Last Indian

Well finally ordered and received the tranny cooler to add to the Indian. When I can get the temp down in the hot weather on the Dextron 4 this trans is a whole different animal. So I think this should do the trick! The cooler produces 37,000 btu of heat extraction per hour. Now the next problem is finding fittings that will make this a clean flowing installation of an #6 fittings that mate the radiator & trans.

Two lane, several things here. First can you show pictures of the wiper arm, the wiper insert and the wiper blade? As that might help. Additionally these things come to mind. Replacement blades are quite easy to put in, so are the wiper inserts bad, this is the part the actual rubber blade installs into? Are the wiper arms bad? If not I would tend to take that path. If not that and the wiper inserts are bad than there are a couple of other ways to go. One if you wish to keep the bird original than see if you can find what you need at a bone yard, make it as new as possible than store it. You should be able to use the parts from a Camaro of the same year if you can’t find a bird. If you can get more than one set to make new you’ll have one to use and one to store. If you can only find one than this other thought I have may work. See if the wiper spline on the other year birds are the same as your year, most likely they are. If so change out the whole assembly, arm, wiper insert and blade. Then keep the the OEM rebuilt units as backups for when you want them.

I agree with 74Espirit, great story, but even better, you friended someone who clearly needed and appreciated it! That’s why he remembered you! That was truly a wonderful gift to to give him! That to me is the bigger story!

Actually, I’m very familiar with all the nuances of the master cylinder. When I designed the brake system for my Z, I spent a lot of time just doing the math to build the right system for that specific car! In that way I ran a straight up hydraulic brake system! No check valves, no residual pressure, no proportioning valve, no square cut O’rings and no ester based fluid. So I get you 100%! With production cars it’s a whole different animal. They make a system, understandably so, that suits a multitude of cars with all different weights, different weight distribution, length wheel bases etc. The 55 caper sounds a lot like my Z, that car was a monster! The mods I did to that car and the time frame in which I was doing them; well it was insane! It was good to hear your story! Thanks for sharing!

You are most welcome, hope it helps you!

Dwight, I would love to hear your story of Tri Five Chevy! I see you’re 75, I thought you might be, you know, Old Guy 44! I’m right behind you, 68. I’ve built a lot of cars and modified even more which includes designing and building my own brake system from scratch for my “69 z/28”, so yes I would believe and understand using a single stage master cylinder! I’ve done the same! The only real reason to use a duel stage is so if there is a failure of one wheel you at least have the other set to stop with, it really was a fail safe reason! That said, I don’t have all the specs, but with respect to the brakes, I think the front spindles of the Catalina are pretty darn close to my Zs spindle configurations. If you could get a hold of a spindle for the first Gen F body you could compare. They used that spindle on 67-69 Camaro’s and 68-79 Nova, Omega, Phoenix, Apollo, Venture. So honestly I think the setup I spoke of just might work for you. Likewise the air shocks from the back of the Z just might work on the front of the Catalina as well! I think they will fit inside the spring I.D. and they would have the threaded stud setup at the top to attach at the frame bracket. If that were to prove out, you would just have to make the dog bone to go through the lower eyelet for attachment at the Aarm. You would also have to install the shock at the same time as the spring due to the air shocks size. I didn’t take a lot of pictures in those days, but this is one taken of the front brake setup I designed and built for the Z. The back was very similar just thinner rotors. If you look close you’ll see that they were a three piece rotor, sorry I mean caliper. They were full floating with the actuating bolts set in double shear. The are also an all aluminum caliper.

Dwight, Ultimately the simplest and most direct way to improve the ride and handling of a car that doesn’t handle and has a floating ride is as follows. Increase spring rate, increase size or add a sway bar, change center of gravity, change roll center and or change weight distribution. Changing shocks that function as a typical shock I.E. moving fluid or gas through an orifice will do very little to improve that symptom, but air shocks will! And quite dramatically if done right! Additionally if you do air shocks on all four corners; you can turn a boat into a sled or something in between. If it where me, I would start with Eaton Detroit Spring inc. I’ve worked with these guys for years, they are good and can help answer your questions! As an example, if you were to use the stock springs for a 1963 Safari wagon your ride would change immediately to a stiffer ride, but it might not sit right. But again the stock rear springs from a Safari and the stock OEM heavy duty front springs for a convertible with an air shock might be just right, I think they can help answer those kinds of questions. An air shock will stiffen the ride anywhere from hardly detectable to holy crap are there springs in this thing. Rear air shocks for the Catalina are easy to get, front ones not so much so. With a little ingenuity and some searching you’ll find air shocks that will work up front! You may have to invert the shock upside down or use, say a 1969 Camaro rear shock on the front, actually that might fit looking at it at a glance, but none the less a little work on finding shock specs will get you there. There is actually a whole setup you can buy or make to adjust front and rear shocks up and down from inside the car, and don’t confuse that statement with the hydraulics setup some guys use to bounce there cars up and down! Also look in to adding or changing the sway bar up front and definitely add one to the back! Now disc brakes! Depending on what you want and how much effort you want to put in, you can do basic and easy OEM style front disc with drums out back and run standard 15” wheel maybe 14”, depending on the rim. I’ll cover the OEM avenue! GM, better than any other manufacturer, built interchangeable components that spanned car models, divisions and years. Even when they were not intended for a particular model, often with minor modifications you could and still can get what you want. The attached photo shows a OEM front disc setup of parts. This setup bolts on/replaces a drum brake front end setup. You may need to add a spacer to one of the attaching bolt areas or machine down a boss to square the bracket. You might even have to take the brackets and modify them while maintaining the integrity of the area were the caliper goes, but in the end this setup takes one of the most reliable disc brake caliper ever used. It has a massive 2 15/16” piston, more than enough to stop any boat! You will need to change the master cylinder and if you add a power booster to the master cylinder, you will have a great braking system. If you have additional questions just ask there are a lot of competent folks here, like Frosty, JustA6 and Indymanjoe to name a few, who are always ready to help! Good Luck!

