My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby Kenova » Wed May 16, 2012 11:30 am

:th:
Looks like you found yourself a good body shop. I've heard so many horror stories about body shops that the mere thought of having this kind of work done ties my gut up in knots. :sick:

Ken
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby 73astregt » Wed May 16, 2012 3:27 pm

Kenova wrote::th:
Looks like you found yourself a good body shop. I've heard so many horror stories about body shops that the mere thought of having this kind of work done ties my gut up in knots. :sick:

Ken

ken if you are thinking of getting something done let me know, i know a guy close to me. now back to the proper topic!
73 astre gt 355 small block 435 hp 435 torque edelbrock performer rpm power package
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby vegastre » Thu May 17, 2012 11:55 pm

As for wheels I have a set of 15X7 Snowflakes that I am leaning towards


Great choice Jeff,
For Pontiac lovers Snowflakes hold a nostalgic and very cool appearance. For non Pontiac people I'm sure they look dated but for me its just the right wheel for the Formula. I would paint them charcoal to match the body accents. Just saying =)
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Fri May 18, 2012 8:29 am

Phil,

We are on the same page on this one, the wheels have been stripped, but I lacked the motivation to actually Polish, mask, and paint them. I have a set of 15X8's on my 69 Sprint Firesbird, and I remember the work involved in masking those wheels when I painted them Charcoal!!!!! I actually ended up using a thick grease on all the center areas!!!! Later on I found out when Western Wheel made them, they coated the entire wheel, then machined off the center area. Wish I could do that!!!! I have a couple of center caps to choose from, some later 80's vintage Firebird with a gray background and red arrowhead, or I can stick with the vintage correct chrome metal ones, and just find some arrow head emblems for them. My wheels actually came off of a 1977 Grand Prix so just by pure chance they are even date coded correctly for my Astre!!!! (like I care, I just thought it was funny!!!!). The black centers with the red arrow heads that are on the 69 Bird are actually off a 1980 Bonneville.

And Yes I do beleive the body shop is doing very good work, even if the car is over a year late from when they promised it!!!!! And I do have a story of body shop horrors, I had a guy that worked out of his barn 20 years ago, he had done a 67 Lemans, and a 76 T/A for me, both done well, just alittle late, and on budget. Then I took him a 69 GTO driver I used to have, I did the same deal as the other 2 cars, paid 1/2 up front to cover expenses, and he proceded to strip the car to bare metal, take out the back window and rear bumper, break the window, lose the bumper, push the car out in the weather for 2 months. Then lose his shop and house, it took me 3 more moths dealing with the local Police to get the remains of the car back from him. I should have just reported the car stolen and collected the insurance money! As it had been moved 3 miles to some other body shops rear parking area! So I ended up paying $2000 to make my car worthless and undrivable. Never did get any $$$ back on that one, and sold the non-numbers matching car for $1600 a few years later, just could not stand looking at it any more!!!!!
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1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby Kenova » Fri May 18, 2012 10:05 am

cammerjeff wrote:........ I remember the work involved in masking those wheels when I painted them Charcoal!!!!! I actually ended up using a thick grease on all the center areas!!!! Later on I found out when Western Wheel made them, they coated the entire wheel, then machined off the center area....


It may cost you more, and you may not get an exact colour match, but a good powder coating shop could give you the results you are looking for. You could also check out a wheel repair shop. They usually have paint facilities.

Ken
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby vegastre » Fri May 18, 2012 1:28 pm

We are on the same page on this one


Absolutely =) You gotta do the wheels because the yellow/charcoal body paint accent just looks too sweet.

What other vintage Pontiac wheel would you use?
Last edited by vegastre on Thu May 31, 2012 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Sat May 19, 2012 1:46 pm

Phil, those are the same grey center caps I have.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby vegastre » Fri May 25, 2012 12:41 pm

Jeff,
Just re-read a few of the posts. I guess you might be getting tired of Snowflakes by now and want to try out something else. Ya, I understand. With the paint finally done the fun begins.
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:25 pm

Not much progress to report, but I did stop by the shop last friday, they had put the windsheild & trim on, so now it is just down to painting the wheel wells, and repairing and painting the front spoiler. We also nogotiated a final price we can both live with, way to much $$$ at $8,000.00 total, But they are giving me a discount on the hourly rate. And that does include Media blasting, frame staightening, transport to and from the media blasting compamy, some rust repair, straightening of the panels, some dissassembly (windows from doors, doors and rear hatch from body) prep, pimer, and 3 colors of paint, Yellow, Charcoal, and the interior Camel. Also some reassembly, doors and rear hatch install with new bushings (thanks Clyde!) all the glass reinstalled, and the repair to the fiberglass front spoiler I bought. It is alot of $$$$ for a car I will be lucky to get 1/2 of that for. And not counting the aprox $2500.00 I will have into the chassis and drive train, and the $2000.00 I paid for the car. I am now into the car for at least $15,000.00.
I sure hope I like it as much as I think I will!!!!!!
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Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby Kenova » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:16 pm

cammerjeff wrote:. I am now into the car for at least $15,000.00.
I sure hope I like it as much as I think I will!!!!!!


