Its a Buick
The car is a 1969 Buick Electra 225 Custom Sport Coupe, originally sold by DeFeo Buick in New Jersey. I purchased the car in Coney Island, on Neptune Avenue in 1978. She saw action in Brooklyn until 1982 and did not run again under her own power until 2004.
It was unvieled by Major General Michael Hall, USAF, retired at a 2004 ceremony that dedicated the Buick to the Tuskegee Airmen. The car has toured with the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., has run 1/4s and SOLO II. Look us up on YOUTUBE "Blue Dream Buick" 12.99 @ 103 mph is the best so far. Our 60' sucks!
Faithful Pursuit was rebuilt as a long distance high speed racecar.
Her specially built 5 bar 4130 chromoly suspension, Carrerra 7 valve shocks, NASCAR CUP suspension, 32 Gal. JAZ, Performance Ford Co. Nodular, Daytona Support, 9" 2.50:1 rear and GV OD are some of her goodies for sustained high speed. Pirelli P-ZERO 335/35/17 on PS Engineering rims help as well.
The Buick 430 was built by Scotty Guadagno, who has built Buicks that are in the 7s in the quarter. He was Pat Musi's dyno man in 'Jersey and moved to Shady Hills Florida where he opened Scotty's Racing Technologies (SRT). Scotty claimed to have had run enough engines through his dyno to add up to 1,000,000 HP!
Our little 430 was mild by the specs and did something that he had not seen before. First, it put our more power than a low compression turbo cammed motor should, about 425 HP @ zero boost. Second, it took a really long time to get up to operating temp. Third, on the third or fourth dyno pull I could keep my thumb on the exhaust runner as the motor was running.
The Buick 400/430/455 have been known to have a few weaknesses, some of which are releived by the use of an exhaust driven turbo-supercharger and made worse by a belt driven supercharger. The stress associated with a high CR motor or a blower can kill poorly designed motors. Even then, its just a matter of time. The original specification for the Faithful Pursuit, 1969 Buick Electra GSX, called for a Paxton. This was back in 1982 when Turbos in auto applications were not well understood.
We knew that heat was the major enemy. If it got to the pistons, then rod failure would occur, then bottom end. (Despite what you may have heard!)
After 3 years of development the motor was finally installed on 24 December 2007.
Swain Technologies, near Rochester, New York, specializes in exotic thermal coatings. I'm an engineer for a glass company, our ceramic products are used in 65% of the worlds cars for catylytic converters. Ceramics with zirconia and other things add up to some pretty sophisticated heat management.
Shaw Racing built the 430 heads. Two sets were magnafluxed, prepped, filled with the good stuff, including Chevy INCONEL exhaust valves. Jake disssembled them and I sent them to Swain for the ceramic coatings. Valve Faces, Combustion Chapmbers, Valve Springs, Intake manifold, exhaust ports.
The heads were reassembled, packed and shipped with a set of roller rockers for the Big Buick, 1.6.
Nuf for now,
BqUICK
