Thread: Greetings from the UK

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hi, there everybody, i've just posted my introduction on the events forum, and just realised this was were i should be posting, so i hope i haven't ticked anyone off - feels like wonderin' into the pro-players locker-room wearing a fans hat! i'm still more comfortable with a set of spanners than a keyboard.
i've spent a couple of hours enjoying reading around the site and think it's fantastic. thanks for having me as a member, and thanks for all the work people have obviously put in to the site.
i bought myself a '48 Pontiac Silver Streak a couple of months ago, when i should have been buying a new house, so who says you get wiser as you get older? ...and i haven't regretted it for a moment, even though it's been playing up since i got it delivered!
i've been getting messed about by motors since i was a youngster, like everyone else here i'm sure, though i haven't had my own place to work on anything for a decade; i've been driving various 'sensible' pieces of modern-ish rubbish - and my God it feels good to own something with a soul again! over here in the uk we don't see as many 'yank tanks' (no offence, it's said with love) as we'd like, but in fulfilling a life's ambition with my poncho, i hope to do my little bit towards the cause.
thanks for the inspiration and deep respect to the experience on show.

"no-one said it'd be easy - but if it was, they'd all be doin' it..."

Hello freewheelX1, pull up a chair next to Stimpy by the barrel there and "set a spell". What kind of plans do you have for the Poncho?

many thanks, Techinspector1... i've just re-read Stimpy's spec list; i'm out of touch by years, but it sounds like you'll have something real impressive running there Stimpy. to answer your question richard, i bought the poncho thinking i'd warm her over using the tech of the time; y'know, back in the day, with guys doing so much of their own work - as i understood it - and with the engine being in such a soft state of tune to start with, i was thinking i could make up some decent manifolds, match in more sophicated carbs, maybe a pair of beefy webers, flow the head, fit a slightly lumpier cam, find or turn down some light-weight pistons and retro-fit a decent spark system - i see pertronix gets a good press. the car was re-sprayed recently in an eye-catchin two-tone gold finish which doesn't stand too close inspection, but show the lines and size of the car off really nicely.
my intention was to get her running up comfortably over the autumn and maybe start with the improvements once i'd satisfied myself that she's sound enough to reward the investment, y'know the form...
i like the idea of her being able to stay with the modern traffic, while not expecting miracles, while looking like a 'staid' old classic - 'til you lifted the hood, or dropped the pedal. but from what i've read in some of the club's chat-rooms, it seems like i'd be better off going the whole hog and investing the time and money in a later v-8 transplant - the other option that had always been in the backof my mind. your counsel in this would be greatly welcomed. as i mentioned previous, i've yet to get myself somewhere with decent workshop facilities, so it'd likely to be a while (though not too long) before i'm in a position to play with the bits of plant i've kept a hold of over the years. with time does come patience, so i can deal with the waiting these days!
Len

Len, I wonder if a small turbo would be a good answer. There can be a lot of eyeball if plumbed correctly and they work.

hello again all, and hi to Jeff.
thanks for the suggestion about using a turbo on the Pontiac, Richard. I'll take it at face value - though I spent my share of time as a youngster, looking around the site for a left-handed screwdriver, or finding a 'long weight' - though I drew the line at searching for a right-angled bag of sand!

I've read a lot about how poor these old flattie straights are at breathing effectively in the first place, does anybody know how she's likely to respond.
Most to the point is that once i've satisfied myself that she's not a lemon, I'm going to need to fit her out to run on LPG, basically propane, since the cost of petrol over here is currently around 90 penceUK/litre, which i've worked out is about $6.37/US gallon. Yeah, you've really got to want to drive American over here! The propane gas is around a third of the price.
Anyway, I believe you can run a turbo on LPG, but I believe I'd have to use a sealed 'pressurised' turbo in case of blowbacks with the gas.
I think the insurance companies will back off big-time from using the gas and the turbo together, though they're generally okay with just the gas conversions.
I've found an outlet selling a book titled "Chevrolet Bill's Chevrolet, GMC and Buick Speed Manual", by one Fred Fisher; I figured you guys would know if it's worth me putting twenty bucks plus postage into it, and could you recommend anything else that'd be helpful.
thanks for your time folks,
Len

Welcome to the forum. And we think we pay a lot for gas. Have to hand it to anyone out of the States who tackles an American car project. We complain because we have to go to another State to get some part. You guys have an ocean to cross.

