[lreGTO65]

So guys Im new to the board here. I have a couple Ponchos right now, 1965 GTO, I just picked up a 1969 Firebird, my dads got a 1970 Trans Am.
So Im more knowledgable about the 65 and up stuff, some 64 stuff I know but for the most part I've never been around or worked on a 61-63, except for full size's.

Im thinking about picking up a race car project, a guy around her has a 63 thats all chromoly partially done, needs some pieces. But Im not sure who makes resto pieces for these things if anyone?
Where can I find the little stuff for these?
Also who makes suspension stuff for the fronts?

Also the work is not the problem I own a shop and my dads been working on pontiacs since he was 14.
Any information would be great guys thanks a lot.
Steve
www.legendracingent.com

Couple pictures of our stuff,
This ones cool(customers car)

My dads 70

Another car we did work on

Heres mine

[lreGTO65]

33 People viewed so far and no one can help me out?

[Brad B. Hillebrand]

I was shocked at the lack of repro parts for the 63. I have a GTO and parts are everywhere - not the case with the 63. You have to hunt for those little pieces.....

Legend Racing - are you the guys out in Schaumburg?

[lreGTO65]

Originally Posted by Brad B. Hillebrand

I was shocked at the lack of repro parts for the 63. I have a GTO and parts are everywhere - not the case with the 63. You have to hunt for those little pieces.....

Legend Racing - are you the guys out in Schaumburg?

Yes we are in Schaumburg

And im noticing the lack of parts for these cars. I did a little looking last night online to see what I could dig up and it wasnt much.
what about the front suspensions? What works best?

[tom s]

actually one of the quickest N/A 63 tempest ran pretty much a stock front end setup.Coil overs and ladder bars in the rear.I have found a lot of stuff on ebay.I search 63 tempest,63 lemans,1963 tempest and 1963 lemans.Tom

[fasteddy]

Steve, the best thing to do is find a donor car for the little things. There just is not too much out there for our 61-63 Tempests.

[redeyedfly]

Kanter has a lot of stock front end parts.

http://www.kanter.com/p58-fkd.html#Pontiac
http://www.kanter.com/p60-pos.html

[lreGTO65]

Well I have a complete 4 link in the rear, moly with a Fab 9" housing. But the front I was either going to make or have alston make me some tubular A-arms and stuff some Strange coil overs on them.
And I hate to say it, please dont be mad at me. I am a pontiac guy i just dont have the budget to go as fast as I want with a poncho.
The car is getting a big block, I just simply cannot afford the pontiac motor I want.
Im going to build one soon but I cant not, not with trying to get married and buy a house and what not.

So I apologize, pontiac guys please dont hate me.
But trying to go 7's on a budget is not pontiac friendly.

[63-V326]

I'm relatively new to 63's but have learned an awful lot over the last few months of owning it. Great car, perfect size, great car to put a supercharged 540 in.

[tom s]

oh crap,here we go again.Lips will get tight now.LOL,Tom

[SD421]

Ill clear this up right now.

Pontiac engine are not classified as a small or big block. Only small or big journaled.
Please no Chevy engines in our beloved Pontiacs either.
Thnk you,
Don
USMC Reserves

[R 70 Judge]

Originally Posted by lreGTO65

Well I have a complete 4 link in the rear, moly with a Fab 9" housing. But the front I was either going to make or have alston make me some tubular A-arms and stuff some Strange coil overs on them.
And I hate to say it, please dont be mad at me. I am a pontiac guy i just dont have the budget to go as fast as I want with a poncho.
The car is getting a big block, I just simply cannot afford the pontiac motor I want.
Im going to build one soon but I cant not, not with trying to get married and buy a house and what not.

So I apologize, pontiac guys please dont hate me.
But trying to go 7's on a budget is not pontiac friendly.

The Alston bolt on Nova II front end kit looks like it might be adaptable to an early Tempest. It would take some serious work though.

"Budget" and "going 7's" don't really go together. I don't think a 7 second BBC is going to be much cheaper then Pontiac power.

Build a short stroke twin turbo Pontiac. A board member sells the exhaust manifolds to do it. It should live and make tons of power.

[63-V326]

And a damn serious chassis. Have been there and am watching my brother do it now. He spent $35k on chassis alone- all tube. Motor was $30k, dynoed 1140hp. It's a chevy 540.

