That was amazing. I have a 64 bonneville two door coupe and I wouldn't go near 100 mph in it. She would start floating around all over the shop. I love my Pontiac.
That is a rare Safeguard speedometer. Where is the needle that is set by a knob under dash for the limit you want to go? Just wondering. Pulled one of these out of a junkyard car, wiring harness and buzzer to put in my 1963 GP. Bill
"My 1964 Oldsmobile Super 88 4 Door Sedan With The 394 Cubic Inch 330 HP “Ultra High Compression Rocket Engine” With The Standard 4 Barrel Rochester Quadrajet Carburetor And The Stock 10.25.1 Compression Ratio From The Factory Would Have Given This 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix 389 4 Barrel Carburetor A Good Run I Know It For Sure !" 😉 "It Would Have Been A Neck & Neck Great Race !" ... "Oldsmobiles Were No Joke They Had Unbelievable Top End Like This Pontiac Grand Prix With The Highway Gearing" .... "Oldsmobile Rocket 🚀 Power !" ...."Yes That's Right Your Father's 1964 Oldsmobile Super 88 Was No Joke In A Race !" .. 😁 .. "Love Oldsmobiles And Pontiacs" ... "My 2 Favorite Car Divisions Of GM That Went By The Wayside !" ... 😢 ... "Both Oldsmobile And Pontiac Divisions Had The Same Exact Hotchkiss Differentials From 1957 To 1964 ! .... Huge 9.3/4 Inch Ring Gears And Are Bullet Proof ! ... Built Like A Truck Differential !" ...
As Long As The Front End Parts And Tires Are Good On Those Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs They Can Really Cruise To Whatever Speed ... Front Ends On Oldsmobiles And Pontiacs Were Heavily Constructed .... The 1957 to 1964 Oldsmobiles And Pontiacs Were Great Cars In Their Time ! ... Rear End Differential Housings On Oldsmobiles And Pontiacs Were The Same From 1957 to 1964 And Are Bulletproof ! .. 9.3/4 Inch Ring Gear "HEAVIER" Than Any Ford 9 inch Ring Gear That Was Stock In It's Time ... The Oldsmobile 394 And Pontiac 389 Engines Were Very Solid And Reliable ....They Had Unbelievable Top End With The Correct Gear Ratio To Do So .... 2.56:1 Gear Ratios To 4.30:1 Gear Ratios Were Available At That Time From GM ... So If You Had 2.56:1 Gear Ratio Set Up In The Back End Of One Of Those Oldsmobiles Or Pontiacs They Can Easily Attain Speeds Of 135 To 140 M.P.H. With Ease ! ...
My 63 GP handled like a fat water buffalo being herded with a willow switch. Mine was a non-AC car and had the gauges but not the tach. Back in the day, I lusted after the GPs but now, after driving modern cars, not so much. I'd like to get another 67 GTO.
Sadly, that's very easy to remedy. I did factory spec HD springs, big sway bars, Bilsteins and equipped with modern tires. In this case, Michelin Primacy. The car is very very firm, but not at all harsh. A couple of years ago, I did a late 70s T/A steering box which gives me 2.5 turns lock to lock, but is still variable ratio so it's not too antsy on center. It's too large to call tossible, but I can heard this car around as well as anything I've ever had.
Hi Scott. What a beauty!! I am helping my son finish his 66 Le Mans and then jumping on MY 63 GP. I'm in the planning stages and not quite sure I want to keep the Slim Jim tranny. How much did you have to change to fit that 700R?
Thanks. It's now been almost 20 years since I restored the car so some details are a little foggy at this point. It had already been converted to a TH400 when I got the car, but I wanted an overdrive top gear so a 700R was the choice at that time. I remember that we had to fabricate a new crossmember and driveshaft plus I used a B&W shifter for the new shift pattern and that's been about it. We had to also do a mild modification to the tunnel to clear the governor. It's run and worked fine over the years and had a big impact on gas mileage on open highway cruising since it goes to out of town car shows. I see 20 - 22 mpg on long drives if you keep the speed up enough that you're at least 1,400 - 1,500 rpms so about 75 mph gives me my peak MPGs.
I hated the slim jim automatic transmission that 63 Pontiac's had in them. I had a 63 Catalina and if I could have made one change in that car, I would have gotten the 4 speed manual.
This shows you how awesome these cars were/are. Some gears, drag radials, and aftermarket exhaust and these cars kick ass. Lot of people don't realize that the shitty factory quarter mile times were largely due to poor gearing and dog shit pinwheel bias ply tires. However I'm not sure if these guys are able to mess around with timing/jetting.
