1964 Pontiac LeMans 

   Funny thing happened in 1992 - the State of California conveniently changed the vehicle code to exempt '65 and earlier cars from the biennial smog check program, effective January first, 1993.  So, about the third week in January '93, I got this damn thing, and my life has never been the same!  However, all good (and evil, soul-sucking, money-pit, road-beast) things must come to an end, and this was no exception. It was sold to a kid in my area on May 30, 1998.


   When I started my quest, I was looking for a four-speed '69 Camaro RS to hot rod.  As luck would have it, I found this sucker first.  This car was originally a six-cylinder, three-on-the-tree, gold-and-tan two-tone, 2.73 one-legged-rear-end granny-mobile. The previous owner had put in a two-barrel Chevy 305, and moved the shifter to the floor.  When he sold it to me, he made me promise not to hot rod it.  Yeah, right, whatever!  That lasted about a month, and then I set about my dark task, with the help of my accomplice, Darren.  In this picture, you can see the puny 305, wimpy whitewalls, primer, and super clean body.  This shot was taken as it was readied for a heart transplant.


    The heart of any street machine is the engine, and this car was to be a seriously powerful item.  I've been told time and time again that it's either cubic inches or cubic dollars.  Planning to go the smart route, I went with the cubic inches.  As I'll explain later, that didn't end up being such a good call.  Oh well, live and learn I guess! 
    Here, Darren and I are disassembling the 454 Chevy core.  Bought from a local high performance shop, it had pop-up pistons, steel crank, and oval-port heads.  It also had a nasty bunch of sludge in it from sitting out in his yard for God knows how long.  You've probably been told that oil and water don't mix?  Well, take it from me, it does, and the results aren't pretty. 
The coolest part about the engine tear-down was the fact that I nearly tore one of Darren's fingers out.  Sorry, dude!



So here's the finished product, with the paint still wet.  As it sits now, it has: 

    I'd be lying if I said I knew just how much power it makes, but let me tell you this.  John Lingenfelter built a nearly identical engine (same heads and head work), and got nearly 600hp.  What I've got would have to be  lower, but I'd guess at least 500hp.  If you think I'm nuts, put your money where your mouth is, and we'll race, toughguy! 

   As I've alluded to, I have had some problems with this engine.  First time I rebuilt it, Darren worked the block over and then we assembled it.  About three weeks later, I had to yank the cam out, because it had gone flat.  I figured it must have been my fault, so I bought a new cam and oil pump, and put it back together.  I guess there was too much damage done to the rod and main bearings, and it died shortly thereafter. 
    Not one to give up, I rebuilt it again.  Not too long after, the cam gear retaining bolts came loose.  I figured I must have bent some valves, so I pulled the heads off.  Let me tell you, cast iron big block Chevy heads are heavy.  The heads looked okay, but there were marks in the pistons where the valves had been hitting for quite some time.  This is what had caused the cam to go flat the first time around.  I took the engine out and had the pistons cut for clearance, and reassembled it.  When I reinstalled the engine, I sacrificed a chicken under a full moon, hoping to appease whatever god I had angered with my mad pursuit of horsepower.
    Everything was great for a while (I guess the chicken ceremony worked), then the oil pressure got lower, and lower, and lower, until the engine started knocking.  Great....  By this time, I had had more than enough experience tearing the engine down and reassembling it, so I pulled it out, and had it professionally done.  I didn't have a truck available, so I took the trunk lid off my wife's '70 Nova, and used it for rat-motor transport duty.  That thing was way bottomed out!  Anyway, I took the engine to the machine shop, dropped it off, and said, "Call me when it's done." 

    "What was wrong with it?" I can hear you asking.  Well, the machinist called and said, "What do you know about this engine?"  I said, "Huh?!"  Turns out the cam journals were oversize.  This allowed the cam bearings to rotate off the oil holes, starving the cam, tearing up the cam bearings, and dumping a lot of metal shavings in the oil.  Whoopsie!  Although it sucked to rebuild the big yellow menace four times, it felt good to know that it wasn't my fault that it kept self destructing. 
    Well, anyway, now it's done, and holey cow does it haul ass! 

Here is the finished product.  Click for a larger view.