With four coats of primer, a coat of sealer, six coats of House of Kolor Orion Silver, and six coats of clear (along with a highlight of Ice Pearl stashed somewhere within), this '65 Catalina really sparkles from stem to stern.
Body
Given the autobody experience of Rob and Kevin, those chores were handled "in-house" as had been the case with the chassis. "Even though the body was in fairly good condition, it still needed quite a bit of attention," Jim says. Hand-fabricated patch panels were welded in to repair rusted areas. "The exterior was then chemically hand stripped to preserve the smoothness of the metal," Jim recalls. "Days of bodywork became weeks and weeks evolved into months.
But whenever I would get discouraged and would come out to look at the car, Kevin and Rob would remind me, 'Your patience will be rewarded.'"
On one of these trips to see his '65, Jim discovered his favorite modifications, the radio and heater deletions. "They didn't want to just use the delete plates, which can be hard to come by," Jim says. "They wanted to make it look like a radio and heater were never even intended on this car." Once done, the heater box under the hood was gone, as were heater and radio controls on the dash fascia, and the heater ducts and speaker grille at the base of the windshield.
Kevin's custom work is exhibited here with the filling and smoothing of the heating ducts and speaker grille areas of the dash.
Kevin and Rob relocated the battery to the trunk. They smoothed the drip rails, and then removed the body side trim, ornaments, badges, and vents, filling the holes.
Mounting of the front clip and block-sanding was followed by four coats of HOK Epoxy Primer and more blocking. Then the RM Sealer and four coats of HOK Orion Silver urethane were applied, with wet-sanding between each using 1,000-grit paper. Next was a coat of clear and more wet-sanding. Then came the secret to this finish's brilliance--a coat of clear with HOK Ice Pearl in it. Next came two more coats of clear with wet-sanding with 2,000-grit paper and finally two coats of clear with 2,500-grit wet-sanding before a six-step final compounding and polishing regimen.
"When I stopped by to see the painted car for the first time," Jim says, "I realized, as they had told me so often, my patience had been rewarded--with a paint job that could outshine a diamond.
Engine And Drivetrain
With all that attention paid to the body, the engine had to deliver as well. "I wanted to use the largest engine Pontiac ever produced, the 455," Jim says. He sent a '73 455 block and some parts to Ken Keefer of Ken's Speed and Machine in Brooksville, Florida, for a buildup. The block was cleaned, machined, and bored 0.060 over to 469 ci, and the bottom was filled with hard-block. A stock crank, cut 0.010/0.010, was reinstalled, and Pro-Line forged steel rods and TRW forged pistons were used. The oiling system was upgraded with baffles added to the stock pan, a crank scraper, and a high-volume oil pump.
For stump-pulling power, owner Jim Butcher went with a bored-over '73 455 block, topped with ported 6X heads, a stout hydraulic cam, and a Holley 850 DP on an Edelbrock intake. Notice the firewall area for the heater box was covered with a welded panel and smoothed. But Kevin added an extra detail--he put a bead roll in the panel to resemble a factory embossing so it appears to be stock.
A custom-ground Comp Cams hydraulic stick, featuring 281/287 degrees advertised duration with 0.510/0.520 lift when used with 1.5 ratio Harland Sharp roller rockers was employed. Ferrea stainless 2.11/1.77 valves were installed in a set of milled and ported 6X-8 heads fitted with Comp springs. The compression ratio is 9.5:1.
Holley's 850-cfm Double Pumper with No. 76/No. 83 jets mixes atmosphere with fuel transferred via a Holley 110-gph fuel pump, and delivers it into an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold. Once in the combustion chambers, GM's HEI distributor flashes the mixture at a total timing advance of 34 degrees via NGK plugs and MSD 8.5mm wires. After combustion, on the exhaust stroke, Doug's four-tube headers move spent gasses from the exhaust ports through 1.875-inch primaries into 3-inch collectors. A 3-inch X-pipe comes next, and Xelerator 18-inch mufflers reduce decibels to a legal level before the exhaust escapes into the air.
Transferring the torque rearward is a 2,500-stall Performance Torque Converter and a Turbo 400 trans built by Hi-Tech Transmissions in Odessa, Florida, which features a B&M Megashifter, transmission cooler, and shift kit. A 3.42:1 Safe-T-Track unit from a past project was revived and employed to put the power to the ground.