That is not an original motor the fucking thing is literally worthless.. That is a small block Chevy painted up like a pontiac motor to make you even more stupid you even watched this.... The thing is a dented up tuna can turd...
sorry to be offtopic but does anyone know a way to log back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb lost my account password. I would love any help you can offer me.
@Bowen Layne i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and I'm trying it out now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
So happy I found this channel. It's nice to see someone from the homeland out there rescuing these old beauties. I hope ya'll can make this thing run again. I'd love to see it roar back to life! Keep up the great content! Your channel is like the Roadkill of Iowa and I love it!
Awww. My dead mothers first car was a 1969 Pontiac Lemans. She always talked about that car till the day she died. Just think, this and all of these old cars were someone's dream. Great car!
Please leave it Pontiac powered. I'm sure you can find another 350 or even a 400, 428, or 455 to drop in it. The LS swap thing is getting old plus I'm tired of seeing that engine in everything.
For the love of sanity, don't put a fucking LS in a Pontiac. You can get more power from a true pontiac and itll handle the load for a longer period of time, especially with a forged steel crank, roller cam/lifter/rocker setup & timing gear setup. Also, you can get over 4 inch strokes out of them, which will provide significant torque at low rpm. Let the hatred flow, I don't care.
Great video! Thanks for rescuing that Lemans from its waterlogged hell. Pontiac's are my favorite car make. It's a shame she sat neglected so long, but at least it didn't go to the crusher or shredder. Thanks for having the courage to take on the challenge & for getting another "true blue" Pontiac V-8 & resisting the temptation to put a small block Chevy or modern LS in her. I'm a subscriber for ever! Looking forward to more videos of this car!
My dad had one of these in !972, 4 barrel and a 4 speed. He taught me to drive a standard - one evening we went over to a back road, and I got behind the wheel. He said, "Step on the clutch ... put it in first .... give it some gas .... more gas .. more ... now take your foot off the clutch". We peeled out, and he said, " keep it straight ... less gas ... clutch in ... brake." He used 2nd and 4th usually. Hurst shifter. 2 door. I was checking out Hemmings for one the other day, so I guess that's why this showed up. That was a badass car with a 4 speed bro. I loved that car, but I loved my dad way more.
Thanks for not ls swapping it, i know that motor is pretty far gone, but even just a period correct motor from another same model. Ls swaps can be fun, but i love authenticity, and a big clumsy ls takes all that away.
I don’t think it going to move very good if it’s been under water. I had a motor just sit out in damp air and got rusty to where I could not get it to turn any more. Turning flywheel bolts with big long bar, nope. The pistons will probably only come out with a chisel. Seriously Had Pontiac just like that ( even greenish blue color ) it had a Chevy 283 with a power glide. I think it had real high 2.73 to 1 rear end. 283 died after overheating so I put in a 230 6 cylinder that I had and converted to a 3 speed stick trans. Having a 2.73 gear and big tires with a stick was not real good, almost had to get out and push to get it rolling, had to be careful getting it moving without overheating the clutch. After that it was okay. Not a race car, good cruising on freeway. Pontiac drive lines had larger universal joints so when combining them with Chevy we found you could get a two size bearing cup u- joint and that’s what we used. They had them at auto parts store. Don’t know what it was normally for.
@@michaelszczys8316 yeah, like I said it was pretty far gone, and I don't expect that exact engine to ever run again. I just meant using an original period correct engine from another car
Brings back good memories. Bought my first car at 15 in 83. 69 Lemans. Supposed to be a 350 auto. Bucket seats, console shift. Paid $40.00. Didn't run. Bad points. $5.00 repair. Turned out it had a 428 Bonneville engine in it. Ton of fun in that car. Wish I still had it.
I second that. Engine is shot anyways. Rebuild doesn't make a lot of sense. So might as well try your luck with some marvel mystery oil. Soak it, drain the MMO, fill it up with fresh MMO again and repeat the process for a couple of weeks, and see what happens...
Nice find! I have the same exact lemans in my garage. Blue /blue interior and vinyl top. Only difference is mine has bucket seats with column shift. One of the best looking A bodies IMO. Definitely fix her and good luck!
