| FAQ |
| Members List |
| Social Groups |
| Calendar |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
#61
10-08-2005, 12:29 PM
|
||||
|
||||
Misterp266
This stuff is way out of my league and I do not know enough about Mickey Thompson to be worthy of saying his name. But I watch and learn with admiration. This is a partial quote from a letter Gary Daniels sent me after I asked him to describe how he came into some of his Pontiac collection, maybe it will help shed some light on what you are looking for. "learned back in the 70's to never say never which brings me to answer your next question. I met a guy at a small auto repair shop in Kansas in the late 70's and I was asking if anyone knew of any judges or Trans Ams sitting around. He told me that there was a kid next door whose dad owned a maroon 70 judge. I went over and asked if it was for sale and he proceeded to tell me that it was and that his dad had a lot of early super duty stuff that he had got from his cousin who was Mickey Thompson. I laughed to myself and said lets go see it and I will buy it. Well, he was actually staying with his grandmother and his dad was out of town etc.... I thought yea yea yea but gave him my phone number anyway. Well about a week later they called and said I could come up and we could make a deal on everything. I asked how much money should I bring and they said bring a few thousand dollars with you. So taking a chance I loaded my trailer hit the bank and took off for Kansas. When I got there I was shocked. Here sat this nice maroon 70 judge 4 speed loaded car, and lots of early super duty stuff. several sets of heads, cranks, a complete 421 SD with the two fours he told me this was Mickey Thompson’s engine that he was testing for Pontiac and that when he was done they wanted the car back and he kept the engine, rear end, and other misc. pieces of the car and that they crushed the car. Fast forward to the late 80's or early 90's when Pete McCarthy’s book came out and wow the VIN on that engine shows it to be a Swiss cheese car just like they said and also it is one of the unknown delivery cars. I got the 4 cylinder super duty that Mickey ran like 9 second quarters with. Several experimental items, some which say Thompson cast in them. Fuel injection units, Etc... He proceeded to tell me that he was an engineer at Pontiac and he showed me pay stubs with his name on them and they were from the engineering dept of Pontiac motor division. He had pictures of himself with Mickey Thompson and Iskenderian (did I spell that anywhere close) grinding camshafts. He told me several stories about how Mickey Thompson and other famous people who were racing Pontiacs could get anything they wanted from the engineering dept. he said that the engineering dept would ship out all kinds of experimental items to these guys across the country to try them in real life applications." |
|
#62
10-08-2005, 12:36 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Will see Steve tomorrow also.I know he not only has a lot of stuff but he ALSO has the mold boards for alot of the M/T stuff.He has a challanger motor.He has NEVER as far as I know sold any of the M/T stuff.Will confirm more tomorrow.Both Steve and Fritz are at the long beach hipo swap meet the 2nd sun of every month.Tom
|
|
#63
10-08-2005, 01:13 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Tom,
Progress on the V block has been very good. I did have it on display at Pontiac Heaven for all to look at awell as a bunch of other cool Pontiac stuff. Maybe you missed it. If I wouldn't have moved, the block would already have been in my fueler. Moving has backed things up a bit. I will mainly be using the alum block for ease of mainenance and repairability. I kind of would prefer not to potentially sacrifice such a rare part to the nitro gods but, I have so much money and time into it now I am sure I couldn't sell it. With the alum block I can machine it to use removeable cylinder liners like a KB, TFX, Donovan, etc. This feature is a real benefit on a nitro car where lots of maintenence is needed. This block was raw with only the cam hole machined. All tooling was based from the cam location. It has been cool to make tooling to machine a block from scratch. Once finished, I will start on my first 2 billet block forgings for the ultimate in strength, repairability and serviceability. I hope the V block survives the time it will be used. I tried to get Steve van dun to help me with some HEMI stuff years back but, he didn;t want to bother with me. Old one- I don;t understand your above post saying you want them. That is the same engine and parts you insulted me about on Rudy;s thread. You said something of the sort that they were junk. The HEMI heads though about 45 yeard old now still have very impressive exhaust ports. They seem to still compare with the best today. I think the intakes will need work and I have many ideas to try. Still, they should work well in a blown/nitro application as they were designed to do so. Not a production based ( factory manufactured). Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org
