Pontiac 400 rebuild

[LeonardZeiler]

Hi All,

I hope the technical thread is good for this, as I will be asking a lot of questions, I have a lot of learning to do.

The motor on our pontiac failed straight after a service, car was still in the garage idling, dad was fitting back the shaker scoop, and bang, top and bottom not turning together...

So what happened you ask... Meet my timing gears





Crank Damper.



Funny enough, the chain survived

So we decided to pull the motor, bought an engine stand at adendorfs for R499 (man i could blow 3 months salaries in that place without trying), and converted an old manual fork lift into an engine lift that dad did some modifications on.



After stripping, we discovered that we made the right decision to strip and not just replace the timing gear.

Block cleaning



Part Cleaning.



We were pretty lucky that the crank is still good.


Although pistons came out clean without much surface damage, we had 2 broken compression rings, as well as some dis-colouration of the big end bearings.



Cam got beaten somehow (valve getting stuck ? )



Block is already at engineering, its not all bad news.

Crank can be recut to .020

There is a deep ridge on one of the cylinder's, so rebore to .040 (maybe even .060 but we are trying to avoid that)

Main bearings can be done to .020

So i need new bearings, pistons and a cam.

The aim of this car is pretty much a stock restoration, we will never race or track this car, there are other cars to do that with, this is a classic, so the closer to stock we go the happier I will be.

I am seriously considering the following kit from greenbay parts world,

Pistons Silvolite or Sealed Power
Piston rings Hastings
Rod bearings Clevite
Main bearings Clevite
Cam bearings Clevite or Durabond
Gasket set Victor
Camshaft Clevite, Melling or Sealed Power
Lifters Eaton or Sealed Power
Timing set Clevite, Cloyes, or Melling
Oil pump Melling
Freeze plugs Elgin or Pioneer

With that I will then add an upgrade to Felpro gaskets, better freeze plugs, Moly rings and perhaps a new set of pushrods, in total I am looking at about $600 dollars for the above, total should be around $600 give or take a bit, shipping is going to cost me about 5k duties included. If I can afford it, I will be grabbing some new valves and springs.

I have priced the Edelbrock intake, but its a bit too much cash right now, maybe later..

Is the part list above good, or am I buying rubbish, is there anybody in SA that can help me out with Pontiac spares. I have tried the V8 Shoppe, US Connection, RS Motorsport and Berlin Motorsport, nobody has stock, so its cheaper to import.

I am also looking for a replacement sump and a new main pulley damper, as well as a complete dipstick config for the engine, (Lower, upper and stick itself) if anybody has a motor that was scrapped. I am also looking for 2 valves (not too sure if its intake or exhaust, engineering just tells me that there is wear towards the rear of the valve shaft)

Would seriously appreciate some advice on this one...

Thanks for the long read.


Can anybody give some some ad

[ZA Perana]

Very cool thread. Its best to do the job once and do it properly, you probably dont need the intake at this stage. You will however I suspect need a new cam, becareful when running this in as incorrect run in procedures can lead to problems further down the line.

Am sure there are many guys that can offer more detailed advice, have you tried Thundersport in Pinetown, have had a very good service from them in the past.

[dkatz phoenix]

I think that you are going about it the right way with importing parts yourself. The shipping and duties look very steep to me. I would look at that aspect again. Take a look at Ebay under each individiual item to gauge pricing and quality. you can pick up great suppliers through Ebay. If I am not mistaken you should be paying very little duty on engine parts.

[LeonardZeiler]

Ta for the input guys.

The shipping quote is based on a 3 to 6 day delivery, including collection at the office, and I worked on a 20% duty.

Pistons, rings and bearings attract a 20% duty, with the balance being duty free. Pricing is not bad, but I would have to do a bit of further research.

The biggest catch would be is to get the guys to split the line items on the invoice so that I can apply differant tarric codes to each line item.

[dkatz phoenix]

You will note a considerable drop in mail charges if you use the USPS Priority Mail service which ships 14 days +.

[Stealth GT]

If you cant get the parts in Joburg you can try either Motown or Stateside in Cape Town both are very efficient and they keep their pricing very affordable that its often not necesary to import the parts yourself

Warren

[LeonardZeiler]

Thanks man,

I will give both a call tomorrow. I urgently need the pistons as well, my engineering guy is not happy about the long wait, he has already cut to .38 to see if he can get it close, and will then cut to .040

Just the pontiac spares are burtal to get. Do you gents know of anywhere I can get .040 oversize pistons that will fit my pontiac block ?

[alvin chetty]

I got to agree with Warren. I brought some Pontiac parts via Ralph at Motown and he was the lowest price in the country including thundersport.

Is it a forklift that u are using to lift the motor I see a pressure plate so its manual, what box is in it. there seems to be a great intrest shown in these model pontiacs recently. I suppose its different from the COMMON chevys that most of these forum members own

[Manson79]

Yeah agreed Ralphie normally sorts me out.... i have had to twist his arm once

He is the kido to get your shite from! its just sad that he spent so much on that lil chev of his and my Mustang is going to blow him away

[alvin chetty]

Remember that the chevys keeps melvin employed