67 Bonneville 4door hardtop project

Well, I'm back. Pretty much a newb. I was on here for a while, with my 65 Panel, and kind of became a recluse when it got burnt down...



Now I'm back with another project. 1967 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door hardtop. Its been in my family its whole life. Grandmother got it from my Grandpa, they divorced, she took it to Wyoming. She gave it to my Mom when she married my Dad. They divorced, and my Mom gave it to my half brother. He blew it up, and sold it back to my Dad, for $500. Dad had built a 428 for his GTO, but put the engine in the Bonneville instead.

Engine is a 67' 360horse 428. Fully balanced bottom end with TRW pistons. #670 heads ported & polished. Some decent cam that makes it idle how I like it, and a quadrajet. All backed with a turbo400 and posi.

It has been sitting in our spare lot a few hundred feet from my house for about 15 years, and I just now moved home for a while, and decided I want to build it.

Rebuilt the carb, got it running(runs like a top) and pulled it down to the shop. Replaced all the hoses in the engine compartment, and then got started on the body work. Anyway, here are some pictures.













The plans are, to keep the color scheme somewhat stock. It was originally dark plum purple, with the white top. I want to either to black with purple pearl on the bottom, and a pearl white top, or thought about going flat purple with gloss white top with pearl or flake. Not sure. The car will be straight as an arrow, and will be bagged. I also wouldn't mind doing 20's or 22's, but then again I love whitewalls. I think if I do gloss, I'll do the big wheels. Otherwise, might go flat with whites. Let me know what you guys think. Oh yeah, going to redo the interior like stock with all white. Outside is staying pretty much stock. Shaving bumper bolts, welding the upper headlight buckets to the fenders, shaving front side marker lights. Just little things. Passenger side lock. Anyway, let me know what you think about it soo far, and where I should go with it. Thanks.

MS Paint FTW

 

please no 20s, nice car

 

i just threw up in my mouth a lil when i saw 20s & 22s...............this car is screamin for some astros & pinners
just my 2 cents

jt

 

Well I'm a young gun. I'm 23, and that Panel was setup to lay rocker on 22's. I would love to have just kept it all patina'd on some whites, but I want to fix this up really nice. My grandmother passed away last summer, and I'd like to make it somewhat new school. It will have airride, and eventually I may swap out the 428 for a 5.3 out of a silverado and auto tranny, so it will be a highway cruiser. Will have a nice stereo. I have been looking and I found a 68 on 18/20 combo looked pretty cool, so may go with that, or 20's front and back. Who knows. I want to get it bodyworked and in primer before April. Gonna take this step by step. Sorry to disappoint, but probably will end up with big wheels, budget allowing.

 

It's too new, and a four door. But if you must, do it glossy and pinner whites. No wide whites, the car is too new for that. Or do it glossy with black steelies and redline bias plys. Being young is no excuse for bad taste. I'm only 26. 5.3 and an auto with 20's? You are on the wrong site dude. Aside from bodywork, nothing you are doing will gain acceptance here.

 

I don't understand why you'd post on here and say "what do you think" then go against all advice you get here. You're gonna put those dorky wheels on it no matter what anyone here thinks anyway. You've got the makin's of a hell of a ride there but of all you said none of it makes sense to me except basically keepin' the interior. Trade a 428 for a 5.3? What the hell is that all about? Oh well, do what you've gotta do.

 

heres the site you need to post your build on, they'll love it http://www.streetsourcemag.com
jt

 

Haha. You guys are rough. Yet everything you posted contradicted what people thought about my Panel. It was chopped 6" on airride, TPI to go on the 327, and 20's or 22's.

I mentioned the 5.3(not 4.3) because I would like this to be a roadtrip car, and with a 3speed auto and only getting about 13mpg, takes some money outta my pocket. I probably will roll with the 428 for at least a few years.

