1971 LeMans Sport project car

[Chad82]

Picked up a '71 LeMans sport this weekend. Its my first project but its a good start. No cancer but I do have some surface rust I was working yesterday and should finish off next weekend. I haven't taken any pics yet, but these are from the guy that sold it to me. Its a Pontiac 350 with TH350 autotrans. I will swap those out before its all said and done, but its good enough for the time being. Biggest first part will be doing the interior. Immediate needs:

Rust removed from floor pans (about 1/2 done). Then lay down some paint and floor insulation/sound dampening. DONE.
New carpet for cabin and trunk.
Swap out front bench seat for buckets. I am not trying to keep this original (one reason why I bought a cheaper car from the period so I don't feel bad Frankensteining it). Haven't decided what kind of seats yet, need to take some measurements and see what fits.
Reupholster rear bench or possibly swap it out for something to match front buckets. Haven't decided yet.
Door and kicker panels are alright, I will probably just dye them to match.
Replace all rubber seals on windows, doors, drunk.
Replace headliner
Make cover for rear deck.
Decent sound system
Fix turn signal (have assembly, just need to install it. Won't be driving until interior is done, so its lower priority).
Replace speedo cable.
Full tune up and detailing engine compartment
Give it power brakes.
Pull the 2 dents.

That is what I am looking for short term. Long term will include either building up the 350 or more likely swapping it for a 400/455. Definitely won't happen this year. Painting and doing some visual mods (functional hood scoop and spoiler as found on some of the GTOs, specifically the Judge I think) will be last on the list.

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...emans%20Sport/ pics there. Will continue to upload new pics as progress continues.

[Chad82]

Interior will be black. Exterior haven't decided for sure. Thinking like (i think its called) sunburst orange. Regardless something gaudy and wouldn't be seen today but fits the 70s.

Some good progress today. Got rid of all rust on the floor, laid down primer and then did sound deadening on the portions that were painted. Still need to do sides and doors and trunk and if I feel like it, ceiling. Don't have pics of the sound deadening (it looks ugly anyways right now). I have carpet coming this week but I might not get to working on it next weekend. Also looking for new front buckets (won't be anything close to original) and possibly a more comfortable rear seat. Haven;t decided on that, though.

Anyways, pics of some progress:

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02445.jpg
http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02449.jpg
http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02452.jpg
http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02445.jpg

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the final before painting. Oh well.
http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02455.jpg
http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC02458.jpg


Tired, sore, and dehydrated, but overall this is the funnest I have ever had on a car. Always wanted a project car, just never had the resources before. Next update it should start actually looking nice (at least the interior).

[Chad82]

So I finally found some seats for a good price. Getting some light gray leathers out of a 98 Regal for $200. The rear seat is about 4" too long, so I will probably have to take off the trim piece on the side. Should get some pics this weekend with carpet and seats in.

[Chad82]

Picked up the seats today. In great condition. I will have to run power for the drivers seat but that shouldn't be much of a problem. Front seats are a great fit, rears are a bit too tall but otherwise look nice. Haven't decided what I am going to do about that yet. Maybe just remove head rests and make the rear deck that I need to build higher.

Also looked at the carpet today and it was not trimmed right for my car, so I will need to mess around with that a bit. But it will look nice when I have it in. Should be getting seats bolted down and carpet laid in 2 weekends, as next weekends busy.

[Chad82]

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...emans%20Sport/

updates. Carpet is in, seats aren't bolted in. Fronts look decent, not sure what I am doing about rears as the rears that came for free with the fronts don't fit. I might do up the old rears or just leave it empty for the time being.

[Chad82]

no, not heated. I won't ever be driving in the colder months, though, so I didn't really care about that. The drivers is power, the passenger is manual. They are super comfy, were in good shape and cheap ($200 including rears).

However I am considering capping off the rear seats putting speakers there instead so the trunk can stay open. The rear seats that come with the donor seats don't fit, and the old rears wouldn't fit the style of the new fronts. I won't ever be taking multiple people in it, this is just for crusing. And it wouldn't be a permanent modification. I just don't know if it would look good.

