[72pontiac]

seem to always scrounge up 70 bonne verts. of 6 I can think of, 4 were drop tops. 1 hard top was mine and another one at a show once.

[David Brown]

Time flies when you're havin' a good time! The boy in the picture, my son Chris, is now 41 years old.

[3 Deuce 64]

the motor was running after years of just sitting it was fogged the last time it was shut down . Had a miss flutter that could have been plugs or a wire quite no lifter noise 40 lbs pressure at an idle let it run for 15 to 20 min periods shut it off and restarted fine the oil and filter had been changed . went out the next day to start it and every thing hit the fan blowing up through the carb and a spark knock , so we stopped at that point and pushed the car in the garage . Here's what I found 5 intake push rods bent the four pictured were the worst 26835 . I've never seen them bent this bad , lifter was actually up out of it's guide . I've got the drivers side head off no sign of piston hit at least on this side . I'll pull the valves later and check then. original gears went bad at 85 k and were changed to the steel set so I'm assuming it didn't jump timing will check that later as well . Internally the motor is clean no scoring in the cylinders no excessive wear on the cam or lifters or ridge on the top of the cylinders . Not sure really what happened . the other thing that really blew my mind was when I started picking away at the under side . the floors and inner rockers have absolutely no rust -0- but the frame was pretty pore it was just packed full of mud and sand in front of the rear wheels . I'm thinking the strength of the body is the only thing holding this car together at this point . I probably can make some patterns and cut some 1/8 inch plate and butt weld them in ,but not really what I was looking to get into . This car is really way to good to part out but I'm not really wanting to do a frame off on a B body when I have three GTOs in the garage in various stages of restoration . Thoughts anyone .

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by 3 Deuce 64

This car is really way to good to part out but I'm not really wanting to do a frame off on a B body when I have three GTOs in the garage in various stages of restoration.

I wouldn't even bother doing a frame off. Since it doesn't run and drive now, unless you are in love with it I would sell it to someone who loves it or part it. We can't save them all.

[GpFreak]

Ouch... that's too bad. Wrong time of the year, but I'd say sell if you don't have the room and time to part. Where in NY are you?

[3 Deuce 64]

An update on the Bonne . I think I created the problem by dripping ATF down the carb with the motor running I've done this many times before to help clean up the valves and head chambers . The additives in the ATF will help clean out the deposit build up . Well any way after analyzing what I found here's what I think happened . The ATF did soften up the carbon turning it into a gooey tar like substance as long as the motor was running and warm it was still pliable as soon as the motor cooled down so did the goo and it was now in and around all the intake valves . So when it cooled down and got cold it stuck all the intake valves . This accounting for only the intake push rods to be bent . I cleaned and refaced all the valves they were all, true none were bend . Cleaned the head and intake runners lapped in the valves , they seated nicely. Cleaned the tops of the pistons so all the old carbon and goo is out. This was the drivers side only but I am assuming the other side will be the same and when everything is back together the motor will be fine. I guess I'll think twice before doing the ATF drip again especially on a motor that has been sitting forever . The heads needed to come off anyway just caused some extra work and a set of push rods .

I like playing with these original cars it's like an archeological dig if your careful when you clean things up it's neat what you find , like original stampings etc.

[3 Deuce 64]

Well she's running again and like a watch . I'll detail it out later just needed to get it movable on its' own power . Had to make up new tranny lines , brake lines and fuel lines are next .

[3 Deuce 64]

I added a couple pictures to show what I was dealing with . The old saying a picture is worth a 1000 words . Just took my time and cleaned everything up so far so good .

[3 Deuce 64]

a couple more pictures

[3 Deuce 64]

It's been awhile so a small up date patches are spotted in now just have to complete the weld and finish off and paint . The old girl is insured and registered so as soon as she's road worthy we can take it for a cruise.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Wow what a treasure find !
455HO Vert with Rally gauges and Rally wheels.

It is the XF block with 64 heads - right ?
Or did you add the chrome valve covers and dual snork breather to a YH / 15 engine ?

either way you're in store for a real cruisematic machine when it hits the road.
i think they have that mid/late 1950's Sci-Fi look about them.
wild

[3 Deuce 64]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Wow what a treasure find !
455HO Vert with Rally gauges and Rally wheels.

