This morning I was thinking about V8 engines, and....

[Elmo.65]

Pontiac engines I remember:

301, 316, 326, 348, 350, 389, 400, 421, 426, 428, & 455. Did I miss any?

 

[Kern Dog]

the comet was just a mellow fun little car, and behaved a lot like a early cuda with a 273 commando minus the brakes and handling. sounded cool and seemed to rev to the moon. the tiger was an entirely different beast. it was green and he called it "the alligator" because if you didn't pay attention it'd whip around and bite ya.

the 260 had a isky solid with whatever ford's version was of the eddy LD4B topped with a small holley that had mechanical 2ndaries and some slick heads that were worked up by DLI. he had some old timer out if BFE build out these wild stainless headers-- apparently the dude worked for lockheed back in the day. anyway, the whole thing was painfully period correct down to hurst/airhearts with a balance bar and real deal mags. we ran it on the dyno a few times and it put down near 300hp which was *more* than enough in that thing to be a handful.

now his friend was the wild man. he also had a tiger and this dude was straight up nuts. unhappy with a johnny hot **** 289 and deep seated ford hater he had me build a stroked 340 to drop in and "make it how it should've been". in a nutshell, "how it should've been" was downright terrifying.


same here man. that's a "maybe one day" kind of dream.

1974 was a banner year at Plymouth for the Duster. Heck...I've owned 3 74 Dusters, a 74 Dodge truck, a 74 Dart Sport too.

 

[Kern Dog]

301, 316, 326, 348, 350, 389, 400, 421, 426, 428, & 455. Did I miss any?

I never heard of a Pontiac 316 or a 426. What years and model cars were these in?

 

[413]

And the 332, 360, 361, 391, 410 and 428. All FE's.

You forgot the 406!

 

[Elmo.65]

I think the 316 was a LeMans engine in the early 60s, the 426 might have been a brain fart but I thought the early 70s in the big cars.

 

[DeltaV]

I never heard of a Pontiac 316 or a 426. What years and model cars were these in?

316, yes
426, never heard that

1955 - 1957 Pontiac Chieftains had a 316 cid small block. Some came with a 4bbl carb. My parents had one.

Pontiac 421 Super Duty in the Ventura. The 421 is an enlarged Pontiac 389. I looked at a '62 Ventura as a first car. It had a 4 speed too. My father blocked that purchase after he saw what it was. It didn't help when the elderly owners excitedly laughed and cackled about how it would get up and go!

The Pontiac 428 was a large-displacement V8 engine produced from 1967-1969, designed for Pontiac's full-size cars like the Catalina and Bonneville.

 

[Elmo.65]

316, yes
426, never heard that

1955 - 1957 Pontiac Chieftains had a 316 cid small block. Some came with a 4bbl carb. My parents had one.

Pontiac 421 Super Duty in the Ventura. The 421 is an enlarged Pontiac 389. I looked at a '62 Ventura as a first car. It had a 4 speed too. My father blocked that purchase after he saw what it was. It didn't help when the elderly owners excitedly laughed and cackled about how it would get up and go!

The Pontiac 428 was a large-displacement V8 engine produced from 1967-1969, designed for Pontiac's full-size cars like the Catalina and Bonneville,

Thank you. Ain't the first time I been wrong.

 

[dano]

You forgot the 406!

Oh yeah, early 60's NASCAR cid rule.

 

[bcschief]

Of all the major manufacturers, I wondered why our LA series was only built in 4 displacements. 273, 318, 340 and 360.
Chevrolet ran the table here with the 262, 265, 267, 283, 302, 305, 307, 327, 350 and 400 small blocks.
Ford ? 221, 260. 289, 302, 351 and 400.
Even AMC had what...the 290, 304, 360 and 401, right? Why did Ma Mopar stop at 360? Once the big block went away, GM still had the 400, Ford did too. Pontiac had the 400 for a couple years after the Mopar big block went away, Oldsmobile had the 403.
Ever notice that no "small block" engines were built between a 360 and 400? Why is that?

Fords 351M and 400M were not small blocks, the M series engines had big block bell housing patterns and share no parts with small blocks.

