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Gordo's GTX: The Sequel

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#1 ·
My Gordo's GTX thread has gotten a little too large for the site to handle very well. The car is basically done, so now is a good time to wrap it up. It's gotten so large that I've begun work on an index to help find topics within it. So, I plan on this thread being where I'll continue comments and projects on the car and general conversation. Here's the little bit of the index I've accomplished so far:


Index, by post #, of topics and projects in the Gordo's GTX thread:

0-37 - I introduce the car, after the major bodywork and painting were done, and we start talking about ideas for headlights and looking at pics of heavily modified GT's.

38-43 - Some preliminary talk about Steinmetz flares, wide tires, and lining the wheel wells.

44-56 - I clip the headliner in place and install "stay put" wires.

57-72 - I chop out the rear deck and spare tire area and start to line the area with wood. Decals, scoop lights, Lenk grill.

73-100 - Trunk/storage area wood work completed, tail panel mounted gas cap/filler neck, side rear windows repurposed as interior lighting, storage area carpeted.
 
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#2 ·
I went for a two hour drive today.

All was going well, then I got brined.

Why the brine?

Chance of flurries tomorrow morning.

Aaarrgghh!

Aaarrgghh!

It snowed for exactly one minute at my house at 4pm the next day. I found ONE snowflake on my Ford. I picked it up with tweezers and put it in the freezer. When I get home I'm going to put it on the GT's brine and watch it die.

Aaarrgghh!
 
#7 ·
Nope, I'm all out of adventures, it's your turn now!

"Jimmy's Hot Chicks in a Hot Tub Hydrographics Adventure!"

I wanna see you dip hot naked chicks into your hydrographic hot tub with graphics that make them look like they're wearing clothes when you pull them out of the tub!


:lmao:
 
#8 ·
I've got some bad news for my fellow Northern Opelers:

I went for a 200 mile drive today!

It was great! 70*, no salt on the roads, bright and sunny!

"Screw you man! I ain't seen my front steps since October!" I hear you saying.

OMG, my car is sweet!

EVERYTHING now works the way it should and flawlessly.

"FU MAN! I'm still trying to get my car to idle!"

Don't sweat it! Just keep plugging away and eventually your car will be as good as mine!

"LIAR! You're a douche! I hope all your dang LED's explode on you! :cussing: "

Now, now, don't get your blood pressure up.





May you all experience some Indian Winter and get to go for a drive in between ice storms, dam failures, and hurricanes!


:veryhappy
 
#9 · (Edited)
#10 ·
Holy Cow, what a dumbass I am!

I went to work today.

Unfortunately, it's President's Day and I had the day off.

As I have done every year for my entire 26 year Postal Worker career, I've managed to come in on a holiday that I'm not scheduled to work on. It's gotten so bad that just about every one of my coworkers breaks my balls in the run up to a holiday. "Now remember Gordo, tomorrow is Christmas, make sure you don't come in!" or "Tomorrow is Saturday(a normal day off) Gordo. DON'T set your alarm clock!". Some guys over the years have even headed me off in the parking lot to stop me from entering the building on my day off, thereby sparing me the lambasting I get. Of course, they tell everybody that they stopped me from coming in, so I get my balls busted when I come in the day AFTER the holiday. No such luck this time. Even my bosses pointed their fingers and laughed at me this time.

In my defense,....c'mon....President's Day? Yee gads! We actually have a holiday for those clowns? There's no parades or TV specials. Nobody is rushing to the supermarkets and liquor stores to stock up for the big President's Day party they're having.

I'd rather have Arbor Day off. I like trees. Presidents, not so much.

You're not buying any of this, are you? I'll bet you're sitting there thinking "Holy Cow, what a dumbass he is!"

Sigh......

You might be right.

:sigh:
 
#12 ·
I went to work today.

Unfortunately, it's President's Day and I had the day off.

As I have done every year for my entire 26 year Postal Worker career, I've managed to come in on a holiday that I'm not scheduled to work on.
Grind!! Now your image will stay for three month on the white board "employee of 2017":notworthy
 
#11 ·
Well now you can get back to working on that vectra window opener, and making more videos. You should hang a couple of curtains across the front of it and have them open like at the movies with some theme music from 20th century fox playing. Then we could all sit back with some popcorn and watch the show.
 
#14 ·
Today I tried to make the color balance in my engine compartment better. All of the chromy hoses are on the passenger side and the driver's side has all black wire loom coverings on the wire bundles. They look ugly. It is very good wire covering, but still ugly. Red or chrome/silver would be much better. I searched and searched, but I could only find cheap plastic auto parts store wire wrap. A chrome tape that I could wind around the wires would be perfect, but I couldn't find anything. So, I found some weird split-wrap that was silvery gray and I just put it on. It's not much better looking. I will continue the search for something better. Ideas welcome! Here are before and after pics:


Vehicle Engine Auto part Fuel line Car
Vehicle Engine Fuel line Auto part Car
Engine Vehicle Auto part Car Fuel line
Engine Vehicle Auto part Car Fuel line
 
#18 ·
#17 ·
Thought of buying this, but never did.

https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-cable-sleeving/=16tw0qe
Heat-Reflective Slit Corrugated Sleeving
Reflective aluminum surface protects contents from temperatures up to 300° F.
A slit along the length allows you to install without disconnecting wire and cable.
Sleeving has impact and abrasion resistance similar to conduit.
It also resists gasoline, oil, brake fluid, and antifreeze.
 
#19 ·
It looks fine with the black. The wrap stuff just makes it look bad.
 
