65 GTO

[Scott Liggett]

You should be able to torque by subconscious by now.

[Thumpin455]

If only I had telekinesis. Building engines and transmissions is second nature, and I was right that it is 95ftlbs on the heads. Just wanted to make sure. The heads are swapped from the 455 to the 400 and they look pretty good inside. This little 400 should be a nice mover in a light car like the 65.

Here is the 455, doesnt look too bad with its 40k+ miles. It ran on 10% most of the time, and E85 for the last few years, but it didnt see any long trips on E85, so its still kinda dirty in there.



The 5C heads looked pretty good. No problems with the valves sealing up or anything. Just a bit carbon covered.



Then the .040 over 400 with forged slugs but stock rods. It has less than 10k on it, probably about 3k and it had 91 or race gas run through it. It is dirtier than the 455 with more miles. How interesting.



This is the 400 with the heads torqued down, waiting for the front cover and an intake. I want to clean it up and paint it again so it doesnt look like it came out of a tow truck.



Going to Dave's for Easter dinner, so that means taking a break from working on the cars. Tomorrow will be a busy day getting things done, finding some foam backed insulation, and possibly stuffing the drivetrain in.

[Scott Liggett]

To someone who isn't Pontiac nut, can you tell us about the 5C heads and the reason for the swap.

[Thumpin455]

5C heads came on 350 and 400 engines in 1975. They have 2.11 intake and 1.66 exhaust valves, screw in studs(like all 4 barrel heads do) and these have been ported. They are almost identical to the 6X head, but the chambers are usually 98cc-105cc, and some 6X heads that were on 455s had bigger chambers than that. They make nice pump gas heads with decent valves. I am putting some 72cc heads from a 1967 428 on the 455 to raise the compression, and this 400 doesnt need any more airflow than these will give it.

The 400 had some 1971 vintage 96 heads, good head but the porting was screwed up on them, so they need fixed. Also they had old valves, guides, and springs on them. The 400 never ran quite right with them on it, so I pulled them off. 96 is a desirable head, on a 400 it makes for a nice blower compression ratio and good for pump gas with a 455. Since most of my engines will not be running gas anymore, I dont need the big chamber stuff for the street. This 400 came out of a 71 Gran Prix and those were its original heads, they were pretty strong engines for low compression and small cams.

[Scott Liggett]

Those BOP engines in the 70's needed torque, not hp to get those heavy ass cars moving. thx for the info.

[Thumpin455]

Precisely. The Pontiac and the Olds used long strokes and somewhat smaller but longer high velocity ports to make plenty of grunt. No need for 4.56 gears when you have a 4.21" arm in the bottom end, unless you are pulling stumps. The fun part is having an engine that makes over 500ftlbs from just off idle to 6000, leave a 3.08 gear behind it and stomp some mice.

[Thumpin455]

I found the foam backed insulation... Need to clean the floors and put it in. Then the old nasty carpet can go in to protect it until the good carpet gets here. Hope to have more pics soon.

[Deaf Bob]

Wow!

Todd,
I know now my carb is in GOOD hands! (not that I didn't before)
I feel guilty infringing up on your time and amazing projects!
It all looks good... I drool, sometimes I wish we were not so heavily into derbying so we can finish a few road cars... 65 Skylark with alum. Heads and 455 AND a Syclone of my son's. 74 Firebird 4speed car of my daughter' and my 57 Chev Sedan Delivery.

[Thumpin455]

No worries Bob, it isnt taking up much of my time. Its like the front half of a 650 so it will be a quick one. The hard part will be getting it to run on an engine here, but that isnt a big problem. A bud of mine is heavy into figure 8 racing, he has a 59 ElCamino and a 59 Biscayne he wants to drive, but they just sit while he plays with his figure 8 Riviera. I keep bugging him to take a year off and build one of his 59s. I stopped drag racing for a while so I could afford to rebuild some stuff, and to open up the time to do body work. I will get back to racing soon, but this one is the priority at the moment. Once its running and driving, then I can do some other stuff.

Swapped the power steering box on this one from the LeMans today, and put the manual column and box on the LeMans. Almost have the foil backed foam insulation done, just need to do the front half. Had some things I wanted to do before I put the foam down, like seal up the manual shifter hole so it doesnt leak water and air. I put the back seat in the car to get it out of the way, should keep it from getting greasy or cut too.



The engine might go in tomorrow or the next day, need to figure out which transmission it will use for now. Been holding off until I got the column and box swapped, and figured out the brake lines. All of that is to the point where the engine can go in, so its just the trans holding that up now. There is a Th400 sitting here that would work nice, and the 2004R is on the stand. Might just put an empty case in to hold the engine up and get it out of the way. Shop space is getting tight with all the parts laying around the car waiting to go on it.

[milner351]

Nice!

[Thumpin455]

Did some engine work, need to bolt down the intake and valve covers, but otherwise the 400 is done. So I bolted the new on the block, attached a Th400 core, and stuffed it in the car. Its the first time in years there has been an engine in there. Now its a matter of connecting everything, getting the brakes plumbed, then getting the sheet metal back on. I want to paint the frame black again, but I can do that with the engine in the car. It got some over spray on it when I did the body. If I had the glass and headliner ready I could put this thing together, finish the interior and make it look like its getting somewhere.

Here is the 400 nestled in there, just waiting for everything to get connected.

[Mater]

idk with how nice the rest of the car looks that engine needs some fresh paint same with the heater box

[Thumpin455]

idk with how nice the rest of the car looks that engine needs some fresh paint same with the heater box

That is in the plan, need to get the engine together so I can degrease it. Heater box is easy, and also covered by the fender, so it doesnt have to be perfect.

[Mater]

ahh ok

[Deaf Bob]

How ya coming along with this?
Seems I read "May 5" was a goal?
Hope the weather is treating you better than it is, me...