[rockys1970]

I'm from NJ and remember Maroon Pontiac on Hamburg Turnpike Wayne, NJ. Then they moved to Rt. 23 in Wayne. In fact, I believe they are still in business selling Buick and GMC trucks.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by rockys1970

I'm from NJ and remember Maroon Pontiac on Hamburg Turnpike Wayne, NJ. Then they moved to Rt. 23 in Wayne. In fact, I believe they are still in business selling Buick and GMC trucks.

thats awesome they are still open, i might give them a call to see if theres any chance anyone there remembers when they were a pontiac dealer or if these decals still exist. its pretty cool having the pontiac indian head in their logo.

[78Macho]

Joe is making huge progress on the engine! Once it is painted, all of the accessories can be bolted on. He has a really cool stand to put the engine on to run it before putting it back in the car!

[TAKerry]

Looking Good!

[78Macho]

Quick update on the engine. Getting closer to mounting the engine on the stand for the initial running. There are a TON of small details to get this back together given the fact we had a bare engine to begin with.

I have been looking for a donor core support to repair the original unit that came in my car. They are actually date coded right next to the factory emissions label. Mine was dated 12 21 78. Guessing battery acid leaking compromised and ate the metal near the battery tray. Trying to find one that wasn't suffering from the same as mine was difficult. I stumbled upon a really nice unit on ebay, no rust or rot and it was actually the same date code as mine! Planning to take it and the front fender wells over to get blasted soon.

On the short list is getting the original radiator recored.

[Poncho Dave]

Make sure you have head bolt with stud for ground wire. Doesn’t look like it’s there in photo, only the the two for the heat shield.

[78Macho]

On it Dave, thanks for pointing this out!

[78Macho]

I have no clue how to post of video. Tried several times unsuccessfully yesterday.

Help?

[78Macho]

We will have to settle for a picture.

Got a call from Joe Sunday afternoon that he had the engine running! He has a stand and set up that looks like if belongs in a Snap On catalog! Engine sounds great! His dad, Jim Hand, was there sitting in a chair with a smile on his face! I asked Jim what his thoughts were and he was impressed! Pretty safe to say that the engine has not run in at least 30 years! I sent a message to the last registered, driving owner. He was so excited that he actually responded! I think there is some fairly heavy guilt on his part. I tried to explain that back in the day, this was a cool car and not anything a collector would bat an eye at. It was special ordered and built to be driven hard. That is exactly what he did. His ownership was a chapter in the book. A good number of really fun cars have been driven hard and put away wet. This one, is on its way back to life!

So grateful for Joe Hand and his passion for Pontiacs and the project cars he has helped rescue for me!

[TAKerry]

Beautiful, and trust me it sounds great as well!

[Skidmark]

Great read. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Keep it coming.

[78Macho]

Joe is continuing to collect and assemble the vacuum and emissions for the engine. The lates "needle in a haystack" is the EFE, heat riser valve for the driver side exhaust manifold. There IS a difference between an automatic v 4 speed application. Evidently the 4speed has the vacuum pod and valve mechanism at 9 o'clock (front side of engine) and the automatic has it at 3 o'clock (backside of engine). I am trying to refinish the air cleaner assembly. I get close and then a run hits or some debris from the sandblasting blows out in the wet paint.

Well, it appears I am going to have to bump up the quality of the restoration now? I had Craig "Norwood" Ehrlich refinish the hood latch assembly. Holy smokes!!! Thanks again Craig!

I have primer on the new core support, need to continue on it. Sending the radiator out for a recore is on the list but I am seeing $$$

The original owner, Albie, sent me a text last week that he stumbled upon a box of pictures he found in his parents house that had some pictures of the blue car! I waited a week and finally sent him a text back that I needed a sneak peek, please! The pictures are a scream to look at but unfortunately the quality is pretty poor. As you can see, he lived on his family dairy farm and the car had a lot of dirt and gravel driving in it's life. I am guessing this is one reason why it is rust-free! I can't tell for sure, but am thinking that is a collection of dirt on the rear outer spoiler, yikes!

[TAKerry]

Latch looks amazing! love the old pic too.

[78Macho]

Ok, the Efe valve is under control, but I might have incorrectly described the difference between an automatic v 4 speed units. The 4 speed unit does in fact have the vacuum pod behind the exhaust outlet. Sorry for the confusion on my part. We have a correct unit.

