They’re back! The latest installment of the Redline Rebuild series from Hagerty is the resurrection of a dead Tri-power 389 Pontiac and this one is our favorite yet. Why? The engine really was a dead player. The block and parts were all in different plastic containers, the stuff was all used up looking and the whole thing was just kind of forlorn. The kind of “engine in purgatory” story we can all tell, we suppose.
Like all of the past Redline Rebuild videos this one follows literally every step of the engine’s rebirth. From the machine shop where it is bored and one of the cylinder walls is discovered to be cracked to the process of sleeving it, saving all the stock rotating assembly parts, hell they even show the block and ancillary parts being painted.
The assembly process is awesome with some fun camera trickery to spice things up and the end product is that we get to see an absolutely stunning and pristine example of Pontiac’s workhorse early muscle car engine, the 389 with its three Rochester carbs on top. Beyond seeing the engine we get to hear it fire up on the test stand and make some really nice noise. Hopefully there is an early GTO in equally as nice of shape that is waiting for a heart transplant.
The fun thing about these videos for us is the fact that they are exhaustive to make. To spend all the time shooting the machining process and stuff like valve jobs, resizing the rods, grinding the crank, etc is just awesome and it really completes the whole story. That an the Hagerty team always pick cool engines to do these with makes them a win.
Long live this beauty of a 389!
Where do I get that finger that winds bolts in? And for a stock looking build, I thought they’d assemble, then paint it. Not that I’m a Pontiac expert.
Anyway, I enjoyed the video. Thanks!
This is the best thing I\’ll see on the internet all week! For the love of Pontiac and stop animated, win, win!
That’s the way to build them. Looks stock, but has a modern roller cam and rockers.
Nice sound!