Wow. You will get MAD PROPS if you rebuild that motor. IMHO, I'd part out the car and cut my losses. Too much damage (driver door, driver quarter, passenger quarter, plus rusty-rot fenders, not to mention whatever not-yet-discovered strains of mold are festering in the interior) to make it worthwhile rebuilding. You're a brave dude.
Was that a replacement Pontiac engine coming out of the back of the van? Cool! Exactly how I would have handled it (after assessing the floors and trunk). Was that an aluminum intake manifold? 😏 350 is ok, 455 is fun but don’t rev without a lot of aftermarket $$$, a 400 is the way to go. If you can find a 69 YS block with 6X heads you would be golden. Driver side body damage is a drag, passenger side look pretty decent except the rust. Flooding is a bad deal. Behind the dash, heater box, wiring, all potential extra headache but still do-able. What were the options on the car? Power steering/brakes, anything? I’ve had four 1970 model LeMans, LeMans Sport, and GTO’s. They are are a lot like a Chevelle but a little more styling and Pontiac mills are outstanding torque monsters. Well supported in the aftermarket if you want to make it really nice but real head turners on the street as a driver or at the drags on the weekend. Lots of potential! Good luck with it. I believe have a copy of an old issue of Pontiac magazine that has the “matching numbers” series for this car. If you want to post your cowl tag, and casting numbers I can look them up and decode them for you. I think the original engine may be salvageable with an overbore, you’ll just need to tear it down and see how deep the corrosion went into the cylinder walls. And of course it would need a set of pistons, lifter bores could be pitted badly and if it had river water in it, it may have frozen. Check freeze plugs and outside block area and pull the intake and valley pan and look along the sides of the block valley for cracks, kind of a weak spot on these engines when they freeze. I noticed it had pushrod guide plates (good sign) but the rocker studs appeared to be pressed in (bad sign). I don’t think the car is valuable enough at this point to warrant spending a bunch of money to keep the original engine but of course that up to you. I WOULD tear it down and see if it’s worth hanging onto and devoting storage space, for later maybe, if it passes basic inspection. Cool car with the buckets and console! Keep posting your progress, this could get interesting.
My first car that I paid for with money from my first part time after school job was a 68 Lemans! It was a barn find with 109,000 miles a classmate bought from a senior, possibly the original owner. The vinyl top was shredded, paint faded with dented up rear fenders. He quoted me $300 after he'd replace the dents, tear off the vinyl and do a 1 coat paint job. This is 1981! And his dad was a mechanic who worked out of there 2 car garage. SOLD! I said. It was green with the 350, 2 spd powerglide with posi rear! Fn thing would move! I still miss her.
My grandpa has a '79 Pontiac Catalina with a '73 Catalina engine in it. It's just sitting out in the field waiting. They told me it had blown a headgasket.....that's all I know. BTW, how big was the laugh when you told that guy you wanted to drive it out of there? I was thinking "watch him drive out!" But when I saw the water on the dipstick, I thought "Meh, it's still good". Then the shot through the breather, "well, maybe ALOT of 3n1", and then you popped the valve cover off and I shook my head and thought "I wonder what the previous owner imagined when he heard you were going to drive it away" Good video anyway!
Crying shame that old Le Mans is in that shape, parts car at best if you ask me. I would sell it for parts, keep the motor and rebuild it but not to stock of course. Then find another Le Mans or some other Pontiac of that vintage for it to reside in.
I can see the Craigslist ad now: vintage Pontiac with patina. Ran when parked, New valve job, one owner, 2 spots of rust, a few dings. $7500. No low ballers- I know what I got!
Thats awesome, be a beauty to restore. If that was in australia the owner would be like "its not forsale, I'm going to restore it before i die!". Then another 30 years passes he dies an it goes off to become a Hyundai 😓 are you still working on the F truck? Take care Mark
Happens all the time here too, Mark. When I was a kid my dad and I tried for years to buy a lightly damaged mid-50's (IIRC) MG TF that was sitting in a shed that was falling down around it. The old lady that owned it refused to sell it because it belonged to her dead son. No other kids, no plans to do anything with it, none of her family wanted "that old junk car", but refused to even consider selling it. Even when the opportunity to see it go to a young person who would have restored it to exactly the way it was when her son had it and would have LOVED it, she would rather see it rot as the roof above it litterally fell in on it! Still makes me sick to think about it. It wouldn't have taken more than five new tires, a battery, and a bit of sweat to put that little red doll back on the road! 😢
@@rogersmith9808 I've seen similar, a old 40's what looked like a Merc could have been something more unique but they refused to sell, say under a tree until it literally collapsed on it self
Keep it pontiac my dad had a 72 lemans had a stalling problem remember nobody could figure it out went to PA to trade it mechanic test drove it was a loose ignition wire fixed he asked my dad if he wanted to keep it he was like nope got a 75 ford maverick which was my first car id love to have a lemans after if i ever fix my monte ss keep up the good work
I love the 68 LeMans. Best year for them, and I prefer them to the GTO. And just like my dad, you say council instead of console lol. Edit: GodDAMN those rocker arms are a travesty! Please, no LS swaps!
