Get iT On!
 

I'm hoping I'm getting to the end of the long odyssey I have endured with my '64 GTO. I took it apart in 2000 to freshen it up only to find a cracked block. I won't go over all of the history here, but I'm basically on the second version of my fourth engine since then. I still have some work to do on an unstable idle, but it is running great. It now has 85 miles on this incarnation with no engine complications. It already had 200 miles on it when I had to take it back apart for an oil leak. I had a friend over helping me a bit today, so I took him for a ride when it was time for a quick road test. Before we went out I did a quick test on the nitrous and gas solenoids to make sure they opened and closed properly. After driving around for awhile I decided to give it a short blast (the first time since 2000). I was probably rolling about 30 mph when I hit it in first. The tires started spinning pretty quickly, so I shifted to second where the tire spin continued. I only took it to about 4500 where the cam starts really waking up. MAN IT FELT GOOD. I did have to do a bit of steering in second gear as the car started sliding to the right. I can't wait to have all of the bugs worked out so I can really ring it out. It is not a strip car anymore, so I'm not sure I will ever take it to the track. That's why I built my Tempest, so I wouldn't keep breaking the GTO. You can't really tell by the seat of the pants, but it felt like it was better than it used to be when it ran 10.80 at 129.31. The car is all old school. The current rear tires are 275/60-15 M/T Street Radials. I upped the weight of the flywheel from 15 pounds to 22 pounds hoping that it would not spin the tires from a first gear roll. It looks like I wasn't as successful as I had hoped. Details below.

400 block bored 0.030" with a forged 4"stroke crank
Carrillo rods and Ross pistons
HR cam, 242/248 at 0.050" with about 0.600 lift with the 1.65 rockers
Heads are 670 (1967 GTO) with tall valves and 1.65 Crower SS roller rockers
CR = 9.6:1
Stepped 4-tube headers, 1 7/8' - 2"
1966 tri-power
nitrous plates under all 3 carbs. Boost is about 150-165 HP
M-22 4-spd, 4.33:1 12-bolt posi rear

"May the torque be with you"

nice list of internals!Tom

Street racing !!! At your age ??!! Wish I'd been along for the ride.

Jim

nice, all you need now is some steelies and dog dish caps for some stealth action.

Adopt me! :D Congrats! and looks like big fun.

Oh my that is just gorgeous,i would leave the hood off so everyone can see those three shiny lids.
Like old school stuff and it sounds like its getting closer to the right tune.
Drive it like you hate it........

Congtrats! that really sounds like a killer ride and is beautiful to boot. Is that an SD cam?

Thanks for the ride along Jim that was a nice little ride you guys had.

No, it is a Comp grind sold by the Butlers.

Just when I think I want to keep my 64 tempest with the stock 326 and nice 20MPG a thread like this comes along and leaves me droolling.

Hope I grow up to be as cool as you instead of stick in the mud.

Good to hear, hopefully you will have fun with it and stay away from mr. police man, LOL. Now u just need one of the kids or grand kids to video grampa havin fun. LOL.
:3gears:

Thanks for posting , OMT. You were burning rubber in that GTO when I was sitting in my Murray Fireball pedal car, pretending to. It's very nice that some things never loose their appeal. I remember when I was a young mechanic, 21, and I asked an "old" guy who was 27 if burning rubber ever got old (he had a '71 Z-28 with 4.10's and a 4 speed, and I had my GTO's), and he shouted at me: "IT NEVER GETS OLD!". I thought he was crazy, that people just grow out of it. I was, thankfully, WRONG. Keep up the great work and keep us posted!!!

Nothing like a GTO with a 4 speed and some deep gears. It is nice when you can make a blast pass after a long hibernation. 20 some years ago I had a 67 GTO with a 400HO, 4 speed and 4.33's That car was an absolute handful but I loved it. Thanks for sharing OMT!

Jim Glad to hear you've gotten the GTO out again! 4 sopeed cars are a BLAST to drive!

So nice!!!! Kind of an oddball question, though. How did you get your hood hinges down and secured like that?

