[RAIIIJudge]

hi fellas,

wasn't sure whether to jump in here or not but pretty sure we all like "dyno day" posts .. and I feel I couldn't have pulled this off without the street section and you all (I'm sure ive read every. single. build post. multiple x's) so I thought I'd share.

the previous iteration of this motor that my dad and a machinist friend built in the mid 90s but wasn't run regularly till last season, was not cutting it. besides making metal, it developed a knock last fall. I've had this '69 judge since high school '82 and besides losing its original QJ (um, doh) .. motor is original to the car.

I've been a full time musician my whole life and have been lucky to work with and learn from many musicians from previous generations. this is how we maintain the Thread and learn. I bring this up 'cause when I started looking around for a builder in my area I kept hearing, over and over, about a nearby builder who was in his 80s and had been building race motors for 60+ years. I did visit a bunch of shops and every one of them seemed capable and likely, to build a badass motor but when I finally made the trip down to Nat Chiavettone's place and talked w/ him in person I knew he was a guy I could trust and relate with: friendly, confident, nothing to prove and zero drama.

along these lines i have got to bring up JayS here .. I've had jay on speed dial for the past year and he's fielded every half baked question I've thrown at him, w/ patience and friendliness. THANK YOU, Jay! couldn't have done it w/o you and I've learned a chit ton from you.

because the car's a judge I really wanted to stick w/ the iron 48s and raIII exhaust manifolds. I wanted the motor to be solidly in the 400s hp wise and into 500 ft lbs tq so I talked w/ nat about bringing heads down to Darrin at Nitemare in Ct. Darrin ended up doing a mild port job, opening heads up to 245/195cfm. nat completed heads himself. we decided to go all forged: a scat 4.25" crank, rods, and dished pistons w/ cr just over 10:1. cam is a bullet hydraulic roller 236/244 @ .050, 560 lift. I had QJ rebuilt last season for the 400 w/ 041 which wasn't even close to adequate for this 462. took a little playing with to dial it in. intake manifold was port matched. motor was dyno'd with what nat describes as junk headers., said the only Pontiacs he builds anymore, owner's are going w/ aluminum round port heads. he thinks most of the power loss I'll see when motor is in car will be from crushed 2 1/4" exhaust and mufflers not the raIII manifolds. before next season I'll remedy this.

motor's going in top of October. while it was getting done I had car's original m20 rebuilt but w/ "Italian" m22 wide ratio gear set. rear end is a 12bolt w/ 373s. fingers crossed I'll get a couple of solid months driving before it's too cold.

anyway, sorry for long winded post that reads like some corny award acceptance speech but who else can I share with if not the board here?

thanks again for all y'all's expertise, mike