MX-6, a Miata, a Corvair, a Triumph GT6, a Triumph Spitfire, an MG-B, and maybe even a last-year Fiero.

Hmmm. Quite the crossroads.

Metal and Weather Get In The Way of Painting Progress

For a while now I’ve been talking about my struggles with paint color and how I believed that shooting a door or other body panel in each of the top candidates would make it apparent which color I should go with. I wanted to have done it sooner rather than, what it’s turning into, later. What’s been hampering my progress? Well, it IS winter and I don’t have a heated paint booth. Even if I did, though, I’m still struggling to carve out enough time to properly prep both doors for primer. I’m also working on the front fenders hammering out dings and patching a rusty area. All these efforts are documented in my YouTube videos which now number 21 episodes. The latest ones are: 19-Sanding Bondo, 20-Fenders, Doors, and Gauges, and 21-More Sanding Plus Making a Patch.

With my progress drawn out, I’ve had the opportunity to fall in love with another color. Recently, I read a Facebook post from Rusted Iron Customs showing their beautiful 1963 Tempest convertible. The paint job was flat black over House of Kolor’s Tangerine Kandy. I asked their painter, Matt, what color primer this was shot over and he replied PPG K36 (gray). I’ve done some more research on the paint, and it’s recommended that the transparent paint be shot over a silver or gold basecoat. From the photos, though, it sure looks gorgeous over the gray. I’m toying with the idea of getting a pint of the paint off eBay for $30. I’d also need a can of reducer ($25) and one of catalyst ($50). That’s $105 I could easily spend elsewhere, so this color may be off the table just due to the cost of painting a sample panel.

I’ll be getting some time in the garage tomorrow evening, so I plan on finishing the patch job on passenger fender by cutting out the bad metal to match the patch I’ve made, welding it into place, and grinding back the weld flush. The five day forecast has daytime temps in the high-forties and low-fifties this weekend, so I might strip the outside surfaces of the fenders, finish sanding the doors, and shoot all four pieces with epoxy primer. When motivated, I can work in an un-heated, well-ventilated garage in that kind of weather.

A Tempest on the Track (Part 4)

To preface my last post in the series, this is not a current build. It is only a dream. No Tempests were harmed in the making of this series.



When I ended yesterday’s post, I promised my next missive would cover mods I would make to the body. Let’s get going with the interior since it’s easy – everything must come out. Okay, not everything – I’d keep the headliner, any good interior vinyl panels, and the dash. Factory carpet with its layer of sound deadening is dead weight, so it’s out to be replaced by clean, painted metal surfaces. Stock seats weigh a ton and are completely incapable of keeping you firmly behind the wheel when pulling a 1G turn so they’re out to be replaced by a couple of lightweight racing buckets. Two instead of one because I’m smart enough to know riding along with a good driver at the helm is great way to improve one’s driving abilities. No back seat since I don’t want any backseat drivers along for the ride, and the racing seats and rollcage I’d install will make getting into the rear nearly impossible. The aforementioned rollcage would have a horizontal bar behind the seats to mount the shoulder belts of two five-point harnesses (driver and passenger).

Finally, I’d want to do something with the exterior. The car must be orange…., or red……, or beige with an orange stripe or two. If you’ve read any of my blog posts right before this series, you’d know I’m struggling with what color to paint my ‘65 LeMans. Picking a color for this car would be just as difficult for me. Maybe I’d just ask the lovely Loriann (my wonderful wife and talented artist) to make the choice for me.

Yesterday I posted a photo-shopped image of Keith Collier’s very nice ’61. I showed it lowered with bigger rims and low-profile tires. Today, I added a front splitter and racing seats to the photo, which I’d also do to the real thing. I’m on the fence regarding a rear spoiler since part of my attraction to the ’61 is the down-sloping rear end. The ’62 with its fins and the ’63 with its more square-ish rear end might get a spoiler though.

So that’s it. A Pontiac that could take on the twisties with plenty of aplomb. Will I ever build it? My previous daily-drivers were Corvairs modified for time trials. I loved them and I miss them, so chances are very good I’ll have a vintage track car again, and it may as well be from the Wide-Track brand.

A Tempest on the Track (Part 3)

Credit for original photo: Thomas A. DeMauro / High Performance Pontiac / Hot Rod
While my first two track-car posts haven’t elicited any comments here, they have sparked some conversation on the Facebook posts I made to drum up readership. Jon Wood replied with the following: “The torque tube wall thickness was increased from .050 to .090 for the 326. The rope shaft and torque tube were used with the SD421 Tempests, and they held up fine. The automatic transmission is pretty sturdy, the 3 spd manual leas so but suitable for a stock 326. The 4 spd manual was not very sturdy.”

