1950 Pontiac "Ol Blue" spirited cruiser (who am i kidding AutoX monster eventually)

Here is my 1950 Pontiac Streamliner. I traded my 79 C10 race truck for it. When i got it there was a TON of work that needed to be done. Previous owner was trying to build a car but it was not very safe in some of the execution of mods. I have slowly been going through each area and cleaning up the work and installing new mods as i save up cash. This entire build like the truck will be at a budget of under 75 dollars a month. The challenge proved fun on my last build with all used, traded, or junkyard parts. Attachment 166664
Attachment 166665
Here she is when i first got her. With all her floatiness and 350/350 power.

Cool old car for sure. I like these "out of left field" machines.

Thanks. Most of my build are typically not the normal cookie cutter type builds. I like to be different.

This car is definately cool. I cant go far without someone wanting to talk about it.

First order of busniss was to get the battery off the knife esge of the fender the PO made by cutting a hole in it. Next i cleaned up all of the wiring going to nothing under the hood. Then moved the noisy electric fuel pump feeding the carb off the firewall. Why a fuel pump? Cause thecrossmber gave no room for a mechanical pump.

Next up the fuel filter was full of rusty trash. Why you ask? Cause there was a junkyard tank in a hole cut in the floor?
Attachment 166692
How did it stay? Why just screw some sheet metal to the trunk floor and screw that to the tank of course!!
Attachment 166687

Next i couldnt figure out why it wouldnt cool. New thermostat, burped and filled the coolant, it had an aluminum radiator and a electric fan.....what wrong here? Lets check the pump flow by unhooking a radiator hose and see if water sprays....ooooh. see if you can see whats wrong with this picture.

Attachment 166688

About this time i drove this underpowered running this **** car around to run some errands and pulled it into the garage. I went inside and smelled burning. I went back to the garage and found my starter on fire. I killed the battery and pulled the starter. Above it i found some coolant. I checked the freeze plug where some gunk had built up, and as i touched the plug it busted and sprayed hot coolant in my face.
When i took the starter apart it had coolant all inside it and had shorted the solenoid and cooked it. I checked the other freeze plugs and they were are rotting and about to burst. I popped on out to replace it and there was gravel in the block. I lost my **** and pulled the motor the same day
Attachment 166689
Attachment 166690 i also replaced the steering shaft with a safer alternative. Previously it had two shafts welded together to make it work.

What will i do for a motor? Well i was building a LQ4 for my truck before i traded it.....and its just been sitting there on my stand. 862 heads i ported and polished, ASA cam, ls6 springs, trunion upgrade, ARP bolts, etc. But it was blue. Good thing i have a few extra rattle cans of blue left....but royal blue wont work on this car.....Attachment 166691
Which blue should i use?? Hmm.

Cool project!

Andrew

About now is when things got interesting. I swapped the motor in and had picked up a 4l80e locally on craigslist.....big kistake. It was an older model and i checked the fluid and it seemed clean and well taken care of. Everything looked good internally. But once installed it would not hold gear and slipped lAttachment 166711ike crazy.

About the same time i decided the flat black had to go. It was too ghetto hot rod and not enough classic car that i wanted. To the spray paint aisle i went and found a nice light blue.
Attachment 166712Attachment 166713

About this time i started to get into the tuning with HP Tuners. I hooked up a wideband 02 and started trying to get this thing to idle. This is my first cable throttle body that i am attempting to play with. The cam is on the large side but nothing too crazy. Its a Howard ASA cam. I am using 862 heads and a thin head gasket on an LQ4 so the compression is a little higher. Its been fun so far learning. The transmission has been another story. Ive been through a 4l80e i got from craigslist that would just slip in every gear. Swapped that out for another 4l80e i got from a racing buddy. That one started slipping a little also. Apparently the software and the tune did not like me putting in the 2.29 rear end ratio and it was messing with my shift points badly. Swapped to a more acceptable 3.08 gear and found Bluecats tuning sheet and my god it made a world of difference.
Attachment 166988Attachment 166989

Heres a video of me testing the gears when the wife wasnt home on the 4th of July. That made a mess!!
https://youtu.be/LaqM_5Ijt4o

Bad ass build ... Check mine out love what ur doing with urs

Ive been watching yours. Its progressing nicely. I need to cut out my trunk area also. Way too much cancer. I like the trailer fenders that is cleaner than what i had in my head for mine. Did yours have the oily tar **** all over the underside of every thing? That stuff has been annoying to scrape off. And under it moisture has build and slowly at my floors. Thats a project im not looking forward to.

Yeas mine had all that tar looking stuff I used a torch to get it hot then scrapped it it worked better for me.... Respirator and fan will be ur friend.....I haven't decided if a ls or a old sbc will power mine

I had a lot of tranny fluid that got everywhere and it seemed to loosen it up nicely. I sprayed some liquid wrench on spots and after i let it soak in for a few days it scraped off in chunks.
I really like the old school feel of my old sbc but the problems i was having and the availability and familiarity of the LS sold me. I got tired of it one weekend and just yanked out the old motor. Much nicer with a matching tranny also. Im not at 3k on the freeway now lol.

Yeah my buddy's keep trying to talk me into a ls ..... I know I'll enjoy it just undecided

cool build, in for the updates

Loving that color blue u put on the exterior

I thought it would be too much but once i had it sprayed i loved it. Its really expensive also

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mtrhd329

I thought it would be too much but once i had it sprayed i loved it. Its really expensive also

---

Bad ass..... It don't look half bad

I try not to go too crazy with my paint while im building. I am clumsy and scratch stuff or change my mind. My last step will be the rust repair and body work so i can have a solid base to paint. I just couldnt handle the black primer look. It was ugly. This gives it a more classic look. I like it.

Got a little crazy tonight as i usually do, and i am thinking of using a BCM from the vehicle my PCM was from and see if i can add some modern features to the car. I do t have handles or locks but i could use the key fob to pop the door poppers. It would be nice to have some other features also. Intruiged for sure.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mtrhd329

Got a little crazy tonight as i usually do, and i am thinking of using a BCM from the vehicle my PCM was from and see if i can add some modern features to the car. I do t have handles or locks but i could use the key fob to pop the door poppers. It would be nice to have some other features also. Intruiged for sure.

---

Do it buddy..... I finished the frame work for my floors tonight in the passenger area....waiting on my dang front suspension to arrive