Preview of coming non-FE dyno attractions...

[rcodecj]

Looks like 663 hp to me 
Just sayin! 

[JERICOGTX]

Head gaskets are copper. The Hot Heads have some small oval water ports, that are not aligning with the head gaskets.

[machoneman]

Ah, thanks Jerico. Now it makes more sense as to why its got leaks. Hope they can fix same for more runs. 

[JERICOGTX]

It will be coming off the dyno... Had another set back today.

[blykins]

Sometimes you just gotta see how the other side lives......

[jayb]

I like Pontiacs.  They are dimensionally very similar to FEs.  Ram Air V was a later copy of the FE tunnel port design, too.  I had a good friend in high school who ran Pontiacs, and Mark Dahlquist on this forum has run a couple Pontiacs at Engine Masters with great success.  Too bad they had to put them in GM cars...

Joel pulled the heads on his engine yesterday and found the #8 cylinder wall was cracked.  We are speculating that water got in there at some point and the engine hydra-locked and split the wall.  No sure about that, though.  In any case he has taken the engine off the dyno now, and it is out getting a sleeve repair.  He is hoping to be back on the dyno this weekend.  We will see...

[blykins]

I hate that for him....hopefully it's an easy repair and he can get everything sealed up easily.

As for the Poncho, this is my first one, but I'm a fan thus far.  Doweled main caps, slip fit balancers, slip fit distributor gears, intake gaskets that aren't immersed in oil......

[rcodecj]

Oh man sorry to hear that.
I hope it didn't bend any rods.

[Drew Pojedinec]

intake gaskets that aren't immersed in oil......

Well, now what kinda weird engine manufacturer would do something THAT stupid?  uhhh  yeah, nevermind.

[machoneman]

Ouch to that cracked wall. I also hope it can be quickly repaired for more testing.

[machoneman]

I hate that for him....hopefully it's an easy repair and he can get everything sealed up easily.

As for the Poncho, this is my first one, but I'm a fan thus far.  Doweled main caps, slip fit balancers, slip fit distributor gears, intake gaskets that aren't immersed in oil......

We had a series of at least 3 old Ponchos, all '63-'64 with 389's, that we used as tow cars in the early-mid 70's. Every one had bum 'silent' timing gears since GM used the nylon coating on the aluminum cam gear that dried up, broke off or otherwise shedded the teeth, usually at most inconvenient times.  We bought them really cheap, usually since the engine was running weird, and got so good at chain/gear changes we did one once start to finish in 2 hours! Funny that the aftermarket replacements, TRW's IIRC, all had a nice steel cam gear as none sold a duplicate of that crappy nylon-toothed gear. 

[jayb]

Ha!  Brings back memories.  I did a timing chain replacement on a friends Bonneville in a parking lot at the University of Minnesota, in the snow, must have been 1977.  When we got it apart the nylon gear was completely stripped, and all the teeth were in the pan.  No way to get them out.  I told him we should pull the pan and clean it, and he said screw it, put it back together.  Ran for another year like that before he sold it...

[TravisRice]

Sometimes you just gotta see how the other side lives......

Brent,
  You are right. I have quite a few Pontiac Pals. I built this little car but not the engine. It's a 480 inch all pontiac with a pro-systems dominator, a power glide and an old school Olds / Pontiac 3.89 gear with a 30 tall radial slick.

Looks like i'll have to download them to photobucket so they will show up.....

[TravisRice]

Trying to post from my phone. Bear with me. Picture of the little red wagon....lol