[ponyakr]

TJ whupped up some plates for our new bracket venture. the vanity plate is for the tow truck. more planned--you know--like a different comic strip every day--ya'll can either laff with me or at me--but i plan on enjoyin my remaining ponyak years!

[ponyakr]

all that hasn't happened yet, as of this writing, so i'll come back 2 current reality. i have & will continue 2 share with you how i did things & won races without enuff $ 2 do it rite. i've got a 68 bird bracket project in the works---$ is the only thing holding it up--& if i had an extra 10 grand or so, i'd just buy a 68 ready 2 race bird off racingjunk.com--but in the meantime i'll just keep plannin & workin towards gettin my bird on the track. 2 begin my new series, i'll start with the motors. i've mentioned some about them, but not in detail. as you guys know, many on this site are big on details & exact specs. so thats where i'll start--& i realize it will cause some 2 roll their eyes & say "you see, i told you he was an idiot"--so be it--here's how i did it & it sure worked good for me!

[ponyakr]

for '73 & part of '74 i raced using my factory stock ra3 motor--then pulled it out of the goat & put it into a '68 bird 2 get TJ started racin(don't think i posted those pics--will do so)used a longtail th400 w/stock convertor & 3.23 posi rear. best et 13.73. the only work ever done on it was 2 replace timing set when nylon teeth sheared off stock gear. & i didn't even know how 2 do that--hired a schoolmate gearhead neighbor(mopar street guy) 2 do the job for me--including replacing a couple of bent pushrods. this happened at about the 40k mile mark. then over the winter, after the 74 season i had a machine shop 2 build 2 400's--both 2 nhra stock elim specs. the 1st 1 which i put in the bird lasted a few races(won most) then busted a napa piston i'd used because gm was out. the 2nd motor was built for the 69 goat with gm pistons--just as i'd got it runnin good--i had 2 pull it out 2 put in the bird 2 finish the 75 season. i rehearsed these facts 2 say this--thru '75 i had not built a motor of any kind. for '76 i spent all the $ i had on 2 machine shop motors, which failed imediately. so at that point my racin operation was "dead in the water".

[ponyakr]

i was faced with a choice--i knew i could no longer afford machine shop motors--2 continue racin i'd have 2 build my own motors as cheaply as possible. there were no pontiac people in my town 2 ask--so i bought a '69 pontiac service manual & all the info H-O had for sale--there was no internet! about this time a friend saved our '77 racin season. as i've mentioned, he gave me the 455 out of his '70 goat after i'd installed a 400 into it for him. i just pulled out our old scrapbooks & found something that does not jive with my memory at all. but i trust TJ's records more than my memory at this point.(gonna start pilferin thru the old srapbooks & records 2 see what else i can find) she wrote that i first put that 455 into a '68 bird ht, which she called "easy lovin 3". its the same car pictured at green valley, tx & in hr mag later in '77. the 455 was still in it then & she records that the best times at gv was a 12.43 & 2 - 12.45's. she also records the severe traction problems we had with it at 1st.

[ponyakr]

so that means that those 455 monster problems that i remembered bein in the goat were actually in the bird. that makes sense now, cause i would have gotten her car back on the track before mine. & it also makes sense that i would have started with the same small tires she'd been runnin with the 400 motors--since at the time i still had no idea of the torque of the 455. so, i stand corrected on the order of events that year. after a couple of races with traction problems, she wrote "got new 13" slicks this week--they work!" she won enuff races at our local track 2 qualify for the big, end of the year bracket race. there was 1 race left--so i jerked the 455, tranny & slicks from the bird & put em in the goat. i won that race--which gave me just barely enuff points 2 make the top 16. that meant we could take both cars 2 the bracket finals. only 1 problem--the bird did not have a motor in it!

[ponyakr]

TJ's current ride & model of him she just finshed--its all in the details--just like car paint jobs.

[ponyakr]

the bird only ran low 13's for the rest of the '77 season--so that means it had a 400 in it--so that was my 1st build(rebuild). i didn't have the $ 2 buy new pistons & stuff, so i just used what i had. bought a ridge reamer, ring groove cleaner & a flex hone. bought new rings, brgs, gaskets, etc. & put it together shade tree style--relying heavily on the pontiac service manual for torque specs, etc. had 2 use what i had, so that means i used the heads off the roller motor that blew in '76. borrowed(& kept) a nice valve spring compressor from my dad & swapped out the roller springs for the stockers. also used the 068 lunati stocker cam & lifters from my '75 season goat motor--cause thats all i had. also used the same iron intake & q-jet i'd run in '75 &'76. i either did an ok job or was just lucky maybe--but the 400 ran real smoothe & consistant. w/13" stock convertor, leaving at an idle, it ran low 13's smoothe as a sewing machine--good enuff 2 win the big, end of the year race at prescott, ark that i've mentioned.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by ponyakr

TJ whupped up some plates for our new bracket venture. the vanity plate is for the tow truck. more planned--you know--like a different comic strip every day--ya'll can either laff with me or at me--but i plan on enjoyin my remaining ponyak years!

That TJ is full of surprises isn't she?