Rescuing a 1970 Pontiac Catalina from the Junkyard!
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- Опубликовано: 10 июл 2024
- 00:00 Intro
05:43 First Start
11:05 Back to The Shop
21:18 First Drive
23:04 We Found The Problem
39:52 We Go For A Drive
We recently got an urgent call from our buddies at the local junkyard. They had just acquired a 1970 Pontiac Catalina and knew it was something special. Without hesitation, the team at Red Head Garage rushed over to check it out and instantly fell in love with its patinaed green charm.
In this video, follow our journey as we attempt to rescue this classic beauty. Our first goal was to drive it out of the junkyard, but we quickly realized the engine needed more work than anticipated. After some troubleshooting, we decided to trailer it back to the garage for a proper assessment.
Watch as we tackle various issues, including bent push rods and water-filled gas, to bring the Catalina back to life. After some light engine work, we successfully fire it up and take it for a much-deserved drive down the road.
Join us on this exciting adventure of saving and reviving a piece of automotive history. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to Red Head Garage for more thrilling restoration projects and classic car rescues! 
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So, what do you guys think about the Catalina? Can you guess what we're up to next with it?
i'd try hooking up the A.C again and patching the rusted areas up, i think that car has the potential to be a great driver
Definitely, old beater with A/C!
Take it on a road trip!
Nice grab and save. I like the big white Lincoln convertible in the background too.
Selling it to me!!!
It's awesome, inside and out. It's crazy how people with really nice old cars like that will scrap them in a heartbeat when all it needs is a little bit of work, but someone else who has the same thing but it's a complete rust bucket, with a half assembled engine, and no interior, will demand $4,000 all day long 😄
Couldn't agree more!
That's a nice find. Not too far gone either. It would be nice to see it restored.
Awesome beater cruiser, going to town car, as Derek says!
THESE ARE GREAT LOOKING CARS ,, MY SON MAX 9 YR.S OLD LIKES THE GRILL NOSE ON THESE CARS ,, WE ENJOYED YOUR VIDEO FOR THE FIRST TIME .. THX. PEACE...
Very cool 🤙 have a half dozen Pontiacs or so. Have a 64 Catalina and a 68 Catalina wagon
my pops had a catalina that we all rode in, completely at ease like a luxury liner. one day a BOX TRUCK MOVING VEHICLE overturned and smashed into the side of the pontiac....it was NOT totaled, but it went to the junkyard and rumor has it, to demolition DERBY... later very very STURDY and RELIABLE...and i loved the NOSE of it...saved his life i guess, that old car. i like to see another one get moving again.
WE WANT PART 2 ,, GREAT CAR...
Part 2 will be coming next month! Working on editing it now.
Cool car😊
Thank you for saving a 4 door i love 4 door classics ❤❤
We do not discriminate against 4 doors at this shop haha. We have a 4 door 1965 chevy impala that we are also planning on showing on the channel in the near future so look forward to that!
@@redheadgarage 💓
Pontiacs are a challenge sometimes. Lol I remember doing the rocker arms. Unlike a chevy, Pontiacs just require a certain torque. Also loved how the firing order was backwards compared to a chevy.
We are finding out the Pontiacs are their own animal. We consulted some well known Pontiac shops and we got a lot of mixed answers on the correct way to install the rocker arms. Torque to 20 ft-lb is what ultimately ended up happening and as you see it is happy. Thanks for watching!
On first start I thought of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang😂
Beautiful car
im jealous that thing is badass
Love it, my first car was a '70 Parisienne, looks identical except the roof.
Old car nut here. 😊.
That beauty wants and deserves to be loved back to nice driving condition. Would reward the effort with saving a neat car!
Love the way the AC was installed by the factory back then
Not factory. Probably dealer installed aftermarket under dash unit popular in the '70's. Factory air had dash vents either side of dash and in the middle.
Newbie here! Funny video!
Retired gives me time to watch car videos and I just started watching Vice Grip Garage. Now I’ll start watching you!
Thanks for the work in making these cars run and the video editing.
Glad you enjoyed it! We have many more projects and videos planned for the future, so we hope you enjoy those as well!
@@redheadgarage oh I’m a car guy for sure! So yea, I really enjoy pretty much anything car.
I’m a purist, but am always amazed at the money time and love of most restomods and custom cars.
In my corral we are restoring to original a 1978 Thunderbird Diamond Jubilee-maybe something you’ve not seen as they were pretty rare.
Also working on a 1976 Mark IV and drive daily our 2004 Grand Marquis.
Only other classic I would like to own someday would be a 1978 New Yorker or an 84-86 Monte Carlo SS.
On the bent push rod, I usually snap a pair of vice grips on them sideways and then hit the vice grip upwards with a hammer. Never had a problem doing it that way. You're gonna toss the bent rod anyway.
That was gonna be my first car, my parents owned it for 3 years
This specific car or one like it?
