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1966 Pontiac GTO This 1966 Pontiac GTO is going through a major transformation at the V8TV shop. We're installing a full AirRide Technologies Street Challenge syspension system, a new GM L92 6.2 liter engine and a GM automatic with a Gear Vendor overdrive and Twist Machine paddle shifter. Originally, this project was to have a GM 6L80E six-speed transmission, but as you can see in the videos, a Bowler 4L65E was a better choice. The body has already had some work performed, which we're going to end up un-doing to fix, but when it's finished, it's going to be a killer pro-touring GTO with power and style to spare.
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 The 1966 GTO was finally ready to hit the road. We bled the Wilwood brakes, had all the fluids topped off, the ride hieght set, and it was time to take to the streets. Our goal was to build a car that handled flat in the corners, made lots of power, and was comfortable to drive, and the '66 GTO scored in all departments. Check it out!
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 More images from the 1966 Pontiac GTO build.
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 In this installment, the 1966 GTO's L92 V8 finally comes to life! Once we had our MagnaFlow exhaust system connected to the polished ceramic Hooker LS1 A-Body swap headers, we topped off the fluids with Royal Purple Synthetic Engine Oil, MAX ATF Transmission fluid, and Purple Ice radiator additive. We didn't want to risk anything, and the protection of Royal Purple against heat, friction, wear, and moisture gave us peace of mind. Plus the reduced friction frees up power. We run Royal Purple in every car we build and drive. But the real challenge was finding the little electrical gremlin that kept the MAST -powered ignition system from firing. It was our fault, and when we fixed it, it came to life in the push of a start button. The GTO runs and sounds fantastic!
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 The last step in our GTO's Air Ride Technologies Street Challenge suspension system was to install the ride height sensors and Air Pod unit, and connect the wiring to the LevelPRO control unit in the dash. The system takes ride height inputs from the 4 sensors mounted around the car, then the Air Pod combination compressor / solenoid / tank / power unit sends the correct amount of air pressure to each airspring to keep the car level and at its user pre-set ride height. The system is very high tech, but it's simple to install.
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 This batch of photos of the '66 GTO project provides more detail on the electronics and wiring in the car. You'll find shots of the MAST Motorsports M90 ECM, their engine harness, their CAN gauges, and power and relay centers. Next up is the TCI Transmission Control Unit and harness. Near the end are a couple shots of the Swagelok stainless 3/8" tube to -6 AN adapter fitting we used to connect the Earl's fuel hose to the engine. Click the title to see all the photos!
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 Electronically controlled automatic transmissions offer tremendous tuning possibilities and features, but only if you have the right hardware and software to make them sing. In this episode, we install a Transmission Control Unit (TCU) from TCI and set it up with TCI's T-COM 2 software. Once we installed the TCU in the car, we used a kit from Shiftworks to adapt our original GTO 2-speed console shifter to work with the new 4L65E electronic 4-speed automatic.
Click READ MORE for links and photos!
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 Transplanting a modern engine into an older car presents many challenges, one being the engine management system and gauge panel display. We chose to run a Mast Motorsports M90 ECM for a variety of reasons. Mast has been a leader in the GenIV engine family for some time, and they retail a whole line of ready-to-run high performance crate engines ranging up to 700 Horsepower, and when controlled by their M90 ECM, they are completely street drivable. We used the M90 ECM, a Mast harness, and their drive-by-wire throttle pedal in our GTO. The M90 features complete tunability, wideband O2 feedback, and knock sensor feedback to let high performance engines run on pump gas without issue. The L92 V8 engine uses electronic sensors on the block for vital functions, and the info is all sent to the Mast Motorsports M90 Engine Management system just as it would be in the 2007 GMC Yukon the in which engine was originally installed. The M90 features CAN network connectivity, which allows it to pass data from the ECM to other devices. Watch the video and read on how the we used very trick Mast CAN Network gauges to monitor the GTO's vitals in a clean, simple manner.
Click READ MORE for links and photos!
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 The chassis is finished, and the time came to drop the body back on the frame. Things are lookin' good. The Air Ride sysem allowes this car to sit low! Here's a short video update of how the body re-install process went.
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 Choosing a rear axle for your project is an important part... you have to get the right gear ratio, the kind of differential you want, correct rear brake configuration, axle spline count, and it has to be strong enough for your combination as well as fit in the car! The days of junkyard Ford 9 inch rear axles are gone, so and even if you find one, you still have to cut it to fit, make sure it's striaght, weld up mounts, media blast and paint it. Then, you have to tear it apart, rebuild the housing with new bearings, obtain stronger axles, a new differential, new gears, install the gears and set them up right, find brake mounts... or you can zip to the Currie Enterprises website , click a couple times, and a brand-new, correct sized 9 Plus rear axle is shipped to your door. And it is perfectly set up with the options you want, with no hassles. The choice was simple to us.
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 The GTO came to us in primer, but we didn't want it to hit the streets on the Hot Rod Power Tour in boring light gray. So the decision was made to shoot the car with a fun 2-tone paint scheme of charcoal and Scarlet red in PPG basecoat to give the car an aggressive, satin look. Other materials used include lots of 3M tape and mask paper. Someday the car will receive some new bodywork and a more complete paint job, but this is the deal for now.
