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Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

Stephen Young

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Stephen Young last won the day on May 25 2016

Stephen Young had the most liked content!

Profile Information

  • Location
    Saint John, NB, Canada
  • Interests
    Puttering at home improvement, motorized bicycle and tricycle.

Forever Pontiac

  • Name
    Stephen Young
  • Gender
    Male
  • Year
    1953
  • Car
    Catalina Chieftain
  • Trim
    base
  • Engine
    292 Chevy L6, bored to 296
  • Style
    Coupe
  • Color
    Blue/silver top

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  1. I hope not. I think Catalina, in the fashion of the '50s, was alluding to the island off California, as Bel Air, Biscayne and (later) Malibu referred to special places. The Catalina DeLuxe Chieftain includes both, without either label on the car. Charles will know if the Custom Catalina is labeled as such. Where is the Chieftain nameplate on yours? Is it a four door sedan? (I really like the looks of those.) I think naming a car and model of it after a person and his occupation are meant as honors, but I guess some have taken offense.
  2. For the first few years of the pillarless hardtop, Catalina was Pontiac-speak for their two door hardtops, of which there were two in '53 - The Catalina DeLuxe Chieftain (mine) and the higher trim Custom Catalina, which Charles has. I don't think they put the word Catalina on the cars. Or Chieftain, for that matter, except on the optional radio. There was a lower trim body, with no stainless trim on the sides, which I think was called Pathfinder. I had one as a parts car, and it had a 239 flathead 6.
  3. Hi, Al, I've had a 53 Catalina since the summer of 1975, so maybe I can answer some questions if they come up. The real expert on the 53s is Charles Coker, POCI's 53 Pontiac source of knowledge. He's had his 53 longer than I've had mine. Pontiac's Shop Manual, covering 1949 to 1954 models, provides great information. I got one, and an owner's manual, through Rock Auto. Rock lists some parts. (Not "All the parts your car will ever need", as they claim, but some.) Pontiac's flathead straight 8s were nice, smooth engines, and the 53 models are handsome ol' thangs. Enjoy!
  4. Lots of beauties to choose from this month. The voting groupings make it difficult, because the picture groupings don't apparently correspond - or did I miss something? (That can happen.) Also, the voting titles don't call to mind the car, in most cases. I found it easier before. Maybe a title like "Joe's blue 67 GTO Convertible"?
  5. Hi, Danny, I sure like the dual sidemounts. That blue 27 Buick looks great, but the sweep of the 31 Pontiac fenders, with the spares nested into them, looks better to me. The holding apparatus looks pretty neat and straightforward. A two inch wider rear end shouldn't be a big problem - it's only one inch per side, and if your wheel/tire combination isn't too wide, I'm guessing/hoping you should be fine. Unless you particularly want to, you wouldn't have to space out the front wheels - the track difference won't be readily apparent - it'll never be seen by a drunken man on a galloping horse fleeing for his life pursued by a seven-man ad hoc posse in a February snowstorm at midnight after holding up the stagecoach to Abilene. And it shouldn't matter functionally - manufacturers have done that. The Caprice rear end I put in my 53 Pontiac is wider than the original, and it works fine. I think your prospects for clearance should be better than mine were, your fender openings being fully arched. Stephen
  6. Hi, Dan, That 350 sure looks as if it could motivate the Pontiac along, if it really had to. Nice to see some progress. Is the rear end you're planning on using wider or narrower than stock? I'm taking a guess that the original Pontiac wheels won't work with it - might have trouble with the torque the 350 puts out, even if they fit. Plus they need tubes, and are narrow. What are you planning to use for wheels? Maybe wheels with different offsets are available to accommodate the different differential width, if that proves too snug either way. I see the post "Wrong topic moved to my main build page" - how do I find that? Stephen
