[Stan R]

Originally Posted by dataway

I've got a bunch of good photos of an NOS 264 that I went through not long ago if you need any.

Thanks for sharing the photo and your offer to provide additional ones. I'm either going to rebuild my 264 myself or have it done sometime before next year's cruise and car show season. If I do it myself, I may take you up on your offer and request more pics.

[Stan R]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

1970 Lemans Sport & GTO order sheet

Your 'as-is' window sticker reads:
M22 4 SPD CLOSE RATIO TRANSMISSION 35E
G80 SAFE-T-TRACK DIFFERENTIAL-HD 361

I would guess that (option wording aside) it should probably read:
M22 4 SPD CLOSE RATIO TRANSMISSION 35G
G90 SAFE-T-TRACK DIFFERENTIAL-HD 368

35E was the M20
361 was the standard safe-t-track
That option sheet makes it look like option code 368 should be either G90 (3.90?) or G92 (4.33?).

Those two jumped right out at me;
(Please see linked order for as to why I am suggesting the different codes)
I am not sure on correct wording for any given option, as an example would need to be seen to pattern it after.



I was thinking it, but not being an expert on the Tempest/Lemans/GTO, I kept my thoughts to myself.
I know that the 455 D-port engine on the Firebird was TH400 only, and assumed the same for the GTO (ect).

But, I really came here just now because I just noticed something with a different piece of period literature(!);
I took your "3.90 gear" comment with a grain of salt, and did that because I know it was offered before 1970, but not being anything of an expert on GTO's or post-1970 Pontiac optional equipment, I assumed you were mistaken on that gear ratio;
I had understood that the GTO still could get the Pontiac rear end in 1970, but didn't know if it was available after that;
I knew that GM was going corporate in 1970 and that it wasn't too unusual to see a corporate 10 bolt under a Lemans, and that if oped right a corporate 12 bolt could be found in a GTO;
I had understood that 3.90 (& 4.33) was a gear ratio not offered with corporate differentials - but rather 3.42 (10 bolt), 3.55 (12 bolt), and 3.73 (10 & 12 bolt) was.

What I was previously looking at was 1972 literature, and the 1971 'Performance catalogue' - the latter doesn't give any indication of optional gearing...

Except(!)

I just noticed that in the deluxe full line catalogue, the full optional differential gear sets are clearly spelt out in the Lemans, T-37/GT-37, and GTO powertrain charts!

That's just too cool!!

It seems to be quite clear that the 3.90:1 gear set was standard when the "4-speed (close ratio)" transmission (aka: M22) was ordered;
And it also shows that it was optional with the standard 3-speed (HD-Muncie) transmission!!
Which in turn means I need to now look up a 1971 GTO speedo gear chart, to confirm was was used for the Muncie three speed w/3.90 gear set;
I had previously planned on winging it based on my own calculations - this is what I intend to run in my car - I already have a spare differential and everything to set it up!
(I hope that I find that gear set to be quite liveable, my Grand Am has 3.94:1 gears (swapped in from 3.61:1), my Cobalt has 3.82:1 gears, and my truck has 3.73:1 gears -granted all of these have overdrive, but I will leave the cars in fourth sometimes just because...)

The more I learn about 70-72 GTO's, the cooler they are to me.

I have always liked GTO's, they always seemed the Firebird's bigger brother - and even though things currently seem to have somewhat reversed, when I got my Formula 400 (in 1995) a similar equipped same-year GTO would have probably had at least a 50% higher asking price - if not double.

Thanks for the detailed explanation on the tranny and rear end codes & UPC's. I guess that I'll have to blame Triple A Enterprises (https://window-sticker.com/) for the errors. When I ordered a reproduction window sticker from them I provided the code and UPC numbers for all of the options (taken from the '71 accessories catalog) except for the transmission, differential, and tires. I relied on them to supply those three items and they got it wrong. However, the pricing is accurate since I copied down that info from the original window sticker before I scraped it off the glass.

Another factory mistake that I had to contend with was that the speedometer was set up for a 3.23 gear set, so I accumulated a lot more miles on the odometer than the car actually travelled by a factor of 390/323. The speed that the car was travelling at was also off by the same ratio. So when the speedometer indicated 70 MPH, I was really only going 58 MPH. I eventually corrected the error with a custom made gear box that attached to the speedo output on the tranny to slow down the cable rotation (which was easier for me to do than pulling the speedometer out of the car and changing gears).

[Stan R]

Originally Posted by mchell

Cool….. shared my original invoice for comparison.

Mine is a 400 auto car and came with the 7041264 carb. Played around with many qjets including single ring 263’s…. They ALL generally perform the same IF setup properly for your application. The 264 is a decent carb but I prefer the mid to later 70’s carbs for Perfomace builds.

Interesting to see that your invoice included a listing of the options and mine does not. Looks like it was at the discretion of the dealer to decide how much detail went into the invoice.

[Kenth]

Originally Posted by SD455DJ

If memory serves, A & F Bodies with 455 D-port engines (325 hp) were TH400 only, manual trans. not available (except in the very early for B-body...weird).

Dennis

Seems like Gand Prix SJ came standard equipped with 455 and a 3-speed heavy duty M/T.
And so did Firebird Formula 455 and Grand Ville according to the brochures.

From http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot...rand-prix.html

"You could still get a manual transmission car but they were scarce. Just 116 stick shift G.P.s were made that year and the majority of them were 3 speeds. The four speed version was super rare at 58 cars. In fact by March 1971, the standard transmission was dropped from the Grand Prix line. The same thing happened to the Bonneville -Catalina 455 as well."

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Kenth

Seems like Gand Prix SJ came standard equipped with 455 and a 3-speed heavy duty M/T.
And so did Firebird Formula 455 and Grand Ville according to the brochures.

From http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot...rand-prix.html

The opting for the 455 D-port engine in the 1971 Formula required the three speed automatic;
The HD-3 speed was base transmission with the 400/4bbl, and 455HO.

[SD455DJ]

Kenth, Thanks for posting those info/specs from the '71 brochures...I was looking for those myself and you saved me a bunch of time searching, lol. I believe the factory never actually offered the manual transmissions behind the D-port 455 4-bbl engines, despite the early brochure saying so. I have never personally seen any '71/'72 A or F body being equipped as such. The only D-port 455 4-bbl that was offered with a manual trans was the '73 Trans Am (and Formulas?), then not for '74, but then yes again for '75 & '76. I am happy to be proved wrong and always willing to learn something new, so please don't take this as a challenge, just from what I've seen and gleaned over the years.

Dennis