61 Pontiac Tempest Project

Trey --
you work with the guy to help me find parts and I'll make it right with you.
I expect I'm going to have to 'pay to play'.

Used to be able to find things like this (orphans and the great unwashed) on Craigslist but they charge for car ads now and its run off all the riff-raff.

I'll get better details tomorrow and post them for you.

I get the heat problem. Was 100 today and heat index ran it up to 110.
Too Dang Hot.

It will take me time to clean it up a bit and figure out how to pick the lock on the trunk. I can jimmy house locks but am having trouble with the trunk lock.

lol
JW
 
What am I missing here? What on earth does this PONTIAC have to do with a CHRYSLER F, M or J body car????
 
kmccabe56 said:
What am I missing here? What on earth does this PONTIAC have to do with a CHRYSLER F, M or J body car????
Click to expand...
Maybe so but us Mopar guys still generally love to see any old car brought back from the dead!!! I know some guy hate on anything Mother Mopar did not build!!? ha We helping out each other when we can.
 
lol ... no offense.
Its why I called it an orphan.
I know so little about cars that I didn't want to kill my mopar while I learn.
This little pontiac has a lot going for it:
it was free to me, its pretty simple mechanically, its mainly surface rust and lots of dirt
And
its has some things against it
its not a mopar, parts are hard to find, I may have to learn enough welding to replace floor pans if I can ever get the plastic/rubber stuff off it, and I've never worked on the engine of anything before

You can just ignore the thread if it bothers you too much.

If it is too far gone, then I'll need advice on how to part out a car. Something I've also never done before.

JW
 
There you go it, is a great learning car if for nothing else. Still a cool old car! You can always get advise on FABO I bet, many Mopar guys there that have Ferd and General cars as well as Mopar. JMHO
 
I've never seen the factory "rope drive" in one. The ones I have been able to lay hands on have all been hulks in salvage yards or converted to drag cars.
 
The place I would start is removing the remains of the rope drive and inspect the parts and see if the engine can be turned over with a breaker bar and socket.
 
Just Wondering, I've had good luck pulling the back seat, crawling into the trunk and unbolting the trunk latch to open the trunk. May require some acrobatics but it might be easier than picking the lock.

I think they introduced the LeMans in '61 as a higher end Tempest so I searched for 1961 Le Mans on searchtempest and no luck there either. That's gonna be a hard car to source parts for but if you've got time and patience the parts will turn up and it will be satisfying when you find them. Kinda like a treasure hunt. Good luck with it.
 
Go thru trunk or drill out lock, insert screwdriver to open. Trunk lock repop should be cheap.??
 
Best I can tell so far, I have to be careful to get a donor car/part that is from a manual drive because the rope drive/torque tube is a few inches shorter than that of the automatic.

Has anyone ever bought something off davidsclassiccars or topclassiccarsforsale ?

I'm going to call ctcautoranch and see if they have anything out there other than the one in a picture on their website which looks like its already been gutted.

I does look like Texas was not a hotbed for pontiacs of this type or
they've mainly been recycled

Crawling through the trunk... wow.. now that's an adventure that needs to occur when it is much cooler.

Friday/Saturday looks li
 
barbee --
I thought about the drill, screwdriver, replace lock process.
But it would be so much more clever if I could actually pick it.
Definitely would impress my brothers.
And wouldn't that be a great addition to my resume'?
lol
(right after I learn how to weld thin metal)

JW
 
If you remove the rear sat and have a couple of LONG extensons you can do it without crawling into the trunk... should find the latch inside hld on with couple of bolts. Pop that off and it is open. At least on a Mopar!!! ha
 
There MAY be a slot in the back of the latch you can use a screwdriver to turn, and release the latch. Mopar latches you can so maybe Pontiac also?
 
They are starting to lay pipe at the estate now (96 inch diameter water line), so I have to be down there in the morning. I'll clean more in the backseat and see what it will take to get it out.
Or take a couple of bobbypins and try picking the lock.

Hopefully I'll have a eureka moment.

JW
 
I'm about 90 percent sure you can remove the back seat and use long extensione or crawl in and unbolt the latch from the trunk. In fourty five years I haven't seen one that couldn't be done this way but then there's always the first.
 
When I see that '61 Tempest, I am reminded that over the years GM came up with great ideas but squandered them when they cheaped out on the engineering. The Tempest came out with an all aluminum V8, 4-speed transaxle and independent rear suspension. On paper, that was great but in execution, it wasn't all that hot. It was engineering ahead of it's time. Look what GM did with the Cadillac V4-6-8 multi-displacement system in the '70's. A great idea, ahead of it's time that turned out to be a turd in execution. Now FCA and other manufacturers us it and finally got it right. I'm just old and grumbly I guess when I see opportunity wasted.

Greg
 
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