I started out as a big fan of pontiac and mopar cars, I was originally not all that impressed with chevy.
my first fast car was a 1965 Pontiac lemans, that I purchased the car with a 389 Pontiac engine, but it was on its last legs ,the previous owner had run the crap out of the car and when things looked like they were going to get very expensive to repair he sold the car cheaply. I had a couple Pontiac V8 engines at the time, that I had purchased dirt cheap.
"during this time frame I was learning a great deal about what worked and stupid stuff that was to be avoided (some of which I of course had to learn the hard way"
I bought the car knowing I was being forced into doing an engine swap, and that was why the price of the car was so low.
but at the time I WAS NOT VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about building, or rebuilding engines at the time and I was only in my early 20s and my mentors strongly suggested I build a big block chevy. i took awhile for me to get over the idea that the engines I had previously purchased were not going to be useful, in the opinion of most of my older friends at the time!
Here I was with several 389, 400 and 421 Pontiac engines in various levels of dis-repair (back in the late 1960-early 70s I could buy a salvage yard engine, or dealer pull out engine for the core charge, for under $150 fairly regularly as I was friends with several dealership mechanics)
a good chevy big block crate engine cost about $1500, which was about 14 weeks pay but a salvage yard BBC ENGINE (396-427 -454) could frequently be had for ($250-$400)
and because all the guys that knew what they were doing and that were willing to teach me were mostly chevy or mopar guys I was kind of forced into putting the pontiacs in storage in the back of my garage and start collecting chevy big block parts.
ok now you know why I started out with a split brand personality.
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=898&p=3239&hilit=1965+lemans#p3239
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4211&p=19305&hilit=1965+lemans#p19305
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=9731
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=10077&p=39367#p39367
my first fast car was a 1965 Pontiac lemans, that I purchased the car with a 389 Pontiac engine, but it was on its last legs ,the previous owner had run the crap out of the car and when things looked like they were going to get very expensive to repair he sold the car cheaply. I had a couple Pontiac V8 engines at the time, that I had purchased dirt cheap.
"during this time frame I was learning a great deal about what worked and stupid stuff that was to be avoided (some of which I of course had to learn the hard way"
I bought the car knowing I was being forced into doing an engine swap, and that was why the price of the car was so low.
but at the time I WAS NOT VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about building, or rebuilding engines at the time and I was only in my early 20s and my mentors strongly suggested I build a big block chevy. i took awhile for me to get over the idea that the engines I had previously purchased were not going to be useful, in the opinion of most of my older friends at the time!
Here I was with several 389, 400 and 421 Pontiac engines in various levels of dis-repair (back in the late 1960-early 70s I could buy a salvage yard engine, or dealer pull out engine for the core charge, for under $150 fairly regularly as I was friends with several dealership mechanics)
a good chevy big block crate engine cost about $1500, which was about 14 weeks pay but a salvage yard BBC ENGINE (396-427 -454) could frequently be had for ($250-$400)
and because all the guys that knew what they were doing and that were willing to teach me were mostly chevy or mopar guys I was kind of forced into putting the pontiacs in storage in the back of my garage and start collecting chevy big block parts.
ok now you know why I started out with a split brand personality.
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=898&p=3239&hilit=1965+lemans#p3239
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4211&p=19305&hilit=1965+lemans#p19305
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=9731
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=10077&p=39367#p39367