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 The car is becoming more complete. Here we can see how Scott Guehne ran the MagnaFlow exhaust through the rear bumper where the reverse lights are originally. We've also installed the Wilwood front and rear brake kits we obtained from Currie Enterprises and the Group Buy Superstore. The shifter is the stock GM GTO unit modified with a shift gate and cable from Shiftworks which allows it to mate to the GM 4L65E 4-speed automatic built by Bowler Performance and controlled with a TCI Transmission Control Unit and their T-COM2 software. The TCU is installed inside the glove box and connects to the Mast Motorsports ECM with a 2-wire twisted pair CAN network, and then to the trans with a couple basic connections. The Mast engine harness and ECM are intsalled here, and we've done the mock-up of the Mast CAN gauges in the GTO's dash.
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 The chassis was getting closer to re-mating with the body, and we installed the MagnaFlow exhaust system from the rear of the car going forward, as we were still wating to receive the headers. Once the body was out of the paint booth, it was mated to the chassis on the lift and the new body bushings were installed and tightened. The Air Ride Air Pod compressor, tank, and controller assembly was installed on rubber feet in the trunk ledge area. Next came the fuel system, which consists of a filter / regulator unit from Street & Performance , along with some cool compression fittings allowing us to attach -6 AN fittings to the factory fuel rail on the engine. The fuel tank is a trick restoration-correct piece from MuscleRodz.com , but it comes with a new high-pressure fuel pump for electronic fuel injection pre-installed. The remaining shots are some random snap shots of the Currie rear axle installed and the 2007 Pontiac GTO seats. These were take-outs from a wrecked car, and the V8TV crew made custom mounts to bolt them to the floor and retain all the power features.
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 The L92 fit nicely in the chassis along with the Bowler Performance 4L65E transmission. Here's the chassis with suspension, engine, transmission, and Currie rear axle in place. Next we turn to the body where we had the underside media blasted to reveal the floor and trunk floor holes... we're going to epxoy the bottomside for the Power Tour and pop the body off the frame to complete the floors and quarter panels after the Power Tour. A new smaller alternator from a 4.8 liter Chevrolet truck provides more hood clearance than the 6.2 liter version. After some light bodywork and PPG K36 Prima epoxy surfacer, we shot some color on the body. PPG Deltron basecoat in Charcoal Metallic and Garnet Red were sprayed to create the cool 2-tone scheme, designed to shrink the large proportions of the GTO. Finally, some shots of the Wilwood brake kit and fittings and brake line from YearOne.
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 We're running a Currie 9+ rear axle assembly consisting of a Currie housing and center section, Detroit Tru-Trac differential, 3.89:1 gears, Currie axles, and Wilwood brakes. The Currie piece is really nice because it contains all new parts, with no used rebuilt junkyard stuff inside. Currie builds "crate" rear ends which have the proper mounts installed for correct geometry and ease of installation. By the time you find a junkard piece, have it rebuilt with upgraded axles, differential, and the gears you want; then modify / narrow the housing to fit your car, you're better off getting a new unit from Currie from the beginning. Also shown here is our repair of the rusty GTO's cowl boxes, and the mock-up of the Steeroids rack and pinon steering system.
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 In this gallery, we get a closer look at all the Air Ride Technologies Street Challenge suspension parts ranging from the Strong Arms through the Air Pod. The controller is the Air Ride LevelPro system which will automatically change the ride height to three different preset positions through the use of the ride height sensors, also shown. The suspension is rounded out with the Shock Wave air spring / shock combination units and the MuscleBar sway bars and PosiLink end links. There are also some random shots of the L92 Engine and various sensors and connections on the engine. Next up are some shots of the boxed chassis after a bath in Eastwood's Ceramic Chassis Black paint.
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 The new driveline arrives! Here's the initial fitting of the GTO's new L92 V8, which started its life powering a 2007GMC Yukon Denali. Here you can see the Street & Performance engine mounts and oil pan used to fit the engine in the GTO's bay. We modifief a pair of small-block Chevy frame stands to hold the engine. Also shown is the originally planned transmission... the GM6L80E electronic six-speed automatic. Soon after our test fits shown here, we elected to use the 4L65E 4-speed automatic from Bowler Performance Transmissions and a controller from TCI instead. Not only would the 4-speed fit better, but it was also tunable to our application. At the time these pics were taken, the controller on the 6L80 had not yet been cracked.
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 The beginnings at the V8TV shop. The plan was to get the driveline in place and make this car a driver with the new engine, transmission, rear axle, and suspension system for the Hot Rod Power Tour. We'd attack the "holy" body later. In these shots, you can see the kind of bodywork the car needed. We've also pulled the original, numbers-matching 389 Pontiac engine and 2-speed Poweglide transmission. We kept those with the car in case it gets restored back to original someday.
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 This is the first gallery covering the complete transformation of the 1966 GTO in photos... from the day we recieved it until the day it left our shop 6 months later. We're still posting all the build videos, but we thought some photos would be cool, so here's 525 of them! This is the first in a series of galleries we're posting showing all the photos. Please wait for all the thumbnail images to load in... then you can click a thumbnail and click through the photos like a slide show.
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 Once we got the chassis built, we took some time to detail up the L92 6.2 liter V8 going in the car. Here's what we did, along with a closer look at the Variable Valve Timing system.
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 Installing the rear Air Ride Technologies Street Challenge rear suspension system and Currie 9+ rear axle housing on the 1966 GTO.
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 This time, we're intsalling the Air Ride Technologies front Muscle Bar sway bar and Posi Link end links.
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