# Let's Play Dress-Up: Engine Customizing



## Orion88 (Apr 24, 2012)

So there's a million ways under the sun to leave people speechless when you lift up the hood on your classic Poncho... Some go the concourse look, others like blinding amounts of chrome. Whatever your preference, it's hard not to make a Pontiac engine look bad. So I'd like to see pictures of how you went about making your power plant stand out among the crowd. As for me, I'm still putting things together but I went with a K&N X-Stream Air Filter and a set of black wrinkle finish aluminum Pontiac Logo valve covers. I am pretty darn happy with how the combo looks, and I plan on keeping the color scheme going with a black HEI cap and wires, black pulleys, and standard rubber hoses. I also painted my dipstick black just to look a little bit different. All together I think it will look quite sinister and awesome.

So show me what you did with your engine!


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## 65gto (Aug 2, 2013)

I like it. What carburetor are you using? And are you going with the stock exhaust manifold or headers?


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## Orion88 (Apr 24, 2012)

Edelbrock 1405 (600cfm) with an Edelbrock performer intake for now. She works pretty well but in the past whenever temps got below 40 at night she was a real pain to get started. Might have to put a manual choke on it. I have a quadrajet sitting on my shelf from a 79 TA that I am either going to attempt to rebuild or send to Cliff when I can afford it. Eventually I will bolt that to a stock Pontiac Intake and throw it on. And I'm running headers. If you look at my build thread I have pictures of my exhaust system all cleaned and painted up.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

After it was torn apart inspected cleaned inside and out and put back. Was still not ready yet when the pics were taken.....

Eastwood Ceramic paint, parts cleared and powder coated

Carb was rebuilt after this step, R/A manifolds installed, the Fram filter was a sacrificial one.


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## chuckha62 (Apr 5, 2010)

GTO JUDGE said:


> After it was torn apart inspected cleaned inside and out and put back. Was still not ready yet when the pics were taken.....
> 
> Eastwood Ceramic paint, parts cleared and powder coated
> 
> ...


THAT to me, is what it should look like. No offense the the OP, but these were good looking right out of the factory and any "upgrade" is lost on me.


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## ALKYGTO (Mar 29, 2010)

Both those engines look real nice. I agree that the stock restored 400 looks phenomenal but my personal tastes are a little more.......wild .


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## Orion88 (Apr 24, 2012)

Everyone has their own personal preference but I think anyone would be hard pressed to argue that alkys engine is anything but mind-blowingly awesome. And yes I do like the stock look. But I also like to stand out a little. Sure, purists would disagree, but I get more satisfaction knowing that my engine looks different than most. Plus dressing up your engine easily adds an additional 50hp!!!


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

getting ready to put this on to "dress" it up a bit. Dual 600 holleys on Offy manifold with custom Ram Air pan.


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## 65gto (Aug 2, 2013)

That'll dress it up quite a bit,,,


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## Orion88 (Apr 24, 2012)

That'll add a lot more horsepower than my valve covers!! HAHAHA


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Instg8ter said:


> getting ready to put this on to "dress" it up a bit. Dual 600 holleys on Offy manifold with custom Ram Air pan.


Can't wait to see what it looks like (and hear what it RUNS like) when you're done.

That's some fine craftsmanship there, sir. :cheers

Bear


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

me too but at this point i am thinking i should have put them on the snowmobile....will winter ever end???


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