Just out of the Navy in '68 I bought a brand new 1968 Pontiac Firebird with a High Output 350 in it. Then got married and just had a ball with that car. 4 barrel, 4-speed Muncie and Hurst shifter and all, I just loved that car and this series. I was a machinist (not automotive) but spent some time in an automotive shop. You guys are superior in what you do. I learned a lot and remembered a lot from viewing it. So many memories!

Truly a work of art

The people that thought the ball bearing trick was a joke have obviously never done any type of measuring, none the less any precision measuring. Everything isn't perfectly shaped to measuring with a caliper or ruler. You gotta improvise sometimes. If you can measure it, you use it as a blocker or extension and subtract it from the overall to get your final. Its such a simple thing...

2:45 the way you handled that shaft 😳

You guys did a beyond amazing job on this old Indian.

Nicely done young man!! And Dad too of course! More Pontiac's please!

Few things are as gratifying as a fresh well rebuild.

Kinda late but I enjoyed the Pontiac 350 engine rebuild. Brought back memories of when I was in Pennco Tech. We had brought motors in to rebuild. Mine had been sent out to clean up the heads and new freeze plugs. When it came back, it was that same blue. I was blown away. Thank You for that memory 😀

The race engine builder we know back in the 70s and 80s always but the ring gaps on the sides, in line with the wrist pins. Of course, opposite sides in order. He said that was easier for the ring ends to deal with wall contact as the piston 'rocked' than when gap are perpendicular to the wrist pins, where greatest rocking motion is.

Fantastic series I’m a Pontiac guy and I really loved the way you took the time to do everything right!! You guys rock!! Hope to see a video of it installed and running!

Completely forgot about that awesome Pontiac blue!!! Very nice!! You guys rock!

What draws me to your channel over some of the others is your narration. It's OK to have a music soundtrack and a sped-up video once in a while but when it's in every video it becomes monotonous. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing and hearing that 350 run!

That looks so cool, really nice job and quite an education to watch you two at work.

The rings will rotate over time, but that doesn’t mean you should purposely line them up either. Setting them up spaced away from each other is just a good best practice, especially when you’re trying to break the engine in.

THANK YOU for specifying what materials and methodology as well as the process, so many engine building vids just go through what they're doing, without mentioning the rational behind their choices

I was a little surprised at the lower compression ratio. With all the work you did I thought you would bring it up to 9 or 10:1. Great series, I’ve enjoyed going back and watching it a second time

Watched the whole series. In one word.............Fantastic!

I AM AN OLD RETIRED MACHIST AND I AM REALLY ENJOYING THIS.....HURRY GRAB ANOTHER ONE...

I enjoyed every part of this series. Really hope the owner gives us a listen when it's in the car or records the first fire up. Can't wait to see what you put out next.

I would say seriously that you have been taught well 😎 Show your Dad some appreciation and Love... I can tell he has passed on some old school tricks of the trade,,,,as well as you have utiilized modern technology and ideas great stuff 😎 I have always enjoyed assembling engines....and machine process..... thanks

Finally! Someone who puts the heads on with the engine rotated over on the stand to prevent any crap from falling into the cylinders.

That series was the perfect demonstration of a ' balanced and blueprinted' engine build. With proper tuning and maintenance, the owner will have a 300k mi engine. On the ring gap I put all gaps 180 out parallel with the crank. Theory is that the gaps are farthest away from each other and piston rock has minimum effect on the gaps.

That's my dream engine

Shops like yours are going away faster than I ever imagined! People don't work on cars much anymore. Then when I want to freshen an old truck engine up by doing a simple valve job I have to drive 15-20 miles to find a machine shop.

thanks for that series. I should send it to the workshop that had my first engine.... I got a whole 27 hours from that rebuild. Honestly- thanks for all the effort. I can't stand at machines all day because my body throws a tantrum, give yer dad a a thumbs up for me. Australia.

Brilliant, takes me back a few years. That was informative to watch you put the crank on. We used plastic gauge but like you said just mic it... I think that's the better way to go! I didn't know you weighed the stuff to get a balance so you were ahead of me... no advice on that... cheers

I absolutely enjoy your videos coming from an old time Pontiac, GTO owner

Classic Pontiac muscle-era, pre-emissions engines are becoming rarer by the minute. Thank you for doing such a stellar job of saving this beauty and restoring her properly. I actually hope the owner never goes to fuel injection. Keep it the way nature intended.

Beautiful piece of work! Thanks for all the time taken to bring us along,great set of videos!

