Project Cat (2017)
 

After nearly ten years of this car bouncing between myself and two local friends after rescuing it out of Waxahachie with Gus (shoebox1.1), it will get running finally and on the track in 2017. This will be taking place of my Olds wagon has a home for my 455. The wagon is going back to 350 Olds power for street duty , cruising and traveling. This will just be bare bones rattle can Walmart white gutted out interior car. Already got some Fabcraft 3.64 gears for her from my buddy Matt (ENG-N_EAR). Will just need to do all the brakes and buy the 1-3/4 Maddogg headers. Already got some 1/2" aluminum line .. battery in back and fuel cell out back is the plan. Black steel wheels with 28x9-15 MT slicks I suppose. Depending on final race weight I am hoping its is a few hundred below the current wagon setup and should bust off high 11's without changing anything on the engines maybe better. I have crappy 1-5/8 headers and a 3/8 supply body line on the wagon currently. I better proper roller cam later but goal is whittle down to a consistent 11.5 car eventually for brackets. Paul (PJPONTIAC) has the car now and ready to collaborate on it. Should begin brake work in Dec or January. I had stripped all that locked up stuff off when we got it as the drums were stuck rusted etc and change to RH studs all the way around.

Ought to be a lot of fun; keep us posted on the progress.

Will do. Going up finally to a 1 3/4 primary has got to be a solid gain over the dented 1 5/8 that is on it now. Make it light as I can. Probably d0 the scarebird front disc conversion too

I think the 455 will appreciate the new home, and the headers should make some difference. What exhaust do you plan to run from the headers back?

It will be a 3" X pipe set up to the axle I suppose but I may just put 3" extensions and leave it be

Scored good local deal on the series 2 Safe T Track donor rear (2.69) I need to fit the thick ring 3.64 gears to plus some extra loaded backing plates so I can do rear brakes off the car in advance after I build the chunk

Does this rear compare in strength to a Ford 9" ?

Stronger actually. 9.3" ring , starts at 31 spline axles (aftermarket 35 spline) , giant thick strong pinion 1.8" dia versus 1.4" ford. Used in the early fuel dragsters even with OEM 4 pinion posi units holding up. 57-64 Olds Pontiac

Probably go for the no lower head light and SD scoop look with black steelies but the Chevy Car Rallys in a 5x5 15x8 look good. Plan on trying some Hedman 1-3/4 headers for a 68 Firebird $244

Sweet! Nice move Larry! Guess I won't see you on the Olds board as much anymore!

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LOL, Thanks Yes no more Hybrids for me

Oh I am still around CO and will be getting some good old American road time in the to be detuned 70 red wagon with 355 SBO soon and the frame off clean up of my F85 4 speed Rallye :)

Might even do a under hood small cell to feed my RobMc mechanical pump on the Catalina

Car finally came home on July 29. Immediately went to work with engine right away. All new brakes ready to bleed as of yesterday. Hedman 1.75 67 firebird headers on after a frame clearance on driver side. New aluminum radiator. Converted to manual steering in process.manual brake conversion done. gear setup new 3.64 set on a HD 4 pinion unit installed and done. New alum fuel cell and battery box mounting soon. Car has been of road 25-30 years at the least

Also scored some 255/60-15 MT drag radials for the rear , they are mounted on 15x7 steelies
I got new 215/75-15 on some 15x6 steelies for the front. 455 got the badly needed new brass freeze plugs while it was out. 72 VW beetle light bucket seat although may turn into regular drag buckets anyway.

Yesterday was a great day in that the car has now a solid working brake system for the first time in 20 plus years and a mock up of the rear tires for clearance check. The 255/60 MT DR easily fit could do 275 later

I had some delays working on the ole Cat with my Dad needing more care with his Alzheimer's but today got the Manual gearbox swap done and a vintage 60's Champ 500 wheel and also fabricating a cross member for the short tail BOP TH 350

Getting close
 

Almost there making good progress and the fun of using old junk you saved or friends offer to help.

Hey Larry, I have some OBX stainless headers for a 68-72 A-body, they don't fit my car, brand new, will let them go for $100 and that includes shipping. The passenger side collector point in some towards the center of the car, won't work with my 4L80E. PM me if you're interested. For that kind of money, you can put a couple cuts in them and tig them back straight even.

