The beast

My '59 is actually my first car. Mom and Dad said I had $1,500 I could spend on a vehicle and this is what I chose!



1959 Pontiac Star Chief 4 door sedan.
2bbl carb and pretty "light" on the options.

This car was a barn find down in Iowa that I just had to have. At the time I had no clue what it was but it was so eye catching and I love pontiacs.

I have since cleaned up the engine and installed an original '59 tri power setup and have replaced the hydramatic transmission with a TH350. Minor projects have included installing a spin-on oil filter adapter, a full fan shroud from a 1960 Pontiac and an amplifier with speakers for my mp3 player.

Future plans are to install front disc brakes and a power booster master cylinder, patch floor panels and undercoat the chassis, replace all wiring, rebuild the engine with some "personal" touches, and complete the interior with full custom leather seats. The seats will have the classic pontiac indian head embroidered in one seat and the other will have the Star Chief script.

Very sweet car! Why did you go with the TH350? Out of curiousity. Do you have any pictures of your tri power set up?

The pop-in-law has a buddy with a shop that had 2 TH350s laying around and told me to head over and take a look. Both were brand new BOP transmissions in GM crates! Bought one for $400 and he's saving the other one for me. Couldn't pass that deal up.

When I get a little time I'll post up some pics of the car. She needs a bath REALLY bad.

What kind of mods were needed to install the TH350?

pfzilla wrote:

What kind of mods were needed to install the TH350?

An adapter from Wilcap, cut the driveshaft, and fabricate a custom tail mount. Pretty simple and the car must have lost 150-200 pounds!

Those TH350s are heavy also but nothing compared to the original hydramtic. My Muncie weighs about 75 lbs.

Here's the Tri Power



and here's the "new" fan shroud I got.

Sorry about the size

looks killer! Is that an original set up? The intake looks like a '60 because it has a bypass in the waterneck. Am I correct? I think that's the only difference in the 59 and 60 intakes.

I don't think the TH350 works with the '59 shift indicator in the dash (over the column). So do you just do without an indicator or did you rig something?

The setup didn't come with a waterneck so ya, I just threw one in that I found, I think it's a 60.

4896, I don't have the shift indicator modified at all right now. When I'm in drive it does show I'm in drive. Other than drive and park everything is wrong. I'll be making a new shift indicator when I pull the dash for wiring in the next year or 2.

Do you have a picture of the front of your motor? I'm tryin to figure out which hole is for the heater and which one is for the temperature. Where does the heater return hose go to?

I think the Tri Power manifolds are different... Heater outlet (return) into the bottom of the radiator and the heater inlet from the water neck. Temp sensor is on the front of the manifold, you can kind of see the green wires for it between the water neck and heater hose. Does this help? If not I'll have to look at the car and maybe even my old manifold.

Ok, I looked at your manifold. Man those valve covers are hot.

Yours is the same as the tri power. Heater on the water neck and temp sensor on the driver's side.

Thanks! I think they looks cool. Ok, That's what I thought. Except I had no idea about the heater return. The reason I got confused is because the waterneck heater outlet on mine has a smaller nipple than a stock 2 barrel has.

So the radiator has a nipple on it for the heater return? Since I'm not using an Auto tranny anymore can I just plug the tranny cooling lines from the radiator?

Ya, you can just plug them. Nothing going in and out so there won't be any harm done.

Transmission is out and I'm about ready to degrease now. About ready to pull the interior and tackle floor pans then.

Why did you take out the tranny?

In order to degrease and undercoat the car proper I had to pull the transmission. Do it right or don't do it at all.

Yeah, I thought about undercoating my car but then I figured if it's lasted 50 years of sitting outside I think it'll last another 50 years sitting inside a garage. The only real rust underneath mine is the trunk pan and it's just got some small holes above the gas tank. I assume it's from a worn trunk seal.


What are you using to undercoat it?

Rustoleum. With good surface prep it will work out just fine. Did my fender wells and rear axle 2 years ago and they don't have a mark or chip on them. This should work out just fine.

I'm undercoating because I need to replace my front floor pans and my trunk pan so in order to help protect it I figured I might as well get it cleaned up and taken care of now.

Good idea

thats a good idea. Rustoleum is great... but i like to use POR 15... its expencive but its awesome stuff. i swear by that stuff haha