[dirtcarh57]

new to site...running a vintage dirt coupe with dodge power....also building a track roadster for 'play' racing...want to have something different for power....in 63 (yes, I'm an old geezer) my cousin had a stick shift 62 tempest with the 'slant 4' in it everyone laughed until a local 421 super duty guy got a hold of it.....don't remember the setup but headwork, cam, carb and hand made headers really had that thing hauling....anyway....I would like to run a big inch pontiac 4 (NOT the late 151 based engines)...I would need 2 core motors, info on what heads etc will work plus advice on bolting to regular bellhousing/trans not thestock trans/rear setup.........who is the 4 cyl guru? ...is 275-300 hp possible with single 4bbl on gas?...ANY help would be appreciated....I am in north central FL....also OH often...thanx eric

[BILL BOWMAN1]

The real guru has since passed, Dave Johnson. There was another guy who posted here-rusty 4cly. See if you have any luck in the 61Tempest section.

[tom s]

would not count out Nunzi also.Tom

[Steve Barcak]

Any Pontiac V-8 head will fit a 195 4cyl Tempest engine.

Good luck with it. I will be playing with them too.

Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

"Real Pontiacs only....no corporate nonsense!"

[screamingchief]

Yeah,I got one sitting in the garage too.

Have my eye on a couple more that I know of.

Agree with these guys,Dave (white warrior) was the man to talk to about these,and rusty4cyl has been using them for years too,those guys straightened out what's needed to get a late model trans behind these,a little work,but nothing too hard.

Dont forget Brad Spidel either,he has a centrifugal supercharged T1000 "half a V-8",he even went so far as to swap out the stock crank for a counterweighted 389 crank IIRC.

Also Steve B has it right,most any pontiac V-8 head can fit these engines.

I have a single '69 #48 RAIII casting I plan on using on mine to begin with.

Most guys have been modifying the aftermarket aluminum V-8 intakes and using those on the high output 4 cylinder engines.

Bottom end,rods and pistons are mostly interchangeable with the V-8 engines,so good rods and pistons are easy enough.

Specific high output cams seem to be a slight issue,but not impossible to have custom made.

All in all a lot of potential in these little "sawed off" engines,one or two things fall in place and I can see them becoming extremely popular in a few segments of the hobby.

[65nss4spdGTO]

Dave Johnson was making between 350 and 400 horse power with his 4cyl. I think the motor is for sale. Dave's crew chief, Ray Bisig ran a 4cyl combination back in the 80's and helped Dave with his engines. Ray is a long time friend and lives here in the Chicago area.

I was working on getting cams tooled up, but the demand was a bit low, so I put the project on hold.

Let me know if you need help.

Thanks.

Calvin Hill

[dirtcarh57]

thanx.....what is different about the 4cyl cams.....
i was under the assumption that you could use v8 cams turned down??? urban legend?thanx eric

[65nss4spdGTO]

The cam timing is different based on only having 4 cylinders.

[mechanickeith]

The firing order is different on the 4 cyl. Also the 4 cyl crank is 180 degrees on the throws, the V8 is 90 degrees. You can put a V8 crank & cam in the 4 cyl & it will run. You will find a lot more info in the 61-63 Forum.

[beemergary]

Don't rule out Ken Freeman at east west auto. He plays with these 4 cylinders.

[sdbob]

At one time I traded some 4 cyl. stuff to John Herslow.He ran Comp El. 4 cyl Pontiac dragster.I traded one 4bbl block and a std2bbl block. He sonic tested the blocks and told me the 2bbl was heavier walled.I ran this by Dave Johnson,it didn't seem to matter to him which block was used(if I remember right).Check the rust buildup.Just my 2cts. Bob

[screamingchief]

Originally Posted by sdbob

At one time I traded some 4 cyl. stuff to John Herslow.He ran Comp El. 4 cyl Pontiac dragster.I traded one 4bbl block and a std2bbl block. He sonic tested the blocks and told me the 2bbl was heavier walled.I ran this by Dave Johnson,it didn't seem to matter to him which block was used(if I remember right).Check the rust buildup.Just my 2cts. Bob

If you go back and read thru Dave's posts here he does touch on the subject from time tp time and it seemed to me that he did indeed favor the heavier castings,though I believe the differences were more related to the year of the castings rather than the carbs that came on them.

He also explained how to easily spot the thicker blocks visually,pretty easy once you've seen a few of these engines side by side...

IIRC the '61 & '62 castings were the thicker ones,and the '63 passenger car castings were thinner,this is not including any of the SD tempest 4 cylinder stuff,but I wont swear to any of this,it's just what I recall off the top of my head.

FWIW.

[sdbob]

I missed that on the year of the block. Store it in the old brain.Thanks.