[Karch]

How do you find the time?

[b-man]

Originally Posted by Karch

How do you find the time?

Back when I first put the car together to go racing about 15 years ago I was of course a bit younger and I rarely worked more than 40 hours a week. I built up the car during one summer, it was a busy few hot months.

Lately I've been missing driving the car, it has been sitting pretty much forgotten and neglected for nearly 5 years. I'm not nearly as ambitious as I was back when I first got the racing bug, but I make myself get out there after work and move forward on it even though I'm tired from working 55 hour weeks.

My interest in this car (my very first Pontiac) has happily been renewed, I'm glad I didn't sell it after I lost interest in it for a while.

[Karch]

I get 2 hours for my father's day gift this Sunday...I get to grind on some calipers and remove a no-hop bar so I can refill my differential, and maybe get it back on the road.

[b-man]

.....for street use are now replacing the 20 year-old Centerline aluminum racing wheels and non-street legal racing tires.

I wanted a new look for the car, and some wider front wheels and tires for better braking power.

A pair of 275/60-15 Firestone Indy 500 tires in the rear on 15X8" wheels and 205/75-15 Kuhmo touring tires on 15X5" wheels complete the new rolling stock.





The wheels were built off of a set 15" 1956 Chevy wheel centers, these were welded into new steel rims. No hub caps will be used on this car.

[Tom Hand]

B-Man, what an awesome job!!
The whole engine and car setup looks like something my Dad or Brother would have built and raced. It is nice to see so many things that look "familiar".
When you are ready for toning its sound level down, I bet we can figure out some new mufflers to do it.
Thanks for sharing the shots of the exhaust system and air intake too.
Tom

[b-man]

Tom, thanks for the kind words.

It might not surprise you that the reason I decided on the modified stock aircleaner and cool air from the cowl was directly due to inspiration provided by reading a HPP article featuring your Dad's wagon back in the early '90s.

After reading that article I pretty much headed straight to the boneyard and picked up all of the pieces I needed off of old Pontiacs. After installing the cool air setup and a 1" tall aluminum 4-hole spacer (a friend at work made it for me) under the Q-jet the car picked up a solid 2 tenths in the 1/4 mile.

You can be sure that when it's time for a more 'civilized' exhaust tone I'll look you up.

Bart

[Z Code 400]

Bart,

I really like the open wheel look. The overall theme of your car is very cool indeed...Robert

[mrtonegto]

Bart:
Here's a pic of my stainless splitters installed - thanks for the info you provided on yours.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by mrtonegto

Bart:
Here's a pic of my stainless splitters installed - thanks for the info you provided on yours.

Glad I could help you Tone.

Those look great, they give your car a classy look.

Since my car is essentially a no-class build, I built my splitters to scare old ladies and small children.

[mrtonegto]

That's right Bart, I've got all kinds of class - just happens to be all THIRD!!

Say, what is the backspacing on those 15X8's? I really like how that wheel/tire combo fill out the wheel well. I'm quickly realizing I need bigger rear tires with the 467.........

[b-man]

Originally Posted by mrtonegto

That's right Bart, I've got all kinds of class - just happens to be all THIRD!!

Say, what is the backspacing on those 15X8's? I really like how that wheel/tire combo fill out the wheel well. I'm quickly realizing I need bigger rear tires with the 467.........

My rear end has been narrowed just a tad over 1-3/4" per side, so you can't use the same 3-1/4" backspace wheel that I use. You'll have to use a wheel with 5" of backspace. That deep-dish look does come at a price.



Things are tight, I had to do a little 'surgery' with a 2-1/2# hammer on the very bottom rear of the inner wheelhouses. Nothing major, but it had to be done for clearance with the slightly larger slicks I used to run (10X28) and even then they rubbed just a hair (but only while turning off onto the return road). The outer wheelwell lips haven't even been touched to make room.

View of the inner wells from inside the trunk:

[mrtonegto]

Hmmmm..... wonder if I could get some Rally II's made in 15X8 w/5" b/s.

Who would you you recommend for those? Wheel Vintiques??

[jamaca85]

nice.......... great job

[amcmike]

This belongs in the Exhaust section.

[b-man]

Tone,

Wheel Vintiques would be a good place to try. I won't give up where my wheels were made because it was too much of a struggle.

jamaca85, thanks for the kind words.

Originally Posted by amcmike

This belongs in the Exhaust section.

Mike, you'd better watch it or I might just copy this entire thread to the 'Exhaust' forum.

[BVR421]

After an exhausting review of the post, I think it belongs in the California Hot Rod section.