__________________
Hundreds of Pontiacs in Az "Real Pontiacs only..no corporate nonsense!" Facebook- Pontiac Heaven Hosting- 23rd annual Pontiac Heaven weekend- Phoenix pending due to covid Pontiac Heaven Museum in process Phil 2:11 |
|
#64
10-08-2005, 04:49 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Awww man, I've seen those 3 and 4 engined tractors on TV since way back. I was slobbering about seeing one with 3 Pontiac Super Duty 455 carburated engines mounted to it. I'm a 73 Super Duty owner so things like that makes my nuts wiggle. But you're right, this boy does need to get out more. |
|
#65
10-08-2005, 05:00 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
A guy offered one of the Challenger engines on eBay about a year ago - was it this same guy ? Or one of you other guys ? |
|
#66
10-08-2005, 05:32 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
You are barking up the wrong tree, Steve B. I'd never call a M/T Hemi head junk- to me, they are the ultimate Pontiac head. You better go back and read that thread over, cuz it was NOT ME posting that. Get a reality check. What I said was, I'd love to run one MYSELF, N/A form with a custom steel intake and headers with collectors and 1-4 bbl. Where you and I disagreed was on the PONTIAC BLOCK strength. The old Pontiac bottom end would break before the HP potential of those heads could be fully realized in blown applications. And you know that's true, otherwise why did you make a bottom end oil pan mounted girdle to strengthen yours ? I'd buy a pair of M/T heads TODAY if I could find them- and they coin wasn't too long. |
|
#67
10-08-2005, 05:34 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
enough to buy about 10 complete M/T engines. and then some |
|
#68
10-08-2005, 05:37 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Steve Van Dun can be very hard to deal with- I tried to buy 303 RA V heads from him a LONG time ago, when most of these deals were done via Hemmings Motor News- pre-internet days- remember that ? He has been known to be less than scrupulous on some parts sales. He's not a Pontiac man- he's a computer programmer or something. |
|
#69
10-08-2005, 05:38 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Charlie,what is long coin to you?$5000-7000-10000?I will see Steve tomorrow.Money talks and BS walks!Tom
|
|
#70
10-09-2005, 01:21 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
It's not an easy task to describe the lobe placement to a cam grinder- and have confidence that he'll get it right. I was fortunate enough to buy one of Mickey's hemi cams, so I could loan it out as a pattern for lobe placement. Last edited by Jack Gifford; 10-09-2005 at 02:07 AM. |
|
#71
10-09-2005, 02:01 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I dealt with John House, a M/T employee, for the heads about twenty years ago, and sent the money to Mickey. This was when Hot Rod Magazine still ran classified ads and the heads had been listed there. After seeing the ad, I was on the phone 24/7 until someone arrived in the office Monday morning! Shortly after getting the heads, Dan Dunscombe (who, I understand, parked his 18-wheeler at M/T and helped them out some) alerted me to one of the Harvey Aluminum blocks in a warehouse, and I called Mickey and managed to buy it. After I broke that block in '92, Dan found me the one now in my engine, another Harvey Aluminum one. Fritz found me a few pieces- valves, rocker covers, cam, etc.- even a 400 MPH Cragar timing cover, complete with a 5-bolt plate to mount the Harman-Collins flathead mags they used on unblown "Challenger" engines! (Okay, so it only went 357 or so- but doesn't "400 MPH cover" sound great?) Thanks for taking time out to post here Steve. |
|
#72
10-09-2005, 02:15 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Steved400- So does Gary Daniels still have a bunch of rare Pontiac stuff? Is he into playing with any of it? Any idea who the Pontiac engineer was?
