Another thing!
Did anyone see the use of a knock sensor by him?

That would be yet another reason for me not to use his, or any other dyno shop that does not employ one.

It does not take long to harm a customers motor even with 95 psi of oil pressure!

And that level of oil pressure makes me wonder how long that customers distributor gear is going to last?

Almost every iron headed engine we've had liked 36°.

Yeah, with the old iron heads, they do tend to like 34-36 degrees, that's been my experience.

As far as distributor gear wear, that's a myth as far as I'm concerned. I've run 80 psi pumps in all my Pontiac builds, my Formula included which I daily drive and over the last 25 years logged about 100k miles on it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the distributor gear.

You guys must be running some really soft bronze gears or something.

Well the gear ware may be a myth for you you, but that was a long term high mileage concern for Pontiac engineering and the reason for the bigger distributor gear and smaller cam gear used with the SD455 motors.

I have used a stock iron gear with a roller cam for a ton of miles on the street when both are prepared right and with a oil feed hole in the gallery in front of both gears , but then again todays oils are far better then they where in 73.

I am fine with 36 or 42 degrees even if that’s what it ends up the motor needs and will not knock with.

My concern was starting off with 36 in the first place with the unknown functioning of that carb on the motor and his experience level with Pontiacs.

If your starting off with 36 as I have done to make the cam break in easier, that’s fine, but don’t do the first pull up at 36 without a knock sensor.

And here’s another point about that video, did he even change the oil and filter after cam break in and before the first pull, did I miss that or did he not do that?

I'll give ya that Steve, it's generally best to start lower and sneak up on it.

Nick’s Garage videos or others like Vice Grip, etc can be amusing but I can only take so much at a time.

Call it a YouTube channel or reality tv, they’ve still got a producer standing there doing their jobs trying to make it more entertaining, dramatic, humorous or heartbreaking. It’s a tried and true production formula that works for everything from classic cars to cooking to home remodeling to rescuing baby animals.

Is the show something outdoorsy like hiking or camping? Add gentle acoustic guitar. Something about big, powerful vehicles? Crank the gain knob on the electric guitar amp. Yawn.

Pontiacs are definitely NOT in Nick’s comfort zone. You can tell he’s uptight before he even starts any of them up, and he’s had a few.

Ah well, it’s still better entertainment for me than the Bachelorette or some phoney Judge baloney, haha.


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Why I have to keep wondering is.. Does You Tube pay Nicks producer voice over guy, and Nick, and the shop enough to tie up the Dyno for a whole DAY, and the expenses and labor?
I am betting so, and far beyond it.

Yes, me too. I even did a bunch of fast forwarding.

I constantly have to remind me wife when she takes a YouTube video to heart. I remind her ... it's just some guy with a camera, it could be your or me, there is no test you have to take, no guarantee of truth, no certification, no experience necessary .. nothing, it's just some guy with a camera in his back yard or basement. Doesn't mean they are all bad, or wrong, it just means it's some guy with a camera.

My wife tends to be one of those people who still kind of thinks ... if it's on TV it must be valid in some way (we usually watch on our smart TV). I watch a LOT of informational videos, after a while you see the clues as to whether this is a person you should listen to or not. Like a guy telling you how to setup a vineyard .... in his 100'x100' back yard ... probably not the guy to listen too.

Nick's target audience is definitely not knowledgeable, experienced people. His Keystone Cops style methodology does create a sort of drama that increases the entertainment value for people that just want to see a "big motor" run on a dyno. And if you read the comments by his viewers they think he's a genius. So it works for him.

I hope for the sake of his customers that this is just a Youtube persona and that he builds motors in a more meticulous manner.

I enjoy Nicks video's to. Not much editing just tackling issues as they come up. I do wonder what pump did he put in a SD pump? I also didn't see any Air/fuel being monitored unless I missed it.

What was wrong with setting the total timing to 36?

