Pro street to Pro Touring

[GTEEO]

Looking to turn a 69 GTO Pro Street into a Pro Touring car, on a budget of course. I'm retiring in 5 years and need a comfortable ride I can put in a trailer behind the motor home. I can do everything myself. I've built a few in my day, but will need some advice on parts selection. That's why I'm here, to get some expert advice so that I just build it once! Looking forward to the experience. My wife has the GTO and I run a 67 Firebird. Mine's injected on alcohol and runs a 535 Pontiac. Best ET so far was 8.69@159. ....... Eric, 53 year old electrician.

[Bryce]

It can be done! I think the biggest hurdle will be fabricating your own rear suspension. I am guessing your rear is back halfed.

Bad penny was a previous pro-street car.

[Bryce]

give more specifics on the car now. Front suspension, rear suspension, interior, roll cage, fuel system, motor, brakes....

[GTEEO]

Stock front with stock discs, ladder bar rear with original frame narrowed so original mounts would be easy to weld back in, presently running 31x16x15 M/T Pro tires, still have the back seat and a full cage, fuel cell, 2 Holley pumps, 2 -8 lines to the front, 450hp 455 Pontiac with a TH400. I am looking at installing rear trailing arms and a new 12 bolt with 3.42 posi, new fuel system with new cell and sending unit, redo the interior, install new front tubular A arms with stock style coils and shocks, would like to keep stock spindles and stock front discs. In the rear I was thinking of 1980 rear TA discs. Motor would be a 535 Pontiac with a TH400. Aftermarket sway bars. Stock power steering/brakes. Will use this car as a daily driver/cruiser when away from home so stock style parts are a must just in case something breaks and I need parts in Timbucktwo! LOL.

[Motorcitydak]

Sounds like a really good plan there. You will typically want to tame a pro stock motor to get it to run happily on the road. No need for a monster cam that makes no vacuum and refuses to idle. Fuel injection is huge for MPG and drivability. A transmission with a lot of gears is nice, much better with an overdrive.

Your plan for the front end is good, I would stick with that. The rear, it is up to you if you want to run leaf springs or links. The ladder bar is no good for a road car but you could use the mounts and add a 3rd link to the top of the axle. You will want the link mounts and coil over mounts as wide as possible.

Are you sure that you want such a huge engine? DD/cruiser duty will be quite annoying with 8mpg

[GTEEO]

The ladder bars are coming out and a new 12 bolt with 'stock' style adjustable trailing arms and coil overs will be installed. The 535 is in my drag car right now and will be toned down to run on the street. A Pontiac 455 with steel heads weighs more than my 535 with aluminum heads so why not? LOL.. I have the TH400 so maybe changing to a 3.08 rear gear will help with the 535 and give me a little more MPG. I was thinking of FI but don't know how reliable the new systems are. Thanks a lot for all the replies, it helps to know if you're on the right track! Been checking out this site and it's great! ... Eric.

[Nicks67GTO]

A few things....
-Staying Pontiac powered is badass
-If youre really going to do the all aluminum 535 poncho, you better post up a ton of pics of it and i'm as jealous as it gets
-I sent you a PM about your 455
-Call Marc @ SC&C about your chassis and be ready to listen and learn for a long time. So far im extremely impressed with his setup and ive only got the RCA's, Bilstiens and swaybars done. The guy will chat your ear off and answer anything you need to know about the A body chassis.
-There are a lot of self learning fuel injection setups out there that seem to be really reliable. Im guessing a 535 Pontiac is going to be north of 600 hp? So theres only a few setups that will work for you I believe. FAST 2.0 is the first that comes to mind.
-Post some pics of your Pontiacs
-Welcome to the board