I think the biggest thing that attracts me to your videos is the professionalism. From disassembly to the end. You've done the best you can with what you have. Awesome!

Great job to you and your dad . But I liked the older M/T valve covers

Just came across your channel . Very cool and great detail. 👍 I'm an ol Army Vet,and an ol Pontiac Fan from way back ....plus Diesel Mechanic for 30 years...did alot of overhauling in shop ...brings back alot of memories...

Geat job! In high school I had a '66 LeMans with a 326 that I rebuilt in Auto Shop. I fell in love with that original Pontiac Blue as well! Again great job, on the engine and the channel as well!!

Sunning! Absolutely beautiful build, love watching father, duo combo

it is great channel. learning from you and the cleaning man is awesome. cleaning man knows so much and has a great easy way of doing things.

Love that blue with chrome

Oml that looks so much easier than how we did my brother-in-law’s engine. We replaced all 6 pistons in his Jeep and didn’t have anyway to get the engine out, so I was on top putting everything in. We used a 1x1 piece of wood to not mar the piston since we didn’t have a dead blow. It was a whole thing

Very Nice Job ,Enjoyed The Pontiac Build Series ,Thank You !!!

came out really nice. the chrome and aluminum give nice visual accents.

Piston rings - agreed with your understanding of keeping the rings offset. Logically it will enhance packing during compression and prevent blowby losses.

Engine looks Outstanding and Yes, chrome does set it off. A set of triple chrome headers would also be nice. And when used, those colors would be very vivid contrast with the engine. Hope that the owner does do a video of it running and driving the car.

I prefer Total Seal’s gapless rings. It’s basically two rings designed to fit together and overlap each other. This eliminates the vast majority of blowby, that is unavoidable with traditional gapped rings.

Outstanding watch, to the end

Wow for me I built my Pontiac 400 c.i. in 1984. Seeing that build it seems like it was yesterday.

great series!

As a DIY guy, I’ve always put the engine bell housing side down, and slid the cam down into the engine. Makes installing the cam a snap.

A joy to watch

I have 40+ years as a mechanic... One thing I like about what you are doing is that you show people some of what goes on during the repair process.. Many drop a car, and pick it up not having a clue about the time/effort and experience it takes to do quality work... DIY guys? a few that can do the job right but for most? they rely on guys like you to make sure clearances are right.. A lot of garage builders that consider themselves "Experts" when in reality, they only succeed because the machine shop was spot on.. All that is left for the home guy? cleaning... and a lot of it.. If your hands are getting dirty? you are putting a dirty engine together..

I really like that engine paint color!!

That's going to look like a jewel nestled into it's home 👌💎

You make my Poncho heart glad. Thank you very much.😁

Glad you went with the roller rockers. Sometimes it’s worth it to upgrade a part on a low compression motor because it’s just better and doesn’t cost much. Thank God he went with the Edelbrock performer - it’s a sensible upgrade. I remember that blue colored engine paint. The engine is a work of art!

I remember looking at that engine color back in 68 and thought, man that is different, but today it looks great.😆 Great series fellas.

I Loved this series Thank you nick. please do some more like this

On the ring placement question. I use the ring the recommendation in a book produced by the GM part division in 1976. The book is Chevrolet Power. Looking from the front of the engine. Top ring gap on the left Second ring gap on the right Oil ring spacer gap on the left anywhere up to 35 degrees either side of the top ring gap. Oil ring rails 35 degrees on each side of the second ring gap. This works for any 4/6/8 engine. I’ve been using this for 40+ years with great results.

Beautiful. Great job.

Beautiful engine great work 😊

Great Video! I was thinking about LS swapping my 350 out of my 69 tempest but after seeing this I may just keep my 350 in there with some improvements.

Great looking job well done and very informative video. Thanks🎉

That came out very nice.

Great video series guys!! Love watching father passing his wealth of knowledge to his son while working together!! True craftsmanship is always a pleasure to observe!! Great job on the motor!!

Yup, brings back great memories of 1971, rebuilding my 67 LeMans 326 in my parent's driveway ;)

Looks fantastic ❤

That is a work of art. Great attention to detail 🙂

This series of video's brought back some great memories of when I rebuilt the 400 ci from my '71 GTO. I went more on the radical side because I was bracket racing the car back in '79 - '81.

A 100% True balanced engine! I was so deep into the video and when you spun the engine 360* on the motor stand I about shit myself. Lol. I thought you had already ready filled with oil. I was like no way so I backed the video up and saw you hadn’t. If I’d just let it play I would’ve seen when you put oil in it. Love the video

Nice job gents looks great and I'm sure it will run sweet. cheers

Superb job 👍... Enjoyed every bit of the building process and the series. Thanks so much.