@@redheadgarage this specific one, it was when I was a kid about 7 years ago.
At least you know it didn't end up being crushed.
Awesome buy guys! The rear end is probably very tall as they were in those cars. Pontiac used majorly highway gearing and were even 315 or more. 295 but I can't recall so grain of sail on that last number. LOL. Burn outs might be a gear away or a supercharger and cam away LOL.
2.73 or 2.93
That's a very interesting and unusual car to find intact in a junkyard. Most that still exist are gone beyond any help. Yours looks like it's definitely worth some body and paint work, while cleaning up and keeping the original finish, which appears to be very good overall.
I question why you didn't remove both valve covers, even though you eventually suspected valve actuation problems. The engine appeared to be firing through the carburetor--a sign that an intake valve was open while the fuel was burning. Backfiring usually indicates that an exhaust valve is open while the mixture is still under combustion.
Additionally, the timing chain on the 1965-1971 Pontiac V-8s used an aluminum cam gear that had a nylon covering fused to it. The nylon is notorious for stripping away at about 90k miles--sometimes less. If necessary, always replace them with a steel gear.
Instead of using the Edelbrock intake manifold, you might have considered reusing the original 2-bbl intake with a rebuilt Rochester 2-bbl carb. They have a high CFM rating, they're plentiful, easy to rebuild, and the kits are readily available. The money saved could have gone for all new lifters. Also, it's important to check the rocker arms and pivot balls for galling.
As far as the vinyl top goes, it appears to be original, with the stainless moldings it has. Just remove it completely, as cracked, dried out vinyl acts as a sponge for water. Don't worry about the surface underneath, as GM primed and painted the roofs even on vinyl top-equipped cars.
My comments aren't meant to belittle you or the success you have accomplished on that classic Pontiac that someone simply "threw away". I worked on these engines from 1971 until the late '90s, as the "resident mechanic" for my family's and my Pontiac Lemans, GTO and Firebirds. They're very robust and reliable engines, but they are much different from Chevy small blocks.
Thanks for the presenting your interesting, informative video.
I love 4 Dr hardtop. I'd own this Catalina.
Good video!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
🔉🎵🎵That's the sound of the man ... working on the chain Gang
Pontiac doesn't use locking type rocker arm nuts like the small/ big block Chevys. They're torqued down to 25 lb-ft.
Cool video. I had a 65 Corvair that had that same knock and it was a similar situation. 2 cylinders weren't firing and the noise went away when it was fixed.
Sounds like a rod knock Pontiac are good for that
I would have drug it home. Great find.
looks like u guys r having fun there! I say patch up the rusted parts, repaint it in its original color, put some nice rims on it, and change the ekzos (or maybe the muffler).
We are definitely having fun. Every one of our projects is primarily a project we take on for the fun of it, and if people enjoy the videos we make, that's even better! We have more videos coming out on the Catalina in the near future, so look forward to them!
Man, I see stuff from the NE, the Midwest, Michigan...lived in those areas a few years growing up. Shake my head at all the rust & rot, brings back memories of absolute hackery going on to keep things on the road. Was up in Michigan last summer driving my F350 SD and a few people commented on the lack of rust on it (there is exactly 0 on it, no undercoating even on it) and it is 25 years old
Rust is definitely a problem up here. We have a 2000 F350 SD that we use to pull our car trailer with and it is full of rot.
@@redheadgarage lived in Washington State for years. In fact, when I moved out from there to NC, brought several of my vehicle here. Solid, plastic not cooked out, and the funniest thing (to me) is the reaction my beige Valiant gets tooling around or parked in town. Back in the day, it was disposable, cheap & unloved
i had a 70 catalina, wish i had have kept it...
Same body as my 1966 Impala
Awesome car! Who would scrap that in this day in age?
We had the same thought! We were very surprised it was junked, and we are glad the junkyard offered it to us before letting it rot away.
THOSE PONTIAC V8'S ARE NOTORIUS GOING THROUGH TIMING CHAINS COULD BE ANOTHER REASON IT RUNS LIKE CRAP
If we start having issues again that will be the next thing we look at, thanks for the suggestion!
Nice sweet cheap local guzz-cruizer!
i would daily that!!!!!
Sounds like you might have a crossed spark plug wire
Somebody's been under that hood tinkering. The Accel coil, new radiator upper hose and I'm sure there's more that I can't see on camera.
It definitely was tinkerd with prior. We actually found out after filming some of the history on the car before it went to the junkyard. Car was fixed up at least once before around 2017 and then was traded for some guns quickly after that. Still unclear on what happened to it after that and why it got sold to the junkyard.
Seems like you guys know just enough to get you in trouble. And it was obvious that you had both valve covers off all ready. And there is no way that that car was running on 5 cylinders. You have to not do that stuff if you want your channel to go anywhere big. Too many gear heads out there will catch you on it. Don't get me wrong you guys seem nice enough and your entertaining. And you have enough knowledge to do what you need to with a little Google help. It's very nice to find a nother revival channel of a couple of fellas that you can actually stand listing too. Wish you both success. Look forward to seeing more. Happy wenching.