Friend of mine is English, and he tells me the majority of cars in England are Diesel now. I just watched an interesting program on TV the other night (that's the Teley to you ) and it was about this company that retrofits diesel cars to run on used cooking oil. The process is pretty straightforward, and not horribly expensive. The upside is, you go to some restaurant and make a deal to take away their old cooking oil periodically for free. It helps them because they have to pay to dispose of it, and it gives you free fuel. I wonder how long that will last before McDonalds starts putting in pumps and charging for it.

Enjoy your Pontiac and this forum.


Don

Len, I think I've owned that book at one time. If I'm not mistaken, it was written back in the 50's or 60's, so any of the procedures would be from that era.

hey, Don,
many thanks for the warm welcome, and good, good wishes right back at yer!
Your pal over here is, of course, quite right, and my salutations to him. Diesel vehicles have been taking off over the last ten years big-time. Diesel used to be half the price of petrol, the government encouraged us to go diesel as being 'good for pollution control'; then when we did so, they jacked the price up higher than petroleum! Don't ya just love 'em! I ran diesel vans for some years, and still have on old Series 2 diesel Land Rover tucked away somewhere, all of which i'd intended to run on cooking oil, like your buddy says.

Down here in Wales (the home of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sir Anthony[Hannibal Lector] Hopkins) we cottoned onto the idea pretty quick - doesn't take much tech-work, just filtering and blending, really. Your exhaust fumes smell like a fast-food joint, which is just funny, watching people's heads turn, as they try to find out where the 'chip(fries) van' is...
...but then the law realised they were missing out on the 90% of tax duty that was levied on diesel, and came down like a ton of bricks on anyone caught driving with veg oil in their tank who hadn't filled in regular submissions
to the tax departments, etc, etc...

There was lots of impounding of vehicles, and now they set up road-site spot-checks to dip your tank; it's big-time heartbreak if you're caught out, but some of the guys still take the chance.

There's some real paranoia going down over here, with everyone in the public eye falling over each other to be the most 'green', with the internal combustion engine being made the fall guy for everything that's wrong in the
world
This LPG (propane) has virtually zero emissions, and is actually healthy to the engine, so lots of us are quietly going over to this as a way of still running a decent sized lump without being blamed for murdering the planet or whatever else...

I love the planet, too, but I've never been a fan of hysteria ...and I love big engines.
If Leonardo da Vinci was alive today, you can bet he be posting some serious
build pics on this site...