It is the XF block with 64 heads - right ?
Or did you add the chrome valve covers and dual snork breather to a YH / 15 engine ?

either way you're in store for a real cruisematic machine when it hits the road.
i think they have that mid/late 1950's Sci-Fi look about them.
wild

Since I had it apart and had the pieces I added the chrome covers and dual snorkel air cleaner I thought it would add a nice touch . I kept all the original pieces and from what I read there is only 10 HP difference between the two motors. the YH is 360 and the other is 370 . either way it is equal most of the GTOs . It should run pretty well .

[72pontiac]

Believe me. in 1985 when my 70 bonne with stock yh 455 put a stompin on this built to go fast olds 442 he was more than impressed with the potential of the 360 hp 455.

[David Brown]

Slowly but surely, mine is coming back together!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by 3 Deuce 64

Since I had it apart and had the pieces I added the chrome covers and dual snorkel air cleaner I thought it would add a nice touch . I kept all the original pieces and from what I read there is only 10 HP difference between the two motors.

10hp difference by factory ratings, both are under-rated to start with. lol
Ram4 was only 4hp more than Ram3, factory rating.

Was just asking to confirm because the HO version is extremely rare to find in a 70 Fullsize. The YH/15 is no slouch by any means whatsoever.

Have only encountered 1 in person, in my area, in past 30 years.
It was a Gold 2dr hardtop Bville with Posi Rear
Have encountered probably close to 20 Fullsize with YH/15.
So it sparked some extra interest.

Super car and you are very lucky to have gotten it.
It looked great parked on Daytona Beach

[north]

Originally Posted by 3 Deuce 64

Ya just the light it's silver all original paint what's left of it . never wrecked of tampered with. That's the nice thing about getting a car from the original owner . They had a lot of stories about the car . I'm going to ask them if they'll write some of them down for a car history. They gave me this pic from 1980 Daytona beach.

You can see a 73+ LeMans in the background

[north]

Originally Posted by 3 Deuce 64

I like playing with these original cars it's like an archeological dig if your careful when you clean things up it's neat what you find , like original stampings etc.

This is what I love about original cars, you took the words out of my mouth.

There is a fellow with a 370 horse Bonnie about 2 hours outside Montreal but its a 2dr hardtop, well optioned and in nice shape but the owner has delusions about value. He looks at GTO prices and thinks a Bonneville is worth more because it cost more new.

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

10hp difference by factory ratings, both are under-rated to start with. lol
Ram4 was only 4hp more than Ram3, factory rating.

Was just asking to confirm because the HO version is extremely rare to find in a 70 Fullsize. The YH/15 is no slouch by any means whatsoever.

Have only encountered 1 in person, in my area, in past 30 years.
It was a Gold 2dr hardtop Bville with Posi Rear
Have encountered probably close to 20 Fullsize with YH/15.
So it sparked some extra interest.

Super car and you are very lucky to have gotten it.
It looked great parked on Daytona Beach

Baron is so right with his comment that the YH 360 hp 455 for 1970 is no slouch. My brother and I recently dyno'd a '70 YH 455 with #15 heads (small valves & all) that has 9.9:1 static compression, factory intake & Q-jet, factory log exhaust manifolds, with the only deviation being a Summit 2802 cam & lifters with Comp Cams 995 springs. We didn't bother with installing screw-in rocker studs, we just had them pinned like in the good old days. It made 390(+) hp at 4600 and 512(+) torque at 3400 thru the logs with 2-1/2" headpipes without fine tuning. We felt confident 400(+) hp and 525 torque was within reach if we had more time. This was with 93 octane gas, not race gas.

Have fun! Dennis

[3 Deuce 64]

I may get to drive at least once this year before it snows . I have another 455 I pulled out of a 70 Bonne a couple years ago it had duals on it I can't remember the motor code now I'll have to check it .

[David Brown]

Although the dual exhaust was an option, at least on the 360 horse engine, I think most of them got it. Not scientific, but I have owned mine for 35 years and seen very few single exhaust 1970 Bonnevilles. Also, very few 400 engines.