[Jim Robertson]

Thanks to 165th (Greg) for sending his numbers engine to us for a freshening. We are proceeding through the build and are planning to run many original parts. A few things that may apply to your build/restoration below:
This block had some small rust pits in two cylinders. The corrosion was isolated to very near the top of the cylinder wall, but to remove the flaws entirely would have taken a +.060" and possibly as much as .100" overbore. The location of the pits was very near the uppermost travel of top ring. The original material of the block was saved by simply ordering a custom piston with the top ring land placed .250" below standard Pontiac locations. 2nd ring and oil ring were moved down slightly as well. Now the uppermost travel of the top ring stays out of the flaws allowing full performance and all original iron in the bores. We simply torque plate honed the block to ensure bores were round and ordered pistons that bore size. Therefore this block, even though it has been "into" before, is still just a tick over standard bore. :-)

Do not send your crank to just anyone. Spend the money for accurate machine work and a good crank guy is difficult to find...at least in West Texas. When we tore this one down it had hurt the mains very likely due to a clearance issue. If you have any work done always check both the front and rear diameter of every journal as taper can creep in causing inaccurate/inconsistent clearances. Highly recommend you do not send your HO or any Pontiac for that matter to just any rebuilder (i.e. butcher). There are some great folks that specialize.

No worries on the piston/deck clearance as we are running a .055" crushed gasket. .040" clear will work great with the parts selection and the intended use of this one.

Accurate and deliberate machining/tolerances contribute greatly to the performance. There are known reasons these cars ran 14s in the quarter in 1971-2 and now run in the 10s and 11s with the same basic equipment.

Agree with the posts about not porting original heads. If engine is built correctly 400hp can be achieved with the unported heads. Original block, crank, intake and carb are all able to support that number. A good valve job will pick up an unported intake port 40 cfm over stock flow numbers. Combine with a very mild but up to date lobe designs and you have a very fast street ride. If you need more than 400HP call me.

Sorry for the long post but felt compelled to present this,
Jim

RACE
Home of the 800HP Iron Dports
www.racev8s.com

P.S. Greg's stripe kits are phenomenal. A set is going on my 72 TA race car now.