[Judge Man]

Originally Posted by Diego

It's my understanding that the Magnum 400 was a production Tempest ordered with the 400 motor and a Magnum 400 decal slapped on it at the dealership. Other than that decal, it's just like any other 400 Tempest that was ordered by any other dealer.

Yes that is correct Diego.

[3goats]

Originally Posted by 70ra455

Did this car with optional Ram Air 3 engine? XV block? If not what is the XV block for? What heads came on the car if in fact it was able to be ordered? Was there the pull knob? Ram Air hood components?

Anyone ever seen one?

I have someone who claims to have one ...

I picked up a xv block a few years ago and did some digging to find out what it was. I googled it and found an article on the 70 t-37. The engine was an optional 400 330hp for the automatic and believe it or not, it stated that if you ordered a 4-speed you would get the ws block.
I have the xv block in my 69.
JFYI

[marxjunk]

ws is ram air...wt is 4 speed, no ram air 70 t37s..its an urbam legend, and its been repeated so much on the internet people in the know are saying it happend....it never happed unless it was a dealer install

[Judge Man]

The advertisements say that the 70 GT-37 could be ordered with the RAlll engine. But that wasn't the case, so far all of the 400 manual cars that have pop up have been WT code.

[Diego]

What advertisements? Can't say I have seen that. I always thought John Sawruk was the guy who started the rumor, albeit with good intentions.

[Judge Man]

Originally Posted by Diego

What advertisements? Can't say I have seen that. I always thought John Sawruk was the guy who started the rumor, albeit with good intentions.

My bad it was John Sawruk that started that. I got one of my books out to check for sure. John mentions that the RAlll was available in the 70.5 GT-37.

[wheelman]

I think the problem lies in the WT engine being equipped with #12 heads....... Making it a RAIII in the uneducated Pontiac enthusiast's eyes... Kinda like #48 on a 69 WT...

Just seeing a pattern and stating what Iv'e been told by people.

Anyway the seller of said Tempest is very misinformed and trying to HYPE his POS car up. I called when I was in TX to look at it. I had a Migraine after I got off the phone... I'm the one who's misinformed....... Didn't even go to look at it.. Ended up buying a 79 Ford F-150 instead to flip almost got it for free and sold it as soon as I put it on CL.

[Judge Man]

Originally Posted by wheelman

I think the problem lies in the WT engine being equipped with #12 heads....... Making it a RAIII in the uneducated Pontiac enthusiast's eyes... Kinda like #48 on a 69 WT...

Just seeing a pattern and stating what Iv'e been told by people.

Anyway the seller of said Tempest is very misinformed and trying to HYPE his POS car up. I called when I was in TX to look at it. I had a Migraine after I got off the phone... I'm the one who's misinformed....... Didn't even go to look at it.. Ended up buying a 79 Ford F-150 instead to flip almost got it for free and sold it as soon as I put it on CL.

Heres what John Sawruk said: Pontiac needed a low cost hi performance car. A little known fact was a Ram Air III engine(without the Ram Air hood and with a dual snorkel air cleaner) could be ordered in a Tempest. To get it,you had to order the 400 cubic inch 4 barrel with the manual trans. This got you the large valve,Ram Air III basic engine.

I think John Sawruk was confussed about what the basic 400 is and what a Ram Air III engine is. Maybe he was not feeling well or maybe he was alittle buzzed when he said all this. who knows.

[Diego]

Hey, even the experts make mistakes! What about people who have owned a car for 40 years and think things were one way when they were actually another? I'm sure we've all seen owners like that.

I just don't understand why they had a different motor for the automatic tranny.

[Judge Man]

Originally Posted by Diego

Hey, even the experts make mistakes! What about people who have owned a car for 40 years and think things were one way when they were actually another? I'm sure we've all seen owners like that.

I just don't understand why they had a different motor for the automatic tranny.

Yeah I agree that experts make mistakes,we all are human. As far as the different motor with the auto trans? I agree they should of stuck with the #12 head 400 4 barrel.

[SD455DJ]

[QUOTE=Judge Man;4737532]Yeah I agree that experts make mistakes,we all are human. As far as the different motor with the auto trans? I agree they should of stuck with the #12 head 400 4 barrel.[/QUOT

So far to date, we have documented only XV code small valve 400 4-bbl's as the only 400 available for the entire production year for '70 non-GTO A-Body automatics and they came standard with the 3.08 geared rear. This was true for all Tempest, LeMans, and GT-37's. Unless anyone can prove differently, this is the way it was. Agreed that they should have put at least the YS GTO motor infront of the T400 trans. Tom Miller ran a XV code small valve 400 4-bbl at the Pure Stock Drags (a pretty Gold hardtop) about 10 years ago and it ran very strong 13.30's at 104 mph. I think it had 4.10 gears out back. Remember that car Deigo?

Dennis

[Diego]

Hey, you mixed up the I and E in my name again, Dennis! I'm cursing my parents for giving my sister the normal name in the family.

Seriously, it's hard to remember a lot of this stuff, especially since I think your brother had a 455 HO clone in a similar color, no? Of course, I remember Tom's silver car. :drool:

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Diego

Hey, you mixed up the I and E in my name again, Dennis! I'm cursing my parents for giving my sister the normal name in the family.

Seriously, it's hard to remember a lot of this stuff, especially since I think your brother had a 455 HO clone in a similar color, no? Of course, I remember Tom's silver car. :drool:

Sorry Diego,

Typing too fast to pay attention to my spelling and key strokes. Dan never had a 455 HO clone that I know of, other than the '72 Sundance Orange wagon. Dan owned the '71 Castillion Bronze 3-spd 455 HO for a while that he bought from the original owner back in the 90's. No gold(ish) ones other than his '71 CC T-37. He's had so many, maybe I forgot one or two.

The gold Lemans Tom had was eon's (sp?) before the silver car, maybe more than ten years ago. I'll have to look it up, or ask Tom himself about it.

Dennis

[Diego]

Dennis, I saw one of these gold ones on my computer a few days ago, but my photos are not very well organized and I couldn't find it right now to post. :-(

The one I found was a pure gold, not a bronze. In my head, it was Quezal Gold, so that would make it a '71 clone. Maybe Scott had one?

[SD455DJ]

Originally Posted by Diego

Dennis, I saw one of these gold ones on my computer a few days ago, but my photos are not very well organized and I couldn't find it right now to post. :-(

The one I found was a pure gold, not a bronze. In my head, it was Quezal Gold, so that would make it a '71 clone. Maybe Scott had one?

Diego,

I had a brain fart, yes, of course, Dan's Quezal Gold '71 T-37 455 HO pure stocker that he races at the F.A.S.T. events at Martin. That is the car that he bought from John Glasgo many moons ago. Duh, I can't believe I forgot about that car. Yes, it is a clone, but a very nicely done one by John G.

DJ

[richmas5]

code XX 2bl 400 was the entry level motor in the 70 lemans

[Diego]

The 400-2 was not an entry-level motor - it was an option.

[Jack Peters]

Entry level was 250 6 cyl. All V8's were options except on GTO. At least in '70 and '71. Think the same in '72 and then the GTO was back to an option.

[richmas5]

yes,that what I meant to say XX was entry level 400 engine on a 70 lemans

[Diego]

You mean to say the first step up from the 350-2 was the 400-2?