Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Fine Lines Re-Visited....'70's Pontiac Firebirds....

Back in the '80's Car Craft magazine had series of articles called "Fine Lines". Each month they'd feature a make and model that in their opinion offered the most bang for the buck for a hot rodder looking for a project. I thought I'd do something similar, to maybe help people consider a car they wouldn't normally have thought of buying, or help them get a deal on one they did want. Anyhow-a car that I think offers a ton of potential is 1970-81 Pontiac Firebirds. A Firebird is a much better buy than a Camaro for one reason. 99% of Camaros are small-block powered-a big-block was only offered until 1972 and they were produced in limited quantitys. By contrast-the 455 was available until 1976, and you could get a 400 in a Firebird Formula or Trans-Am right up until 1979. If you can't find a good deal on a 400 Firebird, you aren't looking past the end of your nose. This is why they were so popular in the late '70's and '80's. ( Pontiac sold nearly 50,000 T/A's in 1976 and 68,000 in 1977; "Smokey and the Bandit" wasn't released until May 1977-it's impact on sales wouldn't be felt until the '78 model year-a record 93,000 sold ). Stock or modified, a big 400 or 455 cubic inch Firebird had little to fear from a 350 Camaro or 351 Mustang. They had great suspensions and brakes to start with and there are a ton of aftermarket upgraded shocks, springs, sway bars, and brake kits out there if you want to build a corner-carving "G" machine or a front-wheel pulling drag racer. Their wheelwells will accomodate huge tires without modification. I would stick with 1970-78 models-as most of these will have 400 Pontiacs under the hood. These offer the most bang for the buck. 4-speed models had 3.23 or 3.42:1 gears, which is a perfect compromise between jackrabbit starts and reasonable freeway cruising rpm. Automatics, however had salt-flats gearing like 2.41:1 or 2.56:1. If you have one, or can buy one cheap-swapping the 2.41:1 rear axle ratio for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range will offer a stunning improvement in acceleration without hurting drivability or fuel economy too much. An Edelbrock Performer intake and headers and dual exhausts really wake up these engines. Edelbrock and Kauffman offer aluminum heads, and Crane, Comp Cams, Crower and others offer cams. There are a million ways to build horsepower into a Pontiac V8. Car Craft built a 400 with Edelbrock heads-they called it "Junkyard Jewell"-and it made 440 hp and 460 lbs of torque for very low bucks.  Some '77-79 Formulas and T/A's will have 403 Olds engines. In stock trim, these made about the same amount of torque as the 400 Pontiacs. And, like their Pontiac-engined cousins-an axle-ratio change is the biggest upgrade you can do. ( Most had 2.41:1 gears; some WS6 Formulas and T/A's had 3.23:1s, but not many ). If you have or want to buy a 403 Firebird,-any speed equipment that fits a 350 Olds will fit a 403. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package, and that's on a 350. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly-but Pontiac or Olds power, 400 honest hp will turn any street car into an absolute rocket. I'd stay away from 1980-81 models unless they were dirt cheap and you were planning an engine swap anyway. I say this because these had either 301 Pontiacs or 305 Chevys that wheezed out 150 hp. Either way a big power injection requires an engine swap. On the upside-a 400 or 455 will bolt in place of the 301-the motor mounts are in the same place and the oil pan is the same. ( Otherwise 301s share very little with the 326-455 "traditional" Pontiac V8s ). And if you have a 305 Chevy model, obviously swapping the 305 for a stout 350 or 383 Small-block Chevy would be an easy way to big hp. There is so much speed equipment still available for these cars that your really only limited by your wallet and imagination. That's what makes them a "Best Buy".  Mastermind    

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