Geno,
Thanks for the kind words, having a true Pontiac guy in the car with me when I'm beating on it makes it twice as fun!
The funky old glovebox mural is definitely a sign of the times from when this car was a street-racer special back in the '70s. Back in 1987 a buddy of mine first found this car for sale, I went with him when he went to look at it and buy it. It was equipped with a '69 RAIII 400, a Saginaw 4-speed and a 10-bolt 4.88 posi rear.
On a summer day the 455 is usually idling on its own within one minute after a cold start, it only takes a couple of minutes or so on a cooler day. Not bad for an engine with low compression, a big cam, no choke or fast idle cam on the carb and no heat riser on the intake manifold. It's really not too cold blooded considering all of the things it has going against it.
Once it's warmed up it idles fairly smoothly at 650 to 700 RPM with the trans in gear, considering the cam duration.
Hats off to Cliff Ruggles and Rocky Rotella for the carb and distributor work, this thing runs so damn nice on the street since I made those two changes!
Bart