#20 ·
Gordo,

I agree with Jeff, leave it black. The silver wrap just makes all your wiring stand out. Unless that is something you were wanting??
 
#21 ·
Those are some great ideas you guys have found for me! I'll buy some of each and give them a try.

I guess I've developed a phobia to black knobbly wire wrap after staring at the old funky wiring in GT's and the turd above the fuse box area for 30 years. Yeah, chromy wrap is a bit over the top, red might be better. Also, I wrapped every single thing on that side of the engine: Some of the black rubber fuel line, battery cables, skinny wires. I didn't have to do that, I just wanted to get a sense of what it would look like if I wrapped everything. I took the pictures so that I could stand back and digest the look. I agree with y'all, it doesn't look much better. After I took the pics I realised that what really bothered me was that long black bundle that all GTers have going along the overhang of the side of the hood opening where the clips to hold it are. I realised that I don't need to route that bundle there because I don't have the turd and all the wires entering the top of the footwell above the fuse box. My wires enter the front of the footwell/fuse box area. So, I pulled the wire out of that area and was able to push it down below the brake booster support where it can barely be seen:

Fuel line Vehicle Engine Auto part Car


Just that one move made me like the look over there much better than all the grey wrap I installed. That wire bundle was also messing with my ability to put the hood prop rod in it's rubber holder. Now I can get it in there no problem!(Yeah, I know my prop rod is all twisty. It got bent in half at a windy car show.) So, I'll buy some of the suggestions you guys found for me and see if I can dial in my look a little better.

Thanks for the ideas and critiques!

:veryhappy
 
#23 ·
That is a protective coating I put on all my chromy stuff composed of snot from sneezing, phlegm and tobacco spittle from coughing, icky goo from squeezing zits, blood from slipping with my wrenches, radiator fluid from forgetting to put the cap on, oil from running the engine without the valve cover on, and spilled beer.


:lmao:
 
#25 ·
I went wild and bought some of everything in every size. I bought a combo pack of 6mm and 10mm chrome spiral motorcycle wrap from England and I bought some of every size of the split, aluminum covered, corrugated wire wrap from McMaster-Carr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-cable-sleeving/=16umlfn

It's always nice to have plenty of options.

When I put the Steinmetz intake manifold on I'm going to have reroute and redo all sorts of hoses and their wraps on the carb side, so having plenty of choices and supply on hand will help that job and my current wire wrap project
 
#26 ·
The McMaster-Carr wire wrap arrived and I have to say I am VERY pleased with it. I bought a type with an aluminum coating in every size. They were sold in 3 foot lengths and several of the sizes I bought 2 of and the other sizes just one. The coating of shiny stuff is nothing like the auto store chromed plastic wrap. This appears to be an aluminum foil adhered VERY firmly to the underlying plastic, which is a pale beige-ish color and twice as thick as the auto store type. Auto store type is chrome on black plastic. The type I got gives protection to it's contents up to 300*.


Wire Technology Laboratory equipment Glass
 
#28 ·
The McMaster-Carr wire wrap arrived and I have to say I am VERY pleased with it. I bought a type with an aluminum coating in every size. They were sold in 3 foot lengths and several of the sizes I bought 2 of and the other sizes just one. The coating of shiny stuff is nothing like the auto store chromed plastic wrap. This appears to be an aluminum foil adhered VERY firmly to the underlying plastic, which is a pale beige-ish color and twice as thick as the auto store type. Auto store type is chrome on black plastic. The type I got gives protection to it's contents up to 300*.


View attachment 303553
One will need a pair sun glasses to look at your engine bay once your done with it :lmao: Kidding, looking forward to seeing it in a couple months Gordo.
 
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#31 · (Edited)
The engine compartment you presently see is the culmination of 7-8 years of buying shiny stuff. I had a budget of about $300 or so per year that I allocated towards bling. Altogether there's about $2000 worth of shiny stuff in there. That's not much money considering how much people pay for full car restorations, engines, paint jobs, and interiors. There's also a mix of chromed stuff, stainless steel, and various material wraps and tubings. The brake booster vacuum hose, for instance, is a fiberglass tubing with foil on it that is supposed to be protective to 500*. The radiator and heater hoses are from some company in Germany that makes flexible stainless steel tubing. I had a lot of the stainless heater hose left over, so I used it as sleeves over small vacuum hoses and other things. The chromy fan shroud is just something from Jeg's. The radiator cover is VERY special, though. Member Don Harold made it for me as a gift. It's stainless and has the sweetest welding done to it that you've ever seen. Don's shop made something that was in one of the Mars Rovers. I'm The Scifi Guy, having something that was made by a guy who made something that's on Mars is just about the coolest thing I could ever have. It's machined to an accuracy of less than a millimeter and just snaps on to the radiator. I can't close the hood with it on because it interferes, so I have to remove it to close, but it snaps on and off with relative ease. Some other things like radiator caps and my brake fluid reservoir cover are actually carved out billet aluminum creations that I later sent out for chroming.......or will when they start to oxidize. The battery box I had made by a company that makes custom mirror stainless battery enclosures. The shiny plates in the corners near the firewall are aluminum covers I made that I had chromed. Heck, if I could take the cover off of my MSD ignition system box, I'd have that chromed, too.

Oh yeah, and to answer your question: No, none of the chromy wrap is twist or wind on. Almost all of it is solid tubing with no splits. The wiring covers that I just put on ARE a split tubing type. I'm still waiting for the spiral chromy wrap to come from England, although I really can't think of too many other things I could wrap with it.

:veryhappy
 
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