[Jack Gifford]

Picture is from Sep'91 Hot Rod. What is the [Pontiac?] engine?

[AIR RAM]

Originally Posted by Jack Gifford

Picture is from Sep'91 Hot Rod. What is the [Pontiac?] engine?

Sounds like witch craft to me... Perhaps a BBC with Pontiac valve covers?

SPEED SAFE, NICK

[Mike Davis]

Big Block Chevy with the Pontiac Big Chief Pro Stock Heads. In the day the Pontiac Head was the best flowing for the BBC.
Know the guy that did the heads.

[mgarblik]

Jack, that was essentially similar to the engine Arnie Beswick was running in his 64 Tameless Tiger II GTO. I would refer to it as a BBC inspired engine package. There were different ways to get the huge displacement in those days. With so much corporate money floating around, blocks were cast in a variety of formats. Raised and short decks, altered bore spacing, lower crankcase mods with room for very long strokes. Same with the heads as well, many, many different versions of the "Pontiac" Big Chief heads and intake manifolds. Very little to no interchange between versions. I tried to help Arnie get a fresh set of "396" Big Chief castings for his Tiger car. Worked with Darin Morgan who helped develop them, and others. Not a single set to be found in the country by the early 2010's. It was like they never existed.

[GTOGEORGE]

Just Chevy JUNK!



GTO George

[grandam1979]

Really fast Junk don’t think all those Pro Stock Pontiacs had 455’s do you

[GTOGEORGE]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

Really fast Junk don’t think all those Pro Stock Pontiacs had 455’s do you

They were all corporate power so who cares.....pro stock has sucked for a long time.


GTO George

[Jack Gifford]

I was aware of the Pontiac heads that were for BBC but was never near them. The paired intake runners in the photo made me think this was something other than a BBC.
Were the valves canted in a manner similar to BBC?

[Dragncar]

There was a Pro Stock 86 Bird around here with those heads on them. Friends with current owner. BBCs have paired intakes runners anyway right ?

[Jack Ferris]

Like em or hate em. They still ran hard.

[blueghoast]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

Really fast Junk don’t think all those Pro Stock Pontiacs had 455’s do you

So does that mean there's no Santa either. LOL

gt

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

... BBCs have paired intakes runners anyway right ?...

Well... if I hadn't ignored them all these years, I guess I would have known that!.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Jack Gifford

Well... if I hadn't ignored them all these years, I guess I would have known that!.

Ignoring BBCs is a good thing ! BBFs are a better engine anyway.
Chevy hate is deep in this one.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Ignoring BBCs is a good thing ! BBFs are a better engine anyway.
Chevy hate is deep in this one.

I think one point to the "hate", is Chevy had it all. From the top GM management, to the bloated engineering staff, to the hardware, they had an open checkbook. And yet they did so little with it all!. Splayed valve heads, giant bore spacing, forged internal parts, aluminum parts galore. But an all iron, in-line head, cast rod and crankshaft lowly Pontiac V-8 would give them all they could handle and more, designed and built by a skeleton staff, beat down by GM management at every turn. Heck, it took Pontiac engineers to make the "corporate" big block a real runner. The Big Chief heads made a Chevy BB a decent powerplant. A good example of my rant is a Pontiac 428 HO-390 HP. vs a 454 390 BBC. The Pontiac will run circles around that "Cherished BB", and it's cast iron everything, nothing exotic at all.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Ignoring BBCs is a good thing ! BBFs are a better engine anyway.
Chevy hate is deep in this one.

I think one point to the "hate", is Chevy had it all. From the top GM management, to the bloated engineering staff, to the hardware, they had an open checkbook. And yet they did so little with it all!. Splayed valve heads, giant bore spacing, forged internal parts, aluminum parts galore. But an all iron, in-line head, cast rod and crankshaft lowly Pontiac V-8 would give them all they could handle and more, designed and built by a skeleton staff, beat down by GM management at every turn. Heck, it took Pontiac engineers to make the "corporate" big block a real runner. The Big Chief heads made a Chevy BB a decent powerplant.

[ho428]

Pontiac's sbc head was pretty good too. Looked at a set recently for a 302 build but they were built for a NASCAR engine.