1964 GTO Custom - Birth Rite

Body And Interior
Once Don had a rolling chassis that met his demands, he attended to the body of the GTO. He cut out all the rust and installed reproduction quarters, original doors and front fenders, and fabricated the remaining sheetmetal and its mounting brackets. Next, Don turned to the design of the flares. Though made from steel, he started out by cutting small pieces of paper and taping them together. Then he laid the paper pattern on sheetmetal, cut the flares from the templates and installed them on the GTO.

With the body nearly completed, he fabricated seat mounts, floor panels and firewall, and installed a 14:1 Grand National power steering unit with external oil cooler. According to him, "The whole body was removed, a custom roller frame was created to hang it on, and away it went to the body shop. While the shell was at the shop, I was able to take everything off the frame and get it powdercoated."

The bodywork and paint was performed by Maaco of Toms River, New Jersey, where Don made sure he received special treatment. All the panels were painted separately, the body was installed back onto the rolling chassis, and Don was left with the long process of fitting all the parts carefully back onto it. During the reassembly, he installed polycarbonate Lexan windows from Shields.

Inside, he installed a Kirkey aluminum racing seat, Auto Meter gauges, detachable steering wheel and an 11-pound Halon fire system. He also installed removable panels in the tub area to access the rear suspension components.

Engine
According to many engine builders, the benefits of destroking a Pontiac 455 engine include a quicker rate of rev, higher redline and blistering top speeds. Don used this method of power production in his '64 GTO. "The one thing that most 455s have is a lot of torque, but they usually run out of air at higher rpm. That's exactly what my motor did-at 5,200 it was done. So I wanted a screamer that would pull in the upper power band. That's when people started suggesting I bore a 455 block 0.035 over, stuff it with a 428 crank, and produce a 440ci motor. I couldn't believe what a difference it made," Don recalls. "Since it has a shorter stroke of 4.00 inches, the motor revs quicker than a 455 ever could, and with higher rpm potential, it loves to pull to 6,500 and wants more. Outfitted with a 2.75 gear ratio, the GTO will do 180 mph at 6,700 rpm."

Starting with a '70 455 code YH block strengthened with four-bolt billet caps, Stellhorn enlisted Ken's Machine Shop, of Brooksville, Florida, to build the short-block. It includes a 428 crank turning Eagle ESP long rods, and custom pistons. The oiling system is designed to allow high rpm, and no loss of lubrication to the engine's internals. It includes a custom road race oil pan with a three-quart Accusump, race-prepped Melling oil pump and Peterson external oil pressure regulator.

Then Kauffman Racing Equipment, of Glenmont, Ohio, was contacted to supply a set of its D-port 325-cfm heads. They're built with Scorpion 1.65-ratio aluminum roller rockers that compress Comp 919 1.55-inch springs and open and close 2.11/1.77 Ferrea SS valves. Seat pressure is rated at 230 closed and 600 open. A Comp Cams custom hydraulic roller grind turns 252/264-degrees duration at 0.050 and has 0.685/0.685-inch lift.

Fuel is fed from a 22-gallon race fuel cell with a Robbmc fuel pump to a race-prepped Holley 830-cfm NASCAR carb bolted to an Edelbrock Victor intake. Spark comes from a Pontiac HEI distributor tuned by HPP contributor Rocky Rotella with a total timing advance of 32 degrees at 3,500 rpm. It's amplified by a DUI coil and ignition module, and routed to MSD wires and NGK plugs. Exhaust is evacuated by 13/4-inch primary headers, custom made by Don, and mated to 3-inch side dumps.