{"id":78873,"date":"2021-04-21T18:40:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T01:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=78873"},"modified":"2021-04-21T18:46:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T01:46:40","slug":"gallery-johns-1970-pontiac-lemans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/gallery-johns-1970-pontiac-lemans\/","title":{"rendered":"[Gallery] John&#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-78873-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image3-e1619055559416.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78877&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Click Here to Begin Slideshow\\n\\nWhen John\\u2019s parents got hitched, they both had to have a pair of Pontiacs. His mom had been driving a 1970 T-37, and so his dad picked up a 1970 LeMans to match.\\n\\nOriginally from Alabama, this car had no rust whatsoever. Mechanically it was sound, and he insisted on keeping it running smoothly. He didn\\u2019t feel quite so concerned with the exterior, which had been tarnished by time and the elements. When the patina started looking more like rosacea than anything endearing, his dad took the car to a friend who worked in restoration. In went a new vinyl top, a new carpet, and a new interior. A new coat of paint followed shortly thereafter.\\n\\nJohn\\u2019s dad had kept it inside most of its life, and so it remained a fun, reliable, classy machine that John always secretly wanted for himself. Sensing that, his dad eventually asked if he\\u2019d be willing to trade the LeMans for John\\u2019s Polaris. John wasted no time exchanging keys.\\n\\nHe knew that he wanted a driver that he could take his kids and wife to the drive-in movies and the ice cream parlor. For those, modern features and all the creature comforts,\\u201d John began. With those objectives in mind, John laid out a plan, set a realistic budget, then retrieved that fat envelope of fun-time money he\\u2019d been hiding at the bottom of his sock drawer.\\n\\nWisely, he focused on the footwork first. A full UMI Stage 3 suspension kit completely transformed the car, making it an encouraging, predictable, and a surprisingly agile car\\u2014for something approaching 3,400 pounds, it definitely didn\\u2019t feel that heavy.\\n\\nEven if modern suspension can mask the effects of weight, the brakes will nevertheless take a beating. A set of Summit Racing disc brakes at all four corners made spirited driving a little less than terrifying. Now recognizing the value of driver confidence, John replaced the differential with a posi unit and 3.73 gears, making the rear end much more predictable as well as increasing traction. Plus, it helped extract a little more performance from the aging motor John had decided to hold on to\\u2014for a while, anyways.\\n\\nEventually, the time came to swap out the Poncho 350 for a LS swap. He scrimped and worked longer shifts to set aside some dough, and after a few years he had it. In went a rebuilt 5.3-liter LS from a 2002 Suburban. The motor had already been bored .030 over. Then came a Summit Pro LS Stage 4 cam, Jegs hardened push rods and 1.7 aluminum rockers. He brought this new package together with a Holley Terminator X Max ECU.\\n\\nWith the engine sorted, he turned his attention to the interior. First, he installed 500 watts of Alpine power for the door and package tray speakers, then another 500 watt Alpine for the subs. Even over rougher roads, he can hear his music clearly.\\n\\nJohn then changed the center console out for a 2007 Chevy Impala\\u2019s. Now he\\u2019s living in comfort with cupholders, 12v outlets, and a wireless phone charging pad. Bringing a little more modernity into the cabin, the Dakota Digital VHX gauges displayed\\u2014with the help of the Holley module\\u2014all the data from the ECU.\\n\\nAfter a surprisingly easy teething period, the new setup was working without issue and John was feeling content\\u2014but not completely satisfied. So when a used LSA blower fell into view, he grabbed it without hesitation. By that point, he\\u2019d been gripped by mission creep and was well past his original budget. \\u201cIf you\\u2019re going to make it, you may as well try to make it nice,\\u201d he proclaimed.\\n\\nIt started the next phase of purchases, but it was perhaps the most charged period of development. The LSX Innovations front drive kit and their LSA adapter plates were followed by a set of Bosch injectors and a new Holley harness to suit them.\\n\\nThough Corona had damaged the supply chain and made it near impossible to find a new lid in less than six months, Lance at R\\u0026amp;D Performance Fabrication kept him from having to wait for the UPS man like a soldier\\u2019s wife waits for her husband to come home. He supplied John with a lid and reinforced brick from a CTS-V and kept things humming along at a steady pace. \\u201cI can\\u2019t thank him enough\\u2014I thought the project was dead in the water,\\u201d John sighed.\\n\\nWith the blower bits installed and the engine running, he found exactly what he wanted: instant torque and great response. Currently, he\\u2019s working through the tuning process and plans for 500-600 whp when he does get it on a dyno.\\n\\nI have more planned for the interior including the soon-to-arrive Vintage Air system so that he can keep the black interior cool in the summer sun. \\u201cOne day, maybe as a retirement gift to myself, I plan on having the whole body gone through, cleaned up, and repainted,\\u201d he added. Once it\\u2019s sorted out and issue-free, he would like to take it to a road course once or twice.\\n\\n\\nBut the greatest aim is to hand a completed project onto his kids. Completed in his eyes, anyways; his kids may have their own touches in mind, though they\\u2019ve wisely refrained from mentioning any of them in his company.\\n\\nIt\\u2019s easy to understand why this LeMans is quickly becoming the most desirable family heirloom. \\u201cThey already enjoy taking it for a cruise\\u2014and most times they\\u2019re urging me to push it even harder.\\u201d\\n\\nIt\\u2019s nice to see the apple doesn\\u2019t fall far from the tree.\\nTo keep tabs on John\\u2019s progress, you can visit his build thread here.\\n\\nClick Here to Begin Slideshow&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image5.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78879&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image4.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78878&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image7.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78874&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image1.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78875&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image6.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78880&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/image2.png&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;78876&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;[Gallery] John\\u0026#8217;s 1970 Pontiac LeMans&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>When John\u2019s parents got hitched, they both had to have a pair of Pontiacs. His mom had been driving a 1970 T-37, and so his dad picked up a 1970 LeMans to match. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":78877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3447,3711,5044,3700,3697,17,3712,3470,4879],"tags":[6506,645,41,1468,2683],"class_list":["post-78873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classic","category-classifieds","category-cool-cars","category-featured-vehicles","category-galleries","category-guest-column","category-hot-rods","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-featured-car","tag-lemans","tag-news","tag-pontiac","tag-tommy-parry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/image3-e1619055559416.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-kw9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78881,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78873\/revisions\/78881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}