[tekuhn]

Almost every RAV engine I have seen, has this decal on the left valve cover.





I think I have virtually every magazine article related to this engine, yet I have never found a single reference to this company. Does anyone have any insight as to who TARCO is and what role they played in developing the engine? I have heard one person speculate that it actually refers to TRACO (or TRA-CO) Racing Engines of Culver City, California. They were heavily involved in building engines for the SCCA Trans-Am series, which of course, the 303 tunnel port was specifically developed for. I could understand seeing that decal on a Trans Am race car if TRACO helped build the engine.

I have one of these decals, but I can't decide whether I should install it on my engine. I have a hard time believing that Pontiac would have installed it on a street RA-V had they actually made it to production. Why would they want to give credit to another company for their engine? Do we have anyone here who has unboxed a crated RAV engine that can state that Pontiac shipped engines with that decal installed?

I don't mean to disparage anyone who is displaying the decal - no doubt at this point we automatically expect to see it, and the whole concept of trying to create something that never happened is always a mixture of research and then making an educated guess.

I'd love to hear any stories from anyone who might be able to shed any light on the mystery of TARCO.

[brians]

They were not on the crate engines. My father bought several.

First time I ever saw the decal was on Purely PMD's car.
Always assumed they made it but never understood why.

Would be kind of silly for a Pontiac to put a decal on a new engine that stated "legendary".

[tekuhn]

Originally Posted by brians

They were not on the crate engines. My father bought several.

Thank you, very helpful.

Originally Posted by brians

Would be kind of silly for a Pontiac to put a decal on a new engine that stated "legendary".

Very good point.

[Bermuda Blue]

IMO this decal is similar to the ubiquitous 400-4 decals we see on air cleaners. Highly unlikely this was ever a factory decal.

Agree with the tarco and “the legendary” comments.

And where did this “MARK V” reference come from? Have never seen any Pontiac literature mention MARK anything.

However, I do recall talking to an oldtimer about the tarco reference many years ago and he said tarco was involved in developing the valvetrain. I do not consider the source reliable.

[tekuhn]

Lance is who told me he believes the correct color is the early SD455 blue, or something very close. His black '70 has the engine painted with it. I assumed he was basing that on the color of the crate engines he has seen/owned, but perhaps he has uncovered some other evidence that was the planned production color.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Factory pictures, and the picture on cover of May 69 HotRod magazine, are all Black.
Except for the Intake

I'd do Black , or the 66-70 Blue Metallic

Last trip to the moon, i couldn't bring back any dust.
Next trip i have a better plan

[tekuhn]

I exchanged emails with Jim Jones at TRACO, and he says they were not involved.

[Island Boy]

Pontiac didn’t build an aluminum RAV,but I did. I had a Aluminum Ram Air V sticker for my 70 Trans Am made for the hood of my car just for the call out. I believe I put the sticker you are talking about on all of my RAV engines because I liked the sticker and really liked -Legendary- because it is. I get tired of every 69 and 70 GTO being a Judge. Thousands of fakes out there,even try to get by with a Judge on some 68s. At least get the year right. If you don’t like it,don’t put it on your engine. It’s that easy.

[tekuhn]

Originally Posted by Island Boy

........ If you don’t like it,don’t put it on your engine. It’s that easy.

The point of the post is that I want to make the decision based on whether I think Pontiac would have built the car with the decal - not on whether I like it. Some people have gone to great lengths to build their cars as close as possible to "factory" using what limited information is available, and I see the decal on those cars. I'm just doing the research to determine if I'm going to install it on mine. I totally agree though, ultimately one should build any car project the way they want it.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

If going after what we might try to consider a faithful execution -
i wouldn't use the after-product decal

Would also be interested to know why Tarco is on there.
Never really paid much attention to it

At minimum, i would trim some of the verbage off the decal { tarco / legendary }

Here is some of IslandBoys handywork on that moon-dust Alum Ram5

[tekuhn]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

If going after what we might try to consider a faithful execution -
i wouldn't use the after-product decal

Would also be interested to know why Tarco is on there.
Never really paid much attention to it

At minimum, i would trim some of the verbage off the decal { tarco / legendary }

Here is some of IslandBoys handywork on that moon-dust Alum Ram5

Pretty sure at this point I'm not going to use it in any form. Those are great pics - was not aware of that car.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by tekuhn

Those are great pics - was not aware of that car.

Nobody wanted to pay the 10million for it, so the car and engine were separated and sold separately.
( i don't remember the real asking price - so i estimated )

I think the car was Racerboy's 70 TA Ram3 4spd car.
The moon-dust Block came from Tom S

I was surprised no one bought the car complete.
One of the coolest Ram5 cars anyone ever built.

If he could have went to the moon and brought back enough dust to make a pair of exhaust manifolds - it would have been the All-Time coolest of them all.
I would have done my best to go steal the car late one night.
Probably best that it didn't materialize

[tekuhn]

BTW - I spoke with another person recently who owns a 1970 RAV crate engine, and he said that his engine was painted the '66-'70 metallic blue. He also said there was overspray on the distributor. He stripped the paint off and the purple and yellow markings were present on the bare block casting.

[tekuhn]

The majority of the crate engines that I have seen all have the casting date of A210 on the blocks.

[tom s]

I run them so no one asks me why I put a Ford in my pontiac again!Tom

[tekuhn]

Originally Posted by tom s

I run them so no one asks me why I put a Ford in my pontiac again!Tom

The struggle is real! You want something to bring the uniqueness of the engine to the attention of those not knowledgeable about Pontiac engines.

[tom s]

We're those crate engines black?Tom

[tekuhn]

I know one person who is adamant they were early SD455 non-metallic blue and not the expected ‘66-‘70 metallic blue.

[tom s]

I as told by more than one person they were black?Tom

[tekuhn]

It's funny, I had messaged BrianS this morning asking this same question since he said he saw several that his father had. It will be interesting to see what he remembers. I intend to paint mine '66-'70 metallic blue, because logically that's what color Pontiac would have painted them in a production setting.