1963 Pontiac Catalina - Prominent Post

The Restoration
After nearly a decade in hibernation, the Catalina's restoration commenced in December 2001. Ken completely disassembled the car and sent various pieces of it to different professionals, allowing them to work their magic. Once all the finished components were returned, he planned to complete the final assembly himself.

Pontiac performance expert Nunzi Romano, of Nunzi's Automotive in Brooklyn, was enlisted to perform all of the necessary machine work and gather the internal components. But first, he needed to determine if the Catalina's original block was salvageable. "It had previously been bored 0.030-over, and Nunzi took it out another 0.030 to 4.15 inches, but he found that it wasn't enough to effectively repair the damage in one cylinder and had to install a sleeve," says Ken.

Venolia forged pistons, wrapped in Speed-Pro rings, are pinned to stock-length forged-steel connecting rods from Crower. The original forged-steel Super-Duty crankshaft retains its 4.00-inch stroke and total displacement measures near 433 ci.

Nunzi rebuilt the No. 980 SD cylinder heads that accompanied the Catalina. Though the intake and exhaust ports are otherwise as-cast, Nunzi added 2.02/1.76-inch stainless steel Ferrea valves and selected his version of the McKellar No. 11 camshaft to control the valve action. It features 283/293 degrees at 0.050-inch duration and 0.580/0.600-inch valve lift, when combined with Crower cast-aluminum 1.6-ratio roller rocker arms.

The Catalina's original oil pan was replaced with a factory race unit designed to increase total capacity to 9 quarts. "Nunzi rebuilt the original Super-Duty oil pump and added the correct pickup for use with the deep-sump pan. I also located a flat, four-blade fan that's claimed to be worth 7 horsepower, according to vintage Royal Pontiac sales literature," adds Ken.

Backing the Super-Duty mill is its original flywheel, and a stock-replacement Borg & Beck-style Super-Duty clutch disc and pressure plate assembly that Nunzi located. "The transmission is the original close-ratio Borg Warner T-10 four-speed, which features an aluminum main case and high-nickel gear set. It's controlled by the original floor-mounted Hurst shifter," he adds.

While the engine was being rebuilt, Ken sent the Catalina's body shell to Al Janorawski of Staten Island for refinishing, while the aluminum body panels went to Scott Tiemann at Supercar Specialties in Portland, Michigan. He took it upon himself to refinish the Catalina's original frame.

Janorawski stripped the Catalina's body to bare metal and hung N.O.S. quarter panels, installed one N.O.S. door skin, and repaired the floorpan before applying PPG primer and five coats of PPG single-stage Starlight Black. The topcoat was wet-sanded with papers ranging from 600 to 2,500-grit, lending to its mirror-like finish. Ken adds, "Scott had Jerome Plunkett, of JP Race Cars in Portland, straighten the aluminum panels before he painted them. I already had the body finished, and installed the panels as soon as they arrived. All of the components matched perfectly."

Ken had the frame blasted to bare metal and coated with DP40 epoxy primer and DP90 semi-gloss black. He then rebuilt the entire suspension and braking systems using stock components. The only deviation was a pair of high-lift front coil springs from Moog. "I wanted to replicate the look of a '60s-era drag car," he says. Reproduction tires from Coker are mounted on the original 14x6-inch steel rims up front, while out back, a pair of N.O.S. "cheater" slicks give the Catalina a nostalgic flare.