I wanted to know what people thought, that's why I asked. I didn't say "I'm going to do exactly what you guys want me to, so point me in the direction". I have found its usually 50/50 on bigger wheels. I thought you guys might want to watch a build progress, but I guess since you are too set on chopping someone down on a wheel choice, I'll keep my build elsewhere.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Badpanl, FIRST of all , that 428 is a far superior engine compared to a shitty 5.3 Chevy. I, at one time had a 65 catalina with a 389 that consistantly pulled low 20's on the high-way. Those big Ponchos have high gearing because the engines are torque monsters. That car probably has a 2.59 gear and will out run just about everything on the street. As far as the pictures show, it looks to be a very clean engine, low miler, not all cruded up. Just leave it in there and enjoy one of the best engines to come out of GM. As for your choice of build, do yourself a big favor and stick with a realistic wheel and tire choice, those big ass rims belong on sporty type cars that were sort of designed for them. You will really fuck up the ride and handleing of that car, plus it WILL look like shit. 67 was the pinacle year for Pontiac style and you want to jazz it all up. Please sell that well optioned B-ville to someone who will build it with the care it deserves and you can take the cash and those 22's on a yukon or something like that. Mitch

 

Can't agree with these guys enough. Keep the 428, make sure it's safe, (brakes, steering, etc) slam it, put on a traditional wheel and tire combo and drive the snot out of it. Going with the 20/22's and a 5.3 would likely just get you killed by EVERY self respecting hot rodder you show it to. Better yet, sell the car to me and I'll send you the tuner car that's been pissing me off in trade

 

how does that rx-8 handle off road?

 

RX8 is a little low, but it handles amazingly on road, and slides pretty well too.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3pjxIWJ3S6U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3pjxIWJ3S6U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

now that's insane..what if kids were coming the other way?

 

I had a friend above and below the turn watching the roads. Check the actual page on youtube if you don't believe me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjxIWJ3S6U&feature=channel_page

To be honest though, they handle amazing on road.

 

nah...wasted enough time the first time.

 

Yet you had time to come back, check it, and reply.

 

Anyway, I don't want to cause problems or start fights. If a mod reads this, can you please delete my thread. Maybe I'll post up when I'm done and get flamed some more.

 

Wrong wrong wrong

 

those things have the coolest front ends!

 

ooops maby I should have read the whole thread, I didn't take my turn bashing you, oh well. Nice car.

 

Haha. No worries. Thanks man.

 

That's a sweet car with a cool history and story attached to it. I'm a fan of those big body cars. They make great cruisers.

I'm in the same boat as you though when it comes to wheels. I'm a fan of all styles of cars and build it how you want. Wheels are wheels. Have 2 sets if you want. I like a nice clean 20" wheel, bagged. Just don't have some nasty looking drums or even worse, the fake "drilled rotor" plastic brake covers.

I'm a newbie when it comes the old school type hotrodding. I love the look though. I wanted to bag my car on 20's and do a 6.0 LS motor at one time too. Now I'm thinking I'd rather go traditional but I have no clue where to start. But I'm here to learn!

 

I'd like a 428 , I have an offy dual quad intake, hays steel billet flywheel and lakewood scattershield. I sold my 455 I was gonna buy an indian adventures block and never got the cash to do it. p.s. on the burnt truck...Ive seen worse roofs on chops that didn't get burnt=not so bad kick it out and get it bedlinered on top if you don't want to make it pretty

 

I could pull 18 MPG with a 389 in a '60 Pontiac with a 3.08 gear. Get a 2.73 or 2.41 in there and a built 200R4 and you might pull 25 MPG and still be able to roast the tires. 20 is certainly do-able if you keep your foot out of the go pedal and pick a cruise speed for the highway and gear the car for it.

There's nothing lamer than a Pontiac that someone stuck a Chevy in. That pretty much goes for the ones GM built that way, too.

 

Your panel didn't belong here either to be totally honest. Didn't like the chop at all, ruined a nice truck.

You want a roadtrip car? Put a Gear Vendor's overdrive unit in it and get killer gas mileage with an engine that is MUCH cooler than a shitty Tahoe engine.

50/50 about the bigger wheels? Who else are you asking? All but one person on here said stay away from bigger wheels, and even he is considering being more traditional. That's some fuzzy math there.

You are getting chopped down for WAY more than a wheel choice. It's the complete build. Keep it on streetsourcemag.com as someone else suggested. It would be much more welcome there.

 

200-R4 is only rated up to 330 ft/lbs in a 6000 lb car. That big pontiac would kill a 200 in about 10 minutes!

