Thought I would post some progress pics of this old 58 Pontiac as I do work to get her back on the track. The first thing I had to address was the trunk floor. I had to go through the back seat with about 5 foot of extensions to get the trunk open by removing the latch. The mechanism was frozen, and the previous owners son damn near ripped the whole thing out of the trunk floor trying to get it open. I had to rebuild the rear portion of the trunk floor, and the center section above the gas tank was cheesy, so I cut that out and replaced it as well. I then decided to get rid of the spare tire well, so I can center a new tank between the frame rails. Once everything was welded and seam sealed, I put a coat of POR 15 on to finish it. With that done, it was time to remove the front clip to gain access to the engine bay, and front suspension. With any project, I feel the first order of business should be the mechanicals to ensure safety. so I dropped the control arms to inspect all the bushings, and ordered all new brake items, shoes,springs,hoses,etc. I then cleaned and inspected the front end pieces and found the car to have new(er) upper and lower ball joints, and with the car being owned/maintained/raced by a guy who owned his own auto repair business, everything had been regularly greased to death. I would bet I removed at least 5lbs of old grease off the control arms. I painted almost everything today, and I hope to have the suspension back on in the next couple days. Once that's done, it's time to fabricate some motor mounts to hold a newer 400 Pontiac engine with conventional mounts, and a trans crossmember to hold the 700 R4 trans.
Nice start, looking forward to more updates on this one. Front wheels looking nice, looks familiar....
Man I hope to see this car at an event this summer. How many 58 Pontiacs do yuo even see around period, let alone a race car.
Any Pontiac people here in Michigan that have a pair of small chamber heads they would like to quit tripping over? I could use them to get this Hulk moving. The wheels are Fenton Hawks, they are an old pair of 15x5's that the chrome was shot. I bead blasted them clean, primed them, then put them in a lathe at work and turned the ribs on the spokes for a new machined finish. Painted them with Pontiac rally wheel colors and clear coated. I have a brand new pair of 6.70-15 Firestone white walls to install, and for the rear I got with Hurst Racing Tires and ordered a pair of 28.5x8-15 Pie crust cheater slicks.
Nice to see I'm not the only one with a 58 Pontiac. Who did you order your replacement brake & suspension parts from? I need to do the same with mine but I'm going to use the scarebird front disc brake conversion though Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Ordered all the brake parts from Rock Auto, and they got everything right except for the inner wheel bearing seals, which reminds me, I need to get off the computer and call them about that issue.
Got the front brakes done. Turned and blasted the front drums, then set them up and machined them for 4 3/4 bolt circle, and shot a little paint on them. Got my front tires mounted and balanced. The Hurst Racing Cheater Slicks showed up the other day. Started making motor mounts. Got the block mounts made, just have to make the frame perches tomorrow and weld them into place, and make a crossmember for the 700 r4 trans. It's coming along.
Cool! I mostly do 55-57 Pontiacs [had 11 of them] but I can remember sitting in the school library in 62-63 and reading about the 58 Pontiacs absolutly OWNING their NHRA class [I think it was C stock/automatic] for several years..nothing could touch 'em. I was impressed enough to base my engine for my 34 ford 5 window on a 57 Pontiac engine [347] bored .125 to 370 cubic inches, the size of a 58 Pontiac engine. It's almost ready to install in the car now. Can't wait to fire it up. It takes a pile of torque to get those old heavy Pontiacs down the strip.
Progress looks great but it's kinda hard to tell from your pic, but it looks like the upper ball joints are mounted under the control arm? They should be above the arm, my bad if they are mounted correctly and disregard my statement. I got some 58 arms for my 55 when I converted it to a ball joint suspension when I got it. One side was mounted above the other below. From the Master parts catalog for referance: http://www.pontiacsafari.com/MPC/Pages/page_0407.jpg markyac that 56 is a beauty!
Looks like he's got ball joint spacers there..Even without, you get a little more front end travel with them underneath. Thanks!
I forgot about those, DOH. I even had a set from ebay for a tri-5 Chevy that fit the 58 Pontiac uppers.
ponchos were the fasted thing there was before the 409---they are good looking and fast ---keep the pics coming
Correct. They were mounted underneath, but I went a step further and machined a set of spacers for a little more lift.
I've seen it done on the Chevy x frames it requires cutting and boxing the center but you could always use the hd billet carrier bearing Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
I went through 5 stock carrier bearings in my old 58 Chevy untill I bought the billet one that car is long gone but my friend still has one in his 62 impala 454,th 400 and it holds up well to his abuse Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Here are the motor mounts. I *just* got done welding the motor mount perches to the frame. Someone asked me to post photo's,so here they are. I mocked the engine up with Ram Air Restoration RAIII manifolds, and they clear the steering box,but it's tight,and I had to trim the upper control arm near the bushing on the passenger side just a little. The mounts on the block I made from 3 1/2" C channel, and trimmed 1 side off, making it look like a letter "P" when looking down, or a reversed "P" on the driver side. They are 9" long and will have a dual bolt pattern drilled to go on both old, and newer blocks. The frame perches were made from 3" C channel, and I rounded the front near the rubber mount. The rubber mounts are some core support bushings I had for an "A" body, and I made a hardened steel bushing/sleeve to go between the block mount and perch. If this rubber is too squishy, I have some hard durometer rubber at work that I can make some new ones from. That's all for today, making the trans mount/cross member is next.
What are you going to do with this car anyway? You talk about getting it back on the track, then you ask about HO manifolds and block hugger headers ??
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