Don't know if anyone cares about 301's, but...
 

you can put one in an H-body. It's a wee bit tight in places, but it is in there.
Car is a '78 Monza wagon cloned into a '76 Astre.

What's not to like?
Cool.

Thanks, David. I just had to see if it could be done and since I went to all the trouble of making it look like a Pontiac, it just had to be Pontiac powered. Car came factory with a Buick V6 so having a BOP tranny already made the decision that much easier.

The front half of the oil pan had to be flattened to clear the center link and "k" member and I had to fabricate some motor mounts to work with the factory engine perches. So far, very little cutting of the car has been done.

All that iron is going to make that car nose heavy. Maybe you should replace it with an all aluminum 535.:clap2:

Haha. It's lighter than a small block Chevy and only slightly heavier than the 231 that came out of it. Now that I see how close the manifold came to the steering shaft, no tall deck Pontiac is going to fit without major mods and that means more $$$. Not that I'm against going fast or anything as I will take this down the track, but if I ever want to go real fast, I'll build a dedicated drag car. This is not that car. LOL.

A buddy of mine tried to talk me into a stroker like tom s.'s, but he's ALWAYS trying to spend other peoples money with his ideas. As it is, with the pan flattened to within about an eighth of an inch of the rotating assembly I can just get the tips of my fingers between the pan and the center link, so I don't see how it could be done with any more stroke. Honestly, I don't know how people get away with 400 sbc's in these cars. It doesn't seem like the Monza specific pan would clear the 3.75 stroke, but a friend of mine has exactly that in his Vega with factory style mounts (engine not raised at all).

My main concerns were not overpowering the car and keeping it as "low buck" as possible. Also, I just want to see what a nearly stock 301 (with 066 cam) feels like. A lot of people badmouth them, but everyone I've talked to that has owned one said they ran really well. I'm anxious to find out!

I worked for Pontiac when they came out with the 301. Pontiac put them in everything from Firebirds to Grand Prix's. One of the guys that worked with me bought a 1976 GP with the 301 and got 22mph on the highway. I put one from a firebird in a 1961 Chevy PU and pulled a travel trailer for years with it. I never saw any more problems with the 301 than I did with the 350 or 400.

Good info, Goatracer1 ! That's the kind of stuff I like to hear. With my 3.42 gears and no overdrive I don't expect to get stellar MPG's, but that's OK with me. I'm sure that my smiles per gallon will increase ;)

The 383 would be so cool in that!Tom

That might actually scare me. LOL. My fastest cars have been mid 13 seconders, but they felt pretty mean on the street.

The 301 with a 4bbl carb is a very good little engine. I had one in my 79 Formula and loved it. It ran the doors off a 79 Ford Thunderbird with a 302. :D And that's the truth. He was pissed to no end. LOL

I've been up and running for about 2 months now and I'm very pleased with the performance. I am running an 066 cam though which certainly moved my power band up a little, but this car doesn't need much low end to get it moving (3.42 gear and only about 3000 lbs.)

I like it.:cool:

Sounds like your ready for the Turbo version. :eek:

Thanks, Phil!

I've always been an NA kind of guy, but have been intrigued by superchargers for a long time. May go that direction at some point, but I'm not dissatisfied with the 14.70's @ 91 mph it has done so far. I mainly built it to see if it could be done, not to be a world beater.:D

Forgot to mention the car is now a full 3.3 seconds faster than with the 231 2 bbl.

That's worth cheering about!:bounce: