[tom s]

Still working on get them machined.Tom

[Jack Gifford]

Thanks for the pictures Marty. That's the best look I've had yet at the side-port heads. Sure was an extreme method of keeping a dragster's blower(s) from blocking the driver's view!
In your first picture, I wonder if the "6.080" is the crank-to-cam centerline distance? If it is, then PMD must have raised the cam slightly in that block.

[mgarblik]

I just wanted to thank the guys on this thread for the fantastic vintage photos. I would have loved to study those castings! Pontiac was serious about development of their wonderful engine with the likes of Mickey Thompson, Smokey Yunick and many others involved. It's fun for me to think about the "what if's". IMO, the side port heads would have never been a casting today. They would have been cut on a 5-axis machine. The cost to create cores for the ports and the core box and then cast them in aluminum had to have been high. Just fantastic stuff to look at and learn from.

[Jack Gifford]

The same D-45191 number as my blocks, except this one is a -2.

[Jack Gifford]

Mike- if you want to drool over "what-if" engines take a look at the Mar'68 issue of Hot Rod Magazine- Mac McKellar surrounded by all sorts of SOHC and DOHC prototype Pontiac V8s- 2 valve, 3 valve, and 4 valve. The 3 valve had a clever cam drive at the rear (with just minor modification of a stock block) to avoid stealing space from normal accessories at the front. A very in-depth interview with Mac was included.

[sdbob]

I still look at that issue and wonder the engineering behind and what was planned.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Jack Gifford

Mike- if you want to drool over "what-if" engines take a look at the Mar'68 issue of Hot Rod Magazine- Mac McKellar surrounded by all sorts of SOHC and DOHC prototype Pontiac V8s- 2 valve, 3 valve, and 4 valve. The 3 valve had a clever cam drive at the rear (with just minor modification of a stock block) to avoid stealing space from normal accessories at the front. A very in-depth interview with Mac was included.

I was 10 years old when that issue came out! My father was an apartment property manager and when people would move out, they often left some stuff behind. I remember like it was yesterday my dad bringing me a box of car magazines from a clean out with that issue in it. I still have it. It was another nudge into the world of Pontiac. I was too young to fully understand all the inner workings of GM at the time, but it was clear to me at 10 years old that PONTIAC was where all the cool stuff was happening. Also that NOTHING was going to keep Pontiac from success and that Chevy was the GM giant bully. I was hooked from that point on. Then came the 68 GTO, then the 70 1/2 Trans AM, then the Super Duty 455. What's not to love?

[Will]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

....What's not to love?

The Aztec?

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Will

The Aztec?

Not a big fan of the T-Grand either!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Not a big fan of the T-Grand either!

And the Astre. I had taken my “not yet purchased” TA out for a test drive (3.4 miles on it). As we were pulling back on to lot a new car transport was there. Driver was backing a new Astre off, at end of the ramp. The salesman riding with me, cracks his window and screams at the guy, “Don’t unload that piece of s@@t here!!!!”

[misterp266]

Originally Posted by tom s

I sold that block to SteveBarcheck,he sold it to Greg and KRE finished it and Rick Johnson built it.Tom

Does anyone know what happened to the fully machined RAV aluminum block I sold to Greg? I never heard from him since I sold it.

[tom s]

Did Greg get 2 of them?Kenny Colicino has one now.Tom

[misterp266]

Yes, after he bought the unmachined one, he bought the one I had. I believe the first one was built before he got mine.

[slowbird]

Wow some really cool stuff in this thread

[tom s]

The raw block weighs 84 LB without caps or sleeves.Tom

[Jack Gifford]

My bare blocks are 69 lb. I wonder where the extra aluminum is in yours?

[tom s]

Jack,this block still has the index squares,has all lifter bores joined and has the pad for the block mounted starter.I dont know how much is removed when they do the lifter bores,cam tunnel and main web along with EVERY hole needs to be drilled and tapped.I guess I will know when it gets machined.Tom

[Jack Gifford]

Do they appear to have extra metal at the top of the valley where the pushrod notches need to be?

[Aluminum Chief]

Originally Posted by tom s

Did Greg get 2 of them?Kenny Colicino has one now.Tom

Yes I have one of the 2 that Greg had.
Will post a pic later today.
And you still don`t know how to spell my name Tom???

[tom s]

Ken,I bet I do as good with yours as you do with MINE!Tom