Stephen Young

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"?

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 gallop

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

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 yo

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 bracke

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 dimensio

Hi, Dan, Only 30 lbs of dirt under the hood? That Pontiac has led a sheltered life, hasn't it? I noticed in the engine picture that the six has two cylinder heads - just like your 4.3 and your 350! Or not quite. You must have a problem with the spindles, that you're thinking of new ones. As I said earlier, I have no experience with solid axle front ends. But I wonder, if you still want to stick with the solid axle, whether compatible spindles would be available from places like Speedway Motors. Their catalogs give dimensions you could compare to your Pontiac's. Thinking of driving th

C. Danny, Where did I get the strange idea that your '31 is a Chev? Not from your post. Excuse me for the cruel injustice. Must be the "inline six" bit. If you'd said "flathead six", I may have caught on - or not. Stephen

Hi, C.Danny, Since you rashly asked for suggestions, ..."I'm glad you asked!" Unless you are "married" to the idea of a crate 350, (and who can really say anything against that choice, it is a good one), I'd think hard about whether I'd be happier in the long run with a Chev 194-230-250-292 , or Pontiac 215, straight six in the '31. Pick your displacement for the power level/economy you want, (Leo Santucci gets close to Bugatti Veyron horsepower from his modified 292 in a 53 Studebaker drag racer, but he doesn't say anything about fuel economy. Another guy runs mid -eight - second

Hi, Mike, I was surprised to read that your 69 Bonneville has a single chamber master cylinder - I thought all North American cars went to dual chamber systems in '67. I checked Rock Auto's website and see only dual chamber master cylinders listed for 69 Bonnevilles. (I had a 69 Grande Parisienne, Canada's answer to the Bonnevile. Really nice car.) I wonder if there is a proportioner valve, or a combination valve, on your car near the m/cyl (usually brass, usually within 2 feet of the m/cyl). This would suggest that the car originally had a dual system. If nothing is there like that