Pontiac Thread,,, post away !!

[dq409]

I once had a Pontiac,, I believe it was about a `64 Catalina. It was one of the best cars I`ve ever owned !! That thing was indestructible !!
It would constantly run two to three quarts low on oil and puke the coolant faster then you could put it in.
But I can tell ya it never died !! That miserable beast just kept getting me to work and back all winter long.
That was a good thing too, cause back then I spent most of my money on beer and pot !!
Not a bad buy for $75 !!!

Sorry, no screen door talk allowed ! ,,dq

 

[johnnyrod]

Beer and pot chuckle I know what ya mean. I suer wish I had stayed bright eyed back then cause I mised a lot of good deals. I like ponchos allso. John

 

[4onthefloor]

"back then I spent most of my money on beer and pot !!"


You must be about 50

 

[MK IISS]

I was part owner of a '61 Pontiac Catalina circle track (dirt) car. It ran in a class called "Hooligan" which was a class for outdated late models. This was back when race cars started out as real cars. Most of the field was made up of '57 Chevrolets. The rules stated you had to run an engine made by the same mfg. as the car and couldn't exceed the maximum cubic inches that were available for the year car you were running. Most of the '57 Chevys were cheaters with 327s but we still had no trouble out running them.

 

[Fathead Racing]

I had a 66 GTO in 72 that would near rip your head off out of the hole, wound it up once and side stepped the clutch, ended up in the ditch along side of the raod. Spun a rod bearing running a small block Camaro top end. I really liked that car. Pontiacs were pretty high class back then. Had a 62 Catalina in 67 while in high school, red with a white top. I was BMOC. I wouldn't pass up a 65 GTO for the right price.

 

[Skip FIx]

Well my first car I bought was lucky enough to be a 340 hp 409 Impala SS 1964, paid $450 in 1970. Still have most of the motor parts from the last motor that was in it 690 heads, Crane F-Nitro 310.320 .580/.590 lift, Hooker headers, aluminum Hayes flywheel. 12.20s @ 108 in 1972. It dropped a valve(spring bind I think) racing a 55 Chevy and drove it home. Finally found a Impalla SS body a couple of years ago for them. It's an auto though, but stil has the cool console with the tilt up front door in it. My dad's 283 2bbl SS had it with the 'glide.

I was still a hard core Chevy guy, eventhough I got a deal on a Roadrunner I drove in college, until I bought my first NEW car 1978 Trans Am. It was better than the Z28 that year. As I got more into learning the older Pontiac found with the right parts these babies can fly using their low end torque, long rods, long stroke small heads, cast rods don't make for a high rpm motor. In fact one of my racing buddies in the 70s put a 455 in a 65 Chevelle for a street racer. So I got the bug to go faster than my smogger 78 motor would do after a 5.0 Mustang beat me at the track, gone from low 12s with a 400 factory intake and Q jet to high 10s. Shooting for 10.0s with a 500 ci Pontiac in a 79 Camaro I have(rollbar, cowl hood) hated to put a rollbar int he 78's factory interior.

65 GTO project is right behind the Impala SS project.

 

[bobs409]

Gonna move this thread to the General section.

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Beer and pot............ 2006........... I still have a beer every now and then,, and my favorite time of the day is when I get to visit the pot. My, how times change.

 

[tripowerguy]

Hayden Profitt ran a 61 Pontiac in SS and went 108 in the 1/4 don't remember what his ET was. He won at Pomona all the time. He switched to 409 Chevy in 62. Roy

 

[dq409]

Hayden Profitt ran a 61 Pontiac in SS and went 108 in the 1/4 don't remember what his ET was. He won at Pomona all the time. He switched to 409 Chevy in 62. Roy

See, when something better comes around we switch !! Seems 61 was the last year for the Pontiacs !! heee heeee

I did have a `73 Gran Prix that was pretty fine though ,,,

 

[MK IISS]

The 1962 Pontiac 421 Super Duty was the most powerful production engine you could get in 1962....ruled the NASCAR super speedways. However in drag racing the 421 Catalina had a weight handicap. If I remember correctly the 421 RPO was over $1000.00 not including the 4-spd. The '62 409/409 option was about $375.00.

 

[Skip FIx]

Some of the early SD heads ported can flow 280 cfm! They were a race head head from the factory.

One neat thing available for Pontiacs is through Pontiac Historic Services from your VIN he can go in the archives and pull what your car was built with and where it was delivered. Since the early GTOs were just options before they had a special VIN code it is about the only way to insure its not a clone.

