66 efi GTO

[hgerhardt]

Hi all, I'm Heinrich Gerhardt, and I have a '66 GTO. It's motivated by a Pontiac 428 with Edelbrock heads, a solid roller, a homemade carbon-fiber EFI intake connected to a Motec (if you want to inject a Pontiac, how are ya gonna do it?), with a Cadillac Northstar crank trigger whose 550 HP (+150 N2O) is transmitted to the 12-bolt posi via a 200-4R and an aluminum driveshaft. It's steered by a YA-code MonteSS box with a '70's Cadillac steering cooler connected to a pre-airbag 80's Firebird wheel and it used to be stopped by 70's F-body front brakes and '78 K-body rears (Seville) and boosted by a B-body Powermaster master cylinder. I'm now converting it to C5 front with B-body spindles and GW upper arms and LS1 rears. Wheels are ROH ZR6 with 255-45ZR17 tires.

10 years ago this month, Hot Rod magazine saw fit to publish a nice story on the car and even put it on the cover. Which, I found out years later, motivated my friend Joe Whiles to go to engineering school (congrats, Joe). Three years after that, some woman decided stop signs didn't apply to her and plowed her Volvo into me (as I was going around 40 mph) and basically wiped out the entire RH side of the car. Needless to say, I was heartbroken. And pissed. It took about 5 years for the body shop to repair the body damage, (and fortunately I had the foresight to remove the driveline and interior before I gave them the car), but just about every single piece of hardware they installed is wrong--either cross-threaded, metric bolt into standard hole, wrong size, wrong torque, you name it, they did it. Unbelievable. Well, I got the car back 2-1/2 years ago, but I had other things to finish first, like my homebuilt airplane (google N10HJ or go here). Now that it's been flying for 2 years, I finally got back to the car. Engine+trans, new Doug's headers, new brakes and hyd lines, and most of the wrong hardware is fixed and I think I'll have it back on the road a few months.

[NFORCA]

That intake is beautiful! Any pics of the engine bay?

[BossaNova]

Beautiful car in a beautiful color.
More pics pls!

[wmhjr]

Wow! Welcome! Very very nice work.

[1971CHEVELLE]

nice...Welcome to the site

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the site, Heinrich. I can't wait to see that goat up and running again.

[b-man]

Welcome Heinrich!

Glad to hear you're going to get your GTO back on the road soon.

I remember right around the time your '66 was appearing the cover of HOT ROD we were paired up in the final round at a Pontiac Drag Days bracket race, you were in the left lane and I was in the tower lane.

We were both flying through the traps at the finish line and I saw your car suddenly jump forward out of the corner of my eye, that really caught me by surprise.

Later that night you told me you had hit the juice to try to nose me out at the finish, those were some good times.

Bart

[hgerhardt]

That intake is beautiful! Any pics of the engine bay?

Yep. Here you go. The throttle body is homemade and uses LT1 geometry, but with two Isuzu Rodeo 62mm throttle blades. Also, here are some pics of the small-cap HEI I modified to fit a Pontiac (also modded the top with a hall-effect sensor that also senses TDC #1 for the Motec), and my homemade crank trigger that uses a Northstar sensor. Never got a chance to hook up the crank trigger before the crash. Also shown is the C4 Corvette oil-to-water oil cooler with the homemade angled filter adapter-adapter.

[rohrt]

Welcome Heinrich!

I remember that article in Hot Rod. I'm still in awe at what you have put together. Your a man ahead of his time.

[MYSTICMISSLE]

beautiful hi tech poncho

[bigshotsho93]

cool car. i work at a custom restoration shop and we do collision work too. sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with that shop. were restoring a 66 gto right now. its kinda rough but its a true gto. got any pics of the damage/repair that you would like to share?