[cuz68]

Originally Posted by ponyakr

ever thought about what you'd do if you won millions in the lottery or suddenly had millions 2 spend for whatever reason? i guess most, if not all, of us have. you may wonder what that has 2 do with my story. well, you may have noticed that many of my possible names use the words cheap or budget. that ain't cause i want it 2 be--thats just where i came from--have never had millions & most of the time not even 1000's. but instead of givin up on racin, i decided 2 do the best i could with what i had. that reminds me of a term i heard in army basic training--they called it the field expedient method. they explained it this way "even if you don't have the rite equipment or weapons--use what you have & figure out a way 2 get the job done anyway". that sorta describes most of my racin story--never had plenty of $ 2 buy the best of everything--had 2 make do or do without--not the ideal situation--but 2 me much better than givin up! yes, i would have prefered 2 have had mega-bucks 2 spend on racin--but that ain't the way it was. my story would be a lot different with more $ available for the best stuff i needed all the time--but, as they say it is what it is

how about Hillbilly old school Raceing, Or Old school Raceing?

[ponyakr]

(i like old school--still thankin on it) So--if i suddenly had millions, here are some of the things i'd do(after all the usual things most would do for their family & friends) (1) do all thats necessary 2 put several types of iron pontiac heads on the market, at a reasonable price--exact copies for #'s matching restos--& several stages of racing heads for those classes such as circle track that require iron heads. (2) set up a header manufacturing co(unless a reasonable deal could be worked out with an existing co) 2 produce good quality round port headers at a reasonable price.(2 me $700 is not reasonable) (3) set up a co 2 design & market hi volume pontiac blocks in several types, from hp street 2 lite short deck types for ct racin(sorta along the same lines as the sbc aftermarket blocks--& closer 2 their prices) (5) set up a local machine shop, including a dyno, with all the latest equip 2 work on nothing but pure pontiac motors. (hey this is fun!) 2 B contd.

[ponyakr]

(6) set up 2 race car building shops--1 for drag--1 for ct--both for pontiac powered cars only & have em for sale, both locally & nationally at resonable prices. of course, we'd race our own house cars at local tracks.(7) have all the big boys build a motor 2 my specs--then put them on our dyno 2 see who makes the most power--then examine each 1 carefully 2 help us design the best engine that can be built using pontiac style parts--then sell em for a reasonable price. (8) set up a resto shop for both resto car sales & resto project car sales--+ build & sell super street cars at reasonable prices. this would include locating & buying large #'s of cars--both project & parts cars & setting up a large sales lot & junkyard--pontiac only of course. & it goes without saying this business would use the net extensively for ads & car locating. well i could go on & on, but you get the picture. you may be thankin--thats totally rediculous--you'll never have that kind of money. its sorta like the 2 people who see the same glass of water--1 says its half full-- the other says its half empty. you may say "you've only got 1 chance in 175 million"--i say, somebody is going 2 win--it'll be me 1 day soon! Jesus said you can have what you say if you believe & doubt not(mark 11:23,24) i choose 2 believe Him--not the naysayers. if that makes me a wierdo--then so be it--i plead guilty! i've done it again--preached myself happy--PTL!

[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!

[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?

[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.

[ponyakr]

here's some shots of those 13" slicks TJ mentioned that we used 2 hook up the 455. you'll notice i didn't have $ for a narrow rear end & tubs--so they just had 2 hang out--"whatever it takes". we ran 3 cars in '78 all with exactly the same size slicks & wheels, so we only had 2 carry 1 spare.

[ponyakr]

no $ so i found some small slicks & wheels cheap--they worked good enuff for the 400 2 finish out the '77 season.

[ponyakr]

here is another area where preferences differ. some use any decent dr(double roller) timing set. while others insist that the billet gear sets w/9 keyways is the only way 2 go & some will insist on 1 certain brand--sayin its better than all others. my ideas on this subject is another eye roller that many will disagree with. if i remember correctly H-O said that the 4 cyl pontiac chain was reinforced & was stronger than the 8 cyl chain. i believe they even sold them while they were still avail.(not certain). the machine shop man who had built my stocker motors had used dr sets on them. when i had 2 replace the bird motor with my goat motor, i swapped the cams out 2 keep it legal. since neither motor had been run much, i assumed the chains would still be tite--wrong! they both had considerable slack. so i decided then that for my purposes the dr was just a waste of precious $. from then on i used the stock gears if they looked ok & just bought new trw replacement chains. i kept several in stock & put on a new 1 every time i took off the timing cover for whatever reason. my experience is that all chains stretch almost imediately--so why waste money on hi $ dr sets? because of this stretch, i always used a 4 degree advance key 2 offset the timing retard caused by chain stretch. hey, i've seen motors with over 100k miles whose chains were so lose, you'd think they surely should've jumped--but they didn't! so if a stock type chain will last that long--they'll certainly do for a street or slow bracket car. replacement cloyes sets are $20 or less--my 2 cents is--why pay more? ps: if money is no object 2 you--then buy the best of everything money can buy!

