1968 Pontiac LeMans

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DoubleDingo

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Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
I have made reference to this car in a post or two elsewhere. Yesterday I took the day off and drove to my parents because Pop was ready fire up the old girl.

Backstory:

This car was his sister's, she was the original owner and died at a young 20ish years old, I forget the actual age of her passing but she was very young. It was a running driving car until he let his son drive it back in the early 90's. I remember when the car died because his son let it overheat, we met Mom and Pop in Lancaster so it could be trailered back home. Pop always wanted to get it running again, but the car sat in the elements for about 20 years. Life and no place to tear it down kept him from tackling the project. Fast forward from 2011 when they moved to their new location, a place with multiple garages. The old girl was moved from under a car port into that slot in the garage in October 2014. Even then it sat because of life and work getting the way. He retired in 2016 and after taking care of stuff that needed to be addressed he began working on the old girl. Not knowing if the engine was toast, he pulled the heads and the engine was not in bad shape. He pulled it out, plastigaged it, and all but one journal was out of spec. We were surprised about that but happy the engine could be reused. Pop has spent the last 15 months rebuilding, replacing, refurbishing the car from front to back. Literally everything has been redone or will be done in the very near future. Rebuilt the rearend, the transmission, engine, heater, cluster, seats, doors, rear windows, I mean everything. All that is left is a trunk seal, new headliner and sail seals, front A-Arm bushings, and to have the exhaust redone. Then it can be painted.

Now for some pictures.....
 

DoubleDingo

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Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
The new engine ready to fire....

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DoubleDingo

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Location
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Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
The paint is dirty and sun faded on the outside, but the car is in great shape....



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DoubleDingo

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Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
The interior....



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DoubleDingo

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Location
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Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
The paint inside the trunk, this is what the outside will be brought back to when he gets it painted....


Without flash...

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With flash....

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DoubleDingo

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Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
Now for you old farts in the crowd...lol... How many of you remember these tires?


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DoubleDingo

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Location
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Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
The engine wouldn't fire. Tried again, Pop tinkered. Again nothing. Four tries and nothing. He pulled the coil wire and had me hold it to check for spark, no spark. He tinkered again, still no spark. He a mechanic that knows cars inside and out so now he's getting frustrated. All this work and no spark. I looked down behind the distributor and saw a loose wire. Pop what about this wire? He cussed under his breath because he knew what he'd done, he left the distributor to the coil wire off. Hooked it up to coil, still no spark. Now he is really wondering what the heck is going on. It turned out to be the theft-deterrent switch he wired up to the coil. Unhooked that wire and it fired up immediately. His dwell meter tooka a dump so he to set the points and dwell by ear, but the purrs like a kitten. He is so excited about it being running again after 27 years of sitting dead. It will be the daily driver now.
 

DoubleDingo

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Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
Oh yeah, forgot to mention what it has under the hood. Pontiac 350, he had it bored .030 over, and the transmission is a Two-Speed Super Turbine 300.
 

DoubleDingo

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Location
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First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350

DoubleDingo

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Posts
10,182
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14,489
Location
Right where I am
First Name
Bagoomba
Truck Year
1981, 1965
Truck Model
81-C20 Silverado Camper Special-TH400-4.10s; 65-C20 with 4:57 gears and Borg Warner Overdrive
Engine Size
Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
This car is all original, nothing has been replaced, meaning original engine, original transmission, original rear axle, no accident damage except for a small ding mom did to the front grill. It is a numbers matching vehicle with minimal to no rust. When we pulled the hood, that was the first time it had been removed.
 

Honky Kong jr

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Denver,PA
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J-me
Truck Year
87
Truck Model
V10
Engine Size
Lil BB 407
This car is all original, nothing has been replaced, meaning original engine, original transmission, original rear axle, no accident damage except for a small ding mom did to the front grill. It is a numbers matching vehicle with minimal to no rust. When we pulled the hood, that was the first time it had been removed.
That’s something you don’t read to often... “a ding in the grill” lol
 

78C10BigTen

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pennsylvannia
First Name
Ted
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C10 BIG TEN
Engine Size
350
Now for you old farts in the crowd...lol... How many of you remember these tires?


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I shred lots of those daily lol
 

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