[ponyakr]

if you've followed my story, you know i had to learn the hard way, by trial & lots of errors. i just thought of a couple of things that mite help some just getting started in the hobby. once i learned these things the hard way, it became basic set up 101 for every racer i rigged up. i'll start at the front with the radiator. back in the day most gm muscle came with a 4 core radiator. i found that anything less just would not keep a pontiac cool. today, most of the 4-cores are gone & the repros are hi $. but alum rads are cheap & plentiful. they claim that a 2-core alum cools better than a 4-core brass/copper. they're about $150 at summit, & even cheaper at circle track suppliers like speedway. they even have double pass jobs that cool even better for about $200. now the next item is very important & overlooked by many. i used to see sbc cars without a fan shroud & getting by just fine. but a pontiac is not a sbc. unless you run electric fans, you need a good shroud. & the fan should extend well up inside the shroud, so that the fan will pull air THRU the radiator, not from the sides. if you've ever seen the deep shrouds that came on '69-'77 gp, you can see the lengths pontiac engineers went to, in order to keep the motor cool. next is the fan itself. the factory flex fan on my '69 ra3 worked well. i also used big clutch type fans, 'cause i had so many laying around. you can buy all sorts of hd, extra cooling fans today. but avoid those little, small blade fiberglass jobs--they want cool a pontiac! now if your car is race only & you want all the power you can get, you can use an electric water pump($300+) & electric fans. a small electric fan is cheap. efficient, dual fans are not. now on back to the motor mounts. if you run only hard street tires, then good stock mounts may be o.k.. but if you ever bolt on slicks or sticky drag radials, you'll rip the drivers side mount apart. when the rotation of the motor meets the resistance of the sticky tires, the drivers side of the engine trys to raise up, which will pull the stock mount apart. there are several solutions to this problem. you can use the late '70's style mount. if you do, keep in mind a big car shell want work on a bird. it raises the motor too hi off the frame. i've noticed these old bird shells now sell for $25 up. you can just buy or make a solid mount. but this puts a lot of strain on the side of the block. & the vibration transmitted to the body is harsh to some folks. i used stock mounts, plus a small turnbuckle bolted to the front & back of the drivers side head. the other end can be secured with a small steel cable around the frame rail. or you can fabricate brackets welded to the frame rail if you prefer. turnbuckles are available at any hardware store. just use double nuts on the rite hand thread end, to lock them in place, after you've ajusted all the slack out. i've seen some use pieces of chain instead, but there always seems to be a little slack left, which will cause a shock load when the slack is jerked out of it. for race only a rear motor plate is better, but requires considerable fab skills. some also run a front motor plate, to eliminate all stress to the side of the block. this requires mods to the timing cover. if you want motor plates, i'd hire this done by someone with a lot of experience in this area. unless you want a busted tailhousing on your tranny, never use a solid tranny mount, enuff said? don't forget to run a driveshaft loop. & remember to tack weld your axle tubes to the center section BEFORE running slicks or drag radials. now get out there & have some fun with your pontiac!