.

I'll take those OBX headers if Larry passes.

Thanks for the offer but I already got the new Hedman's 1.75" ones on the car and they are great. I did a notch on the frame on the driver side only mod required to use 68 Firebird headers.

I did weld a front to rear plate in the cut out to brace it

radiator in yesterday. paint stuff later

front view of headers mod to frame

Nice mod!!

Been a while since my last post. Got the car running and decide since it is a rough car and keeping in that theme it gets rat rod style rust repair and patching in the floor and or trunk. I made it for a first test this past Saturday night during a 'Ultimate Street Night" which is DOT only and I have the MT ET Street 255/60 DR's on it I could. Something funny though happened though, unknowing to me I had some trapped sand and dirt in my cross-member front frame area that came out after the initial jolt of the launch. Needless to say I didn't know the it did that and explained my confusion on what happened when my first pass against a white Charger Hellcat. it hooked front end up and maybe only 10 feet into the 60 foot it pegged out the tach on the limited at 6100 spinning apparently an di lifted on throttle and then stabbed it again and road out second to third. The Hellcat was snoozing and I had a big reaction hole shot and made it passed the 1/8th before he did a FAST flyby on his way to a 10.89@134 almost 107 at the 1/8 ! to my wheel spinning on and off throttle 12.5@108. My friends saw the dirt and thought it was smoke and it had went down the track requiring clean up. I pulled around to go again and switched to left lane still unaware of that being the issue. I was spinning in my own dirt ! LOL I left hard and pulled the left front wheel on initial hit and then immediate on the rev limiter spinning again but I didn't lift and spun all thru second gear and just lifted and cruised to my trailer. Track security came to see me with lights on and told me about the dirt. Good news it s my current goal of 11.9 is very doable next time when I get an actually full hooking run. My first pass had 1.82 60 foot with about the last 50 feet spinning. I didn't even get my slip on the second. The car met my weight goal it is just about 500 # lighter than the Cutlass wagon was 3780# w me in it versus 4250# on old wag. Car had no vibration at speed and felt smooth .. LOVE using radials Updates again over the next few weeks.

Track pics

I also bailed on the idea of the VW seat it was too tall to mount and well it looked like crap because it was a high back. I bought a used 63 red Ventura trim rigid front bench from a sedan and laps belts from the back seat of my 70 Olds wagon. Got my new Pro-Matic 2 Hurst shifter yesterday that works perfect with the bench seat.. Will be adding my upper and lower rear PMT arms on soon as well. Hopefully on the next trip to the track I can actually see what it will do minus the dirt out of the frame in front of my tires and see if I can hit that 7.5-7.6 1/8th goal for the current parts. After that I will test the Warrior and or T II with spacers on both in place of my ported and modified 69 intake. That new goal would be to get down to 7.3-7.4 range before new valve springs and bigger cam down the road will the rod up grade.

I just noticed this thread for the first time this morning. What a neat car and project!

Thought I would update this thread that I did meet some goals a few months ago and just sitting back waiting for cooler weather to improve it. Also probably take off the small diameter Champ 500 vintage wheel it is rather tough parking it with the manual steering.

The is was at the new XRP 1/8 track and last passes with flat steel hood and the iron Qjet intake before switching to the Warrior with 2" of spacers and taking off the hood. Both ways ran 7.5's though

Cars still running 7.5's but hoping to scrape off a tenth or two soon. Next test will be Torker II with 1" spacer versus the Warrior that has 2" of spacer (both with Quadrajet) Here is a run last night 1.64 60 ft.. T-II will allow me to put the stock hood back on as well plus I have a SD scoop now to add.

I got a new best 60 ft this weekend putting the iron ported 69 intake back on with a 3/4 open spread bore spacer and same quadrajet. Did several 1.61 and one 1.605

Also my buddies 66 street Catalina got a new best of a 8.20@85 with 1.8 60 ft. with 2.93 gears BTW its a 6x-4 headed 455 so its is finally a 12 second 1/4 machine.

