[76Ponti-X]

Testing Testing one two... is this thing on?

I recently acquired a 1976 Pontiac Ventura. it sports the factory installed 260 cube olds v8, 200 hydromatic and 7.5 peg leg. Its like a nova and a firebird made a baby. it has one repaint to base clear; factory firethorn red (I think). the clear has totally given out above the belt line. interior is firethorn. so, here she is...

 

[76Ponti-X]

so, we found it about 4 miles from home. young guy had it. was gonna "LS it..." he only got the carb n intake off. they were in the trunk.


a few pics of how we found it

 

[76Ponti-X]

any opinions on putting up pictures? whats better, inserting thumbnails or full images? if full image, is it best to drag it down to a smaller size for ease of viewing?
a few pics on the trailer. trailer is looking as beat as the 4th Gen.

 

[76Ponti-X]

i thought i had better/ more photos of the re assembly. the only purchases we made to get it back running were an intake gasket and a fuel pump. just plopped the roch dual jet back on it and even used the old gasket. same belts, hoses, plugs, wires, brackets... it was all in the trunk and we pressed it back in to service. we did spring for a paper element, after all.... covid. bonus video of it running. although the video is a few weeks after initial start up. it has a y pipe that singles down to near the axle then splits again to dual 2 1/4 flow masters that exit rear of the tire. Grumbles along at idle but is totally anemic

my youngest homey soldiered with me in spite of being convinced it would never run.

 

[xMLMx]

This... This is awesome. Love that you recovered it and actually got the little 260 to run!

 

[Nova Thug]

Nice lookin project you have there.. With the visible rust in the engine I would’ve not expected it to be much good.. Congrats on getting it running.. The 7.5” 10 bolt is safe behind that engine..

 

[mc1984ss]

Nice save! Good looking not often seen car

 

[76Ponti-X]

thanks for the replies!
Once we got it moving it was time to check the stopping! Got it up on stands to get a good look.
the rotors and delco calipers looked good so we turned the rotors repacked the bearings and added pads.
shoes in the rear looked fresh on both sides despite the drive side wheel cylinder being locked up.
we added cylinders, new hardware/adjusters and just let the drums ride. no more pics but we rounded off the attention under here w a delco reman master cylinder and all new rubber lines. she stops nice and straight. Also replaced the idler arm while it was in the air
as proof of this mid 70's performance machine's street cred check out the still intact, functioning and once essential hyjacker air shocks out back.
that rear bumper though... with out the filler panel, will def need addressing...

 

[kimrobertson]

Great to see your progress here! Nice looking Ventura. What are your plans going forward? BTW--Pictures look great! Keep them coming.

 

[76Ponti-X]

Great to see your progress here! Nice looking Ventura. What are your plans going forward? BTW--Pictures look great! Keep them coming.

thanks kim. my build style is 'whatever falls out of the sky' so there is no telling which way this tree will fall! might get skinnies in the front and an 8.8 w 4.11 for bracket/street use. i like the big TA wheels and brakes for street/protouring look. my oldest son is petitioning for bassetts and white letter tires for nascar/street look but i think im over that.
I did score some faux centerlines w the skinnies but baby boy ended up w a 1st gen S10 and promptly stole them. so i ended up with the decidedly 90's style billets you see here. again they fell out of the sky w brand new nittos on two wheels for less than 2 bills. so i went w em. I scored some Eagle F1s as well so ill move the 245/45/17 nittos up front and put the 265/40 eagles in the rear for now.
PICS!
the centerlines...

the robber...

the 17s...

 

[Bellworx]

Def great save! Thanks for posting pics. I love it when people post pics. Throw some interior shots in there lol.

 

[76Ponti-X]

Def great save! Thanks for posting pics. I love it when people post pics. Throw some interior shots in there lol.

Indeed. next up interior... I'll scrape together some pics tonight.
Here ya go...

but you're prob after these...

