Im new to the forums and im in camp pendleton, ca Thought id get on here to see how many people are around the area I have a 1962 pontiac tempest. i personally have not seen one ever here are some pics and some thoughts would be apriciated!
Very Cool! I have a 62 Buick special which is the same Y Body platform. They are neat cars that you hardly ever see. Good luck with parts though. The tempest had a transaxle right? Does yours have the 215 or the 4 cyl? Welcome, look forward to your progress.
http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/cto/2297156009.html this is a 62 lemans. been for sale here locally for about 6 months or so. he was at $6000, now down to $3200.
Thanks guys and yes it is a transaxle platform with the 4 cylinder, agian, never seen a set up like this from the 60's parts have been a bitch, i just spent 800 on the rear brakes, thinking about just upgrading to disc anyone have any ideas on what would work for that?
??????? Not trying to be a wiseass, but how could you manage to spend $800.00 on two wheels' worth of brake shoes, wheel cylinders, and springs? I realize that '62 Tempest parts can't be bought at your local Autozone, but......
Link to the '61 -'63 Tempest & LeMans subforum on Performance Years, the biggest and best Pontiac forum on the 'net: http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=427 Plenty of info and helpful members there who know these 'Transaxle Tempests' inside and out.
I just finished building one into a street/strip car. Not an easy car to build. Nothing is in the right place, compared to newer GM intermediates. If you're wanting a driver, I can think of easier models to work with.
Thanks guys! And I spent that much because I couldn't find any shoes avalible for this car the 61-63 are the only ones with this brake system, I found the last one on the west coast and it was a couple hundred, my shoes were no good to get remaned same with the drums and my cylinders leaked alot so they had to be redone, I'm having a hard time dealing with the interior too!
Welcome, but I'm afraid I have to agree. You can buy a complete brake kit for all four wheels (shoes, wheel cylinders, hoses, and master cylinder rebuild kit) for $166 from Kanter, and I think THAT's expensive. Drums might be a problem, as Kanter doesn't list them on line. You might have to call. In any case, these are very cool cars. I have a 1962 Olds F-85 wagon, again the same Y-body platform but front engine, front trans. GM was really clever on these cars, since all were derived from the Corvair platform. Of course, the Corvair was rear engine, flat six, air cooled. The Tempest was front engine with rear transaxle (actually a Corvair transaxle modified for input from the front). The slant four is exactly half of a 389 Pontiac V8 and many V8 parts also work on the four. The Olds and Buick version were conventional drivetrains but all-aluminum 215 V8s. All four were very innovative cars at the time. You see very few on the road today.
Also interesting to note that the aluminum Buick 215 V8 was available in the Tempest/LeMans, the 155 HP 2-barrel version in '61 and the 185 HP 4-barrel in '62. Not many of these 'little injuns' were equipped this way.
One of GM's finest hours of engineering and yet largely overlooked, even today. These cars were a big case of culture shock, following the era of big fins, gaudy chrome, and the explosion in high performance V-8s. These series of cars (Corvair, Tempest, LeMans, Specials, Skylark, F-85, Cutlass)featured lightweight uni-body construction, flat air-cooled motors, a quirky leaning 4-banger, light all-aluminum V-8s, rear mounted transaxles, independent rear suspensions, flexible driveshafts and all kinds of other great engineering. Soon to follow was turbocharging, and even factory methanol injection to combat detonation. As stated above the Tempests could be had with the Trophy Four 194.5 inch motor in '62 or the 215 Buick aluminum V-8. The Trophy 4 was available in 1-barrell and 4-barrell versions. A little over 1,000 were made with the 215 V-8. Little known fact is in '62 there was a 184 HP NASCAR version of the Trophy 4 made, with 4-bolts mains, available over the counter only. Pontiac went to thinner wall blocks in '63, so if you're looking at building a Trophy 4, '61-2 blocks are stronger. In '63 Pontiac upped the ante by offering thier 326 V-8, along with the Four of course. A handful of lucky bastards even got 421s, but that's another story. I originally happened upon the HAMB to build a HA/GR and the Trophy 4 was clearly the logical choice. Why ? Because a lot of the V-8 Pontiac speed parts will work in the Four, probably providing more practical performance options for it, than any other motor that qualified for that class.
So I ordered the conversion kit for the brakes and they will be in next week, let's hope they work well! Does anyone know of any bag kits that will fit this car or of any springs for lowering that will get me on the ground?
You will need custom a arms in the front to bag this car. There was a company in Texas called stoke out specialties that specialized in these cars but i believe they have gone out of business.
Got the plate in today, got most of the brake parts we shall see how it goes Flat-foot, I havnt seen anything for that company at all out there even when I look it up, do you know anyone who has done a bag kit for this style body/supsension?
Here's a couple of pictures of my buddy Nick's 62. The first 2 pics are what it looked like when he first started racing it and the engine set up. He was running mid 11's. The last 2 pics are what it looks like now. Currently running high 9's and we're getting ready to build a 500cu in Pontiac looking to run consistant low 9's.
Flat foot, curiosity has me asking why the need for custom a arms? I also own a 62 tempest. I cut my springs i think 1 1/2 coils and i am pretty happy with it the way it sits. Still drags the oil pan on any bump in the road and once i shoved the radiator into the fan but that was a huge bump.
So I was trying to put my conversion together and the lines don't fit, was told to use cadilac eldarodo lines, anyone know what will work?
I knew a lady who used to own one of these back in the late 70's - early 80's. She then gave it to her nephew who drove it for a while. I don't recall if he sold it or gave it back to his aunt when he left the country. I remember the car being mostly original and it had the 4 banger. I never did care for how those engines sounded. To me they sounded almost like a diesel. I heard the 4 banger was just a 389 with 4 cylinders lopped off of the drivers side. Most of the 389's parts work on it, even the distributor cap but you have to use every other plug on it.
One of the problems you will run into when lowering these cars is that the rear axles are swing axles (which means they only have one pivot point), so you will end up with uncorrectable negative camber. I guess if someone wanted to engineer a set up that used a cv axle and some sort of camber correcting rear control arms, it might be possible without channeling the car to achieve the stance you are looking for.
One problem after another! So I got custom lines for me made and the driver side was going ok but the passenger side line ripped so I need a new bolt and flare it, then the caliper doesn't fit on the plate so I have to shave a notch in it, hoping it will work! And my studs are not long enough! Man I need a damn brake from this project but only have till next week to get it going again
Well I got the brake on there after some extensive modification, but now I need to find a ford wheel with a bolt pattern of 5x4.5 that isn't a domed wheel
Anyone know of any good upholstery shops either in socal or in the bay area, I'll be heading up their June 4rth permanently
Welcome, This '62 belongs to a long time friend of the Anderson Bros. Racing team. My brother and i did a lot of work to the car. Powered by an iron block 428 - car is running high 9's at 135 mph.
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