For Pontiac purists, all-original vehicles are an invaluable resource. Each example is a treasure trove of details that provides an exclusive look at how our favorite Pontiacs were produced so many years ago. The information gathered is not only beneficial for future Pontiac restorations, it can also help discern what’s correct from what isn’t when dealing with other Pontiacs heralded as “original” or “correctly restored.”

Wheel design has come a long way since Pontiac instructed its factory assembly-line workers to install 14x6-inch (15x6 shown here) steel wheels on many of the Division’s vehicles. Today, Pontiac owners can choose from a myriad of wheels that put an emphasis on performance, style, and strength, as well as some that accurately re-create popular OE wheels of the past, and others that reinterpret Pontiac’s most-famous wheel designs for classic and late-model fitments.

Photographs Courtest of GM, Russ Gee, The John And Marge Sawruk Collection, and Geneva Campbell

It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention. In a high-performance engine, some stock components are stressed beyond their intended capacity. That can result in individual component failure, which can then result in complete engine failure. To prevent such issues, improved replacements are oftentimes available on the aftermarket, but once in a while a weak link surfaces, and that’s when a mind like Scott Sims’ gets working.

When we last discussed our Project Pure Poncho 455-based 467ci stroker engine, Craig Wise at Racecrafters had assembled the bottom end. We will pick up the assembly process in this issue and complete it in preparation for dyno testing.

A correct restoration for any points-judged Pontiac includes replicating the original component and fastener finishes, and assembly-line characteristics. The best way to determine what’s correct from what isn’t is by documenting original, unmodified vehicles. What’s found can, however, vary as the finishes and processes often differ from plant to plant during any given year, but it can even differ in a day-to-day setting at the same plant.

In the past two issues of High Performance Pontiac, we’ve introduced you to the hottest new aftermarket products, which were introduced at the 2011 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) trade show, held in November 2011. We wrap up this three-part series with new-to-market products, which help you get down the quarter-mile safer and faster, tune and monitor your late-model Pontiac’s vitals with the newest technology, improve your Pontiac’s look, prevent accidental damage to your paint, and more.

Project Pure Poncho is a 455ci engine that is being bored and stroked to 467 ci and built to test parts and combinations. Its purpose is to help our readers make decisions for their applications before incurring any expense or expending any effort. The first three installments were an in-depth analysis of the machining procedures that were executed by the well-known Pontiac team of Bob and Craig Wise at RaceKrafters Automotive Machine.

Does your stock or mildly modified Pontiac engine idle higher than it should because each time you try to dial it down, it runs rough? If so, this article is for you. We’ll tell you why it’s happening and how to fix it.

Going fast doesn’t come cheap. That doesn’t, however, remotely suggest you can’t maximize your Pontiac’s performance and appearance without spending a lot of money.

A Pontiac’s speedometer is as important as any other gauge found within its instrument panel. It was relatively accurate when new, but any deviation from original tire size and/or rear-axle ratio negatively impacts its accuracy. TCI Automotive in Ashland, Mississippi, offers an affordable solution that can help keep your driving record clean of speeding infractions while cruising in your vintage Pontiac. Follow along as we quickly and easily restore the accuracy of our Second-Gen Firebird’s speedometer in an hour.

Last month, we began our SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Tech Guide with new-to-market suspension gear for your vintage or late-model Pontiac. There was plenty to see at the show, so this month we present Part II: new aftermarket products introduced at SEMA for the LS-engine and late-model Pontiacs. Among them, you’ll find speed parts that promise to elicit better performance from your engine and/or refine the look of your engine bay, cabin accoutrements that add style to your late-model Pontiac, drag-racing parts, and much more.

Pontiac’s legendary Ram-Air V program was perhaps the most celebrated engine that almost was. From its inception in the late ’60s, the engine was seen by both engineers and fans as the design that could have put Pontiac back on the top of the musclecar performance heap. With the 426 Hemi, 440 Six-Pak, Boss 429 Ford, and 427-454 Chevys providing serious competition to the top-dog 400 Ram-Air IV, engineers knew that something had to be done.

