61 Pontiac Tempest Project

[Justwondering]

I don't see anyway to link my photos in my media album to a posting.
So I'll repost the pictures here:

Backseat is out, this is the crawl space to the trunk.
I've cleaned it up and removed the dirt dobber nests as well

No dead bodies, but looks like a full size tire.
There were red hornets, so I sprayed and left for the day.

You can see the backside of the lock in the top/center.

Here is a closeup of the backside of the lock. There is a plate there.

My 'vin' number . Very short.
There is another plate in the engine compartment that has paint info.

Love the imprinted logo on the floor coverings.

Apparently this company provided the interior.

Removed the beauty rail in the right rear.

The is at the center rear floor area.
Since the transmission is in the rear, the 'hump' for the bell housing is in the rear center.

Apparently there are no weep holes, so all the water over the years has accumulated and cause it to compromise the floor.

JW

 

[Aspen500]

The hole in the lock plate, more or less in the center, looks to have a slot in the piece behind it. Stick a screwdriver in the slot and turn. This is the same slot the lock linkage goes into from the other side. Provided the latch isn't rusted tight, the trunk should pop open.

 

[Justwondering]

I'll give it a whirl when it cools off a bit and I figure out how to get a screwdriver attached to a really long handle.

Or sharpen the end of some rebar.

hmmmm ... I'll have to think about this.

JW

 

[kkritsilas]

Fisher was the body assembly division of GM. My dad's 1966 Chevrolet Biscayne had the same logo on the sill plates. At one time, GM used to advertise cars as having "Body by Fisher".

 

[Aspen500]

Fisher was originally a coach builder and started building bodies for GM in the early years of the automobile as an independent company until GM bought a majority share in it at some point (late '20's???). It was dissolved in the early '80's, IIRC. Just some more useless trivia rattling around in my brain, for some unknown reason.

 

[kkritsilas]

Fisher became GM's Assembly Division. GM reorganized the body assembly by car "lines" (A body, G body, etc.) and produced all of the cars of that line for all divisions within the same factories, thinking they could maximize efficiency that way. Prior to that each division built its cars in its own factories, with Fisher body being a specialized section of the factory. So, by the 1980s. one factory would build the Chevelle, Lemans, Cutlass, and Century (for example), on the same assembly line, most of the time jumbled up in no particular order. GM also got rid of all the different V8s (Pontiac, Buick, Olds) and settled on the Chevy V8s as the "corporate standard", and also standardizing the transmissions (no more Pontiac, Olds. or Buick bolt pattern Turbo Hydromatic transmissions).

 

[MoparDan]

I think my Oldsmobile had Body by Fisher emblems somewhere on it (1988 Olds 98 Touring Sedan)

 

[BudW]

They make a flat screwdriver that is used for the very purpose of opening trunk locks. The tool is about four foot long, has a conventional screwdriver handle and a smallish flat screwdriver tip.
A person can take a regular screwdriver and tape it well to a broom handle or something instead of buying one.

Stick the screwdriver blade where the red arrow is and twist one way or the other. It should only turn in one direction. It does help to have a good flash light and a bit of patience. The truck should pop open a short distance.

I believe it will need to be rotated counter-clockwise - but don't quote me on that.

Once the trunk is open, the trunk lock cylinder should be removed, then bagged and tagged. The old lock cylinder can be taken to a locksmith to get a key made for it. With trunk lock cylinder removed, a person can close the trunk and insert a small screwdriver into the missing trunk lock cylinder hole and twist to open the trunk (until lock cylinder is reinstalled).


I did a quick eBay search and this is a random '61 Pontiac trunk lock cylinder.

If this is the correct one, when you will need a bigger flat tip screwdriver, and pry the squarish C-clip away from lock cylinder, and the cylinder should pull away from the car. The long flat piece is an extension from lock cylinder to the trunk latch. I'm not sure how it attaches – but should make sense when looking at both parts of it,

Reinstalling the lock cylinder is reverse of installing it. The trick is to get the extension into the latch hole. Then holding the lock cylinder in place when getting the squarish C-clip back in place. It shouldn't be too hard but may take a couple attempts. Just don't discard anything until its back in place.