I heard him say "council" instead of console, and had to stop the video right there to make this comment. Seems to me that almost all younger people do this now, why?
I redid a 67 LeMans. It was never under water, but we replaced both quarters the trunk floor both rockers patched one fender and put a different fender on. Any of these things can be rebuilt, they make absolutely every part for these, wiring harnesses, you name it. They're not building any more of them. Something is that complete I would hate to see parted out. If you don't want to do it there are people out there who would. There's also people who would fake a GTO, which I don't care for, but at least the car would be saved. I would not part that car out.
I had one of these a couple years ago. Was a 1970 2dr hardtop like yours, same color but 350 with 3 sp standard. Sat in a junkyard for the last 25 rears, had it running in an hour. Was a fun car.
Man, I can't say how much I appreciate your careful and thoughtful approach. I can't watch most car channels because they do nothing how I would., carefully. P.S. Please save this Le Mans and don't make it a wanna be GTO.
Sad ! these 68, 69 La mans were nice looking and nice running cars, my brother bought a 68 back in 1980, it was the dark green, drk green interior w/ the green landau top (vinyl) someone had painted it white and left the green top.......it was a hot lookin car ! I, or cores, had bought my first car in 79, it was a 1969 Buick Skylark Convrtbl. Late 60s early 70s GM cars were at their best and this is why ur seein them coming back. Good that ur saving this one, keep it up. Michael
Congratulations on the find! I'm a die hard Pontiac fan and run a Pontiac channel! This caught my attention. I plan on bringing a T/A build to the channel this next year! Definitely subbing!
The heads are probably salvageable, but the block is probably done. If the trans got water in it, and it did, it's done too. Not being a naysayer but I've been through all this. Put a good 455/TH400 in it and call it a day.
The Absolute one thing that impressed me about a ''70 Lemans? A Skid Plate as a Cross member under the Motor! Holy Hannah! Dukes of Hazzard picked the Wrong Car for the Show!
The first video I saw was the blue f150 and I couldn't hit subscribe fast enough. I'm jealous of the part of the country you live in and what toot know. I'm 45 and it's so great to see younger guys with such knowledge of old wrenching....keep it alive guys but most important....Send it
On the subject of hoods, the other reason to be careful opening them is that there's most likely a big fat wasp nest in there. Secondly, I once removed the hood from a 1972 F-350 by myself, which is not something I recommend doing. The only reason I pulled it off is I was able to partially support it on my engine hoist.
I really can't wait to see what treasures are you gonna find in th eback seat of that pontiac. Especially that dossier in the back seat floor looks very promising!
Old Pontiacs rock! Loved it when they had their own engines. Some funny things too. I remember the starter in my 69 Bonne with a 400 had to be shimmed in place. So what? it was a 69 Bonne! Loved that car!
I had one of those. It was my first car. My Uncle gave it to me after it had sit in a field for a year. The trunk floor was totally gone and that was back in 1986. I put $400 in it to get it going. I was told that it is a Big Block 350 in those. Unlike the Small Block 350.
The sad thing is if the previous owner hadn't done a valve job and gotten the heads cleaned up, it might not have rusted as bad under there (still wouldn't have been good, but less worse). The sludge and oil buildup makes a decent barrier against moisture, but since it was clean unprotected metal the moisture ate it up.
Well, it really depends on what your plans for the car are. If you want a dependable go-fast monster, LS is your go-to engine. If you want an original car, rebuild that engine. Strip that sucker down to the block and give it to the machine shop and they'll clean it up for you to rebuild. But if its cracked, LS it. Cheaper that way.
