Cars you never knew existed! Anti Car Porn

62 Tempest? I love Pontiacs. Had a 68 firebird but I like the earlier cars now. Keeping my eye out for a 63 389 Tempest.

 

My neighbor bought one of those for their 16 yo son. It was a fast car as I recall. I found an Olds variant with the 215 aluminum v8 engine.

The one that got away. I should have kept it. 3-speed manual transmission. No A/C. It was a screamer.

 

Was that originally a Checker Marathon or aan International Travelall?

 

I don’t think it was either. I think it was made as protection for a Middle East high value target; but not really sure.

 

...^^^... I was not aware that the 63 Tempest could be had with a 389 as OEM.

I knew that the 4 cylinder 1963 Tempest engine was 1/2 of a 389.

IIRC .. I thought that 1964 Tempest with a 389 engine was called the "GTO option" ... and the 1965 was a true "GTO Model" with a 389 (had one of those new).

Doing this from memory and I may be wrong.

 

I’m pretty sure that the ‘63 Tempest’s biggest production engine was a 326. Remember, the 61-63 models came with an independent rear suspension that was designed for 195 c.i. four cylinder, which as you pointed out was half of a 389. You wouldn’t think it would stand up to the torque of a 389, but that’s exactly what they used when they built the 1963 421 Super Duty Tempest. Pontiac built about 12 or 14, pretty evenly divided between the two door coupe and the wagon. More probably would have been built, but GM pulled the plug on all auto racing in January of 1963.

 

You could be right. I have come across a few 389 "Le mans" which I think was a trim level on the tempest in 63? Like this one-https://youtu.be/DgIpiIoSrO4

They said it was a 389, I guess we have no way of verifying from the video that it wasn't a 326. But damn I love this car.

 

The 326 and 389 are based on the same block. For that matter so is the 421, 428, and 455, so just about everything is interchangeable. I think any of them would bolt right in. I bought a wrecked ‘65 Tempest with a locked up 326. It had gotten water into a couple of cylinders which resulted in deeply rusted cylinder bores. To rebuild it would require boring the block and going with new pistons. I had access to a 389 from a ‘64 Catalina which also needed to be bored out, so or course I went with the 389. Funny thing is, new pistons for the 389 cost less than oversized 326 pistons.

I mentioned transmissions not standing up to the 389, and that’s exactly what happened to my Tempest. It had a 2 speed automatic, and I could not keep a transmission in it. Went through 3 of them before I finally gave up, sold the engine, and junked the car. Should have converted it to a standard.

 

What the heck is that. Looks like a child’s rendering of a jeep.

 

You are right except the main journal size increased above the 400, so you cannot swap cranks without turning the mains on the crank from the bigger engine. You also could not use heads from larger engines on the 326 and 350 bc the combustion chamber was larger than the bore. Externally they all had the same dimensions-cylinder spacing more like a SBC and V more like a BBC. They also had the 7" BOP bellhousing pattern, so a chevy trans with the 9" pattern would not bolt up directly unless it was a dual pattern model.

I had a 68 firebird that I got a 428 for out of a Catalina. One of the cylinders came back cracked beyond repair and I wound up with a 4 bolt 400. I was able to use the #62 heads from the 428 though. They were a pretty good spec from the factory. My car had a 2bbl 350 from the factory. When I started looking into building that up, I found the same thing you did- the parts were more expensive, and much rarer, than they were for the 389+ engines. Man I love Pontiac engines though, and that 135* turn in the exhaust runner.

 

I believe it is a Crosley Farm-o-Road.



Not to be confused with the much sexier Crofton Bug...

 

I was not aware that the main journal size had increased. I’ve never worked on anything but the 389, so my experience is rather limited.

 

Yeah 3" on 326-400 and 3.25" on 421+. People do turn the bigger cranks down to fit into their 3" blocks tho.

 

.
...^^^... Very cool Tempest and I learned something new ...

As a matter of fact ... I learned more about '60's HiPo Pontiacs on this Toyota Tacoma site ... than I did in real life ...

FWIW ... that car is on the other side of town from me ... maybe 50 or 60 miles to visit that car and/or company showroom.

 

Man I am so jealous. That car sold a while ago but it really pulled my heartstrings. I love BOP cars and engines, though I don't know very much at all about the B's and O's. Pontiacs were always great on the exhaust side of the head, and deficient on the intake side...the opposite of Chevy's. You can tell a Pontiac block from a chevy very quickly by the angle that the header flange meets the exhaust ports.

 

Here’s an odd one, and a double. Nice super white access cab in the video. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1986-ford-rs200-6/

 

Welcome back thread.

I always enjoyed it. Let's keep it alive this time.