Nice car, and a cool family connection/story to go with it.
How about a compramize... Maybe some classic cregar SS's or kidney bean slots?

The 20"+ wheels are for the ghetto crowd IMHO. I'v seen a handfull of cars that were tastefully done and the big wheels actually look good, but 99% of the time, they just look "pimp my ride" tacky.

 

for half the price of a gear vendors overdrive you could put a third pedal in it and run a ranger overdrive splitter between the tranny and the bell. they put the tranny 7" back off the bell. theres a shift arm to hookup and thats it. cheaper yet, a ford truck tranny like a car style 4speed overdrive or even a big old granny tranny can be made to fit a gm car bellhousing by machining a little off of the bearing nose and chopping a bit off the end of the input shaft. look it up on novak adapters. there isn't an adapter necessary and they tell you how to do it on their site. The gearvendors is the probably the way to go if you have the bucks and want it easy. my 73 grandprix got 18mpg on the highway with a 400 and th400 and 2:73 gears. it would also whup any stock 5.o mustang off the line or rolling and smoked a 280 turbo z once.
cool thing about highway gears is the long rod pontiac has the long legs to pull a highway gear better than a smallblock chevy where a smallblock will rev to redline faster. compare a chevy 350 to a pontiac 350 and the pontiac wants a 3:73 to run out similar to the chevy with a 4:11 and with 2:73 gears and a 5500-6000rpm hp peak youll probably pull 50 in first and 85-90 in second within a couple blocks...thats too fast for me anymore but that grand prix would do it. The ram air III cam is a beautifull thing. It's iffy on the vaccum but if dont have a highstall converter and you back off and let the engine brake for a second youll have full vaccume to stop hard.
I went a different route than a vaccum can, I ran a manual disc/drum master cylinder with a manual pedal. the manual pedal has the pushrod pivot closer to the pedal pivot for more pressure and the manual mastercylinder has a smaller diameter to multiply the force more. compare a 2" driving piston against a 1 inch driving piston both pushing 4square inches of wheel cylinder piston....
100 pound(a) on a (b)1 sq inch piston makes 100x4 or 400(d) pounds from the (c)4 sq inch piston.
100 pound (a) on a (b)2 sq inch piston makes 50x4 or 200(d) lb on the (c)4 sq inch piston.

a/b x c = d
because the input force is divided into the area of the driving piston and this force is by hydraulics multiplied by the area of the driven piston and transmitted mechanically into the brake shoe.
The smaller master cylinder piston will transmit more forceto the shoe but will require more travel to make up the volume difference. its a mystical hydraulic"reduction gear".
It's the same reason that one (engine) piston will push with 25% more pressure on the crank as a piston 25% smaller (considering equal air pressure above the piston)

 

Thanks for all the replies and info. I will definitely look into that overdrive unit. I have thought about getting a 700r4 to put behind it, but I don't know if it will hold up. Again, I appreciate all the information.

As far as my wheels, its hit or miss. I have found young guys(like the one who posted above) who hated it, and thought I should leave it on 14's. I also have had a 60yr old guy told me he loved the idea of big wheels on the big car. Mind you, these are on other forums, a motorcycle forum, another car forum, etc.

I myself can appreciate a car for the amount of work, time, money put into it. Just because it doesn't appeal to me, or fit my specific style, I don't bash it. And I can't believe just wheels would destroy your liking for the car. Maybe I will put the hubcaps on and take pics when its done and post it here, then put my 20's on it and post it everywhere else, keep everyone happy. Now if I painted it lime green with lambo doors and 18 tvs, I could see the dislike. But when its damn near a restoration with air ride and bigger wheels, its not that big of a deal.

I'm really surprised how closed minded some people are. Like I said, I'm not going to "Pimp-My-Ride" it or donk it out, just tasteful 20's most likely. Anyway, I think I will keep posting updates so you can all bash me some more.

 

Well being the FNG! you have to earn the right to become a HAMBER! its not just singing up for an account and posting some shit. Trust me we all took the heat when we first started. Be carefull with what you say and your attitude being the FNG because the fellow Hambers will black list your ass when it comes to you wanting help. just my two cents