Eugene Pilkiw's
1973 Grand Am & 1977 LeMans
Here's
Eugene Pilkiw's 1973 Grand Am & 1977 LeMans.As Eugene says
" Hi there, I'm Eugene from Toronto. I have two Pontiacs, that are my source of amusement.
The first is my '73 Grand Am. It is one of the 187, 4 speed cars. It is currently undergoing a frame off restoration and is in the paint and body panel fit up stage.
Bought the car in October 1989, and have been collecting all the used and NOS parts necessary to do the resto. The strip-down began in the summer of 1997. Found up to seven layers of paint on the thing. The photos are therefore all 'before' the restoration.
The engine is the original L78 400 4bbl that has been balanced and blueprinted. It had 71000 miles but was tired and abused. It will be reinstalled to look stock with all the emissions equipment intact but inoperative.
The performance modifications include the 068 RAIII camshaft, RAIII exhaust manifolds and the #12 '69 RAIII heads. The car was equipped with the unusual early unitized ignition that actually looks like the later HEI. I've kept all the original engine parts especially the 4x heads.
The original M-20 Wide Ratio Muncie 4 speed trans has been carefully rebuilt and reinstalled. The stock 'Inland' shifter was positively useless and could not be salvaged. The mechanism had the reverse and pull up lockout feature that constantly hung up. I've replaced it with a Hurst Competition Plus shifter but retained the stock shift stick to clear the console opening. The smooth operating 'Velvet-touch' clutch from Rochester NY has been located for this application.
Yes the chassis is complete and the body is back on the frame. New body mount bushings all round. Tough find. New stainless fuel and brake lines have been installed. The original Buick 8.5" 10 Bolt safe-t-track rear has also been restored with steeper 3:42 gears instead of the 3:23's that were in there.
As for the body, both quarters and partial trunk floor have been replaced as well as the drivers floor pan. The quarters were not rusty but at some time crunched by some crazy driver nuzzling with a pole. I've added a Nasa hood and a fiberglass reproduction nose from 'In Design'. The original color has replaced the custom Imron paint with a basecoat / clear-coat system. It is called 74S Florentine Red. The Red White & Blue Decal Stripes I managed to locate, but they were to old to apply with success. Although not stock, I chose to have them painted on between clear-coats for durability and quest for perfection.
The interior is Oxblood with vinyl and corduroy covered bucket seats. The upholstery is original and does not need replacement. The options include power seat, the C60 A/C, full instrumentation with tachometer, clock and heated back glass. The plastic and dash I had restored by Just Dashes and must say they turned out better than I expected. The carpet and headliner will be replaced. The wood-grain kit for the dash faceplate, console lid and radio/clock bezel from In- Design was also purchased and is quite beautiful, better than any NOS I could ever locate.
Originally the car wore honeycombs, but I like the Rally II's, can't decide which to go with. The tricky and painful reassembly process has started with new glass and wiring. Will post new photos when the thing is eventually complete.
The other car is my '77 summer driver Grand Lemans. Has been with me since 1985. Black with black landau top and opera windows. Has bucket seat interior in firethorn red. Looks like a rolling bordello. Started out as a 305 2bbl Chevy engine equipped car. Yes GM performed that abomination (my apologies to those I might offend) to Canadian cars built at the Oshawa Plant.
Nevertheless, bought this mint car with 54000 miles on it. Within two weeks the engine expired and was replaced with a modified 305…headers, 2.5" duals with Flowmasters, Edelbrock intake, & 4160 600cfm holly carb etc. Ran rather poorly for 178000 miles until it finally began to unravel on the way home from Carlisle PA. last year. I am sure the engine was just too small for the job.
So, since I just couldn't part with the car, I decided to do a motor swap. In went a real '73 Pontiac 455 engine, stock looking but warmed over, and a TH400 trans. Kept the a/c but it is retrofit with the 134 stuff. Out went the open rear 2:56 gears and in came the 3:08 Auburn Posi. Should have done this years ago for the fun factor. There you have it.
Eugene "
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