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  • Feb. 27, 2009 7:36 p.m. petegossett Dork

    Is that an oxymoron??? LOL

    I just brought home a new project, not exactly typical GRM fare, but I suppose not much is out of line for you guy & gals! It's a 1962 Pontiact Tempest LeMans, complete with "Indy" 4-cyl(bored 0.30 over with cam & 4bbl), 3-spd....and rear mounted transaxel with swing axel suspension.

    I'd like to make it handle somewhate better - think of it like a vintage racer within a Challenge budget.

    I'm familiar with the old Empi camber compensators for Beetles, so I could try to replicate something like that, but if I do the typical springs/shocks/swaybars & don't lower it too far, is there anything else special to worry about???

  • chaparral

    Feb. 27, 2009 8:18 p.m. chaparral New Reader

    You need more springrate than roll stiffness in a swing-axle car. A Z-bar is basically a "pro-roll" bar and will help a lot at keeping the tires actually connected to the ground. Failing that, you'd want some wheel tethers to prevent total tuck-under.

    Other than that, reduce the slop and friction as much as you can. The bushings are almost half a century old and were shot before Che Guevara. The chassis probably hasn't been lubricated since they stopped racing Can-Am cars.

  • Feb. 27, 2009 8:34 p.m. petegossett Dork

    What is a z-bar? I figure I'll be buying delerin by the rod for bushings.

  • noisycricket

    Feb. 27, 2009 9:27 p.m. noisycricket Reader

    It's like a sway bar, but the arms point in opposite directions.

    Puhn's suspension book has one about every fifth page.

  • stuart in mn

    Feb. 27, 2009 10:14 p.m. stuart in mn Dork

    You may want to check Corvair parts suppliers for the camber compensator bar - the suspension in your car is essentially the same as a first gen Corvair, you may find someone still selling handling bars for them. Post some pictures of the car. They're pretty uncommon, but four barrel carb versions are quite rare these days. There's a pretty active 1961-1963 Tempest forum over on the Performance Years Pontiac forums: http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/

    I have a book on modifying Pontiacs that was published by Petersen Publishing back in 1963; there's a section in there about improving the handling of the Tempest, I'll see if I can dig it up this weekend and I'll scan the pages.

  • Trans_Maro

    Feb. 27, 2009 11:21 p.m. Trans_Maro Reader

    Also, check the Fiat racer's sites.

    The 850 has a swing-axle rear and the Z-bar systems seems to be popular (at least it was when I had my 850 Spyder)

    Also that 4-banger is half a Poncho 389. Any V8 heads and exhaust manifold (except 265/301) should bolt up to that block.

    You can even go nuts with a round-port ram-air head if you want and singles should be way cheaper than matched sets.

    Also, look for the factory "Ram air" exhaust manifolds, they're a cast-iron header which flows REALLY well. I know of a local Poncho drag racer that is going faster with R/A manfiolds than he was with headers.

    IIRC, Arnie Bestwick drag raced one of those "rope drive" Tempests with a worked over 421 and beefed-up transaxle back in the day.

    Shawn

  • Feb. 28, 2009 10:31 a.m. petegossett Dork

    Thanks for all the responses & advice!

    Since I've never figured out why my pics don't post here, I've attached links to some photos from this morning.

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/3967/m3033635d84b8436d830952.jpg

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1016/m0cda62f6c6fd4bbf983a92.jpg

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8394/mc1d9ddefdce840fc99ea33.jpg

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1936/m64966448beaf4d3b95e71e.jpg

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8541/m553019788a0240b4b2ab57.jpg

    http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6042/m237ba4bd84d94d508271ab.jpg

  • noisycricket

    Feb. 28, 2009 2:29 p.m. noisycricket Reader

    Trans_Maro wrote: You can even go nuts with a round-port ram-air head if you want and singles should be way cheaper than matched sets.

    Edelbrock makes an aluminum head. I wouldn't call it a clone of the RA IV head because it's better, and a pair of them cost less than one used-up gennie RA IV head.

    We've seen over 500hp on untouched castings.

 
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