The saga of getting the engine closer to being done and ready to install was going pretty well until I dug the tranny out of storage. You know, one step forward and five giant steps back. The original tranny was gone, period. It wasn't hiding in the barn, stuck in some corner forgotten, but gone. I could deal with that because I had the original engine and was able to get the original, born with, rear end back under the car. About a year and a half ago, I went on the search for a correctly date coded BW, Super T10 unit. The search was crazy, and most folks I talked to thought I was even crazier to be searching. Very long story short, I was about two hours too late on a lead on a tranny in the south. Unit was from a one-owner, 45k mile car that had sat outside for too long for the car to be saved. Date code was December, 1978, BINGO, perfect. I nearly died when he told me he had just sold it. He sold it to a man who was going to surprise his son with a complete 4 speed set up for his '73 Formula for his birthday! Quickly, my wheels started turning and I asked the question, could I have his phone number. I called, he answered and I pleaded my case. He could care less about numbers and date codes. I said, if I find you a replacement unit, will you trade me yours for mine? He agreed! Lots of details later, he got a newly rebuilt unit and I got a perfectly date coded tranny for my car. Well, you can guess where this goes, huh? Joe Hand is ready to mate the tranny to the engine and I take the unit over to his house. He emails me a few days later, Jim, this doesn't look good. Said 45K mile unit is a NASTY mess inside, which necessitated a full rebuild ($$$). The clutch and pressure plate that were included in the complete set up were bad as well, of course. While the rebuild is not done and the dollars are continuing to flow out the door, question is, was it a bad choice on my part? Most would say yes, and I understand and would have to agree with them, but, I would do it all over again for the correct unit for this particular restoration. Joe Hand is a saint and I am grateful for his passion and efforts!

Here are a few pictures!

[TAKerry]

Dropped mine off at the shop last week, I sure hope it doesnt end up looking like that!
Good decision in the long run. You would always be wondering about 'the one that got away'. Its just money, LOL.
Do you know how he refinished the surfaces? They look beautiful. I thought mine cleaned up well but they are still rusty and crusty compared to those.

[starlightblack]

Originally Posted by 78Macho

Ok, the Efe valve is under control, but I might have incorrectly described the difference between an automatic v 4 speed units. The 4 speed unit does in fact have the vacuum pod behind the exhaust outlet. Sorry for the confusion on my part. We have a correct unit.

The saga of getting the engine closer to being done and ready to install was going pretty well until I dug the tranny out of storage. You know, one step forward and five giant steps back. The original tranny was gone, period. It wasn't hiding in the barn, stuck in some corner forgotten, but gone. I could deal with that because I had the original engine and was able to get the original, born with, rear end back under the car. About a year and a half ago, I went on the search for a correctly date coded BW, Super T10 unit. The search was crazy, and most folks I talked to thought I was even crazier to be searching. Very long story short, I was about two hours too late on a lead on a tranny in the south. Unit was from a one-owner, 45k mile car that had sat outside for too long for the car to be saved. Date code was December, 1978, BINGO, perfect. I nearly died when he told me he had just sold it. He sold it to a man who was going to surprise his son with a complete 4 speed set up for his '73 Formula for his birthday! Quickly, my wheels started turning and I asked the question, could I have his phone number. I called, he answered and I pleaded my case. He could care less about numbers and date codes. I said, if I find you a replacement unit, will you trade me yours for mine? He agreed! Lots of details later, he got a newly rebuilt unit and I got a perfectly date coded tranny for my car. Well, you can guess where this goes, huh? Joe Hand is ready to mate the tranny to the engine and I take the unit over to his house. He emails me a few days later, Jim, this doesn't look good. Said 45K mile unit is a NASTY mess inside, which necessitated a full rebuild ($$$). The clutch and pressure plate that were included in the complete set up were bad as well, of course. While the rebuild is not done and the dollars are continuing to flow out the door, question is, was it a bad choice on my part? Most would say yes, and I understand and would have to agree with them, but, I would do it all over again for the correct unit for this particular restoration. Joe Hand is a saint and I am grateful for his passion and efforts!

Here are a few pictures!

Your choice to find a correct T-10 was on the mark, good effort. Your belief that a used T-10 would not need a rebuild is where you fell down - they ALL need something inside. Keep going - you're almost there - don't look backwards.

[Joe37]

Need some shifter information The bracket that mounts the shifter to the trans is the generic ones being sold. I believe the shifter is to far forward and to low. Second gear rod hits the reverse lever. If the shifter was a littler higher up it would clear. I also used up most of the adjusting threads. Second gear rod has some damage on it from hitting at some point, surely this can't be right! Third photo shows it hitting.

[Joe37]

TAKerry, all the internal transmission parts not replaced went through a sandblast cabinet with worn out media. The parts are hardened, so no real danger of hurting them. After the blasting, they were hit with a wire brush to polish them, soft/fine bristles in a drill press, not the rip your skin off, rust removers. The case was blasted as well, then cleaned, then soda blasted.

Joe

[TAKerry]

Perfect, thank you. I used a roloc on mine and it came out too shiny. I almost hit it with silver paint but that would kind of defeat the purpose. I took some scotch bright and steel wool to dull mine a bit and it worked a little. But trying to keep up with Jim is tough! LOL
2021-04-04_04-33-32 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Heres what the linkage on mine looked like. It does have a performance shifter though.

[Joe37]

I used Eastwood paint ( https://www.eastwood.com/ew-zinc-pho...sol-12-oz.html ) on the shifter parts, it matches OEM coatings perfectly.