Wow that car is sweet a true sleeper. This is for anybody whose was at the BG did that car beat the GN it was up against?
Paul, once upon a time I also tried to modify A-body headers to fit my '67 Wildcat, and as already said, it was downright painful and the results were not satisfactory even after all the $$ and effort. I ended up breaking down and having a prototype shop in Taylor, MI (Watson Engineering) weld up a set of 2" mandrel bent stainless primary tubes to get the job done right; piece by piece. Good ground clearance, starter clearance, equal length, the works. Smartest move I could have made...too bad I didn't do it that way from the beginning! By the way, once you go variable-pitch, you'll never go back! Devon
Paul, If you have to ask about the custom header pricing, you probably don't want to know. Since his are stainless, tack on another $200-300. I would easily guess $700-1000. All depends on the tig welding time, bending time, and labor.
Yep, they're still around: http://www.watsoneng.com/watson.html In '97 they did the stainless headers with thick laser cut flanges, slip-fit 3.5" collectors, O2 sensor bungs (for the future project), stainless 2.5" exhaust w/crossover all the way to the bumper (nice stainless hangars & all) for $1000.00. This was not including the Borla mufflers I chose to use. A fantastic deal, especially since it took one of their techs three full days to do the job. Keep in mind that was almost ten years ago. Here are some in-process pics while my car was at their shop: Headers 1 Headers 2 Headers 3 Headers 4 Headers 5 Headers 6 Devon
Thanks Rob. Not trying to hijack Tom's thread...but here you go. I'd love a chance to talk with Tom about his combo, too! Awesome car there. Devon
Thanks Devon, that is a really sweet ride. I have talked to Tom a couple of times at the nationals, he really does know his stuff. I remember years ago when he was running some 12's with his black Wildcat he made the comment he had over 300 passes on this motor. He said everybody including him where shocked at how fast it was... back then, which I believe was 1992. I saw him racing at Ohio with his Gold 69 Wildcat. He was running 13:40's all stock. I laughed when he said this was just his parts car... Way better than mine, and I thought my 68 was pretty good. That was the year a magazine (muscle car review i think) was having a "big car challenge" and I asked if he was gonna enter his Cat. He said, "No, it's not in good enough shape for that, I wouldn't want to do that to Buick". His times would have smoked the other Tanks that were running there. Most of them where running 14's or higher if I remember correct.
Devon: I'm assuming that you took the car to Watson? Were you able to stay w/ the car to watch and give input into what you wanted? Paul
Tom's Wildcat has a Ford 9 Inch rear in it and I believe it has a 107 cam as said above.There was a good Article on it in past GSXTRA'S
WOW!!! :jd: I haven't been on here since or during the Nationals and look what i've missed. Tom's car is my MOST FAVORITE car of the Nationals!!! each year he brings it! A TRUE example of what "Going Fast With Class" is all about! :beer He told me that this year he had a switch pitch in it. That's about all I know as far as his exact combo but I know the car is a "STREET-CAR" I can remember 10 years ago he was driving it down from PA, running 11.70s and driving it back home :jd: He's just started trailering it over the past few years. :bglasses: It weighs 4,700lbs!!! :shock: :jd: He is my hero!!! :TU: EDIT: I've got pics of that car i'll post Friday if I get to the office where my disk is.
Yep, I drove it there with the manifolds & old duals, and they put the car up on the hoist so we could discuss what was to be done. We agreed on the price before they began any work. I called a few days later once they'd started and said I was welcome to come in & check on the progress which is when I snapped the pictures. They used a manifold gasket to pattern the flanges and made sure the flange openings were a tad larger than the exhaust ports, so no matching was required afterwards. When I picked the car up they had my manifolds in the trunk as I'd requested. Excellent customer service! The ride home told me I had a brand new animal on my hands. As the heads have lots of work, 1000 cfm Barry Grant carb, 10.75:1 compression, TA intake and 308s solid cam, you can imagine how badly the 462 was struggling to breathe through the manifolds. Now the car can light the tires from a 30 mph roll with no effort. Even the off-idle throttle response improved so much it was amazing. Probably the best investment I'd made at that point in the project. The next one will probably be TA Stage 1 aluminum heads, getting rid of the 3.07:1 gears and then finally getting into an sequential port EFI setup I've been thinking about for a long time. My bigger concern at this point is the durability of the two-piece driveshaft. Even with aftermarket u-joints, I'm afraid of what may happen if I put sticky tires on the car; I'm just running big street radials right now. I'm guessing with the Ford 9" that Tom installed in his 'cat that he may have converted to a one-piece driveshaft...something I've also been contemplating. Devon
Thanks for the Info Devon: Thanks for the info on Watson. I'm looking ahead to some of the mods I want to do and I'm trying to gather as much info ahead of time that I can. I haven't found any company that makes headers for my application, so custom work may be the only way to go. Also, glad to hear how they handled the "pre-work" because I don't leave my car anywhere unless I'm comfortable with the people in the shop. Looks like I need to call them! Paul
