#21  
Old 06-02-2020, 09:36 PM
thews thews is offline
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Originally Posted by 'ol Pinion head View Post
I'd keep it Pontiac V8, the supposedly cheaper cost of 350 horse chevy 350 build doesn't hold water. When you're done, what do you have? Another no one wants it bread & butter Chevy 350 in a 2nd Gen Bird, in other words, you just shot off a couple toes.

In a traditional Pontiac V8 swap, the 301 Turbo engine's PS pump can be used in a swap, so can the 301 Turbo's crank pulleys, you'll need two common (& cheap) small stamped steel '71+ PS brackets, either a '71-74 Pntiac v8 front alt mtg plate (or a '75-79 version), & a 481040 wp pulley. $50-60 outlay plus ship by most longtime used parts vendors.
I'm just going to disagree with you here. If this was a 73 T/A, I would agree. Pumping life into an exhausted 301 can be done, but poker aint free. I'll give the next owner the option of bringing it back to its glory days with the original drive train on an engine stand.

I realize I'm slamming the 80 turbo 301 hard, but it's the truth. If you have an 80 low mileage turbo and it runs great, then super duper. It is what is was back in 1980... a lot of people like that, including me. It's the best they could do back then, but things have changed. My point is that this car, will be a better ROI if I install a Chevy crate engine. ...we'll see.


Last edited by thews; 06-02-2020 at 09:43 PM.
  #22  
Old 06-02-2020, 09:38 PM
thews thews is offline
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IMO, by 1980 the hood bird had about run its coarse. Wild graphics were a product of the '70's. I remember when I got my '82 firebird I got a lot of comments like 'does it have the silly bird on the hood?' In retrospect nothing says trans am to me now like that massive decal of a fire breathing pheonix!
I agree. The red 75 gets me thumbs up every time I drive it. People take pics of it at stoplights. But this car is a plain Jane... by design. I like that about it.

  #23  
Old 06-02-2020, 09:58 PM
thews thews is offline
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So the tables have turned... seems like this car had a bird on the hood originally and the paint is not original?... hmmm...


  #24  
Old 06-03-2020, 09:12 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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A lot of things happen to a car over 40 yrs time. I think you are right on with your assesment of a motor swap. You are spot on that in 1980 that motor was the best GM could come up with. I think I read that it was supposed to be the 'new' motor for the 3rd gen cars. If so, theres likely a good reason the 3rd gens went a diff. direction. In 1980 it was more than a potent motor, I would guess the only other car that compared would have been a vette. But by todays standards it just doesnt compare.

  #25  
Old 06-03-2020, 10:23 AM
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unruhjonny unruhjonny is offline
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@thews;
Come on, you had to know you were going to get some static for coming to a Pontiac enthusiast board, to talk about a Pontiac powered T/A, that you want to swap to a chevy.

In the end, it's your car, so do what you want.

You should know that I agree with 78w72.

The much maligned 301/301T is actually a much better engine than most would lead you to believe - and if you decide you need to sell the car at a later date, odds are you will get a much better return on your money if you leave it original, or at least Pontiac powered;
Chevy boys will like the engine, but whine about the model;
Pontiac boys will like the car, but whine about the drivetrain.

"ol Pinion head makes some good budget minded points too.

And please quick hot linking gigantor pictures - they make threads harder to read than they need be.

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  #26  
Old 06-03-2020, 08:20 PM
thews thews is offline
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Originally Posted by unruhjonny View Post
@thews;
Come on, you had to know you were going to get some static for coming to a Pontiac enthusiast board, to talk about a Pontiac powered T/A, that you want to swap to a chevy.

In the end, it's your car, so do what you want.

You should know that I agree with 78w72.

The much maligned 301/301T is actually a much better engine than most would lead you to believe - and if you decide you need to sell the car at a later date, odds are you will get a much better return on your money if you leave it original, or at least Pontiac powered;
Chevy boys will like the engine, but whine about the model;
Pontiac boys will like the car, but whine about the drivetrain.

"ol Pinion head makes some good budget minded points too.
We'll agree to disagree. Let me take a wild guess that you own a 301 car. There's nothing wrong with that, and if this engine ran I would make it run well. We can beat the dead horse until it's nothing, but the 301 was a product of 1980 and they did what they could at Pontiac Engineering. Technology has advanced and it's simply not cost effective to rebuild this engine unless you have an uber rare #'s matching car. Chevy guys will buy Camaros. Pontiac guys will buy Pontiacs. I've owned many Camaros and Firebirds/GTO's and I love me some Pontiacs. In this case specifically, when I push the gas pedal and get 350HP, that's all I care about. I really don't subscribe to the #'s matching stuff unless the car's rarity warrants it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by unruhjonny View Post
And please quick hot linking gigantor pictures - they make threads harder to read than they need be.
When did you become the boss of me? Stop telling me what to do. I like big pictures because you can see detail. Small grainy pics don't show enough. Are you the boss of me? Just curious, because I wasn't in that meeting.

  #27  
Old 06-03-2020, 09:06 PM
thews thews is offline
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Bought this for the car today. May not be "correct", but correct enough for me. The car has a blank hole, but the wiring is intact. This came out of an 81 Corvette. Restored by an old timey Delco radio tech... nothing beats experience when it comes to stuff like this. I have a Nakamichi tape deck in my hoard of things, so this should be fun. Check out the Tektronix old school Oscope behind it... money. FYI I paid $300 for it. Love the red LED's.