So, the ’63 drivetrain is the only one designed to be robust enough for the three-hundred plus foot-pounds of torque the LS1 would output. Would I then opt for the ’63 over my previous choice of a ’61, or would I stick with a ’61 and swap in the beefier torque tube? Since I’m dreaming, I’ll go with the latter.

As promised, I’m moving on the wheels, tires, and suspension with this post. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, the first-gen Tempests all came with a unique-to-GM "four-on-four-and-a-half" bolt pattern. Fortunately, this is pattern is the same as that found on early Mustangs, so the aftermarket supports it. The stock Tempest could be had with a six-and-a-half inch width if you ordered air conditioning. The stock tire on these was called 6.5X15. This system has gone the way of wide whitewalls, so the modern equivalent is P175/75R15. I’m going to want to keep the same outside diameter (25.3”) since I like the fit in the wheelwell and the speedometer will still be accurate. I’ll go a little wider than stock (7”) and much larger in diameter (17” - shorter sidewall for good handling). With a fender massaging and the right offset, I’m figuring I can get away with 205/50R17 tires. It’s a popular size with plenty of high performance options out there.

On to the suspension. The front end is pretty straightforward sixties’ GM with unequal length a-arms. I’d put in stiffer springs that lower the front a couple inches, bolt on performance shocks, and fit a beefy sway bar. The rear, however, is a bit trickier. The trailing arm suspension was only offered on two American cars, the first-gen Tempest and first-gen Corvair. The design is basically the same as that used on VW Beetles and, with much success, on early Porsche. GM improved the scheme in the Corvair for 1964 by installing a transverse leaf spring and softening the coils at each wheel. What this did was tie the left and right side wheels somewhat together to minimize the tuck-in that could take place under adverse cornering conditions. There’s a lot written out there about the Corvair suspension, but suffice it to say the transverse spring is an improvement, and I’d implement on my Tempest somehow. The rear end would also be lowered with the overall spring stiffness (coils plus transverse leaf) being higher than stock.

I’ll finish up my dream build in the next post where I’ll address body modifications.

A Tempest on the Track (Part 2)

Continuing yesterday’s dream, I’ll now pick which Tempest from the first three years I’d have and follow up with how I’d make it track-worthy.


Credit: Thomas A. DeMauro / High Performance Pontiac / Hot Rod

To me all three years of the first-gen Tempest (also known as GM’s Y-platform) have attractive styling details, but I’d prefer a ’61 for a few reasons: the split grill, the ribs down the center of the hood; the side “swoop”; the lack of rear fender fins; and it’s from my birth year. Honestly, though, I’d try to find the most rust-free example from any of the years.

On to the modifications. At the end of the last post, I shared that the stock manual drivetrain will handle the 352 foot-pounds that the 326 V8 was rated for. I also mentioned the ideal 50/50 weight distribution of the car, however, that was with the base 196 cubic inch Trophy 4. Bumping up to the V8 brought with it an additional 260 pounds (roughly 650 pounds versus 390 pounds) all on top of the front wheels. So I need a lightweight engine that puts out around 350 ft-lbs. Lo-and-behold the LS1 engine weighs roughly 390 pounds, and, depending on what vehicle it came in, puts out anywhere between 335 and 365 ft-lbs. So an LS1 it is. Hopefully, a bellhousing adapter and a custom coupler to mate the crankshaft to the torque shaft don’t add too much weight. I’m going to have to use the torque shaft as-is, so the engine mounting location may have to change, but this can be accommodated with the required custom engine mounts.



Okay, the GO has been dealt with; let’s turn our attention to the STOP. From what I’ve seen in photos and read on the web, Pontiac used Corvair-style car half-shafts to spin the rear wheels. The small nine inch diameter drums only accommodated one and three-quarter inch wide shoes. An upgrade the Corvair folks make to their first-gen cars is to convert to truck half-shafts and drums. This gives a two inch increase in brake shoe diameter and a quarter inch more width. I’m not sure if this is an option for the Tempest. With the swing axle rear suspension (more on this later), I’m very limited on swapping in disc brakes. There is a Corvair guy that’s making rear disc setups for the Corvair car, and the images I’ve seen of the Tempest brake setup look a LOT like a Corvairs, so maybe this is the way to go. The fronts should easily accept a disc brake swap, so I’m not worried about that. Stock wheels would not fit over the calipers, but the stock stamped steel wheels were going to be swapped out for something larger and lighter anyway. I’ll address that in my next post.

