Vintage Toronado burnout

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Mikel
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Location: New Haven, CT

Vintage Toronado burnout

Postby Mikel » Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:38 pm

http://churchofchoppers.blogspot.com/20 ... 3c8167e4f9

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xgecko
Posts: 454
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 9:21 pm
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Years Owned: My first Toronado was a 1968 W-34 with the bucket seats and center console... (weeps gently) It was a New England rustbucket in 1982 after less than 14 years. So sad. But it is what infected me and before I knew it I had another '68, a '69, a '70 and eventually inherited a friend's '67 and another friends '73. After buying my brand new Grand Prix in 1988 I retired the last of my Toronados and pulled the 455 I had rebuilt along the way and put it into storage in a friend's barn where it is to this day.
In Mid September of 2010 I happened to see a repeat of the show where Jay Leno did his 66 Toronado and had an instant remission of the disease which resulted in my purchase of a 1969 in very good condition. I am now in the process of fully rehabilitating it and hope to have it on the road in the spring of 2011.
Location: Gig Harbor, WA

Re: Vintage Toronado burnout

Postby xgecko » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:31 am

:D Reminds me of when I had my first round of Toronados and built my first engine and put it in another '69 I had picked up. It was a pretty aggressive build and I went with a 2,500 RPM stall Torque Converter which allowed the Mondello-cammed engine to get well into its powerband before hooking up...

I had driven down the dead-end road we lived on only to see a set of stripes laid down by my friend that lived at the end of the road. He had a '72 Skylark he transplanted a Buick 455 into and put down a parallel pair of stripes with his posi rear-end. I of course had to make my mark so I cranked on the E-brake and let'er rip! Smoke began to roil off the side of the car and I eased off the brake to allow the car to move forward. Of course the smoke continued as long as I held the throttle down so I got a very nice and long strip to add to his mark.

The real surprise came when I returned from my cruise a little while later...

I immediately recognized the long stripe put down by my driver side tire but what was initially puzzling was the shorter parallel stripe. At first I thought it rather odd that someone had managed to lay another patch so perfecly parallel to mine when it hit me! OMG! :shock: I had managed to get both wheels spinning even with the fully open diff! :o That is when I fully realized what a beast I had built! 8-) I have yet to match it with my current car... that old one was perfectly tuned as I used the original carb and rebuilt it very well. It did not hurt that 94 octane gas was available from Sunoco in MA at the time.

Now I hope to exceed that level of performance once I get the Sequential Port Fuel Injection installed in place of the poorly tuned Summit Racing Q-jet that originally came from a BBC truck motor and is clearly not well tuned for my 455. I fully expect the EFI setup to give me snappy throttle response in place of the horrible stumble I get right now due to the poorly tuned carb which I have little interest in dealing with.

Thanks for the flashback! ;)
I have my Fuel Injected Toronado. Life is good! 8-)
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1970w34
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Years Owned: 1970 multiple

Re: Vintage Toronado burnout

Postby 1970w34 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:15 pm

I remember seeing that picture in another mag and I think the commentary mentioned that he kept frying the balonies until they burst! :D
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