400 Pontiac vs 403 Old vs 350 Chevy in 79 TransAm
Dan
Chevy. I just have a simple question...
I am looking into buyng a 79-81 TA and I wonder what would be the best
all around engine for performace and daily driving. I would like to
rebuild an engine for it, but I can't decide which would be the best
engine to invest my time and money into.
First of all, I have heard that the TA that comes with the 403 Olds is
NOT the way to go, how true is this? If I get a TA with a 403 Olds,
is it a good engine for performance and daily driving and worth
rebuilding?
Second, is the TA 400, I've never worked on a Poncho 400 and don't
know their good/bad points. But if I find a 400 Poncho, would this be
a good engine to invest my time and money into? What are their
good/bad points. What is the Bore/stroke? Does it have the same
weaknesses as the 400 SB chevy such as joint cylinder walls, short
rod length, ect.?
The final option is to pull what ever is in the TA and drop in a 350
chevy. I know the 350 chevy SB very well and I've always been
satisfied with it's performace, availability, costs. Ignoring the
mods that would need to be done such as trans, accessory brackets,
ect., would this be a better engine to use over the 400 Pon or 403
Olds?
I would appreceate any input on the 403 Olds or 400 Pon. Espeacially
from someone who have done a SBChevy swap into a 2nd Gen TA.
Thanks in advance
Danny (A.K.A. Bowtie)
gweinert
engine and will have more parts available than the 403 Olds. The 350 Chevy
will have the most. If you change from a Pontiac/Olds to the Chevy the trans
and accessories may have to be changes, they have different trans bolt
patterns. Try to get a car with the engine you desire, this will avoid that
issue.
If you get one with the Olds, a 455 olds will bolt in with out too much
trouble, or so they say. The same is true of the Pontiac, although early
engines may have different holes drilled on the block(others will have more
detail).
Lots of luck.
GW
Dan <bowt...@ev1.net> wrote in message
news:3a7a2de4....@news.ev1.net...
Bigjfig
>From: "gweinert" gwei...@controlinstruments.com
>Date: 2/2/01 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
>Message-id: <95euo5$9ve$1...@paxfeed.eni.net>
Adding on, the Pontiac 400 comes only with a 4 speed in 1979, and is the rarer
the big motors out there in that year.
My 1979 10th Anniversary is a 400 4 speed, one of 1,817 made. Rarer yet, is a
black special edition with a 400 in 1979, only 1107 of those. Rarer in the s/e
category is the 400, black s/e package and a hobnail interior. 400 or so of
those (they are among the 1107).
You want the 400 :).
Joe--ASE Certified Parts Specialist
'80 Carousel Red Turbo, 26k original-->http://www.0rdernet.com/Mean_Pont
'79 10th Ann. 400/4 speed, 57k original-->http://home.earthlink.net/~bryanan
'84 Olds Delta 88, 307 "Rocket" (lol), 137k and still going....
Dan
But even though I would lose 50 cubes with the chevy 350, would a 400
pontiac out perform a 350 chevy given that both have the same degree
of mods(not counting the extra cubes)?
Dan
and dirvability. And I know that the extra cubes would always give
better low end. But then again parts are cheap for a 350 chevy
compaired to the 400 poncho. I just wonder what I would be happier
with and where I can get the most bang for my buck...
Maybe I should just go all the way and go 454 chevy or 455 poncho???
hmmmm......
If it came to Big Blocks I would probably go 454 bowtie.
Danny
On Tue, 06 Feb 2001 17:53:42 GMT, ad...@asdf.com (Musashi) wrote:
>
> What is the degree of mods? For a basic street car, the 400 will
>be at the least just as fast and more likely faster, and be more
>pleasant to drive because of the extra torque. Remember, there are
>only two basic, cheap ways to add _low end_ torque on on otherwise
>sound <good intake, cam, and carb> engine: compression and cubes.
>You're limited by the fuel you run to the maximum compression, and
>that will be roughly the same on both engines. The remaining variable
>is displacement. Add in the fact that a 79 TA is a very heavy car and
>you'll really appreciate what low end power can do as opposed to a
>pretty peak hp number.