With our project engine block fully machined and the Butler stroker kit balanced and checked, we are almost ready for preassembly using the myriad performance parts that were provided by Summit Racing Equipment, but that will be covered in the next issue. First, RaceKrafters will attend to our 6X Pontiac head castings.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show, held annually in Las Vegas, prides itself as the automobile aftermarket industry’s largest assembly of manufacturers and products. SEMA’s most recent show, November 1-4, 2011, proved that in spite of the passing of the Pontiac brand, many manufacturers are developing new products to enhance your driving experience, whether it’s on the street or in racing environments, such as the dragstrip or the road course. We begin our SEMA New Parts Tech Guide with new-to-market suspension gear for vintage and late-model Pontiacs.

Modern engine-management systems are being installed in traditional Pontiacs more today than ever before. The desire for more efficient power production, better fuel mileage, improved driveability, and of course, bragging rights are the main reasons. Following that trend, Cygan Speed Engineering has moved into EFI installations using the BigStuff3 GEN3 Pro SEFI (Sequential Electronic Fuel Injection) system.

LS-based engines factory installed into so many late-model Pontiacs are a hot rodder’s dream. The entire Gen III/Gen IV engine family is a straightforward yet effective design that’s been embraced by the aftermarket on many levels. A wide array of components intended to accentuate or significantly boost their already-impressive performance levels is readily available from many sources.

If you’ve ever owned a vintage Pontiac, you’ve had to deal with rust in some form. The favorite place for it to hide is in the rear quarter-panels. Road sludge kicked up from the tires, blocked drainage holes, a leaking rear window, and age all contribute to this very common condition. The good news is there are patch panels available to service that area for many Pontiac models, and we’re going to show you how install one on a ’67 GTO, along with a trunk inner side-filler panel and a portion of an outer wheelhouse.

In the process of owning, restoring, and driving your Pontiac, problems will crop up from time to time. Be they routed in age, outdated technology, or poor initial design, you still want to fix them with a better part to avoid future hassles. Other problems are project related, having little to do with the design and engineering of your Pontiac. Rather, they come from the desire to do things better and/or easier.

With the engine block for our 455-based stroker mule engine completely machined, Craig Wise of RaceKrafters will now work on the rotating assembly, which includes the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, rings, and rod bearings. Our mule will enjoy all new internal parts thanks to a stroker kit sourced from Butler Performance that consists of a forged 4340 Eagle crankshaft, Eagle connecting rods, Butler-designed Ross forged pistons, and Total Seal rings. Thus, many of the procedures that would be required to retain used parts do not apply, especially since the Butler Performance assembly comes balanced already.

Whether you prefer your Pontiac be equipped with an automatic transmission or a manual, nothing feels better than a positive high-rpm upshift into Second gear that chirps the tires while accelerating at full throttle. It’s easily achieved with a manual transmission since the driver can upshift at any desired rpm, but automatics are considerably different.

What’s one of the first things you admire in a First-Generation Firebird’s cabin? If your answer is the console, then Pontiac’s designers did their job well, for they purposefully created the “seat separator console” (as it’s officially called) with a camera-grain finish, bright trim molding, (and in ’68 and ’69 optional) burled-walnut-style appliqués to fixate your eyes directly on it.

We are all aware of the many recent advancements in performance part engineering for a traditional Pontiac engine. These range from new cylinder-head technology to a myriad of valvetrain and rotating assembly parts, along with ignition and fuel system evolution. With this in mind, HPP is embarking on a long-term strategy to build a test stroker 455 of our own.

Wrenching

For those who prefer a stock appearance in their Pontiac’s engine compartment right down to the battery, you have a few choices—buy a reproduction battery, a sealed maintenance- free reproduction battery, or disguise the modern aftermarket battery you already have with a battery topper to appear factory.