Timing and jetting is a yes. Aftermarket exhaust, not exceeding 2 1/2" diameter, routed as was the stock exhaust and exhaling through stock log type exhaust manifolds is permitted. Porting and polishing are not allowed. Balance and blueprinting are permitted just as the NHRA Pure Stock rules allowed back then. NO drag radials permitted. If the car rolled on 8.55x14 bias ply from the factory, that's what it had to run here.
I bot my '65 GP, and drove it Rite from the sellers garage the next day to the TriPower nationals. I hv vids of the purchase and the drive there, and Kevin's black '65 6 speed 2+2. I didn't make it there last summer, maybe next year...
steering twitchiness is also caused by improper toe-in-out, caster setting. how's your steering box play? with engine off move wheel back and forth an inch or two or 3, until the looseness is taken up. I can make a video to demonstrate. I put two reman steering boxes from Lares for two Suburbans, an '84 and '95, both 3/4 ton 4x4, both boxes are loose on center. Have you got a vid of your engine-alternator issue? certain belts grip better than others? I have a survivor '65 GP, loaded with tach, gauges, reverb, pwr ant, per seat, windows, AC, 8 luggers (tell me about the re-lined issue, I hv a bad drum). I hv plenty of videos of mine on my channel
Mine is what they were. No worse. High effort, fast ratio box will be going in this spring. My tracks very well so I sorta hate to mess with it, but I'm going to give it a try.
Scott H if I may enliten you, the lock to lock and steering effort haven't got as much to do with each other as you think. Send me an email corvairwild at gmail.com
if means anything to ya. i had the same issue with belt squeal on my 64 also. my pulley set up shared one belt for the pws pump and alt. i spaced the pws pump forwards to run individual belts. best thing i ever did.
I agree 100%. I am loving this series. NHRA pro classes are too homogenized now. No brand recognition anymore. Very little variety. This series has it all: big blocks, small blocks, hemi's, multi-carbs, single carbs, pony cars, full size cars, etc, etc, on and on. Pure Stock rocks!
What the hell happened? Where was everyone? PERFECT weather and maybe 50 cars turned up. What a waste!!!!! Well, that was a wasted 650 mile drive for nothing.
Remember, next weekend, Friday and Saturday, US 131 Motorsports Park, Martin, Michigan www.us131msp.com/track-infoBoth F.A.S.T. class and Factory Stock class. I'll be there presuming that we have a shot at decent weather. Grandson will be working the video and me the still camera.
Hi Scott I have a 63 Grand Prix 4 speed 389 cui and win in the process of restoring it! I was wondering if you can refer some places I can buy parts for it please let me know thank you! Benny
They're not "pure stock" in the sense that every component is factory original equipment. Some of those parts today can't be found for any amount of money. Look up the rules for competing in this series and I'm sure you'll be surprised at how close to authentic they actually are. They are blueprinted very thoroughly which is something that cannot be done along an assembly line because it takes too much time and costs too much for regular production cars. What the Pure Stock series does show is how much performance potential was engineered into those cars.
I've posted the rules before psmcdr.com/2.html Many, but not all, are blueprinted. We're a little better at that today than we were 50 years ago and it shows. Some are original, even original owners. It's a great event though, and by design, produces really close racing. Even a couple of ties in ET and trap speed.A run such as at min 4:12 shows what blueprinting and a properly set up engine can do. Here we have a 426 Max Wedge, 64 full size Plymouth running a 122 mpg trap with a 11: 59 ET. Amazing! What kind of rear wheel HP does it take to do that? And remember, these cars don't have roll cages so at 11 :49 and faster, you're out as happened to the white 69 Camaro so probably a little sand bagging going on.
Scott I am absolutely loving this series. I only wish they came to a track near me. I don't think a lot of folks realize how authentic these cars actually are. Or how much potential was engineered into them back then. As for me, I'm hooked. Even an intervention couldn't help me now. I'm digging PSMCDR.
Everything about these look factory stock and concourse show ready. These guys don't hesitate to run the absolute shit out of them either.s710.photobucket.com/user/scotth3886/slideshow/Pure%20Stock%20Muscle%20Car%20Drags%20-%202014
I thought Caned Heat was a good choice, very nice car too!!!! I love the cars from the early 60's. I had a 61 Olds 98 convertible, it was something else,wish I still had it. Maybe if I ever hit the lottery you never know. Russman
I'll be jiggered! I used to own a 1963 Pontiac Grand Prix. Nice car except you had to own an oil well to keep it running. 15 mpg was about the maximum. Power out the ying-yang.
Your car is beautiful.Everything you have done to your car is what I would have done.....performance upgrades that keep it looking stock ,but improve the car. 63-64 were the best looking GPs in my opinion. All 59-70/71 GM B Bodys are the stuff . I almost bought a few GPs but bought an 68 Impala( have some quick vids) . Still lust after GPs though?I'm in SoCal too
