Hey guys/girls, been a while since I posted here, have been on a bit of a 4 wheel hiatus. been busy messing with some 2 wheel machines for the past few years. Been doing plenty of lurking here lately though since I recently traded 'spike!' my '65 chrysler for his '55 pontiac. i am building this chieftain up to be a sort of hopped up street machine. this weekend i managed to score an amazing '65 389 still on the pallet/in the plastic from japser for a great price. my plan is to run the 389 with a tri-power setup and a T5 behind it. i just have a few questions. if anyone is willing to help, it is greatly appreciated. the 389 no longer has any of its accessories so i need to come up with a crank pully/harmonic balancer but i am wondering if i need to run a specific balancer since it is going to spin a manual trans/flywheel now? other than that, i need a distributer, an alternator and bracket, headers, fuel pump, oil filter mount, valve covers, intake, carbs, etc... 1st question is about the balancer - what do you guys suggest? 2. my stock '55 287 runs a combination fuel/vacuum pump but the stock '65 runs without a vacuum pump. i think i will need it to power the wipers, but otherwise the car is very bare bones, no power brakes or anything else for that matter. should i just go with an elec wiper motor setup and just run a mechanical fuel pump like a stock 65? 3. id like this car to be an early 60s period street beast (non-gasser though, keeping stock frontend parts) i am not trying to go really crazy but just trying to keep everything looking proper. im wondering if you guys suggest going with an HEI type distributer regardless of correctness in style. this cars performance/reliability is top priority. forgive me for any silly questions, ive been away from cars for a while and have never owned a pontiac. i had my 65 chrysler for 10 years and know that thing inside and out, the pontiac is a pretty exciting learning experience so far. thanks again for any advice. i am also willing to buy parts as needed from any other hambers if they are holding. here's a pic of the new 389. stoked!
Here's a few links I use just about every day to keep my '56 on the road: http://www.pontiacparts.net/ http://www.amesperf.com/ http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/pontiac-1950s/ http://pontiacsafari.com/ Explore the heck out of that last one, tons of info! Regarding the wipers, try to find a 55-57 factory electric wiper motor. It bolts right in and uses the same wiper switch and everything.....very easy and a HUGE improvement! Hope this helps! Johnny
Here's a link to a project here that looks like the engine swap you want to do, http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=501387&highlight=1955+pontiac I've looked through and he covers a lot of swapping info, etc... You should be able to find accesory drives, balancers, manifolds, distributors off any 65 Pontiac in a junkyard, I don't think a whole lot interchanges from 55 to 65. Plus you'll want to use a more modern trans behind that 65 engine, so grab one of those while you're at the yard. For sure go electric on the wipers, THe factory ones are out there but they get expensive since they fit Chevys and Corvettes too! Welcome back! You should post up some pictures of this 55!
There is quite a bit of differance in brackets and mounts. I'm running a 66 389 in my 55. I had a 65 non p/s alt bracket , but with the internal voltage regulator alt it didn't line up right. I'm using an internal regulator alt with 67 alt/ps bracket, evan though i'm not using ps is pushes the alt out enought to line up with the crank and water pump. The factory type balancer is more like a crank hub and everything bolts to that or go aftermarket and try to find a match. The 389 crank snout is 1/4 shorter than a 400/455 so make sure to get older parts that would have come on it. Hamber Applekrate has a yardfull of Pontiacs he parts out and would be a good source for what you need. Pontiacheaven.org or pm him here
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