PT GTO Judge

[Geeto67]

Thanks for the offer. i am definietly buying beer.

I saw george's car one nite at at cruise in CT, wickedly nice car. Never saw him to talk though.

I will not use my block, I will use a non-bored 400 from a 67-72 pontiac. Teh 455 scares me b/c from what I undersatnd there needs to be a special frame piece used (hard to find) to put a 455 in a pre 70 GTO. Not sure, ever hear of that ? I lurk on perfromance years website for soem of my information.
I have Hotchkiss lower contraol arm already in rear. Fronts will be Global west with coil overs to adjust ride height.



I need to do some research in rears. No problem using a Ford in a Pontiac, I actually own some nasty Fords, but I worry about matching pick up points for control arms sway bars etc. on pasrts i already own. Same witha 12 bolt b/c most seem to be Chevy and not BOP's. maybe a hi-po rebuold of the stock 10 bolt will be the best idea like you suggested.

Where in NY are you ? I live in Westchester County.

Brad

I currently live in Queens, But I do a lot of the work on my car in Nassau county at my father's house (because he has the air tools and the welding tanks and my garage in queens if filled with motorcycles).

George is a pretty cool guy, if you need to talk to him he is over at V8buick.com most of the time. I am building a 1967 buick also so I have been trying to get over and take a look at his car (since he lives less than 5 miles from me) but I haven't had the time. Ponchojohn is right about the motormounts with the 455, what you might be thinking of the the difference between the years on 400s and 455 where there are two seperate engine mounts, but none of that stuff is rare - and I think most of it is reproduced. The hotchkis lower arms I have heard are good, do you have the one with the welded sway bar (I have always wondered about how good it works). 9" ford housings that bolt into a-body frames are out there in the aftermarket but can be expensive. If you have all the 9" guts laying around a bare housing shouldn't cost you too bad but I know strange makes a bolt in 9" and a 12" bolt (with c clip eliminators) that are ready to bolt in and go but they cost over a grand. AS for your 10 bolt, unelss you have the weird early one (I think it is the 8.2" or 8.5" ring gear) you should have no problem with parts. Even the oddball ones have parts available but they cost more. I don't make 500 hp but the 10 bolt in my GTO has held up great for five years with an auburn 3.55 gear set and a posi, I drive the car to the trac, I beat on it, and as of yet I have never had to make a single repair on it. If you are going to go overdrive I sggest you think about a numerically high gearset like 3.90s or 4.10s and see about putting a t56 6speed in the car (with the 6 gears I would even go as high as 4.56). I really dig the factory hood tachs, I think it's cool if you keep it in place, I'm adding one to my car when I get the chance.