[Chad82]

so haven't done anything for a while but getting ready to start working again.

I have picked up some metal for mounting the seats and today I am going to get some 10 g wire and some inline fuses today so that next weekend I can go ahead and get the seats done up.


I am also looking into super cheap paint options. http://www.instructables.com/id/Pain...ith-Rustoleum/ doing that with real orange http://www.rustoleum.com/Product.asp...t_id=541&SBL=5

I have 1 dent I need pulled before I would paint, but I think I might try that this summer. Otherwise I am looking at paying someone else to paint it for me for more than I bought the car for.

[Chad82]

hooked up drivers seat and power today. took a long time but car is once again drivable. finished it after dark so no updated pictures.

[Chad82]

so weekend of the 4th I was trying to replace my turn signal switch and I fucked my entire power up. I have a service manual coming this week and I understand it has an electrical troubleshooting checklist to go through. Already checked fuses and battery. I think I pulled the iginition wire too hard and broke the connection, but I'm having a hard time getting the ignition off the steering column.

Anyways, so I have some photoshops of possible paint jobs.

http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/l...emans%20Sport/

that green and maroon are ugly on purpose.


I do like the orange, but it really is too moparish. I also like the red. But I think I am leaning towards white with blue stripes. I know its stolen from 69 trans am, that was done on purpose. But I think it looks sexy on this car.

[Chad82]

So got the car running again. Turn signal switch still wasn't working, but that might be because I left the turn cancel cam and spring out when I reassembled, because I broke the cam when taking it off. Oops. $20 down the drain there. Anyways, getting it running again helped with the morale. Next weekend will be the speedo cable and then I am road legal. Though I need to get either my radiator fixed or a new radiator before I actually drive it. After I get that, I am getting the dents pulled then I will start sanding and painting.

Also tomorrow I am probably going to go look at this
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/pts/765220622.html
I had set aside $5-6k for engine, so if that is as good as the guy claims (and has claimed in other ads in the past) then it might work out great.

[Chad82]

been a busy couple of weeks, finally was able to work on her again today.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1220148641 took out the old rickety ass radiator that blew on the right hand side on that picture
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1220148591
put in a shiny new aluminum one.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1220148638
side by side

also tried replacing the speedometer cable today but it left me frustrated. i tried pulling it off without taking out the dash, and that was an exercise in futility. so i have taken about 1/3 of the dash off now and then called it quits out of anger.

[Chad82]

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/3325/df933oc9.jpg
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/6452/de883ze7.jpg
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/8313/ddc53is4.jpg
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/1451/dbce3yh5.jpg

my new engine . hope to have it installed either during my thanksgiving or xmas break.

[Chad82]

Been lazy last couple of weeks. Hoping to pull the engine this week, and if i have the gumption start installing the new one.

[Chad82]

didn't quite get the engine out, my friend who was going to help me pull it, his dad had a heart attack on wednesday so hes been with his family since then. everything else is removed and I only have 2 motor mount bolts still in, so I am about 30 minutes from pulling the engine. Next somewhat dry weekend, I will be doing it then. Then I finally get to paint over that hideous lime green in the engine bay.

[Chad82]

http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/8159/dsc02467ff6.jpg what it looked like in the summer
http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/3...ture193ms2.jpg what it looked like this morning
http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/4...ture201yl2.jpg what it looked like at 3:45
cleaned most of the grime out of the engine bay, but it was 5 by then and dark out so no pics. engine bay will be painted matte black after i clean it up better.

thats been a monkey on the back for a while now. was afraid id fuck things up, but came out really smooth. looking forward to putting the new guy in now
http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/6228/df933gw0.jpg
http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/2765/dc3d3qx8.jpg (i might get rid of the valve covers though)

hoping to get her in during my xmas break, but doing it under a carport, weather dictates that. have headers and new motor mounts in the mail. trying to decide if i want to re-use my 600 cfm edelbrock carb or get a quadrajet or holley. on the one hand, no extra cost, on the other... its a edelbrock carb. my calculations said 620 cfm would be perfect, so i think 600 would do.