Interesting Pontiac 400 rebuild video

[Bonnewagon]

I stumbled across this video and I thought it was right on the money. Take a junkyard 2 barrel 400 and give it the GTO treatment. That's what I love about Pontiacs- a base 2 barrel can easily be upgraded to a beast with a few better parts. I'm sure there are 400's still lurking in unlikely places. I apologize for the ads- YouTube is to blame- not me.

 

[81cutlass]

I have wanted to buy a 301 grand am/prix or lemans and drop in a 400/455 dressed as a 301 for a while.

Seems like there is always a good volume of bigger inch ponchos kicking around on FB/cl and a decent amount of used parts like performer intakes and headers available but I just don't have chassis to use them!!

 

[MrSony]

I like how the top ends are all swappable.

 

[Northernregal]

That there is the best motor of the muscle car years. Getting harder to find up here.

 

[olds307 and 403]

They are cool for sure, Motorweek on YouTube did a 69 400 Ram Air Trans Am from GM's collection vs a 4th gen Ram Air WS6 Trans Am. There was .1 difference in the 1/4 in favour of the 4th Gen, dam close and I know the LT1 was no slouch. Pontiac having the single block definitely makes getting ideal compression easier. Of course you could consider the 265/301 their Small Block. I still say the Olds 350 was GM'S best 350, especially through the 70's and my favourite but I would run a 400 Pontiac without hesitation.

 

[Bonnewagon]

My old '81 Malibu wagon came with an anemic 229 V-6 that was just horrible. The first Pontiac I swapped in was a 1976 two barrel 350 out of my old '76 Lemans. I hooked it to the original three speed Saginaw until I could find a four speed Saginaw. I used one with the 3:11 first gear. That tame stock 350 was in there for about eight years and I went everywhere with it as it got very good mileage. Better than the V-6 AND passed emissions better! Then around 2000 I took a two barrel 400 out of a 1970 Catalina and swapped some 4X heads on along with a cast iron Pontiac four barrel manifold. The bottom end had a Pontiac full-length windage tray and a baffled 301 oil pan. I used a Crane 278 duration cam that ran very strong but caused me to need a vacuum can for the power brakes. Otherwise it was at the far end of street-able. The carb I used was a 1979 Buick 350 Q-jet I re-calibrated for the 400. Out back I used 3:23 gears in the 7.5" rear. What a beast! Even I was amazed at how much power it made. The G-body handled the torque pretty well but I ended up getting boxed rear control arms and coil-over shocks. The 7.5" rear took 10 years of my abuse and I still have it in my current Bonnewagon. But the 400 got only 10 mpg around town and 16 mpg highway which was sad for a daily driver. When gas hit $4 a gallon I swapped in a 301 and then I got 20 mpg. I still have several 400's in my garage but not enough old cars to use them in.

 

[pontiacgp]

My 74 GP came with the 400 and TH400 with 2.78 gears. I put a cam (forget which one), headers and duel exhaust and she would cruise real nice on the highway. The 74 400 sucked on power but it did not take much to liven it up and the gas mileage was very respectable...I loved the old Pontiac engine cause they used the same block for the 326 all the way to the 455, bore and stoke were different but alot of parts were interchangeable. Pontiac had no small block or big block.

 

[deanlemans81]

I have one in my 81 Lemans. just a 76 400 with a 200-r4 and 3:42's. Parts are still fairly easy to find and when i go to a show, it's not one of a million LS's

 

[Don57]

I have one in my 81 Lemans. just a 76 400 with a 200-r4 and 3:42's. Parts are still fairly easy to find and when i go to a show, it's not one of a million LS's

I also have a 76' 400 out of a trans am in my 78' Grand Am. I still have the TH350 but the 2:29 gears out for 3:08.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I think those Grand Ams are just about one of the coolest looking Pontiacs ever made. And with a 400?!? PERFECT!