thanks for the words of encouragement,
Len

Welcome to the Forum. We could swap stories about Imperial gallons and such since I spent several years fixing/restoring two MG Midgets but the '48 Pontiac has memories for me since one of my high school buddies went to a fairly impressive amount of work for a 16 year old to swap the body of a '48 sedan onto the frame of a rotted out Woody. It was a lot of work and when it was done the car was reasonably comfortable and the Pontiac styling was one of the better from GM in the late '40s. However my friend found out that the power/weight ratio for that large car was unfavorable relative to lighter Fords with flathead V8s. With the price of gas where you are the conversion to LPG seems reasonable but that still leaves you with a heavy car and a flathead straight-8. There used to be some aluminum flathead higher compression heads and dual manifolds available for such engines but they may be hard to find these days. I know Clifford makes such stuff for Chevy OHV-6 engines and there are still some flathead MOPAR speed equipment accessories, but I think all you can do is search E-Bay for Pontiac parts. Still maybe you can convince yourself to install a Chevy 350 and tune for low rpm torque and maybe some pretty good mileage. I am trying to recall if that straight-8 was a flathead or an OHV like the early '50s Buick? Good luck.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Hi Richard, you're spot-on, sir, the print out I have says it's reprinted from the '54 original. If I could work out how I'd send you a copy, but the site address I found is http://www.californiabills.com/books/chevyspeed.php if it's of any interest to anyone.
I wondered whether, as you said, the procedures dating from back then, they might be 'home-shop friendly', if you know what I mean.
i've got some useful old plant tucked away for when i find myself somewhere to set it up, lathe, miller, grinders, gear of a vintage that doesn't make it attractive to the newer generation, but will still do the work if asked.
I figured that heads and pistons 'n cams seem to still be kicking around over your side of the pond at affordable prices, so I'd thougts that older techniques, proven through use, might be the way to go.
But hey, I know nothing, this is my first flat-head, and the first eight i'll have tried breathing on. Most of my past experience has been on standard engines or small stuff, and over here, as I'm sure you know, people think of a three litre as a big lump.

All and any suggestions/advice, pro or con I'll receive gratefully.
I spoke to a guy some years back who was fitting turbos onto his 'bikes and getting them by his insurers, so please, feel free to pursue the thought; only a fool asks for advice and then doesn't listen... i'm listening
cheers, Len

hello Don, it's a pleasure to speak with you.
Thank's for your thoughts; the mention of MG Midgets brings me a wistful smile.
I taught myself to lead-wipe, I think you say lead-load? on a midge and an old MGBGT, rebuilt the engine, then sold them without ever having gotten to ride in them. How familiar does that sound, i wonder?
thanks for the word on ally high-comp heads and dual manifolds. I'm not too surprised to hear you suggest small-block. Yes the Pontiac is a heavy old car - had to push her around my (ridiculously small) yard last week, and she's heavier to move than the old sixities fin-tail mercedes I loved many years ago - 'course, I was younger then!
When it comes down to it, engine design changed because of the limitations of the old stuff, and the Chevy is so easy to find and probably unbeatable for parts, and about the definitive v-8, so yes, I'm going to think about it plenty.
i haven't yet nailed down exactly which engine I've got in the Pontiac, though it's a side-valve all right. The guy I bought it from toldme he believed it was original, but that always seemed unlikely. It's marked up as GM, and I've read that Pontiac still built their own up to that year, so, if the carb is any indication, someone's fitted an engine from a similar '54 GM.
cheers, Len
"I know I have an open mind - when the wind's right, you can hear it blowing
right through..."

welcome freewheel , those specs I listed where for a OEM chevrolet pikup truck , not my racecar which is a rollered 462 pontiac , what type of pontiac motor is in yours?? .

hello stimpy, just read your posting through again in detail, got it. That's still a lot of truck you've got there...
My pontiac is supposed to be a 249" sidevalve straight eight, which would have put out 107bhp @ 3700revs when it was new. But as the valve clearances stamped on the valve covers are ten thou, and the specs say they should be 12, it looks like I'd better go check it out in more detail.
About as far from what your racecar engine will be as... well, you can fill in the rest! I've heard these old lumps frequently referred to as boat anchors, so, yes, I'm keeping an open mind on what to do about getting some drivability out of her. You can see, some great suggestions here from the guys already.

Your post sent me rummidging through my notes to look at the Butler IA II aluminum block; a v-8 block weighing 125lbs putting out some terrific looking horse-power. Perhaps someone here has seen it up and running?
It looks like a hell of a lot of engine - and it's Pontiac...
found it on http://butlerperformance.com/product.../aluminum.html
I hope it's alright to put up references like this; if it's not the done thing, please would somebody put me straight. new boy in the class, here.
cheers, Len

oh, stimpy, meant to say 'more power to your elbow' getting her up and finished; look forward to seeing any pics you get around to posting at any time,
good luck, len

wow Len, look what I found....
http://cars.rasoenterprises.com/Propane.htm