Pfeil

I can't help but thinking "promising" and then the other side of me says "last gasp".

This scenario (of wiping out an engine) you described for more modern engines has been going on now for more than 56 years in some engines. 1966 OHC Pontiac six will do that. I witnessed a 1978 D15A3 Honda explode in a Prelude, wasn't pretty. On some of my traditional Pontiac V-8 cars I have learned to pick a nice day when the vehicle goes over 35K to do the water pump and the timing gear. Pontiac's just like to jump and destroy from 35-75K and then where are you???? Now you've got to drop the pan and get the mess out and hope none of that crud made it past the oil pump to the oil galleries I've been in a car when the chain slipped over the gear for the first time. I would rather do it when I have the time because if left to an engines own nuance it will happen when I've got something better to do-OR I'm in the middle of NOWHERE. After it's done and with the proper double roller chain and gears and new water pump that's just one engine I don't have to worry about. One thing to note is stick shift cars tend to not only wear down or break off (due to heat) the plastic/fiber coated teeth much faster than automatic cars because of the on again/off again of going up through the gears and downshifting having a push-pull effect on the gears/chain.

I should mention this. To those who have raced or built race cars or engines should know the name Ryan Falconer. Please read his history and fortunately for people in the greater Prescott AZ area Ryan moved his business here (Chino AZ.) from Ca. about the same time I moved from Ca. approx. ten years ago. So, the V-12 topic is something Ryan is good at among other engines that are built by his design. Welcome to Ryan Falconer Racing Engines! - Home

Not enough horsepower there Glenn. I prefer something else. Curtiss Wright R3350 Turbo Compound Radial Engine Propeller CSU Testing A few years on these in this application,

Pontiac's first one, The first two black and white pictures was 40+ years ago. Originally standard interior Catalina with a 280hp 2bbl 389, 4 speed Hydra-Matic. A parts chaser in the Pontiac Engineering garage after marketing/product planning got through with it. Something happened during the restoration as it turned into a 300hp 4bbl, 389 with a Bonneville interior.

Anyone have 50s and 60s cars with either factory or aftermarket air-conditioning? Yes! I have a factory air 1963 Pontiac Catalina. When I bought the car, it had an attempted R134 conversion. Basically, charging ports added to the compressor, no high-pressure, low-pressure switches etc. I re-converted to R-12. No problems and nice and cold. I also have a 1969 Pontiac H-O LeMans with factory air conditioning. I ordered the car in Nov 68 and took delivery just before Christmas 1969. The unit is also a R12 as intended by Pontiac. The only service work done has been an evaporator replacement due to a leak in an oil return line where it's soldered into the bottom of the evaporator. I replaced this evaporator in 1992. Telltale sign was small amount of refrigerant oil in the evaporator water drain that goes to the ground. FYI, G.M. Frigidaire compressors according to the service manual are supposed to slightly weep. Buick division put an oil shield on the compressor to direct any oil to the ground. I copied a shield from a friends Buick and made exact replicas for my Pontiacs. Took about 40 minutes to make two and they are effective and look just like factory Buick. Here is one installed on a friends 1966 GTO,

Rule # 1. It's not what you drive, it's what you drive home to.

I'll add to that. People with limited disposable income, the bread-and-butter cars, the entry level cars are the first indicators of a downward trend. They are the Weathervane.

Maybe you would like this 68 Pontiac engineering exercise.

Thanks for the post, it's a part of history that made the VW a success. By the time I went to VW school in the late 60's there was just east coast and Volkswagen Pacific on the west coast. No more driving out unless (like me) you were nearby most of the guys in my classes were flown in. Did you send this off to the SAMBA???

Been watching Mecum Harrisburg. Seems the early part of the auction prices for the average person to buy are lower than I expected for what looked like some nice cars. Among the car people I'm around there is the fear of what's next. I know friends in Ca. that have had (not just car insurance) but umbrella policies that they have had for decades either go through the roof or prominent companies just leave the state altogether. The news is telling us the high cost of insurance will hit everywhere. That fear of what's next is exacerbated by talk of no gas stoves, changes to dishwashers, Heater/Air conditioners, water heaters and other appliances. Anyone put a roof on a house lately? Doubled in two plus years! Some of the guys think cars will be on the chopping block as far as some kind of restrictions to non-essential vehicles or problems with fuel or fuel supply. And they are very worried about this digital currency talk, which will put an end to all the swap meet stuff. I'm just a retiree who has seen my bank savings loose 20% of its buying power in the last two+ years. I'm hoping that the cars I have will outlast me, but the longer I live their chances go down they won't.

Not only NOVA, but almost all GM X bodies OldsmobilePontiac> Even the Vega got one

That's why I said this; When I called Castrol about their reduced rate of ZDDP for their straight weight 30 & 40 & 20-50W they told me it was acceptable to use 1/2 the amount per bottle of ZZDP for my VW's. The ZZDP bottle treated 5 quarts. For my Oldsmobile, one bottle was the prescribed amount. The Pontiac's with their 6 and & 7-quart pans required an additional bottle to be measured out for the proper amount. Further they told me that today's oil has dropped beyond the threshold of 1,000ppm and are somewhere around 800ppm's. In the past engine manufacturers were building engines and oil suppliers were making the average motor oil with 1,400ppm ZZDP!