Thought I would dig this up because its been since 2018 on the last post. Last year in 2019 I did some good bracket racing and won my race on April 28th and that day was the new best ETs in Catalina as I went back to hood off testing but switched back to my modified 69 iron Q jet intake set up and of course out performed the Warrior and open spacers. Almost a tenth in 1/8 th quicker. Prev best was a 7.5 but got down to 7.45 7.44 7.43 and 7.42 that day still stands. Did not run it this year , want to go thru some things and make some upgrades for 2021. I ran my sons std bore re ring 454 Gen 6 vortec zz502 cammed 3.07 geared 74 C10 long bed instead and also won a race this season which qualified me for the end of season Big Dog race which I runner upped in the finals and new best for #4400 truck with a 8.36 et

Digging up this old thread since my 2021 refresh started but sat bagged up to 2023 and just got back to finishing up a fresh engine combo . the old 455 still running in car but didn't race it for the last few seasons. Been running a variety of our vehicles , ran the 454 C10 in Super Muscle in 2020 2021 (8 sec 1/8) and won or placed a bunch of times and switched to Outlaw last year a mixed bag and could bring the slower cars or anything and bracket against anything even 6 sec electronic cars against my 7 8 9 10 sec whatever I bring. Did well and made semis and runner ups a few times tough class but also pissed off some fast cars putting them on the trailer with my 70 350 Olds Cutlass wagon .. So my started in 2021 new stroker that sat up last year is together its a 74 400 block +060 over with a Eagle forged 4340 4.25 crank I score a deal on that started this build. Butler-Ross flat tops and 6.8 4340 I beams with 7/16 ARP cap screws, balanced with new HD flex-plate and balancer etc. Had bought a bigger solid roller before this I have yet to use to get more in a actual race grind over my small street roller I have been running so new one is a Howards 261/269 @050 108 LSA .620 .620 vs the old Ultradyne/Bullitt 242/252 @050 112 .566 .566 on the old 10.9:1 #16 iron D port combo.. This time I am using my buddies KRE 310 D ports 85 cc but need to check actual CC he got them second hand, but should now be 93 octane friendly somewhere 10.5-11.0 after I figure that out. Block is decked a little and .005 in the hole , My unbranded polished Warrior intake I got a while back actually seems to match these 2.30" tall heads so I won't have to even do anything to it and have a 2" HVH Super Sucker tapered 4 hole on top with a classic 850 double pumper. Same 1.75" Hedman heads , same 10" converter that load flashes to 4000 should still work well. Same 3.64 gears MT SS 275 DR's looking forward to the spring races look to get it in and running in February .. If its only 50 HP stronger so be it but there is potential to be 100 HP more than other combo well see. I would love to be able to run 7.0 index stuff if possible, maybe the drum brakes get updated after that..

Sounds like a bunch of good upgrades. Good luck!

I tried a 2" Super Sucker on top of a Warrior and it slowed down a bit vs a 1" Super Sucker on top of a 1" open spacer. So I went back to it. Plenum is tiny on those Warriors.

Thanks for that, I also have a 1 inch super sucker so I can do that combo as well

Me to, Real good read. Car looks bad ass too.
I hope to get started on a project I can't wait to start.
My 57-wagon. When I get it in the shop I'll start getting pics of it
And the power plant.
Really good story Larry. Thanks for sharing.

GT

I was thinking about this again and having both sets of parts no issue but after looking underneath my 2 inch HVH tapered 4 hole the taper is done 1 inch down from the top and its is wide open in the lower 2nd inch so am confused why the 1 inch HVH tapered four hole over a open 1 inch actually worked better? The 1 inch HVH actually doesnt blend underneath to a full edge like the 2 inch either

Might look at a pair of the Procar seats,im sure would save you weight.Tom

Yeah been thinking a lot of that too, I want to see how new setup runs then Yes seats or seat redone.. I really would like those low back alum bomber seats , I don't want high backs for the look. Budget looks like Mexican blanket seat cover where I was going to spend $500 and get bench redone in gold like 70 Bonneville seat since dash is gold and car was gold

Always plan for the worst,get in a wreck you will be happy with the high backs!Tom

true

when its goes sub 11.5 / 7.2 roll bar and that stuff decided

i got a high back on my zero turn mower !