The other end of the braking system is the master cylinder. Back in the day, you could only get a single reservoir master cylinder. I’ve done the easy conversion from single to dual on Corvairs, so I’d do the same on the Tempest. Regarding power brakes, I don’t think it was available. The same was true for the Corvair, so I’m not surprised. The light weight wouldn’t really necessitate the added braking pressure.

That’s enough for today. The next post, where I talk about suspension and wheel changes, may not appear until Monday.

I’d love some feedback on what I’m dreaming about here, so feel free to comment.

A Tempest on the Track (Part 1)

Wow; nearly two hundred reads of my last post in roughly twenty-four hours; and one of my recent posts is up to 500 views. I am humbled. With that in mind, A few someones are finding my missives interesting, so I’ll try to be more verbose – i.e. more posts. What to write about? Here’s a diversion - building a race-ready Pontiac. Not a NASCAR high banks runner or a quarter-mile burner, but a nimble Poncho for road-course track-days and autocrosses.

My previous car life had me immersed in all things Corvair. This included restoring one with each of my four daughters. Also, since they were considered a poor man’s Porsche, I took advantage of their inherent good handling and built a ’62 two-door sedan into a hot daily-driver for me that was a blast in the curves with cut off front springs, front anti-roll bar, relocated battery, and a custom exhaust. I sold that car and proceeded to turn a plain Jane ’68 two-door hardtop into something track-worthy with the same sort of modifications. This car was a little more challenging since it started life with an automatic transmission, so I had to swap in all the bits necessary to make it a manual. When I decided it was finally time to turn my attention to the LeMans, I sold all the drivable Corvairs to focus on only one old car.

Since the ’61-’63 Tempest is much like the Corvairs with a transaxle in the rear, an available four-speed manual transmission (starting in ’62), four-wheel independent suspension, uni-body construction, 50/50 weight distribution, and only 3000 pounds in curb weight, it would be a great platform for a corner-carver.

What I wouldn’t want to build is a car that was constantly breaking. I’m thinking the week link would the drivetrain, specifically the torque shaft and transaxle. I love this photo I found on HotRod Magazine’s website. It shows the independent rear end, the transmission directly in front of the differential , and the infamous rope drive bringing torque to the trans from the front-mounted engine. The most powerful engine you could get in an early Tempest was the 1963 326 cubic-inch V8 rated at 352 ft-lbs of torque. This was quite a bump up from the 235 ft-lbs. from the 215 V8 available in the 1962’s. I read that GM did not bother beefing up the transaxle or torque shaft for the 50% increase. Hmmm.

I’ll continue this "drive"train of thought tomorrow.

Sprucing Up The Place

Some of my favorite videos on YouTube are quite polished with nice music, fancy editing effects, and appealing graphics. As I’ve promoted before, I’ve been posting videos of my LeMans restoration for quite a while. My productions have the music (and I’ll try to mix it up) and some basic editing, but poor graphics. I decided to step up my game with a nicer image and font for the intro and ending.

I’ve always loved the formal look of the LeMans script, so I wanted to use that. Unfortunately, I could not find any font in my PC’s library that matched exactly. Instead I decided to just use a photo of the script in place. I don’t have any good pictures of my car with the script in place, but, after some hunting on the web, I managed to find a decent photo of a dark blue 1965 LeMans. The resolution was high enough that I could zoom in on the rear of the quarter-panel and get something usable. I cropped the photo and did some playing in Photoshop. The image at the top of the blog is what I came up with.

On to other accomplishments. I got the engine running and the transmission turning the rear wheels in my Episode 14 video. The front of the car is now without bodywork and hood and fender removal process is covered in Episode 15. Episode 16 shows how I repaired the front wiring harness where a thoughtless rodent dined upon insulation and conductors. In my last blog post, I wrote about rearranging the garage, and Episode 17 gives before and after views. Finally, yesterday I uploaded Episode 18 where I’m working on applying filler to a door and working on the front fenders.



The fender work included removing all the clips, and rubber bumpers, wire brushing the inside surface of the passenger fender, bumping out a couple dings in the same fender followed by cleaning and then brushing on a coat of Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer.





I’m whittling away at these projects, but getting all the bodywork refinished is going to take me years at this rate, hence the new tagline to my blog, “Lessons in patience …”

In the color race, Go Mango is currently in the lead.