Somewhat reminiscent of Frank Sinatra's big hit, Chuck Hamly says of his'70 GTO, "I built the car for me and did it my way." One look at hiscustom work will certainly reveal the clear direction of a determinedhot rodder.
Purchased as a driver in 1985, the GTO came with the wrongengine, trans, and rear, and had a '69 interior. But as the Springfield,Virginia, resident says, "It looked cool and it was fast," so he droveit daily until 1990 when he began the buildup you see here. Being ahigh-end stereo installer, Chuck was involved in many in-depth interiorprojects, but he wanted something different for his GTO. He jokinglysays, "I began building a Pro Touring car before there were Pro Touringcars."
Boyd Coddington Blaster wheels,...
Boyd Coddington Blaster wheels, 18x8 front and 18x9.5 rear, add astreet-rod look to the GTO and 235/40ZR18 front and 285/40ZR18 rearDunlop Sport 9000 tires fill up the wheelwells and provide the stick inthe corners.
Chuck's approach to the hobby may be a bit different than you areused to. He doesn't go to car shows to win trophies. He says, "I getideas from all the cars I see at car shows I attend, and I get some morefrom cars at work. After 24 years in the hobby, I still learn cool newstuff every day." Speaking of cool stuff, let's check out what's inChuck's GTO.
THE ENGINE
Here are 406 cubes of fire-breathing...
Here are 406 cubes of fire-breathing Pontiac replete with a ProCharger,custom fuel injection, nitrous, and enough fabrication work to make BoydCoddington swoon.
Under the hood you may expect to find mountain-moving cubes given theover-the-top theme of the '70, but Chuck decided that a '70 400 enginewould fit the bill nicely as a basis for the supercharged,fuel-injected, and nitroused powerplant.
The two-bolt main block waspunched 0.030 over, and Chuck used ARP studs to keep the main caps andheads where they belong under boost. A stock cast crank and rods weremachined and retained, and TRW forged flat-top pistons were employed.Moroso provided the oil pump and pickup to sip crude from a stock pan.Comp Cams' hydraulic stick features 283/280 degrees advertised durationand 0.508/0.480 lift with Harland Sharp 1.5:1 ratio roller rocker arms.
SD Performance ported a set of 5C heads, filled the exhaust crossover,and installed stainless steel 2.11/1.66 valves. Comp valvesprings,5/16-inch pushrods, and guideplates are employed as well. After all thework, the heads flowed 240 cfm intake and 187 cfm exhaust. With 101ccchambers, the heads--when combined with the bore size, piston design,and head gasket thickness-- provide an 8:1 compression ratio. While thelong-block seems basic, the same cannot be said for the inductionsystem.
The engine was built by the...
The engine was built by the owner and features myriad details on theoutside, like body color paint on the block, polished customsupercharger bracketry and pulleys, smoothed and body-color intakemanifold, Jet Hot- coated intake tubes and headers, and ButlerPerformance valve covers. Let's not forget the BeCool aluminum radiator.Note the shaved firewall, the custom aluminum fenderwells, and the bodycolor throughout the bay.
Chuck says regarding custom fuel injection, "The manifold is anEdelbrock Torker II that I cut the water crossover off of and cleaned upby cutting off all the mounting bosses and welding up the vacuum ports.It was sent out to have the injector bungs welded in, the fuel railsmade, and it was sanded and painted body color.
"The throttle body is a1,000-cfm Holley unit with IAC, injectors are 55-lb/hr Holleys, and the600A fuel pump and regulator are from Weldon. It was the only pump Icould mount away from the tank that would still draw fuel. Controllingthe fuel and timing is a Holley Commander 950 ECU with the racingsoftware."
Augmenting that system is a P600B ProCharger that provides 11pounds of boost (up to 14 pounds with a smaller pulley). Chuckfabricated the supercharger's mount from 1/2-inch-thick 6061 aluminumplate, and he had Ultimate Performance in Sterling, Virginia, weld itall together. A Jet Hot coating was applied to brighten and preserve themandrel-bent intake pipes. An ATI bypass valve and belt tensioner areemployed, and the pulleys were custom made as well.
MSD's ignitionsystem employs the company's crank trigger, billet distributor, 6AL box,coil, and wires to ensure proper spark at the AC plugs.
The nose and fenders on Chuck...
The nose and fenders on Chuck Hamly's GTO are fiberglass from VFN, as isthe lift-off hood. Out back, the rear quarter-skins are made fromfiberglass as well. Chuck bought them in 1983 before he even owned thisparticular '70 GTO--he's had others. The quarter-skins were panel bondedwith SMC adhesive.
Exhaust gasesleave the engine compartment via Hooker headers that were modified tomove the collectors up 3 inches to better tuck them up under the car. Aset of 3-inch headpipes with a 2.5-inch crossover follows, as does apair of Flowmaster 3-chamber mufflers and 3-inch-diameter tailpipesending in B&B tips. The whole system was Jet Hot coated for lastingluster and TIG-welded by Ultimate Performance.
This engine runs on pumpgas and, according to the owner, produced 613 hp at the wheels on aDynojet running 14 pounds of boost but no nitrous. (Did we neglect tomention that Chuck also installed an NOS Cheater system?) It's animpressive figure, but with a mostly stock rebuilt bottom end, Chuck isgoing to need to install a "Check Crank" light on the dash and carry abig basket to pick up the parts should he continue to run that muchboost through the engine, and nitrous on top of that. Currently, apulley that produces 11 pounds of boost is in place, and Chuck says hehasn't run the nitrous yet due to concerns regarding the bottom end.
THE TRANS AND REAR
This interior has sure come...
This interior has sure come along way from the '69 pieces that were inthis '70 model when it was purchased back in the Reagan era. DakotaDigital gauges are in the dash as is an LCD screen. The dash fascia wasmade by Chuck from aluminum. Notice the radio controls on the steeringwheel--just one of a few methods the owner uses to control the stereo. APainless Wiring 18-circuit harness that was modified by the ownerfacilitated wiring the GTO.
B&M's 2,800-stall speed converter connects the engine to the '70 Turbo400 trans that was beefed up by the same company, and a Moroso transcooler keeps it happy under the stress of harnessing the big power ofwhich a ProCharged Pontiac engine is capable.
A '69 GTO Safe-T-Trackrear with 3.90 gears sports a set of custom Moser axles that feature1-inch less length from the wheel flange to the bearing, allowing for a1-inch-deeper dish for the wheels. This setup was not without itschallenges however, as Chuck then had to weld the disc brake calipermounts to the axlehousing instead of bolting them on to get the caliperto properly fit with the rotor, since the latter was now 1-inch inboardof stock.