OK, finally got around to snapping some photos of my car in its current state. Please see this thread for the background story on how I got to own it. Also please disregard the clutter in the garage. It was completed only a few months ago, and my friend and his family only moved into their new house a short while ago. Everything is in a bit of disarray, and the car is quite dusty due to no-one having worked on it recently. This while lots of dusty activities taking place around it. The color is a bit off, it is actually somewhat lighter when looked at in harsh sunlight. Not sure how closely this matches the original Saturn Yellow, so I may end up just calling it yellow to avoid too much confusion. In the background is a '70 Pontiac Le Mans, which my friend is very close to completing a mild restoration on for a customer. Car is running and only a few details are missing at this point. We expect it to be delivered later this week. Once the Pontiac is gone we intend to haul the '59 Chevy over to this garage and try to get it running in its current race setup. May have to be hauled to get to the track, but that isn't a huge problem. We will probably spend the rest of the racing season toying with the '59, so my car will have to wait a bit before we start working on it again in earnest. For me the next few months will also be spent doing an inventory, and try to get my grubby hands on any missing odds and ends. We will also haul many of the smaller parts needing some TLC - most notably the interior - over to my place, so I can get to work on those pieces. We still have a ton of work to do on the car, so no need to nitpick the tech details just yet. p Power steering needs rebuilding, brake pipes moved away or insulated from the headers etc., etc. Some tech details: - Buick 455 bored 0.030 over. Engine is completely rebuilt, despite what it looks like. Has already been primed with oil via ye ol' electric drill trick. - Iron heads modified for Stage 1, lightly ported and flow matched. Large valves. - Offenhauser 360 intake. - 850 CFM Holley carb. ("No Q-Jet...? :ball:") - Buick Club 1 3/4" headers. Second hand, so they have some dents made in order to fit them in another car. - New Flowmaster 3 1/8" exhaust system, no X pipe. - TA Performance: Crankshaft, "Hemi-Killer" bumpstick, forged pistons and connecting rods. Second (third, actually) hand TA valve covers, so they look a bit scruffy. - 10.2:1 static compression. Should run on 98 Octane premium gasoline. - ARP nuts and bolts where it matters, notably studs on main bearings, and in connecting rods. - New style 10 bolt rear. Currently housing a 3.77:1 ratio. - New 3" custom reinforced Chrome/Moly driveshaft. - Reinforced and restored THM350 transmission with manual valve body. - SFI approved flywheel and balancer. - Balanced engine, tested for clearances in bearings. - New Proliance high performance alu cooler. - Modified and enhanced oil flow in engine. - Rebuilt high performance oil pump. - Custom converter made to match engine, car weight and rear end. - Modified suspension with new shock absorbers etc. Details will have to wait until I have seen the car on a lift and understand the setup myself. One of the problems with taking over a project like this, is that parts have been selected to fulfill the wishes of the original owner. I am more of a street than strip type of person, and am a bit concerned that the current setup of the drivetrain may be a tad on the evil side for comfortable street cruising. My friend's '66 Skylark also has a 3.77 rear gear, and that car is not fun to drive long distances on the highways at the 80MPH legal speed limit. It needs the gear though, as it only has a 350 SBC engine. My suspicion is that a 3.08 rear would work quite well on my Buick due to the tree stump pulling torque a BBB has. Currently our plan is to get the engine up and running ASAP, so we (I) can hear it run before we decide what to do next. Hope I won't feel we need to change the cam shaft, that would be a bother. ray: Not sure how much of a street cam TA's Hemi Killer bumpstick is. The rear end would be more manageable to swap, but then I need to go find a third set of gears, as we already have a new set of 3.42's in storage... Please feel free to ask any questions you may have, not sure what details people might be interested in. I intend to keep this thread updated with new photos and text as and when anything interesting happens. Thanks for reading this far. Bonus video showing early 1/8mi test run of the '59 Chevy. Note: 31MB QuickTime movie.
Dude.... You have no idea what a cluttered garage is...lol Looks good,but the Pontiac's color is a little bad. Like a red headed step child. Wonder what GM was thinking when they decided to use colors like that? The Bamboo cream Buicks really unmotivate me..Nice garage though.
Bamboo Creme is love it or leave it. My '71 was Beige as new. Previous owner painted it Bamboo Creme & I restored the car using the same. Kinda grows on you. Can you tell me what year the Pontiac is & the colour code. I have brown vinyl roof too. Cheers.
Steve, I don't know what the color code used for the Pontiac body is, but I will try to find out. The Pontiac is a '70 from what I was told. Pat, Maybe I am spoiled, but we usually try to keep the garages where we work reasonably well cleaned up. We may at times be 4 or 5 guys working at once, so you quickly run out of floor space if it is already filled with ATVs, desk chairs and old tables. :TU:
Right, color code I have for the '70 Pontiac is Y3/Y262 (Yellow) Not being a paint guy I am not sure if that makes sense or not. If needed then I could also call the painter and ask if there is a RAL code or something similar for the color. Just for reference, then my Buick is painted Y3/Y282 (Jaune) which is a larger variation in color than what I would have imagined from the single digit difference. o No:
