Take a long look. Yes, that's...
Take a long look. Yes, that's A/C on a R/A-V-headed and intake-equipped 455.
Some people are never satisfied. They simply want it all. Give'em a GTO and they want a Judge. Give 'em a Ram Air III engine and they want it to be a R/A-V. Tell 'em that such a high-strung engine would never have been available with A/C and is too temperamental for a weekend cruiser and they say, "Build it anyway."
John Moauro is one of those people. All kidding aside, "wanting it all" is an attribute in this case, as it lead to a '69 GTO convertible being transformed into a supercar that we would've all loved to see Pontiac build back in the day. His Judge clone features the R/A-V heads and intake on a 455 and is fitted with luxury options like A/C, power windows, power seat, power antenna, power trunk release, tilt wheel, wood wheel, AM/FM radio, reverb, and console. It's an executive hotrod in the tradition of the Hurst Olds, but with considerably more power.
The Goat
Buying a '69 GTO brand-new, courting his future wife Nancy in it, and then using it as wedding day transportation, lead to a lifelong affinity toward Pontiacs for John. With those warm and fuzzy memories in mind, the Leamington, Ontario, Canada-based hobbyist decided to once again buy a GTO convertible through an online auction in May 2007. According to John, this one had 55,000 miles on it and was already painted Starlight Black with Judge graphics. Under the hood was an R/A-III 400 backed by an M21 and a 3.23 rear, and the aforementioned convenience items were already in place.
The Project
John's goal was to build his idea of the ultimate GTO, and after learning about tunnel-port Ram Air V engines over the years, "I decided I had to have one," he recalls. He coordinated with his mechanic, Abe Schmitt, to hatch the plan and he then consulted with Don Johnston of DCI Motorsports in Mogadore, Ohio, to science out the engine combination and aid in finding parts.
Don has quite a bit of experience in building R/A-V engines, having done four of them. He has seen quite a few variations of the R/A-V heads that go beyond the different chamber sizes to work with the 303, 366, and 400 engines. "Some have all the bolt holes for headers, others don't, and a few don't even have the pads for the bolt holes," he told HPP. "A few have castings and bosses to accept an air pump and others don't. I've seen heads with 'D-18751' and an 'N' above it where the '44' code usually is, others just have the '44', and a few have no markings at all." He said he's even seen two sets that have an extra set of intake bolt holes down lower.
The RA-V heads and intake were won on online auctions, and after an exhaustive search for a proper block came up empty, the group went with a standard '71 455 instead. Don machined it for four-bolt Pro-Gram main caps and bored it to 0.040 over to 4.190 inches, resulting in 464 cubic inches with the forged 4.210-stroke Ohio Crank. He employed 6.800-inch Eagle H-beam forged-steel rods and Ross lightweight forged pistons with a 28cc dish to reduce compression to 9.8:1 with the head's 72cc chambers, to run on pump gas.
A Melling hi-volume oil pump produces 80 psi of pressure and draws crude from a Moroso 8-quart pan to keep things slippery at the Childs & Albert moly rings, Clevite 77 cam and rod bearings, and Speed Pro 3/4 groove main bearings.
An LSM hydraulic roller cam is made to work with the unique intake/exhaust valve layout of the R/A-V, which differs from other Pontiac engines. It features 244/256-degrees duration at 0.050 lift and 0.668/0.648-inch lift with Harland Sharp 1.65 roller rockers, and it was installed with solid lifters. Don explains why, "I like the milder profile of the hydraulic roller cam versus a solid roller for this application, but the hydraulic roller lifters are rpm limited, so I used the solid lifters instead."
Take a long look. Yes, that's...
Take a long look. Yes, that's A/C on a R/A-V-headed and intake-equipped 455.
John Moauro's '69 GTO was...
John Moauro's '69 GTO was repainted Starlight Black, it was originally blue, and the Judge decals were added prior to his purchasing it a few years ago. The suspension remains mostly stock with the exception of the addition of a rear sway bar and 15x7 Rally wheels shod with 245/60R15 Cooper radials to improve handling. Under the hood is where the real action is, however.
According to John, the A/C...
According to John, the A/C brackets are all custom made and more than 50 hours of labor covered the process.