[ponyakr]

when i started racin the hei wasn't around yet--i think they became std equip in '75. but at the time they were much 2 expensive for me. we used nothing but the factory single point dist thru '79. used all accel points, cond, rotor, cap & wires. thru all those years i only got 1 bad set of points--they looked perfect, but would not fire. me & others examined them carefully & could find nothing wrong--they just wouldn't work. got another set off the shelf & they worked perfectly--can't explain it! used champion plugs for the 1st few years til 1 came apart in the staging lanes in a late round, possibly costing TJ the race. used nothing but accel after that--with no failures. also discovered another myth held sacred by many. back then most of the chevy guys ran dual point dist with the huge accel super coil. found out that big, heavy coil didn't help a thing. the small round coils put out plenty of fire for the single point dist. i should have figured that out sooner, since the stock set up on my goat had run so well for years. sometimes we'll follow what others say, even if it is contrary 2 what we know 2 be true. why is that?--just human nature i suppose. 1 more crazy thing i did--its proven that a motor will make more low end power if all the timing advance is in by around 3k rpm or so. many curve kits are avail to do this. but once we experienced all the traction problems with the 455--i left the advance stock 2 reduce low rpm power slightly. also tightened up the q-jet flap some--still left hard enuff 2 cut a good lite--but didn't try 2 blow the tires away every pass! ps: my recomend now would be a self-contained hei w/a good cap & rotor & a low resistance rotor button 2 prevent meltdown of cap & rotor. all the fancy msd boxes & such are overkill for street & mild bracket racing 2 well into the 11 second range. i do recommend a good rev limiter. again--if you've got the $--buy a billet dist & msd everything--why not!

[Greg Reid]

You completely distracted me with those horse pictures. That is an incredible job of duplicating the markings and coat on that miniature. Even the bottoms of the hooves. Really, really impressive.

[ponyakr]

TJ said "thanks so much, that made my day!" she's had 4 horses--the 1st 3 lived 2 be around 20 or so & spot is now 17. she's doin models of them all--2 are finished--but spot has the most show chrome. spot is just what i call him--she calls him "pokey"--short for "poka dot man". the other 3 are flicka, scooter & rascal. & last & least she's had plenty of good trail hounds, some are pictured--we called these "red poohs" lets see, there was "lil red", "roscoe p. gravytrain"(my favorite), "roxie pooh", "rosie red pooh", "rusty red pooh" & many, many others down thru the years rite up to our last 1--a big black lab named "rupert" who just passed away last summer at the ripe old age of 13.5. they all shared a common bond--they loved trail rides!

[ponyakr]

this is 1 of those subjects that has been beat 2 death--then revived & beat some more, time after time. obviously, for all out racing, a solid roller is best--no argument from anyone. for anything less, a hyd roller is probably best for those with $ 2 burn. but with just the lifters going for about $500 a pop, the roller set up is just 2 hi for the low buck street/bracket racer. so i'll only discuss flat tappet cams. sbc guys like solids, so they can rev into the 8000 range if they want 2. but since most pontiacs operate at a much lower rpm, the hyd flat tappet is more than adequate, well down into the 10 sec range. there are probably some stockers scaring the 9 sec range by now. oil requirements for flat tappets still concern some. but there are plenty of additives now 2 solve this problem. i just run diesel oils, like rotella t 15w-40--problem solved--plenty of zinc. other additives like z-max & pro-blend are probably good ins also. everybody has their favorite cam--the selection today is almost unlimited. with hi-rev type lifters, you can now rev into the 7000 rpm range, if need be--well above where most 455 street/mild bracket motors should go. i use & recommend nothing but rhoads lifters--used dozens of sets--never 1 failure. they extend the usable power range of any cam & produce more vac at low rpm. they have real snap ring retainers & won't float at higher rpms--so for me--why consider anything else? but if you are 1 of the rhoads haters, there are plenty of other choices. just make sure you don't use those with the cheap, flimsy, paperclip style retainer. i had 1 come apart at a race--not fun!

[ponyakr]

i find it almost comical on some of the drug commercials, when they give the disclaimer at the end--telling all the bad side effects & negative reactions you could experience with their drug. some even say it could cause serious physical problems that could lead 2 blindness, bleeding & even death! i say "i'm not about 2 take something that mite cause all that". well, with these commercials in mind, i now present my disclaimer for all the tech info i have & will present. "Although the parts, combinations, techniques, & methods presented here worked great for me for many years--i must warn you that they may not work at all for some of you. tho they worked great in the 1970's, its a different century now. everything is computerized--so the old school info i have presented may no longer be aplicable(may not work). so if you decide 2 try any of this stuff yourself--do so at your own risk. i assume absolutely no responsibility for the outcome of anyone's actions. results may vary! your engine may develope problems which will cause you 2 experience loss of power, erratic performance, strange noises, severe leaks, broken or prematurely worn parts, or complete catostrophic engine failure, which in some cases could lead 2 lost races, traffic accidents, breakdowns in the middle of rush hour traffic & yes, in extreme cases, even physical harm. therefore, if you choose 2 use any products or procedures mentioned here, we highly suggest that you purchase sufficient life, accident, auto & health insurance in advance. good luck & happy motoring!

[ponyakr]

i realize, probably more than anyone else, that i am not the brightest star in the sky. i wasn't even anywhere near the smartest guy at our little country hi school. i realize that there are lots of pontiac dudes on this site who are MUCH smarter than me & know far more about all things pontiac than i ever will. so, with that in mind, let me say this--the info i have & will present here is not intended 2 contradict the info from anyone else who posts on this site. these are simply MY ideas & opinions & accounts & results of my actual hands on experience with pontiacs & racing. this forum is entitled YOUR best pontiac stories. thats exactly what this is--its MY story. this is the way it was--2 the best of my recollection(as the old folks used 2 say) i've discovered that my memory sometimes doesn't agree with our written account of events as they occurred--so i'll try 2 always use those records 2 keep the facts straight & refresh or correct my memory as needed. however these records do not contain most of the tech specs on engines & details of all that was required 2 get a race car 2 the track that was capable of winning a race. so, for that info, i must rely on my memory. not sayin this is the last word & everybody should do things like i did. no, this is simply what i did that did, or in some cases did NOT work for me. it is presented mostly for entertainment value. but, i hope that something i share will help someone in some way! so please receive this material in this light & not as a putdown or 2 badmouth any other person on this site. THANKS!