Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Shively
From what I have heard, Pontiac engine & heads were cast with a higher Nickle content, making it a harder steel. Conversely, Chevy stuff is cast with a softer steel. Porting Chevy stuff is so mush easier than Pontiac.
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That was true until 1977, when the bean counters started cheapening the castings in all GM brands. In an effort to improve the bottom line the nickel content was cut from the remaining 400, 301 and the 2.5 Iron Duke engines.
I've taken the heads off of 301 with 60,000 miles, the ridge was so bad you couldn't get the pistons out without a ridge reamer. The Iron Duke engines wore the bores out so quickly you could pull up to a GM car at a stop light with a 2.5 engine, and determine what engine it had just from the piston slap coming from it. The air cleaner had oil in the bottom of it due to the blowby being so excessive it couldn't be handled by the PCV system.
One of GMs bone headed moves that made people swear off GM cars by saving a dollar, or two. by cheapening the alloy in the cast iron. In retrospect, cheating customers to improve the profit margin made money for a few years, until people quit buying their cars. Then the government (John Q Public, paid the bill) saved their butt with the bailout. One of the reasons I will never buy another new GM car. Looks like GM is going to hit the skids again in the near future, hopefully they just go out of business for good, no more bailouts.
Mary Barra doesn't have as much sense as my dog has.