Personally, I prefer to replace with new lock cylinders on older cars - but that is just me.
If you are painting the car, I would leave the lock cylinder removed, for now (again, my opinion).
BudW

Edit: an earlier picture to go with my picture:

 

[Justwondering]

I was hoping for a day less than 100 degrees to work on it; however, looks like it will be another week or so.
Bleh!

JW

 

[Justwondering]

Today's excitement ....
Unloading all the stacks of shoes and clothes and pictures and genealogy items out of my closet to find my shop manual for the 1961 Tempest.

The trumpets played and the crowd roared about 3:22 pm today!!

lol

JW
(Now I'll spend the rest of today sorting through all this clutter and removing about half of it from my life-- and that is one of the most productive uses of the Tempest Manual I'll probably every have.)

 

[Justwondering]

Have two more junkyards to check (the one in Kansas and the one in Phoenix) to find a replacement torque tube and rope drive for a manual transmission.
So far I'm coming up empty.

We are supposed to have a normal temps starting sometime next week.

Wa hoo!

JW

 

[Justwondering]

I have no interweb again this weekend. Went out on Friday night at 8:42 pm; however, the exciting news on Saturday (after the 35 head of cattle that got through the fence and went over to the neighbors to surround their house -- hanging my head in shame), was the trunk is now open on the Tempest.
ooo la la

pics when I have better bandwidth on Monday.

JW

 

[Justwondering]

Trunk is open !!!

The trunk pan is toast. Lots of pellets of rust that I had to sweep up.

Pellets and a hole on this side with a matching one on the other side.

And this is the lip of where the trunk lid sits. It is gone on about 18 inches of the edge on the left side.

Looks like I have to learn about welding thin metal.

JW

 

[Aspen500]

From a Wisconsin guys perspective, the amount of rust is minor.

 

[Oldiron440]

That's barley a blip on the rust radar.

 

[Justwondering]

You guys keep my spirits up on this project..
JW

 

[Darth-Car]

That car would not have a trunk floor in Ohio.

 

[Aspen500]

That car would not have a trunk floor in WI, or an interior floor, or most of the 1/4's, the rockers would be non existent, half the cowl would be gone...........even if it had been sitting in a barn since 1971.

What I mean is, what's rotted beyond repair in Arizona (or Texas) is called minor rust in the "rust belt" of salt happy DOT's.

Welding thin sheetmetal takes practice but a MIG welder is fairly easy to learn if you have never used one. Toughest part is patience. You use tack welds spread apart, let it cool some, then some more tack welds, let it cool, lather, rinse, repeat until the seam is welded together, so it doesn't end up warped beyond repair.

 

[Haretip]

How's the '61 Tempest project going? The first driveable car I ever owned was the same car. I mean, seriously, same interior and exterior colors, same rust spots, everything the same except mine has the automatic transmission with a selector lever on the dash. I drove it my senior year of highschool. The motor was so worn out that I tracked my MPQ (miles per quart) and my hometown was mosquito free that year.

I had the engine rebuilt a couple years later, but my gear selector cable broke and the transmission is stuck in drive. It's hard to adjust the timing on a new motor when the car wants to drive away. I have a Fred Flintstone problem with the floor pan, so I am trying to figure out how to replace that cost effectively. Either that or sell it.

Looking forward to hearing more about your project.

 

[Justwondering]

No progress on the Tempest.
In fact, no progress on anything the past two years.
Husband's health started failing (heart) 2 years ago and this year 2021 we spent more days in hospitals, home health care, inpatient rehab, etc etc than we did at home.

I've researched parts and that dang rope drive is a bear to find in working condition.

I'm thinking I'll need to make a 'transmission tunnel' and change out the rear axle and transmission if I'm going to keep it and drive it. I've got plenty of leads on automatic parts, but a manual transmission rope drive is not coming up.

Course, if you want to help me find one ... wink wink!

JW