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Canadian Poncho Homepage -> Canadian Poncho -> General 58-64 Full Size Forum -> 61 Pontiac Drag Racer Project
Post Info TOPIC: 61 Pontiac Drag Racer Project
jim_ss409


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61 Pontiac Drag Racer Project
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Hi, I'm a new member but I have been reading posts here for a while.
My buddy and I are just starting on a 61 Pontiac that we're going to use for drag racing.
We considered keeping the car streetable but have decided to just go ahead and make it "strictly racing"
The car will at least look streetable because we're going for a Super Stock look. It will have a 409 for power.


Here's how the car looked a few days ago.



We've got a really powerful pressure washer so along with the dirt I also washed off quite a bit of loose paint.






We recently built a paint booth that doubles as a sandblast room so we pulled the body off and started blasting.








The body isn't great but it's about what we expected, a good candidate for a race car.










Those last pictures were taken today. We're really hoping to have the car ready in time to go racing in the spring. We've got a nice shop but we're in the trucking business so we can only work on the car after we get all the trucks looked after.

I'll post updates as we go along.

Jim





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Barrie Ont.

409 powered 61 Poncho

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73SC


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That is great, super cool car and with 409 power, wow !

By the way, Welcome on Board Jim !


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long stroke


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Jim what an excellent choice for a Pontiac drag car. She is going to be hot when you are done. Jim what kind of media are you using to sandblast the car? It does not look like you are worried about any warpage from the sandblasting. Good luck with your project brother. Cheers. George.

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Canadian Poncho


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Welcome aboard Jim. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress.

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65Camino


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Welcome aboard, Nice ride!

Can't wait for the updates...

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57poncho


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Welcome aboard! I like your taste in cars. Looks to have all the same rust spots mine has.

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1957 Pathfinder deluxe 4 door wagon
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Gregory


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nice car Jim, another bubbletop saved. Has same rust as mine, got mine on road in september. 409 excelant choice. I went with 275-327 4 spd. Every year at goodguys Indy nostaliga drags. Iwatch a 61catilina 421, an awesome  car. I'm looking foward toseeing  your finished car.      Greg

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4SPEED427


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Neat to see two bubbletop's getting redone on here. Such beautiful cars.

Keep up the picture posting please!

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beaumontguru


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I know the car well!  You bought it in winnipeg from a friend of mine.

Wow, it sure looks different now.

Welcome

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67SD396


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Boy oh boy, you guys don't monkey around! You get right after it. Nice looking project. Keep the pictures coming. The guys around here will be your biggest fans if you keep the pictures coming at least onece a week! (or when you can, LOL) Glad you found the site and can share with us. Welcome.

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jim_ss409


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long stroke wrote:

Jim what an excellent choice for a Pontiac drag car. She is going to be hot when you are done. Jim what kind of media are you using to sandblast the car? It does not look like you are worried about any warpage from the sandblasting. Good luck with your project brother. Cheers. George.


Thanks for all the positive comments!

We used crushed glass for blasting this time, 30-60 I think. We don't run into any warpage because our blaster setup doesn't have enough volume to cause heat.
We have used regular sand and had no problem with that too.

We once got a car blasted by "experts" and the hood and trunk were badly warped. It was really hard to fix.

 



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Barrie Ont.

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ARCADIAN


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Great car, I had one back in 1969, wished I still had it! Nice home for a '9 er!

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jim_ss409


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beaumontguru wrote:

I know the car well!  You bought it in winnipeg from a friend of mine.

Wow, it sure looks different now.

Welcome


Yes, This is that car. We picked it up over a year ago but didn't have a chance to get going on it until now.
I'm sorry to say the sellers name has slipped my mind. He's a good guy. We bought the car sight unseen and he gave us an accurate description. The car was just what we were looking for. Please let him know about this thread.
We flew out to Winnipeg and drove the car back to Barrie Ont. Here it is along the shore of Lake Superior.



We had a small problem with the driveshaft hanger bearing north of Sault Ste Marie but we were able to prop it back into place right there on the side of the road and finish the trip without any other problems.
Here's a picture of us fixing the bearing. We were lucky enough to break down right where we could pull off onto a piece of the old, abandoned highway.



I'll post more later.

