[Steve Barcak]

Jack-
T & D is now making their shaft system for the 392/417. You can see it on their web site or email the for a pic. I am going to build my own version. They have been working well now in Nostalgia Top Fuel and I have been studying them for my application. I stand corrected on the intake rockers, my mistype. What I menat to type was "intake manifold and ex rockers".
The original engine you refer to is the one I now have as best I know. I was informed by the previous owner is was bought new from M/T by him. He mentioned you when I bought the motor.
So, maybe I have the only original complete M/T Pontiac HEMI? I thought yours was also and original. no?
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

[Steve Barcak]

A few other things in missed on the last post.
The first engine ( gas ) is set up for marine use. I wanted the long reliabilty of the Crower billet rods for that application.
Of course the nitro motor will use alum rods. I like the C & A deep cycle rods.
Also the pic I posted shows cumstom ( non M/T ) billet rocker stands. The previous owner had breakage issues with the M/T cast stands so he built some stronger ones.
The early wedge alum heads I did sell about 15 years back. I only sold them after I bought my first set of M/T HEMIs. After getting a set of them, there didn;t seem ( at the time) to bother with anything else. Of course, there are a lot of good heads out now ( amen ). Still, the HEMI stuff has so much potential that I do not feel has been reached. Especially blown with nitro. We'll see.
I don't post as much as before. I do like to but it is very time consuming and I am fortunate to have many cool projects to keep me busy and happy.
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

[theoldone]

THAT'S the heads I want- right there

how much for those ??

[tom s]

Steve,I was told by Fritz I believe that the factory cast 3 special blocks for the hemi project.They added meat where the block needed to be ground for pushrod clearance.I will see Fritz tomorrow and reconfirm.Steve van Dyn has one for sure and a lot of other hemi stuff.How is the progress on the DS1001 block I sold you coming?Jack,that is the block I called you about a few years ago to get machined.After not finding anyone that wanted to touch it I sold it to Steve.Tom

[misterp266]

Tom, I tried to get Steve Van Dyn to sell me some hemi stuff when he apparently cleaned out Mickey's shop. Didn't want to part with anything. Do you know what he has and what he's done with it? Like Steve Barcak said, it'd be nice to keep a registry of all the "good stuff" out there!


Old one, how much ya got?

[tom s]

Will see Steve tomorrow also.I know he not only has a lot of stuff but he ALSO has the mold boards for alot of the M/T stuff.He has a challanger motor.He has NEVER as far as I know sold any of the M/T stuff.Will confirm more tomorrow.Both Steve and Fritz are at the long beach hipo swap meet the 2nd sun of every month.Tom

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by tom s

Will see Steve tomorrow also.I know he not only has a lot of stuff but he ALSO has the mold boards for alot of the M/T stuff.He has a challanger motor.He has NEVER as far as I know sold any of the M/T stuff.Will confirm more tomorrow.Both Steve and Fritz are at the long beach hipo swap meet the 2nd sun of every month.Tom

A guy offered one of the Challenger engines on eBay about a year ago - was it this same guy ? Or one of you other guys ?

[Steve Barcak]

Tom,
Progress on the V block has been very good. I did have it on display at Pontiac Heaven for all to look at awell as a bunch of other cool Pontiac stuff. Maybe you missed it. If I wouldn't have moved, the block would already have been in my fueler. Moving has backed things up a bit.


I will mainly be using the alum block for ease of mainenance and repairability. I kind of would prefer not to potentially sacrifice such a rare part to the nitro gods but, I have so much money and time into it now I am sure I couldn't sell it. With the alum block I can machine it to use removeable cylinder liners like a KB, TFX, Donovan, etc. This feature is a real benefit on a nitro car where lots of maintenence is needed.
This block was raw with only the cam hole machined. All tooling was based from the cam location. It has been cool to make tooling to machine a block from scratch. Once finished, I will start on my first 2 billet block forgings for the ultimate in strength, repairability and serviceability.
I hope the V block survives the time it will be used.
I tried to get Steve van dun to help me with some HEMI stuff years back but, he didn;t want to bother with me.
Old one- I don;t understand your above post saying you want them. That is the same engine and parts you insulted me about on Rudy;s thread. You said something of the sort that they were junk.
The HEMI heads though about 45 yeard old now still have very impressive exhaust ports. They seem to still compare with the best today. I think the intakes will need work and I have many ideas to try. Still, they should work well in a blown/nitro application as they were designed to do so. Not a production based ( factory manufactured).
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

