***PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES***

The word performance means many things.  The most common perception of that word is making more power.  That is true but only partly so.  Performance also means a vehicles ability to perform many functions and to improve on them.  Some being- to be reliable both at the track for race cars and on the street for street cars too.  More power is always desirable but people vary with how to go about it and how much to spend, for there are a lot of options out there.   Also, there are now a number of reputable Pontiac engine builders that advertise nationally.  I , myself, have always and will always build and design my own engines.  I am not in the engine building business.  I realize that most of you (if not all) are not as hard core as I am and many will deal with one or more of these businesses. I am not here to endorse or denounce any of them.  My purpose here is to promote real Pontiacs and not sell and profit from you on a given combination or on speed equipment.  Just to share my knowledge and others too. 
This page will be under Construction for awhile.

Many topics will be discussed here.

   Some of them being-

*The virtues of the Pontiac V-8 vs other brands

*The weak areas of the Pontiac and how to correct them

*Most bang for the buck combinations

*High end horsepower applications and possibilities

*Starting, cooling, other practical/smart improvements

Here are some cooling tricks I have learned and experimented on my own with excellent results.  It will cost you almost nothing depending on what tools you have.

It is preferable, but not necessary, to do this prior to assembly.

You will need a center punch, some good quality drill bits, an 1/8" pipe tap and 4 1/8" pipe plugs ( hardware or automotive store ).

The pic below shows where to add the coolant hole above the center lower head bolt hole.  Use a FelPro head gasket or similar that already has the hole in it for a teomplate. Use a center punch and a high quality drill bit with lots of oil.  The metal drills easily but tends to want to catch at the end of the cut and can snap.  Be careful.

JJust as you drilled the hole in each head, you will need to drill a hole on each side of the deck on the block.

In addition to this, I tap and plug the 2 front coolant holes on each side of the block too.  It is easy to do.  Use an 1/8" pipe tap and 1/8" pipe plugs with either an allen or slotted head..  Do not tap too far. Rememvber, pipe thread is tapered.  Tap a small amount and test fit the plug to see how deep it seats.  You want it to seat just at or under the deck height.  If you tap too deep, use lock tight or similar to keep the plug from falling through into the water jacket.

*Handling and braking upgrades

*and much more...............as time will allow

    Your patience is appreciated!

                              Steve Barcak

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