The roller bearing on the left side, the drive side, of the crank seemed to have no problem. Later, it was determined that a lack of lubricant was the cause. This often resulted in a broken connecting rod and shattered cases. The A65 was running a plain bearing at the right end of the crankshaft, which was fine for normal use like cruising across the country, but had a depressing tendency to fail when pushed hard. A new cylinder head was sporting twin carburetors-the horsepower race was on.Īlong with engine failure. It also got macho front fork rubber gaiters and a tachometer. In 1964 the A65 Lightning Rocket appeared, with racier fenders and side panels. These Stars were intended as practical machines, and had fully valanced fenders and a speedometer set into the shell over the headlight. Both wheels were 18-inchers, with the A65 having a full-width 8-inch SLS front brake, 7 inches on the back wheel.
A friction damper could adjust the movement in the fork. The swinging rear fork used Girling shock absorbers, while the front fork was of BSA build, with metal covers over the sliders. The engine/tranny sat in a new frame, using a single backbone, and twin downtubes that ran beneath the engine. No magneto on this state-of-the-British-art machine, but a new alternator sitting at the left end of the crank, and a coil ignition with the points sitting behind the right timing cover. Unfortunately, BSA stuck with the old-style vertically split crankcases, which were prone to leakage the engineers could have borrowed a forward-thinking idea from the Japanese, who understood that if the cases were split horizontally there would be no leaks.
Connecting rods were also of light alloy. New metallurgy was noted, with an alloy head and manifold, and the pushrods were light alloy with steel caps at each end. Two valves per cylinder, and one Amal Monobloc carburetor compression ratio was 9:1, about the max for longevity on these vertical twins. Gears turned the camshaft, located at the rear of the cylinders, which in turn pushed the rods that operated the valves. The crankshaft was built so a cylinder would fire every 360 degrees. The 650 cylinders had a nearly square configuration, with a 75mm bore, 74mm stroke. Let us go back to 1962 when BSA showed both the 500cc A50 Star and the 650cc A65 Star-these were powered by the new unit-construction engine, and the only difference was the bore. I am a Pontiac nut and always will be.” Plewa’s Pontiac passion doesn’t just stop with Firebirds he is an admin for the Poncho Post and also owns a ’67 GTO with 28,000 original miles and a ’76 Lemans Sport Coupe with 41,759 miles.But I am way ahead of the game. “It is a very solid car that rides extremely well. Over the years he was replaced the timing belt and with the engine apart, he made the decision to have the cylinder head redone. Plewa has made some deviations from stock including replacing the steering wheel, wheels and stereo. The engine has an aluminum four-barrel manifold and what Plewa believes are a factory set of headers with true dual exhaust. Underhood is an OHC six-cylinder with a three-speed transmission on the column. The low-mile Pontiac was sold new at Parmenter Pontiac, in Eugene, OR and still wore it’s original paint and untouched interior.
The newly-minted second owner then learned more about the vehicle’s history. He had just moved from Oregon to Missouri and had no place to store it.” It didn’t take long for Plewa to negotiate a deal and plunk down the necessary cash to secure his rolling prize. “He went and got the mechanic that owned it and purchased it new. “I simply couldn’t believe it.” His incredulity went to a whole new level when he looked at the odometer and found only 30,000 miles staring back at him.”I asked the salesman if it was for sale,’ said Plewa. “It still had the license plates from ’69 and the original dealer plate frames,’ said Plewa. Mike Plewa was certainly caught off guard when he wandered onto a Missouri car dealer’s back lot in 1999 and came across a 1968 Pontiac Firebird. You never quite know when unexpected surprises will come your way.
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