Featured Projects Pontiac torpedo

Oh I’m signed up I want to see how your kids do with this project.
You do an excellent job, every kid deserves to have at least one excellent teacher in their lives. I did and I'm forever grateful.
Dan

 

Rear window wiper is a fairly rare option and was also used on the Chevy, even more rare on the Chev. Another accessory bit that's worth big dollars to the lowrider bomb crowd.

 

Well back to "Plan A" then.

If you put the 250 in it, paint it gray like your 292. It will look like it was born in there!

 

What a cool car. That thing would be cool even with a briggs & stratton under the hood. Whatever you've got that'll fit will do just fine.

 

School starts in a couple weeks. So we’re 3-4 weeks out on looking at it.
Students will have to remove the seats, floor mats and clean up the car for inspection.
Come up with a couple plans of attack and costs.
Present that info to the owner.
then he and I will figure out what he wants.
The guy is an engineer so he has no clue what he really wants.
He’s aHS instructor. His class builds prosthetic limbs from car parts and ships them overseas.
They build shipping container classrooms and solar powered laptops that are sent overseas.
One of those classrooms was a welding lab.
Builds all this off of donations, gets free shipping from a major fruit distributor.
So I kinda want to help the guy get him an old ride going.

 

Just stand it up straight.

 

Slant 6 dimensions they’re not as wide as you think
BULLETIN #37 - 5 5/77
ENGINE DIMENSIONS CHART 225
WIDTH
Outside Valve Cover to
Prod. Exh. Manifolds 17.3"

LENGTH
Bellhousing Face to

Front of Block 27.7"
Center Line of Fan Belt 28.0"
Front of Fan 32.3"

HEIGHT
Bottom of Pan to

Top of Prod. Air Cleaner 29.6"
Top of Carb. 26.5"
Top of Valve Cover 23.8"

Pan Rail to
Top of Valve Cover 19.7"

Above numbers are approximate.

 

The slant 6 is a really great engine and I can't imagine it's that hard to make room for one under the hood of a 40s boat. But there are easier options, especially if you want a manual. You can fit one most anywhere you can fit a V8 (Chrysler corp proved it) but I don't know why a guy would specifically seek out a slant 6 for anything other than a car a slant 6 came in other than to be different.

If I was doing an inline engine in that car and it wasn't a Mopar flathead 6 with some kind of forced induction it would be a fireball 8. The slant is a great mill but for the trouble you might as well swap a V8. I say that as someone that dailied and still loves a slant car.

But it sounds like anthony already has a mill and knows what he's doing.

 

Don’t have a good slant laying around.

So I’ll probably pass on this project

 

I was looking at Pontiac OHC 6s in junk yards, conditions were questionable and the prices were too high IMO. However I did discover that after the OHCs Pontiac used 250 Chevys, I did not know that.
Dan

 

IIRC, the OHCs have aluminum parts that have the same issues other aluminum engine parts from that era have; rot/corrosion, fasteners stuck for 60 years, warping or other problems. Then there is parts selection.
I dig a /6, but it's for a car at or under 3000 pounds and they do require more effort to install.
@anthony myrick are there any old rusty chevy vans that have viable drivetrains, especially a 250?
https://roanoke.craigslist.org/cto/d/roanoke-1990-chevy-g20/7866648623.html

 

Guy just wants to drive it.
A SBC isn’t out of the question but I don’t really care what makes it go as long as it goes.

I put a ton of fun miles on a 223 ford and 235 Chevy in trucks.

 

If you have the 250 Chevy and T350, use that. Along with a taller rearend gear. If you need to keep the stock 4.xx gear, then consider a T5 trans for the OD. Still bolts easily to the 250. Or a 700R4 if keeping auto trans.

If you need to find a different engine, a Ford 300 and 5-speed would be a great choice. The 300s last forever and they came with 5-speeds in the trucks. Although it's a ZF-5 and a large size truck trans. No speed shifting.

 

But we're hot rodders

 

years ago I had a 68 chev, short step side, with a 250 and a 3 speed.
it also had...Some kinda holly carb, and a split header for duals, and it was a nice thing to drive. Take sumthin else to the drag strip saturday, but the chevy 250 was just fine for me

 

My 42,000 mile original, 6 cyl Hydro, slowest car I have ever owned. Could use a power plant upgrade but it’s too nice a car to modify.

 

The original plan makes the most sense to me, particularly becaue the parts are already around. The owner just wants to drive and this is a car where low and slow is not out of place.

 

Curb weight on that car was only about 3500 pounds, a 230 six won't have any problems.
(I'd vote for finding an original Pontiac flathead six or eight, but that's probably not very practical.)

 

How about a 1990s XJ Cherokee 4.O straight six ?

 

Jeep engines have a few things that make them kind of less than optimal for swaps. None of these are deal-breakers, but do make them less simple.
Transmissions/transfer case for 4X4 in most cases. Yes, there are 2WD versions.
Computer systems that are different than any others, including a different O2 sensor 0-5V Rich-lean, not 0-1 volt Lean-rich.
Cooling systems that have a surge tank, with a radiator that isn't highest point.
Most cheap jeeps are worn out. You may find a 2WD Cherokee that is rusty and has a good drivetrain, but it's going to be priced higher and fewer to choose from. Kind of a needle in a haystack. The cheap stuff has usually been hacked/modified and neglected. That's true across the board.
Plastic valve covers, goofy crankcase ventilation, EFI and exhaust that have aftermarket support but only for Jeep applications, not swaps.
Again, nothing a rodder can't work around, but more difficult to find, more expensive, more things to rework. Stuffing in a 6 cylinder Chevy will be cheaper, easier, have the same or better power, parts availability and probably better resale. Many of the same reasons why American rodders don't use European drivetrains as much.

 

The path of least resistance.

And cheap.

it’s just gotta go and stop.

no reinventing the wheel for this one

 

@anthony myrick , thanks for being an influential HS teacher, and for sharing your "curriculum" with us.

Whatever engine/trans this car gets, those HS students are LUCKY to have you to guide them through the planning/scheduling/funding/building process.

 

figured they'd be rare, but two offerings of '50 Poncho skirts on ebay

 

Info and pics requested.

 

Make them from old appliances.

 

Shipping container welding lab

Prosthetics can be seen here
https://skyyouth.org/

 

The car had several factory options or add-ons. The backup light, the rear bumper corner overriders, fog lights. spotlight. These are gorgeous cars with that ribbed trim.

 

looks like that would be a great project. I had a 1946 oldsmobile I want to built but got sick and never got to finish it.