[theoldone]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

Tom,
Old one- I don;t understand your above post saying you want them. That is the same engine and parts you insulted me about on Rudy;s thread. You said something of the sort that they were junk.
The HEMI heads though about 45 yeard old now still have very impressive exhaust ports. They seem to still compare with the best today. I think the intakes will need work and I have many ideas to try. Still, they should work well in a blown/nitro application as they were designed to do so. Not a production based ( factory manufactured).
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

You are barking up the wrong tree, Steve B. I'd never call a M/T Hemi head junk- to me, they are the ultimate Pontiac head. You better go back and read that thread over, cuz it was NOT ME posting that. Get a reality check.

What I said was, I'd love to run one MYSELF, N/A form with a custom steel intake and headers with collectors and 1-4 bbl.

Where you and I disagreed was on the PONTIAC BLOCK strength. The old Pontiac bottom end would break before the HP potential of those heads could be fully realized in blown applications. And you know that's true, otherwise why did you make a bottom end oil pan mounted girdle to strengthen yours ?

I'd buy a pair of M/T heads TODAY if I could find them- and they coin wasn't too long.

[theoldone]

Originally Posted by misterp266

Old one, how much ya got?

enough to buy about 10 complete M/T engines. and then some

[theoldone]

Originally Posted by misterp266

Tom, I tried to get Steve Van Dyn to sell me some hemi stuff when he apparently cleaned out Mickey's shop. Didn't want to part with anything. Do you know what he has and what he's done with it? Like Steve Barcak said, it'd be nice to keep a registry of all the "good stuff" out there!

Steve Van Dun can be very hard to deal with- I tried to buy 303 RA V heads from him a LONG time ago, when most of these deals were done via Hemmings Motor News- pre-internet days- remember that ?

He has been known to be less than scrupulous on some parts sales. He's not a Pontiac man- he's a computer programmer or something.

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by Steve Barcak

T & D is now making their shaft system for the 392/417.

I don't see it on T&D's website- could you sometime e-mail me that picture (via my profile)? Thanks. I just can't visualize a single-rocker-shaft hemi valvetrain.

The original engine you refer to is the one I now have as best I know.

Did you buy it from Dave Stoll? Or was there mention of Stoll having owned it?

I thought yours was also an original. no?

No. At the time, I assumed there were no complete hemi's to be found.
I dealt with John House, a M/T employee, for the heads about twenty years ago, and sent the money to Mickey. This was when Hot Rod Magazine still ran classified ads and the heads had been listed there. After seeing the ad, I was on the phone 24/7 until someone arrived in the office Monday morning!

Shortly after getting the heads, Dan Dunscombe (who, I understand, parked his 18-wheeler at M/T and helped them out some) alerted me to one of the Harvey Aluminum blocks in a warehouse, and I called Mickey and managed to buy it. After I broke that block in '92, Dan found me the one now in my engine, another Harvey Aluminum one.

Fritz found me a few pieces- valves, rocker covers, cam, etc.- even a 400 MPH Cragar timing cover, complete with a 5-bolt plate to mount the Harman-Collins flathead mags they used on unblown "Challenger" engines! (Okay, so it only went 357 or so- but doesn't "400 MPH cover" sound great?)

Thanks for taking time out to post here Steve.

[Jack Gifford]

Steved400- So does Gary Daniels still have a bunch of rare Pontiac stuff? Is he into playing with any of it? Any idea who the Pontiac engineer was?
Thanks for sharing that letter with us.