Hello all, been searching and doing my homework on new build. Cut my teeth on a 53 Chieftain 4 door, now starting on a 2 door. Will be doing Gambino taildragger rear, JW Rod Garage front end, bagged all the way around. Just picked up a 1963 Pontiac 389, which will be mated to 700r4 with Wilcap adapter. Would like to upgrade motor a bit, its a 2bbl currently. I've got a 4bbl intake and Carter AFB, and looking for more pointers. I would like to upgrade to 1 wire internally regulated alternator, and HEI. Still pretty new to all this...don't want to buy something incompatible. Any recommends for alt, hei, hop ups etc much appreciated. https://photos.app.goo.gl/7bq8KpubjjGSX1NVA
Intake manifolds will fit 55-64. Exhaust manifolds will fit 59-79 except 301 V/8. All Pontiac V/8 distributors fit. A single AFB carb should be enough for a stock 389 in a cruiser. Sounds like you already know bell housing/transmission interchange. The 370 cu in Pontiac in my 34 coupe is a poster boy for Pontiac interchange. 57 block, 1973 heads, aftermarket intake, 59 bell housing, 69 transmission, 64 exhaust manifolds, 57 timing cover and water pump. etc etc
dont know what you are looking for but this intake is 60 - 64 and there are several other versions of 6x2 for early pontiac. You can also find early 3x2 intakes for your engine if you are more conservitive.
It will as long as you have brackets and pulley to support the pulley alignment and attachment to engine.
I fab'd up my own mount to mount one of those small late G.M. alternators..has a 8-10 gauge wire to the battery and a 14 gauge wire to excite the alternator. No separate regulator used. Works great!
That being the early 63, first alternator mount, I don't see a thing wrong with using it. Unless you are planning an A/C compressor. Then it gets interesting.
There is a long Pontiac engine thread here on the board someplace with lots of good tech information, you can probably find it with a search. As for your engine, if it runs decent I'd leave it be for now, and not worry about trying to soup it up until the car is put together and driving. Even totally stock with the two barrel carburetor, it will be quite an upgrade from the old flathead. You already have an alternator on that engine, so unless there's something wrong with it, you can probably better use the money on something else. As far as that goes, the one wire type only saves you one wire, so there's not much of an advantage there either.
As far as performance, the original Carter AFB is an excellent choice for even a Pontiac 421. Pontiac paid Carter to sabotage the AFB so that the tri-power would out-perform the AFB. A few minutes with the AFB can undo the modification. Having the stock engine out-perform the more expensive tripower engine would have been embarr***ing. If you are wanting eye-candy instead of performance, factory tripower was available for Pontiac V-8 engines from 1957 ~ 1966. Aftermarket tripower and 6x2 manifolds were also available for 1955 ~ 1964 heads. If you want both performance and eye candy, an aftermarket dual quad may be fitted, but for an otherwise stock engine, you need to be careful with carburetor selection. Jon.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-pontiac-engines.224124/ You are building a custom but 1964 389.
Very happy with the FI Tech unit on the 400 in my 60 Pontiac. Instant start up, reliability and fuel economy.
Been busy over the self quarantine...dunno if anyone is even following this...but looking for some guidance on fabbing up motor mounts...frames a 1953, motor is a 63 389. trans is 700r4. mounts on the sides of motor are good...but i dont really know what the frame mounting surface looked like in 1963..
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