…….. this session will be dedicated to the following letter from John Mino.

TO: DRAG RACING WITH JIM HAND

Dear Jim,

I always enjoy reading your articles and usually agree with your views, particularly since your info is backed by “at the track” results and not some “pie in the sky” theory backed by umpteen hours of dyno time. I was elated to read your article about ignition systems, and couldn’t agree more. Actually, it made me think about the last time I went to Super Shops to buy a cam key to advance the cam in my L/Stock ’74 Firebird. While waiting for my part, this 20something year old “expert performance advisor” directed my attention to the Mallory Hy-Fire ignition display boasting a blue spark about 1-1/2″ long arcing away while exclaiming “That’s worth about 25 horses over stock…would you be interested in a set-up like that for your drag car?…the whole system runs about 300 bucks.” I looked him square in the eye while responding, “…naw, I only spend money on things that will help lower my E.T….I have a good ignition system.” Read more

Improving the Elapsed Time, or ET, is the primary reason for the changes that most of us make to our vehicles. The quicker (lower) the ET, the stronger our vehicles feel. An improvement of one second in ET to a relatively slow car capable of running 16.5 seconds is just as important and just as noticeable as a one second gain on a 14 second car. Although a very low ET is not necessarily a determining factor in winning bracket races, it certainly is important when bench racing with our friends! Read more

Fred Cal from Batavia, Illinois, recently submitted a great list of subjects for possible discussion. Several of those will be covered in this column.

How about those claims for increased airflow through the newer performance mufflers? Does airflow relate directly to performance? As with all factory components, the stock mufflers and pipes were a compromise, with noise, cost, warranty, and space limitations all being considered. The stock type mufflers did cause some back-pressure, which adversely affected performance. The pipe configurations andlor size also caused back-pressure in many applications. Read more

Our last column covered several subjects suggested by Fred Cailey from Batavia, Illinois. We have picked another from his excellent list and will discuss it in this part. Read more

You may remember the letter from John Mino that was published in this column in 1996. John described his good experience when he switched to race fuel in his Pontiac at the drag strip, and suggested we try it in our ’71 LeMans wagon.

In order to provide an accurate test it was deemed necessary to make several runs with the Amoco “Clear” 92 octane pump gas that we normally use, and then drain the tank and add the race fuel. Several runs would then be made with no other changes except the switch to race fuel. Further, we wanted to run on a well prepared track in order to minimize changes caused by possible traction problems. Read more

I received a call last summer from a long time member of POCI, Jon Hardgrove. Jon operates The Carburetor Shop at Eldon, Missouri, which has been in the carb repair/service business for a large part of this century. Jon had noted our consistent and impressive performance with the Q-Jet carbs, and wondered if we had tried a Carter Thermo-Quad. l had briefly tried several in the late 70’s or early 80’s, but was not very successful. After visiting with Jon, and reviewing some literature on the T-Quad, I realized there was much more to this carb than I had previously known. Read more

This month, we have an addendum on our recent gas/fuel test, a technical tip, and we also will mention an enthusiast who is truly dedicated to the Pontiac hobby. A later column will discuss an NHRA approved method of installing a master disconnect switch to immediately stop the engine when a master switch is operated. If you need such  information immediately contact me. Read more

A fairly common occurrence after a lot of miles, or after we rebuild our Pontiac engines, is poor operation of the cranking system. This column will discuss the separate parts of the cranking system, the function of each part, and some suggestions that may help improve your Pontiac’s cranking system. Read more

We have three tips for you in this issue: How to minimize failure of your starter solenoid under high heat conditions, improving cranking with trunk mounted batteries and how to meet the NHRA requirement of a positive shut-off of your engine with the master disconnect switch. The three subjects are closely related and were deemed advisable to print them together. This results in a longer than usual column. This writer may now take a break from an issue or two. Read more

This series was prepared over a 2-3 year period for our local Clubs.

As we obtained newer or more accurate information, it was incorporated in later articles. Accordingly, if you note any conflict of information in this series, use the latest. This is a collection of information that the writer and his advisors have accumulated over the years in actual Pontiac tuning, modifying, and racing. We won’t tell you how to build race cars but we will describe how you can make your street car perform better than many “race cars”. We will discuss how basic components like camshafts, intake manifolds, and exhaust systems interact and what happens when you change them.

The local newspaper, Kansas City Star, ran the results of a bracket race, and one of the local club members, Verne Howard, won the trophy class with his ’77 Can Am with times of 14.901/90.9 on a 14.90 dial.

A few comments about Verne’s car are in order. At first glance, 14.90 at 91 MPH might not sound very impressive. However, Verne’s ’77 CAM AM with driver weighs 4300 – 4400 pounds, and his 400 engine is low compression, has the less effective low rise intake manifold, and is essentially stock. The car has a 3.08 gear ratio. The same engine in a 64/65 A body car weighing 3700 – 3800 pounds would propel it to approximately 14.40 at 96/97 MPH. Why does it run so well? Verne did a series of practical and low cost checks and modifications. He first made sure the engine was in good mechanical condition. As the original cam was worn and a stock replacement was not available, he installed a Pontiac grind (067 – the original cam for stock GTOs and 2+2s) that was closest to his original. The carb and distributor were checked and rebuilt and a slightly modified advance curve was installed in the distributor. A dual exhaust system consisting of RAM-AIR exhaust manifolds, Walker Super Dynomax mufflers, and 2 1/4″ pipes was installed. For the race, a pair of good traction street tires was installed. One evening of practice and tuning and Verne is now a trophy winner.

In our upcoming features, we will explain why simple changes like Verne made are so effective and why most after market speed parts generally don’t work very well on street Pontiacs. Again, we will not attempt to describe Pontiac race engine construction but will focus on how to get great performance from your street cars at the lowest cost.