I've been working on this '63 for 4 years now. I've been waiting to get a little farther into the build so it was easier to see where I was going. It's not traditional but a mix of old and new. 1963 Catalina base car. Nothing special. 1960 early thick walled HD 389 block bored .090 to 406. Forged crank, GRP aluminum rods, Ross dished blower pistons, Hellfire rings and thick walled pins. 4 bolt splayed caps, support rods in middle of deck to bottom of the water jackets to support decks from flexing and block filled to water pump holes. KRE alumnum D-Port heads that flow 318 at .600, 2.11 and 1.77 valves. Solid Roller cam with reverse duration for the turbos. 251 intake and 241 exhaust duration with .610 net lift on both. Cut on a 116 CL. Wenzler Gutsram tunnel ram with twin 750 Blow thru CSU carb on E85. Twin 76MM ball bearing Turbonetics turbos with twin air to water intercoolers and small Mini radiator for the heat exchange. Engine radiator in the trunk. Engine set back 11 inches into firewall recess, with the front bench seat and steering column repositioned back the same 11 inches. Dearborn (Ford toploader) HD 3 speed trans with Centerforce clutch and Lakewood bell housing. Ford 9 inch with 3:50 detroit locker, 35 spline axles and 48 inch ladder bars. Narrowed rear frame rails for 31X16X15 ET Streets. 'Custom front frame clip with a 1957 Chevy pick up front beam axle and springs. 11 inch GM front disc brakes and 11 inch GM Metric rear brakes. Manual cross front steering. The engine has not been started yet, still getting everything tied together. I'm building an engine run in stand and will be pulling the motor/trans soon to place it in the stand to fire it up and break it in. Hope to be driving it late this fall depending on how much I can get done with the coming high summer heat down here. Hers a couple of pics. Mark L
Holy Crap! I'm very interested to see how this fantastic Poncho comes together - especially what happens on the dyno...at least if the plan is to get it on a dyno.
Thank you guys. Something I've had setting in my head for a long, long time. Finally getting there. We'll see if I dotted all my T's and crossed all my I's (lol) and maybe it'll even run soon. Tired of working on it. "I have the need, for speed"!!! The motor is build for some serious HP. How much I can only guess. I tell everyone that it's going to make 3000 HP until I start it. LOL. I had a local chassis guy install the front frame clip and the front axle and he has done all the "good" welding on parts etc.. But the rest I've done. Not show worthy workmanship but enough for me. The motor was built by Paul Carter (Koerner Race Engines) down in Tucson. This is a sign I made up for two shows I trailered it to. Again it's "rustic" or crude but did it quick to get it done and it includes the name I went with for it. I thought it was appropriate. Mark
Very nice! 63/64 cats look good I remember some 64 421's running around Detroit that were pretty bad ass cars.
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