  7. Danny, Sounds like fun, except the 25% of fender bolts that didn't come. I see the nose of what I'm guessing is the El Camino - great color, but I don't see any oxy/acetylene or oxy/propane tanks. Heat is a great persuader, when available, for stubborn fasteners. Have you seen the inductive coils used for heating seized fasteners? I haven't, only on video. Looks amazing, and no flame or tanks or hoses or fuel cost or rental. Or helmets or bulky gloves or wayward sparks or tip cleaning. But probably more limited, in what they can reach, than a torch. Looks like lots of free space on your firewall for creativity. Master cylinder, heater hoses, windshield washer fluid reservoir, A/C filter/dryer/accumulator, mural, graffiti... Watch out for that tear in the fender - it looks like it wants to tear clothes and hurt people. Has Mrs. Danny said yet what color you want it? Was it dark blue or black to begin with? Stephen
  8. Did you get this sorted out? Since it feels like it's starving for fuel, it would be good to know, as Frosty asked, if the fuel pressure at the rail drops when the engine dies. There's a pressure regulator at the end of one rail, I think, on the return line. I've never had to replace one, but if the fuel pressure does drop, maybe... And I'd like to try a different injector in #1 - if a spare is not readily available, switch #1 with #3 and see what code comes up. If still #1, probably not the injector. If #3, probably is the injector. But one bad injector should just make it rough running, not dying.
  9. Isn't the T1000, aka in Canada the Pontiac Acadian, being a version of the Chevette, a rear wheel drive? The J2000, later Sunbird, after the Chev Monza-like Sunbird was discontinued, and later yet the Sunfire, were Chev Cavalier front drive kinfolk. Some Sunbirds , and maybe J2000s, used an OHC L4, maybe 2 litre. My cousin had a turbo GT, and it had some git-up-and-go available.
  10. A very nice 40 Pontiac made its appearance at the A&W get-together last evening, and I noticed the rear spring shackles had long tails. The owner had no idea what that was about, nor did a guy who had owned a similar car with the same setup. Anyone know what I'm talking about, and what the tails were about? These days, odd appendages often relate to the field of Noise, Vibration and Harshness, but maybe not in 1940.
  11. I associate the green color with a service/test port for the EVAP system, which as I understand it, aims to hold 1 psi pressure above the gas in the tank to restrict evaporation. So a well glued repair should be able to stand that kind of pressure. Maybe it wouldn't be an easy part to find a replacement for.
  12. Danny, I measured the spindle/backing plate bolt pattern on my 53 Pontiac at 4 1/4 vertical and 3 1/4 horizontal. So you can compare yours, if you're so inclined. Stephen
  13. Dan, Just for the halibut, since you've got a drum off, why don't we compare your spindle/backing plate bolt pattern with my '53's? Wanna? Stephen
  14. Dan, There are disc brake conversions out there, at a price, for later Pontiacs - Starbird comes to mind as one source. I wonder if the spindle-to-backing plate bolt pattern changed from the '31 to the '40 Pontiac. (Lower control arms from '52 Buick Specials interchange with '40 Buick Specials, so maybe Pontiac didn't change dimensions back then just for the fun of it, like manufacturers seem to do now.) The toughest part in the disc brake conversion, I think, is the caliper mounting bracket, the next being the inner bearing fit to the spindle. Kit suppliers have designed the brackets, and spacers for the bearings, to adapt common (often Chevy) calipers, rotors, and bearings to the spindles. Pictures of the brackets, in catalogs and on websites, tease me with the possibility of making them up from flat stock. Cutting torch, grinder, welder, drill press, tap set - how hard can it be? (Said the guy who has only thought about it.) Probably need to decide first on the rotor size, and caliper. Inexpensive trial fits could be done with used parts, and pipe/tube for trial bearing spacers. Sound like fun? Stephen
  15. Danny, Oooh, yeah, that looks great. Is that the 26 Buick you mentioned seeing? What a nice setup! Power steering and everything. I think I see a transmission throttle valve cable at the carb - the lower one - so he's using an automatic. Either he's running two V8s, back to back, or that firewall's CHROME! Gotta git me one of those. (It'll never happen.) I'm hoping, but not sure, that your engine bay is as wide as the one shown. Buick, Olds and Pontiac shared quite a bit by the time they made mine, but I don't know when they started. What you really need to know are the dimensions - for instance, height of your axle at the king pin hole, king pin diameter, bolt pattern of your spindle to backing plate bolt holes, and sizes of the spindle itself - length and diameters at the bearings. Knowing what you've got, you can intelligently check what suppliers have, whether new, used, Hudson, Corvette, (they used king pins up to '62) or ... Stephen
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