78 Grand Prix project

[G-Body_Vet]

People do some strange things. He also left out the plate behind the water pump. I doubled checked to make sure the timing chain was installed right...the guy might have mistaken it for a Chevy and had the dots wrong. :lol:

That corporate blue is growing on me to be honest and it will look period correct in the car. If I go with it I'm using stock valve covers and painting the aluminum intake too. I also decided to use RA manifolds and save myself the headache.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I went with the corporate blue but I couldn't bring myself to paint the intake. I like my valve covers too so the stock ones were out. I'll bolt everything up tomorrow when I have more time.

 

[85GPLef41]

looking good! :wink:

 

[Bonnewagon]

Wow that's pretty! But, I don't think you'll be passing that off as a 301! I can't remember what year they switched to that color, but I like it.

 

[real57vetteguy]

Very Nice, I love the valve covers!

 

[Bonnewagon]

Steve, is the intake clear-coated or anything? You know what happens to aluminum over time, unless it's in a heated garage. Hell, even then- oxidation- you may regret not painting it.

 

[DRIVEN]

Pretty.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Glad you guys like the progress. It's good motivation to keep plugging away at it. As for paint on the intake, I've tried clear before and I don't like the way the finish turns out on cast aluminum. There's a nice powder coat color called Sparkle Silver that I thought about using too. I installed the fuel pump, torqued the balancer bolt, and finished bolting everything else on. On another note, I'm using all stainless hardware too. I'm going to have to switch out a few bolts once the brackets start going on.

The carb and distributor were just for show. The trained eye may notice that the fuel inlet is Chevy style. That's actually an 850 cfm Edelbrock 1910 with the front nameplate removed. Ive read that it may need a re-cal for a relatively stock engine and that the idle tubes are on the large side. I guess I'll address it when the time comes.

I noticed that the distributor looks slightly canted towards the odd numbered cylinder side. I've never noticed this before. Is this something normal on Pontiacs or is there something else goofy happening here? It's seated properly and ready to fire on #1.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Canted distributor? Oh no! Your block is warped! I'll do you a favor and take it off your hands, cheap. Ha ha , just kidding, it's like that so the driven gear on the distributor/oil pump shaft is next to the drive gear on the cam, otherwise it would be perpendicular and hit the cam. On other motors that the distributors are vertical they are offset from the cam. Powder coating sounds like the way to go. My buddy's TA has a polished Torker and after several years, had to remove it and have it re-polished because it looked so shabby.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Canted distributor? Oh no! Your block is warped! I'll do you a favor and take it off your hands, cheap. Ha ha , just kidding, it's like that so the driven gear on the distributor/oil pump shaft is next to the drive gear on the cam, otherwise it would be perpendicular and hit the cam. On other motors that the distributors are vertical they are offset from the cam. Powder coating sounds like the way to go. My buddy's TA has a polished Torker and after several years, had to remove it and have it re-polished because it looked so shabby.

After all of the Pontiacs I've torn down in the past few years I've never noticed that....or just didn't remember anyway! Probably because none of them ran!