 

[76Ponti-X]

so the very next thing that needed to be addressed was the rear bumper sticking out like the fan tail on a shrimp boat... not cool

i did see a photo on the innerwebs of an early/mid 80's Olds bumper in leu of the chrome big nasty, but there were no further details and my olds rear bumper research quickly waned. it did get me thinking about a fire fird rear bumper though. just not sure how far off either of them may or may not be. just a thought...

while marinating on how to go about getting some sort of urethane upgrade going, i decided to get the bumper off, remove the inner liner, and relieve the pressure from the bumper shocks to get it tucked up closer the body. also removed the teeth and the black rubber strip. PICS!

had to save each end of the inner bumper to remount the bumper to the shocks. scuffed em and shot em black and then cleaned up the inside of the bumper itself n shot a lil paint to slow the rust

 

[76Ponti-X]

a slight detour from the bumper took place. i noticed water getting into the trunk around the taillights. in a feat of engineering genius GM put the gasket, lens and housing inside the trunk while the chrome bezel was on the outside. the bezel's plastic studs protruded through the sheet metal to engage first the gasket, then lens then housing...

pass side from inside trunk

notice how the thick rubber gaskets were deeply impregnated with rust. they are still very robust though so, i decided to soak em for a week in evapo rust, clean em up and cut a new cork gasket to go between the sheet metal and the factory gasket to establish a fresh seal. scuffed and rust treated the entire trunk as needed and shot it w satin black.

used the lens as a template to trace out for the new gaskets and sharpened the end of a piece of brake line to use as a hole punch

 

[76Ponti-X]

to round out the cheap tricks butt lift, we polished the lenses w VSS from chemical guys and refurbed the housings w a scuff pad and a couple coats of rattle can chrome and then buttoned up the ars end.
guess i deleted after pics of inside trunk area...
can you tell which lens is polished?

much better
Befo:

Afta:

 

[xMLMx]

The bumper tuck turned out great, what a difference that makes.

 

[kimrobertson]

to round out the cheap tricks butt lift, we polished the lenses w VSS from chemical guys and refurbed the housings w a scuff pad and a couple coats of rattle can chrome and then buttoned up the ars end.
guess i deleted after pics of inside trunk area...
can you tell which lens is polished?
View attachment 436598
View attachment 436600

much better
Befo:
View attachment 436602
Afta:
View attachment 436603
View attachment 436601

It's amazing how much time can go into refurbishing even something like tailights it's important though. Not only do they look great but will keep trunk dry. Nice job! I also found my side marker lights and old trunk seal were leaking. Used silicone on marker lights. Keep up the good work and the posts!

 

[msaul]

Congratulations on getting a great looking car. You have been busy on it, and your work looks great. Tucking the bumper took some time and effort, and really paid off. My guess is you will soon take on the interior, and have equally excellent results. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[76Ponti-X]

It's amazing how much time can go into refurbishing even something like taillights it's important though. Not only do they look great but will keep trunk dry. Nice job! I also found my side marker lights and old trunk seal were leaking. Used silicone on marker lights. Keep up the good work and the posts!

thanks kim. it could definitely use a deck lid gasket. i also removed all of the really thick body sealer that was caked almost beyond belief in each corner of the trunk where the quarter meets the tail panel. the driver side pile of goop had lifted enough to always hold water resulting in a blistered through spot on the quarter. I will have to peek in and get a look at the marker lights as i guess i overlooked them as a possible leak.

 

[76Ponti-X]

the lil 260 olds was cute and fun... for about three minutes.
so, i scored an 880 long block complete w vortec heads and factory hyd roller set up. the plan was to clean it, scuff the bores and throw rings, bearings and a cam at it and rag on er.
it was complete minus the intake when i got it for 200$. pretty crusty...
the tear down

crank, skirts and cross hatch all looked good but the oil change interval was obviously not adhered to. all 8 oil control rings were glued into the groove w burnt oil goop. everything seemed to be going ok otherwise and i was stoked to throw this low buck bullet together, until i got to the #5 hole w the stones. i suspect when the intake was pulled water/coolant went in to the cylinder. it sat like that for a few years before i acquired it and the resulting oxidation between piston and cylinder wall left a huge scar in the wall. by the time i honed it to within my low buck tolerances (loose is fast) that piston was rattling around in there like a truck window w no felt.

not wanting to take a chance on a second used engine i contacted Remy at Womack's Engines and cylinder heads in Denham Springs LA. we determined that the crank was within specs and the short
block would get .030 and a set of flat tops.

for the cylinder heads we stayed with the vortecs and opted to lower the stem seal height and machine the spring seats to accept beehives and light weight retainers. i kept the 1.94 and 1.50 valves and had Womack blend the transition area behind the valve seat where the seat transitions to the runner. this is especially effective on the exhaust side. rounded out the vortec mods by adding 7/16 studs and
guideplates. i guess i didnt get photo until they were bolted on...