Last edited by thews; 06-03-2020 at 09:19 PM.
  #28  
Old 06-04-2020, 02:24 AM
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Brian Baker Brian Baker is offline
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I've got a heat shield that mounts under the hood in great shape if you need one. $40 + freight.

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  #29  
Old 06-04-2020, 09:27 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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Cool radio. And I like your pics

  #30  
Old 06-06-2020, 10:18 PM
Baron Von Zeppelin Baron Von Zeppelin is offline
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Get PHS to check for Invoice #2 on your car.
This Invoice has it being used as a Fleet Company Car for the GM Parts Division.

A lot of times - Cars with this program were usually ordered by a department head for their 3 month/3,000 mile use - and the car type/color/equipment selected by a lesser tenured co-worker who wanted one at deep discount when it was turned in.
aka Big Favor
That is just 1 scenario.

The senior staff member may have wanted himself and bought it afterwards.
Or he may have just driven it and then let it go into Zone Inventory available for any employee or dealer to purchase.

Luckily it doesn't seem to have stayed in Michigan for very long.

What is the build date on the cowl tag ?

  #31  
Old 06-06-2020, 10:50 PM
Baron Von Zeppelin Baron Von Zeppelin is offline
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Not everyone can build their own engines.
The labor for that can really drive up the cost of doing one, on top of machining costs.
So i figure that is part of your balance sheet on the 350 Chevy

Most guys are probably thinking 400/455 swap as opposed to 301 Revival.

Len Williams sells Pontiac Longblocks outright for less than the 350 crate engine, i think.
A 400/455 Pontiac engine will hold more value and desirability in the car , if it needs to sell later on.
You could re-use the existing transmission and a lot of other stuff too.
Exhaust, brackets, pulleys, lines, accessory hoses, etc...

Chevy swaps can run into a lot of changes

  #32  
Old 01-24-2021, 01:37 AM
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Update on this car. I found a rebuilt carb for $100 (non-turbo) and bought it thinking it would bolt in... it won't. I took the original carb and rebuilt it using a lot of the parts off the rebuilt carb. Changed the plugs, distributor cap, wires and PVC. Got it all back together today and it fired up blowing white smoke, but it does run. Pretty excited about get it running like it is. The car only has 91K on it, so I was wrong to just assume the engine was shot.

  #33  
Old 01-24-2021, 10:51 AM
78w72 78w72 is offline
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glad you got it running. might be able to work some bugs out of it & store it in good running condition while you wait for the chevy engine....

FYI on that radio, it was not original to a vette, but might have been in a vette... the red LED radios were specific to 79 10th anniv & 80-81 pace cars. vettes & others cars of the era had yellow led's. that radio is from a 1981 pace car. nice radio & worth quite a bit... but keep in mind these old radios are designed for 10ohm speakers only, you cant hook them up to modern 4ohm speakers & expect them to live very long, so if you plan to use that radio, its a good idea to be sure you have 10ohm speakers... & factory 10ohm speakers sound like crap! i'd go with that nakamichi deck & modern speakers if you want decent sound.

  #34  
Old 01-24-2021, 12:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 78w72 View Post
glad you got it running. might be able to work some bugs out of it & store it in good running condition while you wait for the chevy engine....

FYI on that radio, it was not original to a vette, but might have been in a vette... the red LED radios were specific to 79 10th anniv & 80-81 pace cars. vettes & others cars of the era had yellow led's. that radio is from a 1981 pace car. nice radio & worth quite a bit... but keep in mind these old radios are designed for 10ohm speakers only, you cant hook them up to modern 4ohm speakers & expect them to live very long, so if you plan to use that radio, its a good idea to be sure you have 10ohm speakers... & factory 10ohm speakers sound like crap! i'd go with that nakamichi deck & modern speakers if you want decent sound.
Thanks. There is no radio number sticker on it. In my collection of Pontiac stuff I have two old NOS 8 tracks with green LED's. They are aftermarket units that supposedly fit into a second GEN Firebird. The cool thing about green LED's is that they were around for a very short time (just like 8 tracks) before LCD's came out.

  #35  
Old 01-25-2021, 09:58 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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Sorry if you mentioned it previously, but that stereo looks like a casette, not 8track. I have an 8track TATA radio and it looks very similar but is different. There is no eject (not needed with 8tr) and no treble bass adjustment. Just a curiosity but do you know if the cassette radio was available for the TATA?

  #36  
Old 01-25-2021, 10:20 AM
78w72 78w72 is offline
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Originally Posted by TAKerry View Post
Sorry if you mentioned it previously, but that stereo looks like a casette, not 8track. I have an 8track TATA radio and it looks very similar but is different. There is no eject (not needed with 8tr) and no treble bass adjustment. Just a curiosity but do you know if the cassette radio was available for the TATA?
not sure if youre asking me or thews, but as far as i know, the TATA red led radio was 8 track, the cassette were available for 80/81 pace cars.

  #37  
Old 01-25-2021, 10:37 AM
TAKerry TAKerry is offline
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Yes, It was a question. I have not see a TATA with a cassette, and after seeing this particular radio I wondered. Thanks for the answer.

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