We appreciate you watching and sharing your feedback! As for the comment on the valve covers, the valve covers were never taken off the car until the camera was rolling, just unbolted. What you see in the video was the first time they came off in real time with our true reactions. We only film what we think will be entertaining and needed as our camera battery life is not very long and the SD cards fill quickly. Filming us fumble around looking for 3 different size sockets for the valve cover bolts for 5 minutes is not something we want to add into our videos. It is surprising it ran on 5 cylinders, but it did. We don't stage anything. We will keep this feedback in mind for future video edits. We hope you will follow us through into the future to see us continue to grow. Thanks again for watching and commenting! - Anthony
@@redheadgarage Ok, I will take your word for it. And I did subscribe and watched 5 videos so it will count. But it did run bad, but not only on 5 Bad. But Pontiac does strange shit sometimes. I was working on a van with a Pontiac 400 in a Chevy van. Had the cap off to the side. Had the rotor off laying on the floor. Went to turn it over to check.... something and it fired right up and ran until I turned the key off. Explain that one. Weird shit right there. Keep the vids coming.
Glad to hear it! We pride ourselves on being authentic. We don't do this as our typical 9-5 so we do not have the time to stage things. It was running really bad when we tried to pull it up to the garage door. Didn't have this on video but, it ended up cutting out from running so poorly that I actually lost brakes and hit the edge of the garage door frame and dented it (good thing it wasn't my garage haha sorry Josh). That sure is a strange experience, don't think I could explain hat one if I tried! We sure do appreciate the subscription and the recommendations. - Anthony
62 GP next!
If ya don't get rid of that temporary fuel filter, your gonna end up with a good bonfire.📛
This is my comment to help the algorithm
Weird that it's in the same place we traded it.
Wait!?! Are you the previous owner???
Lmfao 😆 😅 how much you wanna bet some pissed on them drivers side doors. 😂
Anyways besides that horse 🐴 poo
Sweet car man. New subscriber here.
Would have made a excellent demo car!
Fix the brakes, a new exhaust and new tires on it clean it up and daily drive it.
Stay tuned to see what happens!
You guys are doing a fantastic job!!!!! So fun to watch!
did i miss it?? did we ever check the oil or change it?
We never showed it, but we did change the oil. There was nothing of concern with the old oil.
How hard is it to get a title for junkyard car? I want to buy a vw van from local junkyard
Depends on the yard. Some yards keep the titles, other register the car as salvage and then they can no longer be sold, just parts or scrap. All the cars we got from the yard had clean titles and had not been marked salvage/scrap.
The catalina for example was sold to the yard and we bought it before they processed it. The car was at the yard for less than 24 hours before we made a deal for it.
If it had heads changed Pontiacs ran bottle neck studs, you just run them down and torqe them.
To make the adjustable Pontiac used to sell hardened washers that put on top of the rocker ball then you install crimped SBC nuts and you Pontiac has adjustable ricker arms.
Is it safe to assume that this was videotaped months ago, look what they're wearing
We acquired the car at the end of March. We already have a part 2 and possibly part 3 already recorded as well. They are still currently being edited and hoping to the next video out sometime in July
Yikes!
I Think the nuts are on upside down
That engine looks like a small block 400
We wish! We confirmed by checking the numbers on the block it is a Pontiac 350. The 350 and 400 are supposedly the same block.
Pontiac had one block size. No small or big blocks.
Is that a 400 Pontiac?
Nope, it's a 350. We confirmed it by checking the code on back of engine
What was that sitting on pickup truck tires? 😂
Yup, it was on some meaty/dry rotted offroad tires when we got it.
Those arent adjustable like chevys , tighten them all the way down
Torqued to Pontiac spec, 20 ft-lbs if I recall correctly. Seems to be fine so far!
Dude that is a 400
We check the numbers on the block. We confirmed it's a 350.
@@redheadgarage 400 heads won't fit a 350 since it's a small block they didn't make a small block 400 for pontiac
@@billycapshew2411 They didn't a Small-Block anything Pontiac. PMD only had one block size, the displacement came from increasing bore and stroke gradually, from 326 to 455. they did, however, differ in main bearing journal size.
Yes. Everything up to and including the 400 has 3” mains. 421, 428 and 455 have 3 1/4” mains. If those are 400 heads the compression will be pretty low on a 350.
Small block checy lifters will work in Pontiacs
Flat cam, rocker arm or spring
Vehicles are not a she and this pontiac could do with 4 new gas shocks and a set of headers and a dual exhaust system for starters.
I know vehicles are inanimate objects but I still like calling them she 😄
AHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh Fix the stuck valve BEFORE u run it a lot !!!!!!! your piston is smackin valve.