Terrific job

Davvero un'ottimo lavoro! Complimenti!

Nice work you know there's pride behind it

Yes, a Dino would definitely be very important to prove that everything is fine with the motor that way. When another guy puts it in and doesn't do it correctly. It doesn't fall back on you but again. I understand it's just takes money but I do enjoy watching. You guys, you guys really do? Try to do the best you can thank you.

Really enjoyed this series and all of your videos I’ve see. Very good job on the craftsmanship and the narrations. I’ve also been very fortunate to get to work with my father and still admire just how good he is, just like your father. God bless you both.

I would really love to see that engine in the finished car.

We allways used a ball bearing to measure inside sizes you can buy them with a sleeve that fits over the micrometer!

The only thing I would of suggested to the customer would of been an ATI or Fluidamper harmonic balancer, but if he’s holding back on the efi, he won’t like the cost of a good damper, but I think they’re crucial especially on a brand new built engine like that.

I like this video ! Don't care for the Sketchy Main Cap . Thanks for sharing .

I built many Pontiac engines in the past. I have used 350 heads on a 455 Pontiac to boost the compression and you must run higher octane fuel to avoid pinging.

Pretty!

Awesome job

Your videos are excellent! Very well done and informative

Nice job.

I noticed that you re-installed that number 3 main cap that was broken. Now, yes, there wasn't a real problem with it the way it was but I'm sure that finding another one really isn't that hard. All in all, I'd have you do my next Pontiac. See, what caught my attention to this video was the Pontiac 350.

LEGEND HAS IT THAT CAR NEVER RAN AGAIN AFTER HIS

I enjoyed your presentation. It kind of reminds me of Stephan Papadakis.

I’d love a video from you guys about how and why to degree a cam. I’ve built a few engines and in the process of one right now but I’ve never degreed a cam.

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments made thus far. I have no experience building/or tearing down engines but fell like I'm learning as I watch. You are both very clear in what, how and why you are doing what you do. Thank you so much - it makes an old , unmechanical guy very happy to watch! Also, having grown up in the sixties - to see that beauty of an engine painted that silvery blue with the chrome covers and aluminum intake, all I can say is WOW!! Gorgeous. I wish I could afford one of your engines in a restomod. We can DREAM, can't we???

I agree for piston rings. Don't need to be clocked to any certain positions, but staggering is most important. I've only worked with pistons on small engines and would generally set the rings a very rough 120° offset for each of the oil rings and 180 for the compression rings.

You might want to mention that on a Pontiac, the bolt from the timing cover to the manifold needs to be tightened to spec before you torque the manifold to head bolts. this will allow the manifold to move forward if required to seal the o-ring. Failure to do so will typically cause an antifreeze leak at that junction. (unless you get lucky)

piston rings rotate I personally offset them but at some point they will line up. We use to use joe gibs assembly grease we just switched to maxima in my opinion it is a Beter product and engine pro does carry it along with there brake in oil use to have problems with flat tappet cams and still try to advise customer to switch to a roller but since the switch of oil from vr1 to the maxima we have not had a issue

Thank heavens, I thought my internet was going out because I had not seen any new vids for a couple of weeks. Every person who gets engine machining/rebuilding done needs to watch this channel to appreciate how much time goes into good work. When you get that next bill, you understand why it costs so much. Love watching this channel.

I hate turning wrenches but I really enjoyed this series. Please do more!

I offset compression ring gaps 1/3 - 1/2 a turn apart and place them away from the thrust side of the cylinders on each bank of a V8. I offset the oil ring end gaps 1/3 to 1/2 a turn also, but place the upper oil ring end gap so that any oil passing, will provide extra lubrication to the pistons and cylinders on the thrust side of the block.

Nice Work, the owner should be pleased. In my day we'd call that a balanced and blueprinted engine. Great idea of advancing the cam, too many novices install them straight up. The one thing I'd recommend is to soak those lifters in the same oil for 24 hours before installing them......maybe ya'll did something similar that I missed. I'd make the ring gaps 180* to each other. Those heads must have a huge combustion chamber volume for the compression ratio to be so low. You said you installed larger valves, sometimes a larger valve robs a low rpm engine of torque.

Just watched the series. Great work to the both of you!

I like how the caps are pinned. one less thing that can move around

Absolutely gorgeous restoration!!

Great Job ❤❤

Brilliant, thanks for sharing with us all.

very cool seeing that old beauty looking new again. great job