 

[raymar58409]

All this is great stuff,but ya know the only reason DQ started it was to get everyone off the superbowl thread.
RAY

 

[dq409]

All this is great stuff,but ya know the only reason DQ started it was to get everyone off the superbowl thread.
RAY

Next year,,,, next year baby !!!

 

[IgnitionMan]

Ya know, a Pontiac engine isn't a bad thing in its own right, but it ain't a race engine. If it were, we'd all see it as the default engine for NHRA, NAS-SLOW-BORE-CRUD, and crate Pontiac engines in EVERYTHING, and still in production for use new vehicles, now wouldn't we.

I am surprized that so many Pontiac enthusiasts have no real clue about the engine design, with the most clueless people positioned at the helm of the Titanic of Pontiac powerplant redesign.

Pontiac engines suffer from a weak main bearing area, too low a crankcase/valley area for even the lowest reasonable air management, and criminally dismal porting.

And, the Titanic captains only see one word, ALUMINUM.

Other than that, they are just peachy-keeno-neato-jet, Fast Eddie Bellflower, super double throwdown, full step through, double whoopie, Dude!

 

[MK IISS]

".....it ain't a race engine."

I guess it was a good thing no one told Fireball Roberts that in February 1962.

 

[Skip FIx]

Dave we had this debate in the other thread, you just can;t drop it can you. I can come up with just as much evidence you are wrong as you are correct. To see how "bad" they are just look at Kasse's Engine Masters tear down in High Performance Pontiac. 200 dyno pulls 850 hp no bearing , block or heads issues, beat lots of other motors with alot more new design parts available.

The design has in its benefit a long rod, long stroke(350s even have a 3.75 stroke)a small head for most that limit it to a lower rpm torque motor.If the combination is correct you can go fast with them. Jim Hand has gone low 11s in a 4000 lb station wagon with iron heads, stock block, small flat tappet hydraulic cam,cast iron intake and a Q jet through mufflers. His wagon has over 2000 passes and has slowly dropped from 12s to 11s. Has never had a bearing or block issue.

 

[Skip FIx]

We can nit pick the design of EVERY engine out there for something from the "perfect design".

 

[SS425HP]

Pontiacs

But, Dave, that's what makes the world go around. We are beating a dead horse with the W engine, too. It has been outclassed for years, yet we still try to make it go better. The Ford FE is another. I started racing with a 348, went to the 409 in 63. Sure, I can run better and cheaper with a new style BBC. But that isn't the fun of it. I'm sure the Pontiac guys are the same. They live and breathe their Pontiacs. I had a 62 Catalina a few years back. Liked the car. Cost too much to restore. Parts aren't available. But, some of the newer engines they are making are doing pretty well on the strip, at least around here. I've seen a lot of 10.0s. And that is in a heavy car. Sure, they could be better. But they aren't bad, either. The biggest problem Pontiac had in the 60s was the price. A SD Pontiac was over $1000.00 more than a HP 409. Seems they were higher than the Z-11 cars, too. And, you were never going to beat the factory teams at Pontiac. They had parts available for their racers that no one else could get. And there were factory teams. Under the table teams. Chev had some, too.
I know your point is that if you are going to do something new, like heads or blocks, do it right. I agree. But, I'm not able to look at the stuff and say why didn't you do this or that. They still have some old parameters they have to work with, or work around. That is unless you design a whole new engine. And, I'm sure that isn't cheap. Not at the numbers we are talking about.

Fred

 

[IgnitionMan]

It is you that just can't stand someone telling it like it is with your precious Pontiac engines. I have a few of them, both stock and modified, and Edelbrock heads, cut and welded, with nice, better ports, but heck, you and your pals are heros with them, just ask you.

Now, for a clean sheet of paper redesign of the heads and blocks, the people doing that sure didn't do the Pontiac community right at all. They just stood there and dropped the ball, duh!

Just how come a Buick 455 beat a Pontiac 455 in a Best 455 test done by Hot Rod, Car Craft, whatever magazine recently? In fact, I think I remember the Pontiac 455 ending up dead last in the shootout, even and Olds beat it. Come on, Skippy, you remember what test that was, post it and then defend just why the Pontiac 455 was last. There has to be a reason for all that, post it.

I remember from eons ago, we at GM used to think that some errant Pontiac engineer had been beaned in the head, made his way into the Chevy section, and tried to make W exhaust ports like he used to at Pontiac, the droop snoots, but thank heaven, got stopped before he really messed the W's exhaust ports up.