[Tone]

Something about your car B-man...I just love it. Wish I had one. Nice work!

[performerrpm]

that is a extremely good looking pontiac!!! i love it and that exhaust is bad*ss if you ever get the time to make a video of some sort with sound id like to see it and love to hear it

[Z Code 400]

Originally Posted by b-man

"Wheel Vintiques would be a good place to try. I won't give up where my wheels were made because it was too much of a struggle.

Bart,

Wheel Vintiques is right here in Fresno. Over the years, I have gone to them with some very odd requests and they always treat us right. They did the 15 X 8" Rallyes on my Formula and the workmanship and finish are top notch.

When I was in high school, I had a 1969 Charger R/T. I wanted some cool looking rims, but money was tight. A friend of my Dad's owned a wrecking yard, so I scrounged up some 15 X 8 Corvette Rally Wheels and a set of 15 X 7 Dodge Cop car Wheels, the ones with the slots around the center.

I cut them apart on the lathe and slid the Dodge centers into the Corvette rims. We used an old 'bubble balancer' to get the balance right and then we centered the rims on the lathe with a dial indicator. After that, I just welded them up.

The Charger looked really cool with 15 X 8" rims and dog-dish hubcaps.

When I was growing up, Enkei's were the hot ticket for the hot rod crowd. The most popular were the 'gold center' having (10) 1" holes. I wish I could find a set of 15" X 8" X 4.5" Enkei's with natural aluminum, 10 hole centers. That is my dream wheel for this project.

I respect and admire B-man's approach, but I will not use 16, 17 or 18" wheels simply because I want a more 'traditional' look for my Formula.

You just don't see white letter tires anymore....:-)

[b-man]

For extended street driving the BG280 electric pump that served me well for bracket racing has to go, these pumps were not made for long-duration use. The pump/motor package is fairly tall, I had it bolted to the outside of the frame rail and tucked up tight under the trunk floor and it still had somewhat limited ground clearance.



I will be replacing the electric pump and dead-head fuel system with a new RobbMc 550HP mechanical pump with a vapor recovery line and one of his large inline filters. Since I'm using the mechanical pump, I need to run fuel lines on the driver's side of the car now.

I have installed a new 1/2" aluminum line to feed the fuel pump, and a 3/8" aluminum line for vapor recovery. The installation of these two line sizes also gives me the option of using the 3/8" line for a feed and the 1/2" line as a return if I decide I want to use some sort of electric pump in the future.

The RobbMc large inline filter is tucked under the rear bumper, 1/2" aluminum line with brass inverted flare fittings are used to make the connections. Fuel tank is coming out for refinishing, the cheap silver engine paint I used after welding a sump on it came off easily the first time fuel was spilled on it.



Profile shot.



Line from filter runs along the bottom of the frame rail.



Here you can see the 3/8" vapor return connected to the stock fuel sender, the 9" Ford rear end has been removed from the car for some minor housing mods. The lines are kept well away from the exhaust and suspension components, this pic is kind of deceiving.



Both lines go between the body and the crossmember, not a lot of room to work them through the gap, a big pain. Here you can see they follow the bolt-on repro 4-speed chassis braces past the muffler.



Adel clamps secure the lines to the frame near the lower control arm pivot point.



More clamps hold the lines in place just behind the tranny crossmember.



Both aluminum lines waiting to be connected up to some lengths of steel line that will run through the frame to the factory opening in the engine crossmember. It's pretty much impossible to run these lines in one piece from front to rear with the body on the frame without kinking them during the install.

I want to run steel line through to the crossmember to minimize the chances of chafing through the line. There's really not a lot of room for the two fairly large lines running through the frame so putting some sort of anti-chafing covering over them will be impossible here.



Here are the 2 steel lines that will run through the frame, both are close to 3' long.



I used the flaring tools to put a 'bubble' on the end of each line to keep the flexible rubber lines secure after the hose clamps are installed.



Both lines installed and terminated with inverted flare unions.



Both lines peeking out of the front crossmember. I used a die grinder to open up the hole about 1/2" towards the driver's side in order to get the lines through.



RobbMc 550HP pump waiting to get the lines connected up.



Earl's Super Stock 1/2" rubber fuel hose and Gates 3/8" fuel line make the connections.



Rubber line was pushed onto the steel lines an extra inch or so to protect the ends of the steel lines from chafing against the edges of the opening in the crossmember.



Using 3/8" steel line from the pump to the carb, with 2 short rubber sections to splice in the steel Fram filter can.



I'm glad to get that job over with.