 

[RustyRatRod]

And the Ford 352 was poked and stroked out to 390 and the 427.

What a lot of people don't know is, the Ford 352 ain't the smallest one. There's a 330 as well. FE big block. lol

 

[RustyRatRod]

I like that Pontiac used basically the same block for all of their V8s.

I think the 301 was the only odd man out.

 

[Elmo.65]

I think the 301 was the only odd man out.

See?

 

[RustyRatRod]

Fords 351M and 400M were not small blocks, the M series engines had big block bell housing patterns and share no parts with small blocks.

Yup. They are small blocks. Lemmie splain, Lucy.

First, you have to understand (and I know you do) what makes a small and big block. Narrowed down to one thing, it's bore spacing.

The 351M and 400 share the same bore spacing with every single small block all the way down to the 221.

The cylinder heads from any other small block will fit the 351M and 400. All the way down to a 221. Notice I said FIT, not WORK.

The bellhousing pattern hasn't anything to do with whether it's a big or small block. The 351M and 400 share the same bellhousing pattern and motor mounts as the 385 series like the 460, but they are still small blocks.

A lot of people make that mistake and it's an easy one to make. But by definition, the M engines are indeed small blocks, just like their sister engines, the 351C. The Cleveland is a small block that shares bellhousing patterns and mounts with the windsor family, while the M engines share their bellhousing patterns and mounts with the 385 series. Weird, but that's Ford.

 

[dano]

Fords 351M and 400M were not small blocks, the M series engines had big block bell housing patterns and share no parts with small blocks.

There was a early 400 block that had both 385 family bell pattern and Windsor/Cleveland and backed by an FMX. Some blocks were cast with the boss but not tapped. Rusty beat me to it.

 

[65 Cuda 340]

Pontiac engines I remember:

301, 316, 326, 348, 350, 389, 400, 421, 426, 428, & 455. Did I miss any?

55-56 Pontiac V8s were 287s. Grew to 317 in 57, 347 in 58 and 389 in 59.

 

[RustyRatRod]

There was a early 400 block that had both 385 family bell pattern and Windsor/Cleveland and backed by an FMX. Some blocks were cast with the boss but not tapped. Rusty beat me to it.

That's correct. They are quite rare. They are all 1970 date coded even though they were all for the 1971 model year. I've seen ONE all my life.

 

[Elmo.65]

Thank you. Ain't the first time I been wrong.

See

 

[340sFastback]

Want.
That’s a bucket list car for me.

Friend of mine bought this 260 Tiger around a year back. I helped him swap in rebuilt distributor and helped him fix some other things. It appears to have the period correct 4 barrel, optional cam, small diameter period correct long tube headers, traction bars, and better rear gears. Guy paid 30k and it had not run in decades. No rust California car needs paint and interior work to be really nice. Wasn't running when he bought it but it runs really good now with the repairs....

 

[dano]

That's correct. They are quite rare. They are all 1970 date coded even though they were all for the 1971 model year. I've seen ONE all my life.

The Pantera guys got them all.

 

[65 Cuda 340]

If you want to consider all Chrysler Corp. small blocks, then the 56-66 (in the US, through 67 in Canada) "A" motor was just a poly head version of the later wedge head LA small block. Same bore spacing, deck height, cam journals, timing chain, etc. Even the lifter angles in the block were unchanged from poly to wedge, which is why a 318-360 LA lifter angles are so funky. The A motor was offered in 277, 301, 303, 313, 318 and 326 versions.

 

[RustyRatRod]

The Pantera guys got them all.

The Pantera came with the 351C, not the 400. The 400 was the only one with both small block and big block patterns. Not the Cleveland.

 

[318willrun]

I had a '66 Fairlane with a 351C in it. My Dad had a '75 LTD station wagon with a 400 in it. Both ran good. The wagon wasn't underpowered at all for a beast.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I had a '66 Fairlane with a 351C in it. My Dad had a '75 LTD station wagon with a 400 in it. Both ran good. The wagon wasn't underpowered at all for a beast.

It's hard to hide a 4" stroke, even with emissions crap.