[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by ponyakr

So, I'm one of the old guys who definitely does "understand the whole brand loyalty thing" !

We are getting off in the weeds so Ill just say this and drop it. Not like its going to change anyone's mind anyway. Whats strange is, there is only this section in the middle who gets super wrapped up in the branding thing. Because there is an even older group where hot rodding started that just hot swapped in whatever worked. I mean pickup a pre muscle era Hot Rod magazine. Its all swap in the new 331 Cadillac or 392 Hemi....


There is a time and a place for everything. I have respect for the truly rare. But I wouldn't shed a tear for a 326 that got yanked. And by the same token I like motors in general. So I think its cool if someone tries to turbocharge a Sprint 6 or something. I even thought the Supra engine in the Firebird that popped up a while ago was a neat project.


Back to the topic, I think the roller is a big part of it, but I would still circle back to the heads. Vortec 350s got roller cams. Hell they even have better heads than other factory sbcs, but it still a poor comparison to a mild built 5.3 in most cases.

As I said earlier, there are some bad Pontiacs on here. No doubt. Some that have even been done on a budget. But mostly you are still going to have more money into them. Sometimes by a lot, my motor for instance.

And as a total package it can get depressing. What I mean by that is you can yank the whole drivetrain from some junk van. Have a 6 liter and a 4l80E. Do a cam swap. Now you have a pretty stout motor, a tough OD transmission, and you can run a real rear gear that is highway friendly because of the OD. For what? $2500? You can look down your nose at someone for taking the easy way out, but that's the only real argument against it.