Thread: 400 Pontiac

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I went with a 400 Pontiac for my 1969 rather than switching to a chevy motor. Any thoughts on weather this was a good idea or not?

If you like it, it's a great idea. 400 Ponchos can be made into a strong runner for the street.

if it came originally with a 400 then it's a good idea to put one back in it.

Chevys are generally cheaper to build, but Ive never liked cross breeds personally. Would be much cooler with the Pontiac power. Besides, after having to buy a differant tranny(or bellhousing if its a stick ) & all the brackets . starter etc. to convert to chevy, Im not sure it would be much cheaper anyway. John

Keep It Pontiac, You would have to change the trans if you have an automatic. Fuel lines in the engine bay are on the wrong side. Battery is on the wrong side. It is a lot of work if you want to make it look factory. I have a firebird that I installed a small block chevy, and I would love to find a 428 pontiac to put back in it.

I dont think what WE think about your choice matters as much as what YOU think about it dan

I am a pontiac and chevy guy so ethier way is cool in my opinion but for a street car i think keepin ponchos with poncho power is cool,plus 400's have a good deal of tourqe ta play with

I figured I would keep it all pontiac. I have a couple of buddy's who tell me I could have built a stronger chevy 350 for around the same price. In the end I think it's a matter of keeping it as original as possible Thanx for response

hey y'all, i am currently building a 1964 gto. im getting a fiberglass tilt front end. and all that good stuff. i have a chevy 350 bored .30 over, its all port and polished. i have corvette heads, with a saginof 4 speed. and i also have a pontiac 400, but its an automatic. this is going to be my first car. and i want it to run and look the best. does anyone have any suggestions on which i should put in?

Keep it Pontiac. You can make a Pontiac 400 run like a scaldedassape in an intermediate body. Been there, done it.

and for the 64 gto, i have apx. $10,000 to spend on it. and would be the biggest bang for my buck? i got the car from my parents. storage lot. we repossesed it. there is no engine in it at the time. i have the front end taken off (im getting a fiberglass tilt front-end) but the body is in perfect condition. all it needs is paint.

Go with the Pontiac! You can use that same manual transmission you have for the Chevy if you locate a Pontiac bellhousing and flywheel. Or stay with the automatic and beef it up. And if you can locate a 3 x 2 manifold for that 400 you will have a piece of Muscle car history!

3 dueces and a 4 speed....

Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out!

Pat

If its in perfect condition, why in the world would you want to alter a 64 GTO, I wouldnt do anything to it that couldnt put it back to original. If you reallywant that body style with a glass front end, buy a Lemans...I mean thats what a GTO is anyway, & there not nearly as valuable, better off making modifications to the Lemans than ruin the GTOs collector value

Now that you mention it, I agree with Stepside. An all orginal 64 GTO can be worth $50k plus with the right options. See if you can find the build sheet info on your car and if it has the right options, you might spend that $10k trying to bring it back as close to original as possible.

Pat

back in the 80's my friend and i were out cruising his
69 400 firebird we were going 140 mph the speedo
was pegged we were coming up quickly on the car in
front of us when we noticed it was a chp we quickly
turned of onto hwy 9 and headed to Santa Cruz we
never saw the chp again. this 400 had 130000 miles
on the engine and it still went like hell. and very
toquey,my friend still has the car it is now primer gray
and has been sitting for 15 years due to marriage and
kids,the original color was a very nice blue.