Thanks for sharing that letter with us. |
|
#73
10-09-2005, 02:28 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#74
10-09-2005, 08:21 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Steel intake? Again, why? Last edited by Sunshine State Shaker; 10-09-2005 at 09:09 AM. |
|
#75
10-09-2005, 08:48 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Jack:
I saw your puller in HPP in '86 or '87 or something. Brought a big smile to my face. Then, awhile ago, HPP did the in-depth story on it. Again, more big smiles. Unbelievable. But that article seemed to only scratch the surface with respect to making the hemi heads work. Have you given some consideration to writing down EVERYTHING you've learned about making them functional and perhaps disseminating that information to those who would LOVE to know? I'm not sure if you're inclined to share all of that hard-gained knowledge with others, but some of us "younger" guys would be really grateful. That fact that these heads, along with rare V stuff, just sit around and gather dust, is regrettable at best and wasteful at worst. I'm fortunate enough to have met Tom S. via the internet and to have been told tales about the old days in SoCal with Pontiacs. It's also great that Tom is at a point in his life to be able to actually build and enjoy this stuff, instead of just looking at other peoples' stashes, sitting on shelves doing nothing. I know these are projects that he's wanted to do since I was in diapers: He has built (AND currently drives!): A real 421 SD-powered '63 Tempest using REAL parts on a 24K original mile car. An all-aluminum 1960-vintage motor, using all of the right parts. A V motor or two and actually USES one in his '69 TA. Again, with all the right parts. He just recently bought a '69 GTO that will get the "right" V treatment. He just recently bought a '63 Tempest wagon, AND persistently tracked down a Powershift unit, in order to do a "right" 421 SD replica. I'm sure there are others. Steve Barcak: Folks may throw sh!t at his doorstep for running mid 7s in a fuel powered modern FED that SHOULD run low sixes or high fives. However, the fact that he's DONE what he's done with his blocks, girdles, Wenzler heads, etc. is truly commendable. He'll get around to the dragster, eventually. Right now, he's got other "children" who also need attention. The guy just loves the Pontiac V8 and the cars that it came in. The fact that he's chased down and bought all that cool hemi stuff is also respectable. I think Steve would eat cold soup from a can for a year, in order to further his Pontiac projects, if he had to. Jim Yanoski: The guy RAN an Algon-injected, V-powered '65 GTO convertible on the street. He told me about how he acquired that complete V engine years before and that he still had all of the manuals from Algon. I first met Jim at a Pontiac show at the Warminster Air Base in 1987 when he had that car on display. Jim definitely marched, and still marches, to his own drummer. He and Steve had the pleasure of meeting and spending some time together this summer, when Steve was out on the East Coast. Dave Swimm: the man was running 8.40s with a factory block, crank, heads, distributor, a single 4150 Holley and a TH400, THIRTEEN years ago! Scott Rex? Bruce Maichle? Rick Johnson? You guys, all named above, are MY Pontiac heros.  Beswick? A wonderful gentleman, to be sure. But what's he done with Pontiacs in 35 years, besides match race a '64 Chevelle?  Fulper? Say what you will about that guy, but he truly loves the Pontiac V8 also. If he was not in the business of pissing people off, and instead was employed in another capacity, his reputation would be entirely different. He really is a Pontiac guy. Last edited by Sunshine State Shaker; 10-09-2005 at 09:08 AM. |
|
#76
10-09-2005, 09:30 AM
|
||||
|
||||
SSS,
Buying parts of your dreams and then having the time and the $$$ to do it right when it's not a bolt together project means things sit sometimes until it's feasable. I'm working with Jack and have talked to Tom S about what I need to do to get my hemi together and it will get together. With a magnesium blower intake, not a 'steel' single 4 barrel! I'll add Jack to your list of Pontiac heros. He made the hemi work and work well. Now about those RA V aluminum heads......haven't seen a picture yet.
__________________
" Darksiders Rule "
|
|
#77
10-09-2005, 09:40 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
1. I was referring to parts hoarders. I know nothing of you or of your plans. 2. No need. Re-read my sentence, where I said "all named above." 3. Nor will you. You'll just have to wait until the car is running. |
|
#78
10-09-2005, 09:52 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Jack
No he doesn't play with it, he did some driving and racing about 20 years ago but all that has stopped with old age. I do not know the guys name, but if he'll share it I'll post it. |
|
#79
10-09-2005, 09:53 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Tell him to sell it all to someone who'll use it!
__________________
" Darksiders Rule "
|
|
#80
10-09-2005, 09:58 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I was hoping he would just give some of it to me, the injection systems really does it for me. I've told him time and again it does no good to have 500 rare Pontiacs and never drive a one of them.
|
| Reply |
|
|
The PY Online Forums is the largest online gathering of Pontiac enthusiasts anywhere in the world. Founded in 1991, it was also the first online forum for people to gather and talk about their Pontiacs. Since then, it has become the mecca of Pontiac technical data and knowledge that no other place can surpass.
Linear Mode
