I almost feel bad crawling back here to do an update since it's been so long...once spring semester rolled around, it's been non-stop for me between yardwork, married life, school, work, and the car.

I honestly forgot where I left off, so I'll try to pick back up at a reasonable spot.

Finally got around to trimming the inner fenders on the car so the 275's fit, I'm sure it'll have to get a little more taken off since the rear end may have some lateral sway, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. For now, I just wanted to get the tires clear.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pswjufupgj.jpg

This pic really makes me rethink having 17's all the way around...kinda leaning towards 18's out back with a taller tire, but I'll wait until the engine is in the car with the front fenders on before I make my final judgement.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psabdf0e3j.jpg

Ordered a bulk amount of loom clamps from Del City. I doubt I'll use them all in this build, but I still want them for the next car, regardless of what it is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psqgnzyazb.jpg

Terminal stack-up similar to how we assemble them in the aerospace industry...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psfnb2y2wm.jpg

Fuel feed(-6AN) and return (-4AN), more on that in the next pic...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psm0zehz0u.jpg

Nicely tucked into the frame rail, third clamp is for the brake line. For now, I'm going with a -6AN feed since I'm rebuilding the 326 to go back into it. When I finish the 400, I'll probably be stepping up to a -10AN feed, and at that point I'll go hardline on the fuel feed which will be an almost identical outside diameter to the stainless braided line. Fuel return will likely stay at -4AN.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pspocryepr.jpg

Striking a pose before the engine teardown began...and to give y'all a sense of how small of a garage I'm building this thing in, haha.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psf7gt996r.jpg

The only real victim of the 326 teardown...front timing cover. Corroded from the inside-out, took a 5 lb sledgehammer to get it off since the bolt was spinning, but corroded to the housing. If I could've gotten the crank out, I would've just spun the entire timing cover off, but that wasn't gonna happen, so I had to get violent on it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psizolwqdr.jpg

I took all of the engine parts to Simon's Balancing & Machine in Charleston, SC. My Uncle Pete trusted them with all of his engine work before I was even born, so they were the ones who got my business, and will continue to. Boss Dawg inspecting everything on it's return from machining...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pso79azjii.jpg

Turns out the 326 had already been rebuilt once 0.040" over, and it unfortunately had some inconsistencies and I had to step it up to 0.060". At this point, CID is 336 and it has a nearly square bore x stroke. 3.750 stroke and 3.800 bore.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psj9ag2dlc.jpg

Connecting rods were inspected and deemed worthy of being re-used, fresh OEM spec slugs and pins with ARP rod bolts.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pszkqdc3he.jpg

Luckily the crank came out not needing any major work. Polishing on the main journals and the rod journals had to be ground to 0.030" under.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pssndwdyjh.jpg

Went through and checked all my clearances, everything came out to an acceptable spec. Rod journals were a little tighter than I'd like them to be for a street engine, but the mains were spot on. But, she turns smooth and consistently which is the important thing. Boss Dawg making sure I'm working hard...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps5hzgg7jl.jpg

Rotating assembly complete with camshaft and timing set installed...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psencfkgms.jpg

Speaking of the camshaft...I probably went a little more aggressive than I should have, but since it's a 326 it was never going to be fast so it might as well at least sound like it goes fast, haha.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psplyiyhcw.jpg

Continued in the next post...

Ditched the 8.5:1 comp #92 heads and went with some #46 62cc heads that my friend had leftover from his Poncho build that never took off. From my understanding, these should raise compression to 10.0:1. The only downside to these heads are the pressed in rocker studs...I've got a set of threaded studs on standby, but I'm honestly not sure if I'm gonna need them right now. I plan on keeping the factory rocker ratio.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pssmiishfp.jpg

Dual valvesprings, fresh parts all around.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psa0unhxfs.jpg

So for now, the short block will be the original 326, and the top end and front of the engine will be updated to factory '69+ 400 standards. I'll be using an OEM 400/455 4 barrel manifold with a 750cfm Quadrajet. I'm saving the Edelbrock manifold for the 400 build later on.

Which brings us to the transmission...originally planned on going with a 700R4, but I had a co-worker basically give me a Pontiac TH350 from a Firebird. Turns out it was in fantastic shape, but as with everything else on this car, I wanted to go through it to make sure it was going to be safe to operate.

Mid-teardown...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pssvku8yq0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps8gv4tshg.jpg

And awhile later, after everything was completely cleaned, fresh frictions and shift kit installed, all reassembled and ready to go (aside from paint, haha.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...pstzro3duh.jpg

*WHEW* I think that brings me up to speed on updating this thread...like I said in the last post, once we moved in it was non-stop around here. I've basically been watching the UPS guy drop off boxes and then they get moved to the garage and sit until I had a block of time to knock it all out. But, having the parts at the machine shop while I was in school was a great move on my part, and when the spring and summer semesters were over, I had about a month to put EVERYTHING together, and I somehow made it happen. Unfortunately, fall semester starts on Monday so I'm sure it'll be awhile before I get to work on it again. :underchair:

Looking good, Peter. Good luck with the car and the coming semester.

Thanks, Trey. I'm definitely gonna be busy, but it'll just mean more parts hoarding in the meantime, haha.

Nice build!
 

Will be watching where it goes..is that an S13 in your avatar?

Yup...my old 240SX.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...useRaceCar.jpg

'91 model, swapped in a CA18 that had a Forced Performance 20G hybrid turbo and some headwork. She wasn't the most polished 240 out there, but she was very well rounded. I still miss it at times...it was good for harassing most of the Mustangs and Camaros I came across on the street, haha.

Also, I might be shooting you a PM around the time I get the engine back in the LeMans. I think I saw you posting somewhere on YB.com and I checked out y'all's website, and I'm definitely gonna need a new radiator for the car.

Another quick update during my Thanksgiving break...finals are next week, and then I've got plenty of work to catch up on with the car.

Had to chase out several holes for the ARP head studs, but they went in smoothly and everything is torqued down with fresh Cometic MLS gaskets. Also got the timing cover, water pump and backing plate installed, and went ahead and threw on the fuel pump and harmonic balancer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psqsb1xv9e.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psmhhnw6b1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psogfcsq2s.jpg

Also picked up the headers, ended up going with Doug's full length ceramics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ps6rjtpmgq.jpg

Rockers arrived the day before Thanksgiving, had my pushrod checker waiting on standby and verified the lengths for the new pushrods immediately. I'm still waiting on my guy to finish with the carb rebuild, and I've also gotta source the hardware to install the oil pump and the windage tray before I can throw the pan back on. The goal is to get the engine broken in on the engine dyno, mated to the transmission and in the car before I go back school on 15Jan.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving, and I hope the space under y'all's Christmas trees is overflowing with new parts, haha.

66 Le Mans
 

Peter,
Good to see another Pontiac with a Poncho motor

Bob

Did you check those chambers for Volume? The info I have and the chambers I measured on my #46 heads says they are 73cc chambers and when I checked them I got 72cc. Mine had press in rockers as well which I drilled and taped for screw in and I enlarged the exhaust valve to 1.77 on my 400 build.

I didn't do any sort of fluid measurement like you suggested...I went by the chart on Wallace Racing, my date code indicated that they came off a 1969 400, and it didn't give a chamber volume. It simply said 10.0 CR, and my valve size matches what the chart indicated. Leap of faith in hindsight, but all sources I had recommended using the charts from Wallace.