Our local engine builder doesn't do Quadrajets either

Nick’s a good guy. Bonafide Mopar “genius”. But he struggles with Pontiacs. And, I struggle watching it. And, it’s that way every time he has a Poncho mill on the stand.
Why make a pull when you know you don’t have a carb?
Why stab the timing at 36°, when all you know for sure is you don’t have the right carb and, it’s a 10.75/1 mill waiting to grenade on wrong timing and or fuel? Or, do we even know this?
Did we take in consideration the compression ratio when fueling or did we just dump 86 in it and expect it to actually run?
Literally makes my butt clinch up watching stuff like that. Glad it wasn’t mine.


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I have no idea how much income he generates from YouTube (that's a complicated algorithm that has to do with the number of subscribers, number of views, number of likes, any ad revenue, and probably the phase of the moon.) He does own his own dyno and it's sitting right there in his back room, so it's not like he's having to pay by the hour to run it. Also, dyno runs are just a portion of his business.

I also get the impression that he's slowly moving towards retirement - he's 66 years old and has made some comments about slowing down the business, and maybe running the place more like a hobby where he can just play around doing whatever he feels like. It appears he has fewer employees than he used to, so he apparently is taking in less general repair work.

I have my engine ready to dyno now. 90% anyway. I hope to have better luck than Nick! But you never know until you get it running. Should have some results by the weekend.

Yup, all mine too.

Very nice!

I hope you exceed the power levels your hoping for guys!

Oh, by the way I assume your first pull will be with the metering Rods in both the Carb, unlike they way Nick started out.lol!

"Nick’s a good guy. Bonafide Mopar “genius”. But he struggles with Pontiacs."

You can specialize in one type of Detroit V-8 engine but you should never be WAY off the mark with any of the others....IMHO

The last time I looked all of them were not much more than 8 round pistons moving up and down in 8 round holes. With all brands you are working with CID, compression ratio, head flow and camshaft choice. Unlimited information at your fingertips if you venture into any of them and no reason so come up with a complete "turd" no matter what you end up with. Of course it helps to stick with the "name brands" that have more of them out there and better parts support. I've done just about every type out there at this point and using the same "basic" rules for all brands have done very well with them.

To date I've never done a Buick or Cadillac and never plan on it, unless you count the GN Buick turbo V-6's and I did half a dozen of those back when that was the trick of the week.

Looking back thru all the years and all the engines I've worked with I'd put the Chevrolet 327 and Mopar 340 at the top of the pile, at least for what you put in vs the return. I also consider the Pontiac 400 an excellent engine and there is no need to build one that doesn't make great power on pump gas if that is your goal for the project. 1hp/cid is literally falling out of a tree, you don't even need to touch the heads anyplace, just use good ones, around 10 to 10.5 compression, super tight quench, all pretty much stock internals for oil pump, timing set, connecting rods and top them with a good piston. You don't need an aftermarket intake, carb or distirbutor.

Just squeeze it hard, top it with good heads, good cam selection and reap the benefits. As good as 400's are most folks jump very quickly to the 455 and stroker variants of them. Oh for sure they make great power, but the parameters aren't nearly as good as the 3 3/4" stroke platforms.

Here's a case in point. I helped a local customer with a 400 build. Nothing really special about it other than KRE ported the #62 heads for it. Very "basic" short block with a modern rod and forged piston in it, Crower 60243 cam, stock 1968 iron intake, recalibrated factory Q-jet, recurved stock distributor. In his 1968 Firebird backed by one of my TH350's, custom torque converter and 3.73 gears it runs high 11's on DOT's. It also runs around 114-116mph showing that the "little" 400 with iron heads, factory intake and carb is making great power. I know folks who have 455's with twice the momey in them and all sorts of aftermarket parts bolted on that don't run that quick..........Cliff

Very true. Not sure why so many Pontiac enthusiasts think their brand of engine is so different from any other. As far as tuning, building the engine and making HP, they all take a similar approach.

Agree. My favorite Chevrolet small block is the 327. Built right it's a great package that works very well.

And yes, can't count how many expensive 450+ci engine builds with aluminum heads and thumpy cams running around here that can't fall out of a tree. Sad to see stuff like that at the track that can barely crack the 13's in decent air.

Looks like he got peak HP at 5000 RPM...shouldn't a 400 with an 041 be peaking at least 500 rpm higher than that?