I pushed the hinges down manually and then tie wrapped them. Hopefully the tie wraps hold up for awhile. I don't want to put the hood on until I'm done working on a few things.

Very cool Mr. Taylor! Don't you just love churning through a "Rock Crusher". I know I like mine. :)

I went to the rock crusher from an M-20 for two reasons: I had way too much torque multiplication on the starting line; and I was breaking the M-20's. However, I did also break the input shaft and first gear on a fine splined M-22. That's when I decided to quit racing the GTO.

Congrats Jim! Such a cool ride :cool2:

OMT, what's the suspension set up on the GTO?

Did you ever check the vacuum?

It's pretty stock. I still have the original stock springs in it. I have boxed control arms in the back, and the frame stiffeners that tie the front mounting point of the uppers and lowers together. It also has air bags. IIRC the front shocks are 45/55, and the rears are 50/50. I tried (and still have) 70/30's on the front and I didn't like them. However, it was a good way to scare people in parking lots by popping the front end up.

I thought I posted it before somewhere, but I couldn't find it. At a stable idle it is 10 psi. When it slows down it starts oscillating and goes down to 8 psi. Going down means below about 1250 RPM. I'm still working on the center carb to get it work better with this engine and cam.

Yep, I worry about breaking mine too since they are so hard to find. I don't run mine on the strip so the tires are the safety valve. I figure it'll never hook up good enough to break it, I hope... The nice thing is that it's not matching to the car so at least it's not "priceless".

The combination of slicks and a stick shift makes the launch brutal on the trans. I expect mine to last a long time on the street, even with good tires. Plus I have one spare M-22.

Sound like fun Jim, I had a dry day , rare here, so I took my '74 out and did some long burnouts to clear the plugs and make some noise.
Do you live anywhere near Jess Tyree ? I have been trying to get hold of him for some help on my "63 Gasser project.
Thanks Butch

I'm about 50 miles from Jess, but I've never been to his house. Maybe you can get in touch with him on Facebook.

I have his number,PM me and I will get it for you when I get home this weekend.Tom

Howdy OMT, Your '64 sounds like it's running great. Yes, isn't it fun to row through the gears with a M-22? I dig it too. I ended up breaking my first M22 in my 500 hp Judge while driving on the street with BF Goodrich Comp TA radials. 2nd gear just went WHAM at one point. Upon further inspection, it was revealed that all of the 0-80 MPH 1-2-3 shifts I had done on the street practicing for the dragstrip took their toll. The tail shaft was bent to sh!T too. Oh well ;)

My current M-22 is a built supercase muncie, 2.52 first gear ratio, and gusseted tailshaft housing, etc. So far, it's holding up. :)

Me too... I wanna' be jus' like OMT when I grow up!:D

Smart aleck! OOPS, forgot - I've got to respect my elders. :D

Any updates? How's it running?

It continues to run great! I did explode the posi a month ago, but it had seen some pretty severe duty over the years. I replaced it with another Moroso Brute Strength. At the samed time I changed to gear ratio from a 4.33 to a 3.73. Someday I hope to be able to put a 5-speed in it.

Bring it out...
 

Hey Jim,
Now that you changed your final gearing consider coming to our next Pontiac drag racing event at Irwindale on Thursday, October 17. Some of us from the old Pontiac Drag Days group meet every other month at their Thursday T n' T for some grudge racing and some serious pit racing :D. It looks like you are all setup for Wanger's Petersen and the Driving Museum GTO 50th anniversary events to be held later this month and next year.

Call me if you need more details on the Irwindale meets.

Wanger's Petersen and the Driving Museum GTO 50th anniversary

Details on this event please

Special events...
 

Tim,
You have a pm :).

I really don't want to race the GTO anymore. Without good tires it is a joke, and with good tires it eats up parts. That's why I built the racecar to begin with.

Spraying a tri-power, THAT is too cool Jim! Great to hear you are still at it :-)

Lee

As long as you continue to beat up on hemi cars and supercharged fords, that's OK :)