> Now it's true that you can add low end torque with a head swap or
>forced induction, but those are expensive options.
> If you are planning on going deep into the 12's or faster, then
>the Chevy will start to outpace the Pontiac in terms of performance
>per dollar. It's only until you get into truly high power, high abuse
>situations that the Chevy will start to pull away on pure performance,
>though you will have spent much more to get to the same level with a
>Pontiac.
> Bottom line, the Pontiac is the better engine for a street car.
>---
>So will I build my altar in the fields
>And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,
>And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields
>Shall be the incense I will yield to thee
>
> Samuel Taylor Coleridge
84' Z28 350, 2.02 heads, compcam 280, 650dp, NOS, 5sp
88' Grand Marque grocery getter.
Dan
<kal...@home.com> wrote:
>
>I've done a 350 Chevy into a Firebird. This was back in '80, I dropped a '74
>350 into a '74 Firebird. At the time I had a friend who ran a junkyard and
>let me have run of the place to get whatever parts that I needed (that were
>worthless to him, that is) to get the thing put together. It was a fairly
>straighforward undertaking. The trick of it is (for the most part) to use
>Camaro parts.
>
>First of all, you need to replace the motor mounts with Camaro units. Also,
>the fuel line needs to be moved from the left side to the right side. The
>engine wiring harness has to be replaced. I also needed a new radiator for
>mine, and I ordered a heavy-duty unit (for a Firebird 400 I think it was),
>and a new fan shroud for a '78 'bird with a 305 (chevy) engine.
>
>I had to replace the trans (different bolt pattern), so I got one from the
>pile at my buddy's boneyard (a turbo 350) and rebuilt it. The '74 was the
>last year without a catalytic converter, so the stock Camaro exhaust system
>fit right in.
>
>The other trick was the air conditioning. I replaced the evaporator housing
>with a unit from a '77 Camaro (which uses an expansion tube/accumulator
>system with a cycling compressor rather than the expansion valve/receiver-
>dryer that the '74 had). But the compressor on the Chevy was on the left
>side while the Pontiac was on the right (which means the connection to the
>condenser was on the wrong side). So I replaced the original Firebird
>condenser with a unit from a '76 Impala, which was thicker, and for which I
>had to fashion custom brackets. The important thing to remember is that the
>outlet pipe from the condenser has to be secured to the bracket, because it
>is aluminum, and it will break from the vibration if it isn't secured. (The
>air conditioner in that car could make it a FREEZER!)
>
>I had that car for 6 years, longer than I have ever had any other car. I
>sold it in '86.
>--
>Theodore A. Kaldis
> kal...@worldnet.att.net
Thanks for the input. Sounds pretty straight foward. I'll even bet
the frame on the TA had holes for the Chevy motor mounts. I swapped a
305 Chevy into an 82' Olds Cutlass Supreme and the Cutlass had the
holes on the frame for Chevy motor mounts. GM probabbly used the same
chasiss for Cutlass and Monte Carlo as well as the TA and Z28.
And about the AC and fuel lines on that Cutlass, I had the same
problem. The Compressor and fuel line was on the driver's side.
But it was no big deal... I used AC lines from an 85 Camaro as well as
its radiator and condenser and all accessory brackets. Routed the
fuel line over to the passenger side. Got the fan shroud from a
Monte Carlo. And backed it all by a 350 TH tanny with the driveshaft
from a Monte Carlo.
Danny
84' Z28 350cid, 5sp, 2.02 heads, compcam280, 650hly dp, perfomer RPM, NOS, Headers & extras.
jerry...@gmail.com
I have a 81 firebird w/ a '78 olds / firebird shaker hood engine. This engine needs to have the " girddle " ACCESSORY to deal with the windowed mains, BUT WITH THIS MINE'S BEEN ROCK SOLID. over 500 trips down the drag strip with my current 1/4 mile time/spd are 12.32 sec at 110.42 mph.
not bad for A CARBURATED, 465 hp to the rear wheels and 483 ft lbs of torque, in fact it holds over 400 ft lbs from 3000 rpm to 6000 rpm. You won't find a pontiac or chevy that will match that.
My choice is the old 403 or 455 cu in engines...
jerry