Dwight, first of all does the Catalina have air and did it have air originally? Does it have power brakes? 14” or 15” wheels?

Dwight, this will take a few days for me to gather the info. In short, if you’re able do the mods or get someone to do them, then yes you can get the ride you speak of and brakes too.

That looks like one of the most unstable pieces of stinky stuff I’ve ever seen! Kind of like the guy on the tricycle on Laugh in. Probably only uses it to go to the casino and back!

Welcome! America’s Heartland is called that for a reason, you represent us well!

Done

Additionally,

I will!

@Stewy , actually I used 1/0 welding cable, most flexible, very fine strand copper! More than happy to help! I’ll put some stuff together and post it over on the how to forum!

Ok so you are willing to do internals! Of the two cams you mention I would use the high energy because of the rpm range. The 455 makes peak hp @ 4 grand and peak torque @ 2800, in stock form. So higher rpm gets you very little without changing the cam profile. Also if you’re willing to put in a cam, to me it makes no sense to not rework the heads! That work is pretty much free! You don’t need a fancy valve grind, just a good valve lapping, perfect circle valve seals & if necessary valve guides, plus port & polish! All stuff you can do at very little cost and the benefits will be greatly appreciate by your new cam! As far as the 350 turbo, who’s shift kit? Also the 350 can be a great tranny for a high torque motor, but only with some major internal mods since it does not have a full through shaft and I would guess that’s not something you would do. So in that sense Frosty’s turbo 400 is the preferred choice, but a better one would be a 700r4. The 3:73 gears are a optimal gear for that engine due to the low peak torque rpm. That engine stock is about a 6500 rpm motor, max! There is a calculation formula for engines and their piston speed at continuous operation. For automotive engines its 75% for aviation its 90%. There are a lot of other things that go into this whole discussion, but to much for here. So in the case of the 455 your continuous max rpm is around 4800 rpm and even that is a lot for any extended engine life. So the 3:73 gears coupled with either the 350 or the 400 will work. If you couple it with the 700r4 you will have the best of both worlds and a 700r4 will handle 500hp.

What Frosty says will do wonders, but you say you don’t want to get into heads & internals. And you say your budget is somewhat limited. So that said I’m not sure what you can or can’t afford? The 455 has some oomph, but the biggest hold back would be the tranny & the 2:41 gears. So for what you have I would say the biggest bang for your buck would be do some tranny upgrade & go to 3:73 gears! The gears alone will make you feel like you added 100 hp. If you can change the distributor as Frosty suggests. A cam will do wonders, but you say no internals. Remember this car had a 301 smog engine in it, so everything downstream reflex’s that!

some day buddy some day!

Well, I know here I go again, but it seemed only fitting that a new arrowhead be created for the new front cover/splitter setup. Part of the reasoning is that this cover will have larger more aggressive NACA duct bezels, as I have increased their size over the stock configuration. I would then just leave the last arrowhead with the last cover. I will attempt to get a bit more bold, a bit more menacing, a bit more; well Indian, with this arrowhead! It may not appear that way in the pictures, but the larger inlay of copper, plus being inset as opposed to protruding and larger flutes, but less in number, makes the arrowhead appear larger. It should also look a bit larger once it is finished being polished. This was the first arrowhead for the original OEM front cover. This was the current arrowhead from the modified front cover/splitter. These two pictures are the new arrowhead (unpolished) on the new front cover.

I’m a lucky man and after Frosty and Stratman’s communication, most else would pale by comparison! My heart goes out too both as it has in the past. No one knows why bad things happen to good people! We can only hold true that there is a higher purpose! Still for me this past decade brought the reduction of my Pontiac fleet from 4 to 1, but that one garnered a lot of attention, if not from me through refinement, then out on the road or when I stop somewhere. I have said before that I don’t do car shows, in part because I tend to be a loner, not standoffish, just not big on all the fake personas that emanate from egos. So I really have had a quiet 10 years in the world of Pontiac. I would like to echo JustA6 that FP and the folks here have been great and those friends are treasured comrades, JustA6, Frosty, Ringo, Stratman, Joe, and many others. I guess the biggest event would have been retiring from my career of 40 years doing something I truly loved! That kept me in the mainstream of the motion industry, whether it was auto, railroads, mining equipment, energy or shipping! It was a ball!

My condolences Frosty! Nice though to put a face with the work/logo. May the new year bring you and yours a great & happy year!

There are some very good ways to prevent theft of the newer cars, and the best is if they can’t start it they can’t steal it! Unless they have a tow truck! There are some good companies out there that sell remote controlled relays for the ignition. Or the easiest is just break one leg of the brake pedal safety switch. Take that leg to a hidden 12v relay and the to a hidden momentary switch! But pick the car you like and want!

Mark, first of all welcome to FP! Next I think you need to re-read the post this was about the 4 cylinder Trophy engine, not a 6 cylinder. So you would be wrong, due to the confusion of mistaking 6 cyl for 4 cyl! And that’s ok! I too just wanted to clarify so the folks who read this don’t get confused.

Well I would like to say I got a lot for the Indian, or my other cars, but there’s not much I need and the wife already says if I die I win! You know the guy with the most tools, yadda yadda! So we usually just get each other a couple things and then do multiple charities! We are blessed, so I’m grateful! That said I did buy myself a trans cooler for the Indian to install while the front end is off! Glade to see you all got good things for Christmas! 😊

Ah ya, dah!!