[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

FWIW, according to the signature on Paul S account, it says Sandoval Performance on the link posted............

Last post was 12/17/2014.

Yeah that's back before this site went through a major change over. There were a lot of us, including myself, where our accounts became inactive and didn't work. For the longest time I couldn't get back in here either until another forum member helped me out.
It wouldn't surprise me if the same thing has happened to Sandoval.

[Formulajones]

As far as the books go, I enjoy reading them all. There is usually something I can take away from each of them. You use what works for you and ignore what doesn't. It's not that difficult.

[Navy Horn 16]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

It's been at least 10 years ago but I sent a Q-jet to a customer who had just topped of a pretty "basic" 455 with a set of CNC ported heads from Dave at SD and one of his early "Old Faithful" camshafts. The engine was at a shop/dyno facility with very little experience with Pontiac engines. The owner of the engine said that the staff was having quite a bit of fun at his expense and plenty of "under the breath" comments about his brand loyalty and choice of parts, etc.

On the very first pull the engine cranked out 552hp/604tq.........he said the same folks who were giving him some flack about his engine combo were dialing 911 and heading for the exit doors! The owner actually stood up and congratulated him on the results and said that he had NEVER seen such a "mild" at a glance combination crank out those kind of numbers.

According to Sandoval, the Q-Jet is an "archaic induction system" and he called me a liar posting my car's performance numbers, and claimed they were impossible. Then I post time slips, and the steps that got to those slips. Other folks start chiming in and correcting his (obvious) mistakes and misconceptions. So, he blocks the people who are correcting him because he isn't smart enough to have the conversation or defend his claims.

It's fairly pathetic that his method is to insult other people's vehicles, get proven wrong, and then delete/run away from the discussion.

Like I said originally, the comments prior to mine about his book running "contrary" or "contrast" to conventional wisdom are exactly right.

I get that there is "more than one way to skin a cat" to get to different performance levels. There are also things that don't change regarding the difference between single/dual plane intakes, cam selection, and how those parts impact your performance in driveability and at the track. Paul's clearly been able to throw parts together and make some top end numbers. Anyone here can log into Butler or Kauffman's website, order parts and make 500ft pounds by accident. That's clearly what Sandoval has done.

I'll just be enjoying my car that I've put together as a hobby that a guy who does this for a living thinks is "impossible". It's actually gratifying to be accused of being "full of ****" by a guy who thinks he wrote the book on Pontiac performance. Maybe he should be asking questions instead of picking fights.

[Formulajones]

I wouldn't worry about it. Like Cliff mentioned, it's pretty easy to make these numbers with a 455 without trying too hard. With a 4.210 crank and the small intake runners of the stock type heads, ported or not, aluminum or iron, they pretty much make torque everywhere without trying very hard, and the HP follows.

[bdk1976]

Why would I buy a Pontiac engine book from someone who doesn't post on PY? Promoting books primarily on Facebook tells a lot about the target audience.

Even that Keith dude who wrote that mediocre Milt Schornack book years ago came onboard for a brief while to pimp his wares (and ran the ever so brief PY newsletter IIRC) before ghosting us...lol

[Formulajones]

And I would have to ask, why would someone need to post on PY to be worthy?

There are plenty of excellent, top notch engine builders out there, that don't post on PY, and probably never heard of it, but they can still build a very nice Pontiac engine.

Quite frankly I couldn't care less if someone posted in here or not. I'm not a huge social media fan anyway so I don't put a lot of weight in it. I'd rather base judgement on personal experience, how they treat customers, quality of work etc... but that's just me.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by bdk1976

Why would I buy a Pontiac engine book from someone who doesn't post on PY? Promoting books primarily on Facebook tells a lot about the target audience.

Even that Keith dude who wrote that mediocre Milt Schornack book years ago came onboard for a brief while to pimp his wares (and ran the ever so brief PY newsletter IIRC) before ghosting us...lol

Let's be honest, this board has a lot of toxic elements and not everyone in the Pontiac hobby actually posts here. Nor should posting here be some sort of qualification to sell a Pontiac good.

This thread kind of proves the point. By my count there's only been a couple people post that have actually read the books. The rest are speculative without first hand knowledge and the thread as a whole is now a Bruce Fulper punching bag.

[bdk1976]

I trust the advice on here because it's somewhat 'peer-reviewed'. There is some bias but at least I can sort through it and find some good info. I've gotten some great books from people who post on here -Rotella, Hand, etc. and I trust their work and read many of their posts. Some dude that is too lazy to post at perhaps the premier Pontiac site on the web but wades into the cesspool of humanity called Facebook? I'll happily keep my $ in my pocket and reread 40 year old books from McCarthy, etc. that I know work.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Let's be honest, this board has a lot of toxic elements and not everyone in the Pontiac hobby actually posts here. Nor should posting here be some sort of qualification to sell a Pontiac good.

This thread kind of proves the point. By my count there's only been a couple people post that have actually read the books. The rest are speculative without first hand knowledge and the thread as a whole is now a Bruce Fulper punching bag.

Yep, there are a lot of Pontiac enthusiasts in and around my area that don't post on the internet, some aren't even interested in a computer. That doesn't make them any less of a person, they are great people to be around.

I've also met some fantastic people on the board that I call friends, and are also fun to be around, race together, hang out etc...

Shucks I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my father talking me into joining and I've been messing with this stuff since before I even had a license. He's more of a social media bug than I am or ever will be.

[455dan]

Originally Posted by MYGOAT

Just to be up front I have had an engine built by Paul Sandoval, (previously posted details), I am happy with my 585ftlbs of torque. Engine has been running flawlessly for years now.
On his facebook page he has asked if someone on PY could possible paste his reply to the post made by"Navy Horn 16". He is not registered so I thought it would only be fair to give him right of reply.