My 336 Pontiac will reside happily in the 63! My Olds has a 468 chevy in it though and I'm proud to be open minded. I have a 70 challenger 383, 65 Mustang 289 4spd and a 73 Chevy truck with a 572 crate motor. Be open and enjoy.

[lreGTO65]

7's is definetly not cheap, but for me it is a little less money than pontiac, we have tons of parts from old carb'd and like less than 20 pass blown injected ****.
The only problem with the turbo idea is the classes i wanna run are all motor or NOS(which I hate)

So again i apologize.

[63Banshee]

I've got a large collection of parts. Let me know what you need. Race car project... there are fiberglass kits available.

[JKrull66]

Body and most of the rubber can be found. Chrome for a 63 Lemans may be quite another story. A good donar car may be cheaper in the long run depending what is missing. If it is a full race deal you won't need much but the shell. Just my 2 cents.
Good luck,
John

[afx421]

for little trinkets, ebay is the place, or a donor car. can we possibly talk you into scraping the chevy idea and going with the poncho prices arent as bad as you think. and if you want an utlra high horsepower chevy you have to make it non chevy- ie- non sotck valve agle heads, ect. anyhow good luck with your project!

[lreGTO65]

Originally Posted by afx421

for little trinkets, ebay is the place, or a donor car. can we possibly talk you into scraping the chevy idea and going with the poncho prices arent as bad as you think. and if you want an utlra high horsepower chevy you have to make it non chevy- ie- non sotck valve agle heads, ect. anyhow good luck with your project!

to run 7.50's or so like I want, i only need about 1500 hp, and I can do that with conventional cylinder heads all day long, we have proven combos to make way more power than that.

[63-V326]

Originally Posted by lreGTO65

to run 7.50's or so like I want, i only need about 1500 hp, and I can do that with conventional cylinder heads all day long, we have proven combos to make way more power than that.

Since you clearly have a good deal of experience, I would suggest spending the money on a top-shelf chassis. It takes less horsepower when the chassis and suspension are correct. We have an old friend who built a vega chassis himself and went 7.94 at something absurd like 180. The car was an animal because the motor had more power than the chassis could handle. I have old pics of this from the late 80's and it would hang the left front tire all the way through second. Definitely a fun ride.

Long story short, a real chassis would have put him at the head of the pack.

I think the 63 is ideal as a race car because of its size- not too small, not too big. If the 63 we just picked up weren't so nice, I'd tub it.

I believe that pontiac has the potential to go as fast as any chevy for a few more dollars.. until you get to cylinder heads. Who makes a cylinder head for Pontiac thats as potent as say a Dart big chief for chevy? 18 years ago, I ported a set of pontiac heads for a friend and prior to that, he could not beat my 455 olds. Afterwards, he pulled away steadily in third gear. Amazing. So, if a great deal of an engine's power is made or lost with heads, how can you build an equivalent Pontiac unless you have similar head technology?

[lreGTO65]

Originally Posted by 63-V326

Since you clearly have a good deal of experience, I would suggest spending the money on a top-shelf chassis. It takes less horsepower when the chassis and suspension are correct. We have an old friend who built a vega chassis himself and went 7.94 at something absurd like 180. The car was an animal because the motor had more power than the chassis could handle. I have old pics of this from the late 80's and it would hang the left front tire all the way through second. Definitely a fun ride.

Long story short, a real chassis would have put him at the head of the pack.

I think the 63 is ideal as a race car because of its size- not too small, not too big. If the 63 we just picked up weren't so nice, I'd tub it.

I believe that pontiac has the potential to go as fast as any chevy for a few more dollars.. until you get to cylinder heads. Who makes a cylinder head for Pontiac thats as potent as say a Dart big chief for chevy? 18 years ago, I ported a set of pontiac heads for a friend and prior to that, he could not beat my 455 olds. Afterwards, he pulled away steadily in third gear. Amazing. So, if a great deal of an engine's power is made or lost with heads, how can you build an equivalent Pontiac unless you have similar head technology?

Exactly, cylinder heads are obviously one of the most important parts of a motor, and pontiac is somewhat lacking there unless you have an insane amount of money.which I dont.
The chassis is good, ill have to finish it up here at the shop but other than that should be ok to go.