Jim

 



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ARCADIAN


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I had trouble with the hanger bearing in my '61 as it was a stick car, went to the Pontiac dealer and ordered the heavy duty one, it was used for Nascar and Drag racing-end of problems.

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67SD396


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Great photos of your journey Jim. Sure don't see many guys doing roadside repair like that anymore. Those toolkits in the blowmolded plastic sure are great! With that kit and a few screwdrivers, a hammer, and some vice grips, you likely won't be walking.

Thanks for sharing.

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jim_ss409


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ARCADIAN wrote:

I had trouble with the hanger bearing in my '61 as it was a stick car, went to the Pontiac dealer and ordered the heavy duty one, it was used for Nascar and Drag racing-end of problems.


Yeah, the driveline on these cars gets a little flimsy once you start adding power.
Here's a driveshaft we made for a 409 powered Impala. (the silver one is the stock setup)
The heavier driveshaft is actually out of a one ton cube van. I got it at a wrecking yard and had it shortened.


 



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Barrie Ont.

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Beaumont4008


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Welcome. And please keep us updated. Just love that nostalgic drag car look. Those kind of cars realy draw in the crowd  at your local strip.

This is the American Ventura, but gives you that look your going for. Got to have that superduty scoop.


img238.jpg

-- Edited by Beaumont4008 on Thursday 2nd of December 2010 01:29:52 PM

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jim_ss409


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Yes, that's pretty much the look we're going for.
We  already have a Super Duty style scoop, here's a picture of it sitting on the car.




Just yesterday we were ordering some fiberglass parts and we ordered up a slightly larger version of that scoop. We may need more room for dual quads.

Jim

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Pontiacanada


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I love this car ... keep us posted Jim!

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long stroke


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Jim i know exactly what you mean about the so called "EXPERTS" that are out there doing sandblasting and are destroying peoples stuff. Back in 1991 i took a mint 57 Chevy hood into a guy in Milton, Ontario at a place called Fishburn Proctor. The owner said no problem, no warpage, no worry. I got my hood back completely destroyed. I had to scrap the hood and find another. To make it worse, he would not cover the expense of my replacement hood. He only offered some free sandblasting and that did not help me because all my stuff was done by then. I went chemical stripping after that. Jim is it true that those SUPER DUTY hood scoops were actually a Ford Econoline part. I think i read once that Pontiac Division purchased these directly from Ford. I know that sound absurd but i am 99% sure. Continued good luck with your 61 project. Cheers. George.

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long stroke wrote:

Jim is it true that those SUPER DUTY hood scoops were actually a Ford Econoline part. I think i read once that Pontiac Division purchased these directly from Ford. I know that sound absurd but i am 99% sure.

George, late 50's Heavy/Super Duty Ford dump trucks.
Arnie Beswick persuaded Pontiac to buy them from Ford, put their own parts # on them, and stock them, so he could race with one on his Pontiacs.
He got the inspiration from a dump truck parked across from a Pontiac dealership he was at.
... Darryl. 

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Prince Edward Island

'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.

long stroke


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Darryl thank you for the proper info on the SUPERDUTY hood scoops. I knew it was Ford truck anyway. It is amazing to think that GM would ever allow such a thing. Can you imagine buying parts from the enemy and then putting your own part number on it and selling it as your own part. Amazing. I love all this great automotive trivia stuff. Cheers. George.

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1957 Pontiac Pathfinder Deluxe sedan restored 261 six

1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon low mileage original 400 V-8
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gparis7


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Very nice looking car. Will make beautiful racer. White on red with full tint - nothing nicer.

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jim_ss409


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68sd wrote:

cool what colour are you going?

would you like to add it to our list of cars?


http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/index.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=27752744


The car was a nice shade of maroon so we did consider painting it that color but I think we're going to paint the car the same shade of blue as our other drag car.
I think we'll also use the same kind of wheels on both cars.



We've also got a Mack truck that's painted the same color. We use it to pull the car to the races.




I don't think we're going to put any lettering on the side of this car and I think we're going to leave the chrome strips off the side too. We're not 100% sure on that yet.
I think we'll go ahead and fill the holes for the trim and see how it looks once it's painted. You'd think the cars would look really plane without the side trim but I think the 62's looked just fine without it.

 



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Barrie Ont.

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57poncho


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Check out this post there is a pic of one with no side trim.
http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=118110&p=3&topicID=39111918

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