GTO Assembly

This page covers assembly and installation of various assemblies onto the GTO. Things like wiring, brakes, exhaust. 

Wiring

I reused all wiring with the exception of the engine harness. I used an M&H Fabricators engine harness and it was just about a perfect replacement. I also used their spring ring battery cables.

The instrument cluster was completely taken apart and cleaned up. The wiring needed some repair with some soldering and heat shrink work. There was some old damage particularly with the dash lights. I did not spring for a new "chrome" plated cluster housing, rather, I freshened up the "chrome" by applying modeling foil where needed. I also freshened up some sections of the gunmetal blue coloring by mixing up a concoction of a metallic charcoal color, dark blue, and some flat black from "spray bombs" and mixing them in a cup and spraying them with a detail spray gun. The color match and sheen were perfect.

New Standard brand S75 tail lamp sockets, intended for Ford cars, were installed onto the rear harness to replace the lousy originals. The replacements are all metal and reliably supply electrical ground.

Brakes

1967 GTO orginal disc brake components

This car came with the Delco Moraine disc brake system, which was an option on the 67 GTO. When I bought the car, it still had all of the original componets. Over the years, I got new 1 piece rotors and got the calipers sleeved with stainless. It was time to repair the rest of the system. 

I had my original booster rebuilt and replated by Steve Gregori of www.brakeboosters.com (since the repops are notorious for a pretty inaccurate stamping quality.) 

The master cylinder I think is a 1969 unit; probably a rebuild unit from long ago. But it's the correct "fat" style Delco Moriaine unit. The casting was cleaned up and I hand "honed" the bore with 400 grit sandpaper. A Raybestos rebuild kit finished it off. I purchased a new cap from a Corvette supplier that sells the cover with the correctly embossed '67 text. 

I could not find a rebuild kit for the original hold off valve (shown on the right in the picture), so I took it apart, cleaned it, and put it back together with it's original seals. It seems to be fine, except the little piston pin rubber boot is long gone. 

The 4 piston fixed calipers are notorious for needing new lip seals every few years, and some Corvette folks like to switch to o-ring seals for better reliability. However, it seems that this modification alters the "stiction" of the pistons in the bores so I just went with stock lip type seals. I found Dorman makes kits, but the boot seals that come with the kits are wrong. Emails telling them of this went nowhere, so I re-used my old boots. I will have to seek out some rebuild kits for these 4 piston calipers and hoard a few sets.

I decided to stay with regular brake fluid. I am just not sold on silicone. The system works perfectly so far.

Windows and Weatherstripping

A new windshield was procured from www.windshieldstogo.com. The brand I got was a Pilkington. As with alot of replacement glass these days, it's a Chinese made windshield. I used 3/8" butyl ribbon and laid the new glass in with little trouble. New clips were used all around, and the reveal trim snapped in pretty nicely.

Side "roll-up" window installation was somewhat of a bear and took a few evenings. There are so many adjustment points, particularly on the rear quarter windows, that things get confusing fast. But it's all installed now, waiting for final adjustments when I get the top convertible frame installed. 

The window "fuzzies" I used were made by "Top Whiskers", and I'd say they were "alright" quality-wise. With some tweaking they fit, and the windows go up and down in between the inner and outer seals nicely. All the outer fuzzies required holes to be drilled into them for the attaching screws. There are also tabs on the outer fuzzies that slip into the reveal trim. Those were stamped with worn out tooling and useless. I just pushed them flat and didn't use them. 

Here's the passenger rear quarter window opening. The three holes are where the outer "fuzzy" screws thread in. The screws go through the weatherstrip, then the reveal trim and into the metal ledge. 

1967 GTO window reveal installation GTO window reveal and outer weatherstrip "fuzzy"

Besides the roll up window strips, all the weatherstripping I used is from Metro "Soffseal". I found most all of it to be very good, with the exception of the trunk gasket. That one was just too thick, although with time and warm weather, it seems to be squashing down.

Vent windows

I completely dismantled the vent windows to replace the seals but also get the stainless covering trim on the vertical posts off and polished. Metro did a nice job on their reproduction, although it does not have embedded metal for stiffness like the originals. Only one of my vent window seals needed replacing. Oddly, one was like hard plastic and the other was like new.

GTO vent window assembly

The angled portions of the vent windows is pot metal and mine do exhibit some pitting. But, with some polishing they look quite good. The straigtened and re-polished stainless on the verticals really made a difference too.

SFS

Links:

Willys Jeep CJ3A Forum

www.cj3apage.com

There exists a nice set of webpages for CJ3A's. It's got a forum too that caters to both '3A's and  CJ3B's. It's a great resource, and frequented by very knowledgible folks.

1967 GTO Original Owner

These two videos feature an original owner GTO. This car was featured in Hemmings Muscle Cars magazine a couple years ago. Part 2 has inside and outside shots of the owner driving the car. Very nicely done.

Blues Maker

"Mississippi" Fred McDowell. One of the great Bluesman. This is a documentary made in 1969.

Pinstripes

Pinstriping the ol' fashioned way. Pretty nice.

MGB Racecar

I've always liked MG's. Watch this MGB lift it's inside tire a few inches off the tarmac when going "'round the bend". Awesome.

Pepsi Throwback

Pepsi Throwback with Sugar!

Pepsi has put out a "limited edition Throwback" version of Pepsi with REAL sugar, instead of high fructose corn syrup which has been used since the 80's. Holy cow there IS a difference; it's WAY better. Find some quick!

Copyright 2009-2026---Dave Miles----Squids Fab Shop