Get it professionally appraised and insured with a company that deals with vintage cars. Have all of your receipts on hand when it is appraised.
It's looking good and should easily last you the rest of your life. :th:

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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby Monza Harry » Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:31 am

Hey Jeff OEM & Custom Wheel here in Windsor may be able to help they refinish wheels (lots of highend rides there) I pass there place when it is my turn to do deliveries for work, Jags Beemers Cads etc. They have been in the same location for more than 5 years, they set up a booth at the local car shows so they should have programs for our Muscle Era wheels. They clean, paint the relief, machine (CNC lathe), then high build clear. There Quote last summer for my Sonoma (same gray/bright finish you are looking for) was $600 + tax. And that Poncho is looking Sweet in case the $$$$ momentarily blinded you. I hope this info is useful to you on this endeavor Harry P.S. I am sure that there must be someone in Metro Detroit doing the same.
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:40 am

Thanks for the tip on the wheels, but for now I think I will just paint them to save some $$$$. The ones I did for the sunbird wagon, and the 69 Bird came out good. I need to save up for the tires to put on those wheels.
I Dynoed the little 215 yesturday, and the engine did meet what we thought it would make, HP 188 at 5300rpm, torque 208 at 3200 rpm, and continued to make power to 5300 RPM!!!! I thought it would be all done at around 4600 RPM, No oil or coolent leaks, great oil pressure, 28 PSI at 780 rpm, and 86 psi at 5500 rpm no odd noises, and oil temp peaked at 178 F, so everything inernally seems good!!!! We did have issues with the idle circuit of the AFB Carb I rebuilt, so we had to use the shops known good edlebrock carb, that was jetted way to rich for the little Buick, the A/F ratio was over 15 above 2000 rpm, so I gave up some HP there.
Also I got the call from the paint shop that the body in Finished! Now I need to pay for it, and make room in the garage, so it will probably come home late this week!!!!
Last edited by cammerjeff on Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cjbiagi » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:58 am

$15,000 for a high quality restoration is not expensive. However, as we all know most H bodies no matter how nice have a limited resale value. So, if you are happy with it don't worry about what you have into it. I never figured what I have into mine but after 38 years of playing with it I am sure it's more than I'd like to think about. It's an investment, so just view it that way and realize a lot of people waste a lot of money on other hobbies (or vices) that they have absolutely nothing to show for it. You can enjoy this for a long time to come. It's refeshing to see a high quality H body restoration and I know there are some other people doing them as we speak. That's the way to represent our marque. :th:
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cammerjeff » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:29 pm

Thanks Clyde!

I sometimes listen to much to my local Classic Pontiac Snobs (read as freinds) that always put my little Pontiac's down because they do not have a traditional Pontiac V-8 of at least 389 cubes. One i particulare that irritated me last week that has over $70,000.00 into a 71 Convt 442 W-30 CLONE! told me he would never spend that kinda money on a car he couldn't get a return on. And I was thinking yea that Clone of yours must be worth at least $35,000 to $40,000. That and the 1 time he raced me light to light a couple of years ago, the Sunbird wagon beat his 455 Olds!

So in my heart I know that $15,000 in the long run is not way to much money, sometimes I make the mistake of listening to to many "car people" Thanks for the encoraging words!!!!
Last edited by cammerjeff on Mon Jun 11, 2012 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jeff R

1971 Catalina Freeway Enforcer
77 Astre Formula, some day soon powered by a 215 Buick V-8
1973 4-speed Lemans Safari STOCK!!!!! 1978 Catalina Safari
2006 Mallet Solstice, 6.0 LS2, 6-speed manual
2009 Solstice Coupe, 2.4, 5-speed Manual
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Re: My Yellow 77 Astre Formula Saga.

Postby cosworth0135 » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:24 pm

Jeff that guy can pucker up and smooch your butt cheeks, if he thinks he lost at the stop light the last time wait till the next time with you in that olds powered pontiac and you can remind him that you didn't seek his approval nor use any of his money in your car, and that you didn't buy your car to sell so you investment return hadn't crossed your mind, just my 2 cents ,, Timmy
i currently drive a geo metro,insert silly joke here,, but i'll pass you while your getting gas
If you don't have time/money to do it right the first time,how will you have time/money to do it again. Timmy
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