Proving My Pontiac V8 Cred and ADDICTION! Pontiac 350 Build Ahead!

[@natec4359]

I'm no Pontiac guy but i gotta respect them after watching Pole Barn Garage. I'm about 40 miles into Pa. Spent quite a bit of money at that Summit. Cool to subscribe to a fairly local channel especially early on. Looks like you have the right car addiction.

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

Oh I dunno about the RIGHT addiction but it's certainly an addiction! This is just a small portion of my stupidity, stick around you'll see a WHOLE lot more of it!

[@kevin122759]

I had a 70 LeMans with the 350 back in the late 70s. I guess if one car I could actually love, it is that one. I still have dreams of that car.

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

I am in a very fortunate situation to have 3 of these things to call my own and I am admittedly HORRIBLE at selling cars. I get attached to them way to fast so I get it! Hopefully this 350 build really makes the '68 as much fun (or more) as my 70!

[@rippasnortus]

I had a 70 Lemans Sport back in the day with a 400 blue block, TH400, buckets seats, console. Was a sweet ride.

[@robacon6386]

Bore it 30 over run flat tops, zero deck the block, mill the heads for compression, valve Job and port, bet you could get close to 400 hp, probably run a roller cam and valve train!!! I'm stoked to see this build, I'm a Pontiac but got a 67 bird just sold me 350 poncho motor I had in it and now putting a 455 together to basically do what you are gonna do

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

Thinking based on calculations we need to put somewhere near 400hp at the tires to make this thing hit the 12 flats we are looking for. With a race weight somewhere in the 4000-4100 pound range. Now we have never scaled this car, I'm going off pure "curb weight" so that could change depending on how all this build goes. It's reachable, but 400whp out of a 350 Pontiac is a big ask! We'll see I guess :)

[@charlie225]

Pontiac perforemance, best looking car ever is a. 69 Gran Prix with that awesome beak!😉

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

I have always been a Pontiac lover, they have awesome styling and love the music they make. It's also totally on brand for me to be a bit "different" I don't YET own a 69 LeMans but... it would kind of complete my set so we'll see!

[@SweatyFatGuy]

