Sure, it has bragging rights as the last big block Chevy made. It had a decent production run for 8 years and then Chevy made them for two more years on a motor home chassis. Better known as the 8.1 liter it had a strong following among truck fans.
Chevrolet Big Block Trivia or : Where were they hiding them Horses!?
- Thread starter SammyChevelleTypeS3
- Start date
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Yes, they choked them down too. It is a shame Pontiac is gone since IMHO they did as much for General Motors high performance reputation as the Chevelles and Camaros once did. There was a master Pontiac technician (self employed) who could get everything possible out of those "smog era" choked down late 70s TransAms. First thing he would do would be to open up the foolishly closed off hood scoop (Pontiac must have left them on for sporty look yet closed them off I am sure to appease CAFE standards or insurance companies). Once they opened the scoops to allow fresh cool air straight into the carbs, they would adjust the distributor and open up the badly tweaked down carb jets. Once they adjusted the engine timing they were off to the races! Well , not really racing in most cases but just so happy their TransAms once again felt like a V8 with some real old fashioned Pontiac power that would easily start and could breath and run like a V8 engine should. Ever hear of the master Pontiac tuner from the late 70s thru the 90s Nunzi? This guy was a master mechanic/tuner bar none and it was joked that he had a Dyno inside his body and could come very close to calling out the actual horsepower of a Pontiac TransAm vs and verified by a real dyno run , LoL just by listening to the engine with his hands on the car! He was seriously no joke and highly sought out by Pontiac owners who could not get them to run right lots of times from the factory of after THE WRONG mechanics touched their cars. Not sure if he is still with us or not but I had heard he retired and focused just on drag racing Pontiacs with his son after building their own cars.
Nunzi The Pontiac Expert | About
For the 68-72 Chevy Pickups, here is the choice of big blocks. The 71-72 might be net HP and Torque.
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The old cars have a soul, a character all their own.
If someone dangled two sets of keys in front me, a new Hellcat or a '70-'71 Challenger 440, it would be a tough choice but I think I would rather have the '70.
Im aware of the 366..Did it ever come with a 2 bbl? All I ever saw was a speed governed Holley 4 bbl on them.
we couldnt get the 400 pontiac here due to emissions reasons. We got the 403 olds which was embarrasing in trans am
That olds motor was a dog from what I remember.
I had to search that out having seen plenty of the tall deck square Holley type 4 barrel manifolds in the recycle bin.
As I posted up thread, I saved the 2V 396 manifold from my parents 69 station wagon.
My mother passed 20 years ago and I was saving her 76 Pontiac 455 (yellow) station wagon for a project vehicle until someone waved
a thousand bucks in my face 2 years ago. It ran in a demolition derby before the engine was removed and sold.
The question was raised about the power levels of the modern LTs. The new 6.6L L8T is 402 cubic inches and produces 401 net HP.
Why is it more fuel efficient and powerful than the original 396/402 with a small 194/200 @ .050" .504" lift camshaft and only a 1.6" exhaust valve? The rectangle BBC heads had 2.19/1.88" valves for comparison.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
most certainly for me would be the 70s years model
'Striker'?
I would think the direct fuel injection, VVT, aluminum heads, and roller lifters, helped.
For the post 1997 Chevies, the LS engines have pretty much taken over, especially with 6.0 and 6.2 engines available at the wrecking yards.
Arg! So-called "Autocorrect" strikes again ... it was the Stroker (for the long 4-1/8" stroke), not the Striker. My apologies!
All of the above with a large diameter intake valve and 1.8:1 rocker ratio. Shallow valve angles, good flowing ports, unrestrictive intake and exhaust manifolds, high compression ratio, long connecting rods and a ridged skirted block to name a few.
I think with a little more camshaft, (maybe around 258/264 @ .050 111 LSA) the 6.6L L8T could run Super Gas (9.90) all day long on 10 gallons of gas.
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Was that the same engine as the 8.1? (It works out to be close.)
The 8.1 was a well-regarded truck engine with lots of torque.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Not sure of the details involved with the 496 itself but there are all kinds of places today who a person can buy all sorts of different size/horespower crate engines from many manufacturers for Ford / Chrysler-Dodge / Chevy-GM etc... and you can order what is known as turn-key with almost everything to a cheaper version that one has to add almost everything from intake manifold/carb or fuel injection to water pump, belts to even the distributor unless you chose one with coil set up. Today unlike when they pulled the rug on performance in late 70s thru early 80s.....anyone with the cash can just about order and build just about anything you desire now. There is a big enough automobile + truck restoration support industry that did not exist in the 70s / 80s to accomplish any build someone can dream up.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
LoL..... too funny none of us caught that so close stroker/strikers.....
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Another neat trick the best racers used to do until lots of folks caught on was instead of adding headers they would take the heavy steel stock exhaust manifolds and have them honed out to make better breathing passages over the restrictive stock set ups. Lots of folks doing that today who are determined to keep the stock appearance in the engine bay. Plus today one can even order just about any pre assembled heads made from many different materials to what ever one desires. Oh yeah a guy with money can create some mighty big giant cui engines that can really fly. Only issue now is there are virtually no places to run such beasts except on real tracks or official strips to avoid going to jail. Well there still is the Bonneville salt flats!
Now it's "Cowboy Cadillacs". Lifted Bro-Trucks, 40s, deleted Diesels, rolling coal and www.bullsballs.comAnother neat trick the best racers used to do until lots of folks caught on was instead of adding headers they would take the heavy steel stock exhaust manifolds and have them honed out to make better breathing passages over the restrictive stock set ups. Lots of folks doing that today who are determined to keep the stock appearance in the engine bay. Plus today one can even order just about any pre assembled heads made from many different materials to what ever one desires. Oh yeah a guy with money can create some mighty big giant cui engines that can really fly. Only issue now is there are virtually no places to run such beasts except on real tracks or official strips to avoid going to jail. Well there still is the Bonneville salt flats!
Lets pick a vehicle weight. I got into trouble about running 10's in old Camaros with another poster. Pick a weight and we can calculate how much HP is required for 9.9. I would guess you can strip down a 3500 lb car to 3200 lbs. A 9.9 would required about 650 dyno horsepower according to some of the ET calculators.
Here is a normally aspirated 441 ci LS engine that can do that, revving to 6500 rpm.
MEDIA=youtube]UM3H-HPAKIA[/MEDIA]
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