Nice.Love the 63s. I had a 63 GP back in late 69. It had std steering, std brakes,no air,am radio,tach, 4spd(broke it 3 times). Put in 65 421 and m40 ,4.10 gears.

Great job bringing this car out of retirement and impressive results!

Finally getting the car ready for first test n tune of the new combo that was fired up last year ! https://youtu.be/_RQrUILtbPo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RQrUILtbPo

Nice!

I finally got do one bracket race(without any prior testing) and two test n tune sessions so far in the last week and a half. Basically my 850 DP carb wasn't ready having weird issue at at last minute did a bold or stupid move and grabbed my regular 750 Edelbrock Performer 1407 that was on the stock 389 in the 66 Starchief . Amazingly it actually adjusted mixture it responded and idle much better than the Holley and had excellent throttle response so I was like sure why not. went to Little River for TMCCC race and first time trial it launch really well and did a 1.64 ft basically about average of what it did before and its the same converter (10 inch) but as soon as RPM got over say 4500 it just cut out starved and surged and maybe only saw 5000 rpm the rest of the way down the track like back barrels ran dry could not keep up. Just surging and rpm limited. I am using my 140 gph old RobMc mech pump with 1/2 line and sumped cell so I doubt that was the issue. I went again and tried to just shift it real low like 4500 and keep it under 5000 and it just sat between 4-5k all the way down in all three gears only mustered a 7.82 and 87+ it would not even rev over 5000.. so i won first round cause other guy broke out I spun too it was still hitting hard on the launch though... so bad move on carb choice needs to be seriously reworked if it ever goes on again. fast forward a week I put on my buddys 950HP VS and proved fuel pump was fine this past weekend, it launched a tad softer 1.65 60 ft but dropped 5 tenths to 7.3's at 93 ! clean shifts at 6000 ... seems the single plane no surprise is a tad soft on hit with my tight converter so next up is swapping on the Performer RPM and see how low she can ,,, best it ever ran with old setup was 7.42 with hood removed (heavy) and a quicker 60 ft of 1.61 best with dual plane dual plane (Qjet and iron intake) which was .08 improvement BTW back then taking hood off.. I ran the last two weekends with 80 pounds of plate ballast in trunk to be a more than fair test of power gain not weight savings on the KRE heads vs the iron 16s .... so 7.50 was best with hood before now 7.35 and once I go to the RPM I think it will get down to 7.0-7.1 range maybe well see soon enough. But hey it runs in pump 93 now no more mix with 110 !
it used to go about 89 mph (90 with hood off) so I think its up at least 50 hp https://youtu.be/8MKBKf7apJA?si=eZU0Aoaz1JjFR5P2

Got to make it out to TNT last night , pretty poor air (DA3500-3000) warm out and humid. Pulled the old heavy hood off to go all out like I did with old combo years ago and also pulled the 80 pounds of ballast I had in trunk (when it ran some 7.35's with hood on ) and together thats about 160 pounds off... bad air and all new best twice last night. First run high water temp like 190 degrees went [email protected] @ 1.61 all three bests then waiting a while and got to line at a more normal 160 degrees and went better a [email protected] and a 1.60 60 ft.... new all three bests again ! So thats was satisfying easy win to show simply weight reduction improvement and my race weight like that was only #3600 ! Still going to port match an RPM intake since my converter is so tight and gonna reach towards 7.0's soon enough on pump gas ! no fiberglass no lexan no aluminum wheels no electrical add on's with a stock clutch fan and a old RobMC Mech pump 15x6 steel 215/75R15 15x8 steel wheels 275/60R15 DOT SS MT radials

Good job Larry!

Nice runs, keep the updates coming

Maybe next Winter project will be do the roll bar I don't have yet and get legal but for now gonna slow it back done a little to finish my year of points in my Class the bottom ET in the bracket is 7.25. Once 5/6 point is done I may might the bullit and get the flat pin on glasstek hood to help offset the weight of the safety upgrade... Anyone got a used glass hood ???

Went to the Summit Outlet and scored some Doug's ceramic coated headers for Catalina for $400 vs $1109 and never been installed