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1964 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible.


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3 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Mind-blowing detail on a very beautiful car. Watching you work is like watching a fine watchmaker perform his craft. Just one comment on the cigar, hope it isn't glued in place because it should be over the front of the tray and not the back side.  

It’s not glued, but it is positioned where it will end up being.

 

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Been a busy last few days with the holidays and all, but I managed to get into the shop for a little while today and begin some assembly on the dash board.

 

Got the ribbed bright work, Bonneville emblem and dash knobs installed.

Spent the most time fashioning a piece of thin wire for the trim piece around the wood portion of the dash.

All of the other parts, (steering wheel, parking brake release, vent knobs and ash tray, are just in position temporarily.

 

Patiently waiting for the gauge faces to arrive so that I can add the tach and guage pods, and finish up the speedo, then I can glue it all together permanently.

 

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Steve

 

 

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Amazing detail you are adding to very time I stop by. Were the defroster vents and speaker grille molded in the dash or did you add them?

I am at the tail end of the console fabrication on my three 65s. The dash is next. I do not think I yet have the skillset to go as far as you have but i will give it a go. Since mine are coupes any boo boos will never be seen anyway.

Keep up the great work. I am inspired to follow your example.

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Appreciate it fellas!

 

A little more done on some interior stuff today.

 

Got the tach decal in place with a dab of clear epoxy for a lens.

Added the speedo decal, along with a piece of clear sheet for the cover, and then trimmed it with another piece of fine wire.

Never being one to let opportunity go to waste, I made the horn ring for the steering wheel with a shaped and polished wire Christmas ornament hanger. :D

 

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Edit:

Just looking at the steering wheel photos that I posted, the first pic appears as if the end of the wire is just a straight, raw cut, but it must just be a weird reflection.

I actually cut the piece with a wire cutter and then ground the ends to a slight taper and polished them to avoid just what that photo seems to portray. :P

 

 

Steve

 

Edited by StevenGuthmiller
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17 hours ago, Bucky said:

Amazing. Looks like this build is gonna have about 9000 parts in it when you get it finished. Beautiful stuff!

Thanks Keith!

I estimated somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 parts or so in the dashboard. :P

 

I believe that the dash is finally finished, short of some very small touch-up here and there.

 

I added the gauge pods and decals, the tach, ash tray, (and cigar) vent knobs and parking brake release, attached the steering wheel to the column, and added a set of keys.

Yeah, it's a Chevy key chain, but we'll just say his other car is a Chevy. ;)

 

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Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys.

 

Well. I've moved on to the engine, and after some thought and experimentation, ( as well as some input from fellow members ) I've decided to go with a single 4 barrel intake on this project.

After putting it out there for suggestions, I settled on using the intake manifold from the Revell '68 Firebird, atop the Revell '66 GTO engine.

Of course, I couldn't help myself from some additions and modifications.

 

First, I opened up the intake manifold, and dug out one of my coveted Fireball Carter AFB carbs for the intake combination.

While I was fiddling around with the parts, I happened to notice the casting plugs and accessory bolt holes on the ends of the heads while analyzing some reference photos, so some quick drill bit work added them in.

Something likely to only be seen on one head, if at all, but it was about a 5 minute thing, so why not.

 

With the manifold being open, I embarked on the short journey of creating a valley pan for the engine, which I of course got carried away with. :D

But, before you say it, yes, I am fully aware that most of it will likely never be seen, but the point was that it was another fun challenge.

 

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Steve

 

 

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This build is awesome I have been watching and can't wait to see it done my grandfather had a 64 bonny his was a two door hard top in silver but the one thing that I always remembered was when i got in to go with him the ash tray was always open with his cigar hanging out that is a great touch. your level of detail is off the chart very nice.

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On 1/9/2023 at 8:23 AM, rickcaps55 said:

This build is awesome I have been watching and can't wait to see it done my grandfather had a 64 bonny his was a two door hard top in silver but the one thing that I always remembered was when i got in to go with him the ash tray was always open with his cigar hanging out that is a great touch. your level of detail is off the chart very nice.

Thanks Richard!

 

Continuing with some engine work, one thing that I've never liked, but always just kind of put aside is the obligatory bad looking pulleys and belts in pretty much every kit.

Not being the type of guy that feels the need to have to run out and buy aftermarket parts, I wanted to at least give addressing this issue a go with what I have on hand.

I considered building new pulleys from scratch, but decided that it might be a good idea to at least try the simplest approach first.

 

So, I cut the belt from the existing kit pulleys, and with a small three sided, (triangular) file, began to carefully file a groove around the perimeter of each pulley.

It actually worked much better than I had imagined!

 

Now I just need to go to work figuring out mounting systems for the power steering pump and alternator, and then decide on the best solution for the belt.

 

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Steve

 

 

 

Edited by StevenGuthmiller
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Beautiful work as always Steven. Your interiors are an inspiration to all of us. Although I’m a non smoker, that cigar in the ashtray is a fantastic detail, well played!  Really appreciate you sharing your techniques. That dash could win “best interior” at a show just on its own! Enjoying watching it come together.

Cheers, Steve

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On 1/13/2023 at 12:03 PM, Steve H said:

Beautiful work as always Steven. Your interiors are an inspiration to all of us. Although I’m a non smoker, that cigar in the ashtray is a fantastic detail, well played!  Really appreciate you sharing your techniques. That dash could win “best interior” at a show just on its own! Enjoying watching it come together.

Cheers, Steve

Thank you Steve!

 

 

Spent a good portion of the afternoon finishing up the air filter and putting together an air cleaner.

The air filter, (the dial from the lip balm tube) just needed the seals added on either side, which was done with plain old thin sheet plastic.

 

The air cleaner is a largely scratch built affair, using sections from Revell '58 Chevy and AMT '70 Chevelle air cleaners, along with a wheel back from a Monogram '70 GTX for the base. (the blue section)

The lid is from the Moebius '61 Ventura, and the snorkel is scratch made.

 

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Steve

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One of the jobs that I really wasn't looking forward to was figuring out the best solution for mounting and aligning the engine accessories so that they were solidly in place, and aligned properly for the belts later on.

Some bracket scratch building, drilling and pinning were required, but in the end, it appears that all went well.

 

I took a bit of artistic liberty with some of the brackets, but even though they might not be entirely accurate, they look the part. ^_^

 

The worst part was figuring out positioning far the alternator, which sits high above the intake manifold on this engine.

It's for that reason that I improvised on the brackets.

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Once I was satisfied with that layout, the power steering pump was simple in comparison.

Just a little more fiddling, and I can move on to other things.

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Steve

Edited by StevenGuthmiller
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