1955 Pontiac Redux

So, when we last left the story, the 1955 Pontiac went from a promising 7 day build to a longer term project. But now (thanks to money, more money, vision and perseverence) we are back!

The original 287 had a couple of badly scored bores, so my client dug into his ever growing collection of Pontiac motors and came up with a 1957 347. It was originally a tri power motor so we sold off some of the unused parts to help raise funds for the rebuild. Typical old car story on the new 347, it was purchased as a low mile take out which had been removed from a wrecked Bonneville 30 plus years ago and stored under a workbench all this time. When it was torn down for inspection, we found clear evidence of a high mileage motor. It was tired, with worn bores, a crank that needed to be turned .030/.030 to clean up, heads that needed all new valves and seats, even a small crack in the block near the cam bearings!

So...a month later we got the refreshed lump back. It's now .030 over with good valvesprings, Isky retainers and locks, a 292 camshaft, and 10.0:1 compression. It's also sporting a very cool Offenhauser tripower intake with the correct carbs, one big 500 cfm two barrel in the middle and two smaller dump carbs on the ends. This was mated to a refreshed hydro with a modified converter and reworked internals for a stronger shift. We even went so far as to color match the original 1957 Pontiac paint off the generator bracket and had the whole thing shot in single stage enamel. Looks great!

The valve covers are reproduction Cal Customs.