Sandoval Must be a younger guy ??


http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...4&d=1611125266

Obviously great books by Jim Hand and Pete McCarthy

But, what,
No Love for what Kern Osterstock, Craig Hendrickson or Nunzi contributed during the early years.

[TCSGTO]

Originally Posted by 455dan

But, what,
No Love for what Kern Osterstock, Jim Hendrickson or Nunzi contributed during the early years.

It could be said without HO, Nunzi and the other die-hards that carried the torch through the 70’s we wouldn’t have it as good as we have it now. And we do have it pretty good. The Buick and Olds guys don’t have any where near the resources or choices we do.

[455dan]

And i am getting old and senile... brain slipped called H-O's Craig, "Jim"

Sorry about that. Corrected original post.

[tooski]

I've joined a couple of Pontiac groups on Facebook. Several times I've regirgitated basic but valuable information I have gleaned from this forum. I also steer Pontiac enthusiasts to this forum.

[tempest1964]

Originally Posted by Will

NTTIAWWT.

Had to google this: Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That

[Kenth]

Originally Posted by tempest1964

Had to google this: Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That

Seinfeld line?

[Cliff R]

"Let's be honest, this board has a lot of toxic elements and not everyone in the Pontiac hobby actually posts here. Nor should posting here be some sort of qualification to sell a Pontiac good.

This thread kind of proves the point. By my count there's only been a couple people post that have actually read the books. The rest are speculative without first hand knowledge and the thread as a whole is now a Bruce Fulper punching bag."

I really wouldn't say a "lot" of toxic elements, but for sure there are some folks who post on here who know little if any more than their Google/search engine skills allow for, and they have never even ported their first Pontiac head, built an engine, or even have a Pontiac powered car that moves under it's own power. I'd also add that their arguments are pretty much meaningless even though they often try to back up their information with "weak" associations with some of the folks that they source the info from.

Don't know exactly how many years I've been posting on here, but one thing is for certain........I do this sort of thing for a living and actually test scores of parts and combinations of parts to see how they work, and post the results. I also stay on topics that I have a LOT of first hand experience with, which tends to keep me out of trouble for the most part.

One of the BEST things that I do here to broaden my knowledge with these things and help folks at the same time is custom tuning. About 10 years ago I opened up a couple of Saturdays a month in the warmer weather to custom tune troubled combinations. I've had hundreds of vehicles brought here and sometimes from great distances. The record to date is 1800 miles one way, but most are within 200 miles or so. I get to see some really nice cars and meet some really nice folks. My success rate for tuning is nearly 100 percent, even if some of the parts involved in the engine combination aren't all that well chosen. So I learn by actually doing this stuff, and try to relay that information as accurately as possible in Public Forum. Even so I often find myself arguing with folks who have less actual experience with these thing than I spent on the crapper this morning. It's just goes with the territory folks, and personally I just put the info up here to help out, whether you use it, or makes copies and use them for toilette paper, or go another direction and get things working well enough for you liking, really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.

Anyhow, at this point in my learning curve I certainly don't know everything, but do know what doesn't work well, and even better who in this industry potential customers should avoid like a big dose of the COVID 19 virus!......FWIW.......Cliff

[track73]

But, what,
No Love for what Kern Osterstock, Jim Hendrickson or Nunzi contributed during the early years.

My take exactly. They , and the Pontiac HP magazines were the only places 35 years ago that I was able to get information

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Don't know exactly how many years I've been posting on here, but one thing is for certain........I do this sort of thing for a living and actually test scores of parts and combinations of parts to see how they work, and post the results. I also stay on topics that I have a LOT of first hand experience with, which tends to keep me out of trouble for the most part.

I agree. That`s why my post count is so high.

[Will]

Okay, I'll chime in (as if you've all been waiting with bated breath).

I've seen Sandoval posting in one of the Facebook Pontiac groups I belong to. Looks like he does good quality machine work and likes Pontiacs. Looks like he's trying to make a living building performance engines, and one way he can do that is to publish some books about the combinations he builds.

If he's willing to publish information on the combos he builds and how much power they make, what's wrong with that? Maybe it isn't the way other people would do it, maybe with a few different parts or strategies his engines might make a bit more power or have slightly broader torque bands. I'm not going to ream him for that. He's found some combinations that work, make proven power levels and presumably the people who buy his engines are happy. I haven't seen anyone complaining about how he screwed them, or put together a combo that didn't work, or how his engines blow up regularly. He doesn't proclaim himself King, or tell everyone only he can do it right, or go around putting others down from what I've seen.

After seeing how many people are totally happy with their low compression stock head 455s with XE274 cams in them, I've come to realize that the majority of people don't care if their engine is totally maximized or consists of all the best parts and is the ultimate combo. If it fires up, spins the tires down the block, and sounds nice at the drive-in they're totally happy. If the machine work is done right and the engine has good ring seal and doesn't suck oil through the valve guides, has decent oil pressure,is reliable, and makes the power levels they were told it would, why shouldn't they be happy?

People who want to race and are devoted to tinkering with their engines to get the most out of them (the type of people willing to join here) are generally the type of people who will do the research and seek out more information than just one book. The typical guy though just wants to spend his money and get a reliable, reasonably powerful engine in return. If Sandoval's delivering that, then my hat's off to him.

[PontiacJim1959]

"People who want to race and are devoted to tinkering with their engines to get the most out of them (the type of people willing to join here) are generally the type of people who will do the research and seek out more information than just one book. The typical guy though just wants to spend his money and get a reliable, reasonably powerful engine in return. If Sandoval's delivering that, then my hat's off to him. "

So you don't think the "typical guy" is wanting to join here? - doesn't race? - isn't devoted to tinkering with their engines?