When I called Castrol about their reduced rate of ZDDP for their straight weight 30 & 40 & 20-50W they told me it was acceptable to use 1/2 the amount per bottle of ZZDP for my VW's. The ZZDP bottle treated 5 quarts. For my Oldsmobile, one bottle was the prescribed amount. The Pontiac's with their 6 and & 7-quart pans required an additional bottle to be measured out for the proper amount. I had already called ZZDP to see if it were a problem, but I wanted to make sure though that it was acceptable with Castrol which it was. Castrol's excuse at the time was they were being forced to reduce their additives in high pressure lubricants. Working for a major car manufacturer in engineering I already knew this was true due to problems with blowby gasses being reburned and having an effect on catalytic converters. The interesting thing is, my 1976 Oldsmobile never failed an emission test with its original complete exhaust system and still counting 117,000 miles and 47 years and a steady diet of ZZDP.

Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) is the preponderance of zinc in Classic Car Motor Oil. This chemical was invented by Lubrizol in the early 1940’s to stabilize bearing corrosion when harder bearings than babbit came into use.

Why Put Zinc in Oil for Old Engines? Zinc or zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP) in motor oil creates a protective coating on metal surfaces in the engine so it can stand up to the stress put on the camshaft and other components. Your average oil produced today provides enough protection for most cars used in normal operating conditions. Older classic automobiles, high performance engines and almost all non-roller cam-designed models need a more robust line of defense. That’s where zinc comes in. High zinc oil or zinc oil additives deliver the extreme pressure wear protection to get the best performance and longevity out of your engine. It protects and eliminates wear problems with the cams, lifters and rocker arms. Zinc in oil also helps older engines start smoother in cold temperatures and maintain peak horsepower and fuel efficiency.

A couple of months ago I bought it at Walmart. This time around it wasn't there so I tried all the usual auto parts stores, also not there. I ended up buying it on Amazon.

Did you know Castrol is making something call Castrol Classic 20-50 and has all the zink and phosphates.

Think about this. The Titanic and the 59 Chevy incident have a similar theme, one by accident, the other by design. Had the crew of the Titanic not seen the iceberg the Titanic would have run straight into it, most likely damaging the first two, possibly three watertight compartments, but the ship would have stayed afloat. Instead, a glancing blow compromised six compartments. The new vs. old Chevrolet event was a staged event designed to exploit the disadvantages of one design against the virtues of the other. I would love to have seen this scenario reversed. Better yet would be a 59 Oldsmobile against the Malibu.

Frank DuVal; The core support is an integral Part of the front-end section of the vehicle, and it ties the two front fenders together at the top and bolted to the frame at the bottom. After the "body drop" on the frame, the whole integral front-end section already put together is dropped as a unit to the body frame. If the core support was not there the unit assy. wouldn't be as a unit. Considering that the three car I showed are all G.M. "B" bodied cars, back then the real difference besides styling (mind you the canopies were the same) would be powertrain suspension and frame. Just look at the track differences between the Pontiac and Chevrolet. Chevrolet has a 60.3" front - 59.3" rear track and Pontiac has wide track at 63-7/8" rear 64". As far as core supports go, I know each marque has its own one core support, but they are sure different in strength and rigidity. Note the size of the core support and now you can see the steering box tucked way back like the Oldsmobile. Now you can see why the other divisions cars weighed more than the Chevrolet.

Just looking at the picture tells me what is going to happen. The Malibu and BelAir are not going to hit dead center. In this crash the Malibu goes right past that inline six-cylinder engine, the BelAir unlike Pontiac and other GM cars of the time has front steering as opposed to cars like Pontiac whose steering box is inside the frame rail and almost behind the engine and two crossmembers. Those front steer car without a collapsible steering column put the steering shaft right into your chest. The BelAir also has a very lightly reinforced core support. Perhaps if the BelAir had a wide 348 engine things might have been a little different. Look where the steering gear and links are 59-64 On Pontiac the red supply oil hose is going to the steering box. This is a rear steer car, also there are two crossmembers instead of Chevy's one. three cars based on the same basic X frame built differently. Look at the Olds below. It has the x frame but its side boxed, it's also a rear steer car, and instead of rear coils it's a leaf sprung car. This Oldsmobile would have never looked like either Chevys under the same conditions.

Jack Benny's car was pretty old. Phil Silvers Ford

Yes, what you said John. Also, X frame cars do very well in rear enders. I would like to see the car on a rack and see what the rear union of the X box at the rear looks like. I've seen a few of these X-box sections cut out and modified for one-piece driveshafts. Center punching is a whole different story. I believe x cars like Olds and probably Buick B&C bodies have side rails welded in. After all the data from crashes I don't know why Chevrolet continued to build this to 1965. Pontiac stopped after 1960 model year.

Look at Leave it to Beaver. The show started off with 1957 Fords and in 1959 to the end of the series in Plymouth, also all the cars on the street were Chrysler products, except for Lumpy's 1940 Ford and Wally's brief 36 Ford and his 53 Chevy.

Make sense to me. However, they might start out clean but don't always end up that way. And I just love Ethel Merman upside down!