Well thought I would post a build I am working on while the 46 Chev is at the paint shop. It's a 1962 Pontiac Tempest LeMans. Original trophy 4 cylinder, 4 barrel, 4 speed with 3.55 gears. For those of you who don't know these cars Pontiac took a 389 and cut it in half length wise to make the four cylinder. It actually uses the 389 head and pistons. I bought it was driving home and promptly ran out of gas. LOL while waiting for the GF got a call from the old man I bought it from telling me if the gas gauge says 1/4 tank it's actually empty. Finally got it home and started a tune up I knew it had a gnarly vacuum leak. Finally got that straightened out but just couldn't get it to run right. It ran quiet no Knocking just couldn't make any power. Pulled valve cover to replace gasket and checked the rocker arms 3I and 4I rocker were super loose, not good. So I pulled the intake and valley pan. No lobes left on 3 and 4 intake. So out came the engine and full rebuild is done. That's where I am now. Sent from my E6910 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Some long, unused brain cell reminded me that these engines used to be hard on timing chains and gears. But I'd still like to have it. .bjb
Rebuild of the original engine. sleeved back to standard bore. Ross pistons, h beam rods, prted and polished head, long branch exhaust manifold and original Cal custom valve cover. Sent from my E6910 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That is a pretty rare car and in nice shape (well other than the engine) and the interior looks Soooo nice I think I remember one of those cars in the area I grew up in, looks like it will be a fun car to drive
Nice little Poncho! The only thing I might add are 4 more cylinders (except then you might have to upgrade the rear end).
A buddy had a 61, 62 and 63 Tempest LeMans. He was a Fuller Brush man and put lots and lots of miles on his cars. He traded every year. He won a lot of trophy's at the drag strip with his 61. He told me the only thing that could beat him off the line, in his class, was a Corvair Monza. The Monza's lead didn't last long. He was trying to get me to work for him selling Fuller Brush so I got to drive the 62 quite a bit. Nice little car. Like someone else mentioned, the timing chain got very noisy at around 90K miles. That's about the time he traded for a new car.
I had one years ago for my daily and drove it everywhere. I liked how it drove, had plenty of power even with the push button auto trans. A buddy just had to have it, so I sold it to him. He gave it to his wife and she drove it everywhere, until one day she went to the grocery store and came out to find it in flames. Apparently there was an electrical issue somewhere that caused the fire. Burnt it to the ground.
Nice car, seems that except for the worn out engine it is in real good shape. It's neat that you are keeping the 4 cyl and doing a mild performance rebuild on it. I am sure the increased power will make it even better driver. Was there a problem with just std boring of the block that required the sleeves? Rebuilt engine looks great with the valve cover and long branch exhaust. Just a dumb question, how is the rest of the drivetrain condition?
I worked at the local Pontiac/Cadillac dealership when they came out. Lots of timing chain problems. I had a 32 5W at the time with a 55 Olds in it. Picked up a 4 cyl Tempest engine and installed it, HD Taxi clutch and a 4 bbl intake with a Cad carb on it. No hood sides on the 32, Valve cover on one side and 4 bbl on the other, ran almost as good ad the V8. Paul in CT
Neat little Tempest. I bought a 62 Lemans convertible for my wife several years back, but we never did much with it. I like the cars though.
Rest of the drive train is good. Engine was already .040 over. Probably could have just installed new rings but it would have been a little loose. Went with a very slight dish to drop compression from 10.25 to 9.5 to help with drivability. Sent from my E6910 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Yes they were.... I owned one of these briefly in the early '70s. The four-banger didn't use the standard V8 timing set either; it used a 'special' set, considerably tougher than the V8 one that was used as an 'upgrade' on the V8s. The real fly in the ointment was it also used a special tensioner on the chain, that tensioner cost about double of what the chain/sprockets cost and was in short supply. Apparently timing chain harmonics were brutal. At the time these parts were all dealer-only items and not cheap (over $100 IIRC) and on a $300 car a death sentence....
Friend of mine's 15 yr. old little sister would sneak out the window at night, push the family '63 Tempest wagon with that engine down the block, fire it, then off to 1st street for the "evening program." It must have had a pretty deep transaxle, as the only things that would stay with it in a block were 301 Chevvies & 4.56 geared 409s. She was pretty good at making that rubber shift linkage work.
My first car was a used 1962 Tempest Convertible Had the 4 cyl. with the auto lever on the dash like the Corvair. It was a great little car. Yours looks great. Best of luck with it.
I looked at your first photo and said, that's Washington State; just something about the "lighting". Beautiful little car. Would an actual V-8 Pontiac fit? Just curious. Surprised a camshaft is still available. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Back in the early 70's we dropped a 326 v8 in one fit ok but we promptly tore the transaxle out of it.