I said at NNN that I'd help you go faster... so here ya go. If you want to do a 350, no problem. 12.0 with a 455 is a lot easier and less expensive, but a 350 can do it. The reason Pontiacs rarely have domes is flame travel and Pontiac used chamber size to achieve the compression they wanted. The bore size is why most of us eschew the 350, it shrouds the valves considerably but I have a work around. Find some 670 heads, they are from 1967 400 and 428 engines, 2.11/1.77 valves, and they have closed chambers that move the valves up into the head more. I've run 11.40s on a 455 with a ported set of 670s, and they are on my daily driver 65 GTO's 455 running E85. Usually the 670s don't need the chamfer at the top of the cylinder to clear the valves, the closed chambers are deeper than the later open chamber 72cc heads. Its difficult to get more than 9.5:1 with a 350, so you're going to be on pump gas unless you stroke it. Most 350 heads with stock pistons have around 7.5:1 because of the chamfer around the piston crowns that lower compression by around a full point. The only way you can use those 350 heads to get a 3500lb A body into the 12.0 range is with the stroker crank or some kind of forced induction. Compression is your friend in a Pontiac, as long as you can feed it good enough fuel. E85 is simple, easy and it makes more power than gasoline in the range Pontiacs love to make torque. Idle to 4000. Before we could get forged rods for less than $1200 a set, I used 350 rods with ARP bolts in all my 400 and 455 builds. Lighter pistons and most of them were not driven hard since they had 2 barrel carbs and 2.56 gears behind them. 400 and 455 rods were stressed more than 350 rods, and I have factory rod engines I built in the 90s that are still going today, and yeah, they run in the 12s easy. We have lots more options now, its a good time to build Pontiac engines. You can get by with the factory rods as long as you keep it under 6200 with the 350. Unless you're going to spray it, cast pistons work fine, I have a 455 from 1995 with cast pistons and rods, it pushed my 4100lb 70 GTO into the 12.60s with a 2.93 gear and 1900 stall, wearing 5C heads that made at best 8.8:1 compression. Going budget with a 350 works, provided you get quality parts that don't lower compression, like pistons with both 24 and 14 degree valve reliefs, those things knock more than a full point off all by themselves. No need for a forged crank unless you plan to run a supercharger or lots of boost. Cast cranks are good to well over 800hp. If you are planning to not drive it much on the street, then a cam in the area of a RA IV will work, but you want a tight LSA like 108 or 110 to build mid range torque, you only have 6000 rpm to play with with Pontiacs unless you get more than 310cfm to them. Midrange is your friend, which is why we run highway gears. So 236/242@.050 is something you can still drive around with a 2200ish stall and a 350, it will be choppy as hell, soggy under 2500, but with 9.5:1 from 72cc heads and the bigger valves, it will run. More than 245@.050 with unported heads is too far, it will never get its act together. Stick with 1.5:1 or 1.6:1 rockers, the Ford 5.0 1.6 roller rockers fit Pontiac, go figure, they are dirt cheap too. No need for a roller unless you are concerned about flat lobes from bad lifters. Funny enough, I have always had good luck with Summit brand dirt cheap Pontiac specific lifters NOT THE CHEVY ONES, they drop oil pressure. I've had Comp and Lunati go flat and an Edelbrock RAIV copy (they call it RPM) lost three lobes in ten minutes way back in 1998, but the Summit lifters have never gone flat. Mostly I use them with the Summit 2802, which is real close to a 744 RA III cam, and that is the smallest cam I will run. Roughly 224/228 and 112LSA, a similar sized cam with a 108 LSA would be a kick butt daily driver cam in a 350. Roller cam adds $1000 minimum to the build that is above the cost of a flat tappet. I only have three roller cams, the rest of them are flat, one is a solid flat (unported E headed 461 in my blue 79 Formula). Stalls vary depending on the cam, but usually you don't need more than 3200 flashed. You only have 6000 to play with. However, a 350 is where you can throw more gear at it, but I would still go no deeper than 3.73, a 4.10 with a 29" or 30" tire might work, but fitting that much under an A body will require a sawzall. guess how I know.. 28"x10" tires fit ok with the right offset, lots of room in 68-72 wheel wells side to side, but not as much front to back. Running a 350 I'd go with a 3.50 to 3.73 gear, 28" drag radials, 2800 stall, custom ground RA IV cam with a 110 LSA, 1 5/8" headers (cheap Summit ones work great), factory Qjet, Performer or Performer RPM intake, avoid single planes, and you can probably use an 850 Holley if you don't want to run a Qjet, otherwise 750 is fine. Pontiacs pull lots of vacuum, so a big carb doesn't affect them as much, until you get into 240+ at .050 cams. The long relatively small ports create velocity which is why they are torque engines. 6200 with a 350 is doable, and factory rods will live there, but it will probably stop pulling round 6000. I've gotten my A bodys to hook pretty good with simple stuff. UMI tubular rear arms are my go to, they are about the same cost as putting new bushings in stock arms and boxing them. If you want to play with the pinion angle adjustable uppers are the trick, otherwise the regular ones work great. I have non adjustable on the 65 GTO and adjustable on the 68 LeMans I am bringing to the NNN this year. You want the ride height to be so the rear arm is level with the ground while static. A lifted rear makes it hop or spin, and you want the instant center to lift the rear end rather than squat it, so a rear end housing with other mounting holes is a good idea. My 68 has a Quick performance 9" with the adjustable lowers and a 3.50 gear. Getting the car as low as possible helps, keeping the rear LCA level to the ground. The 65 has a 455 and a 3.08 gear behind it in a 8.2 diff. That thing is a beast with the ported 670s on it. It has the Summit 1 5/8" headers too. Only my round port engines get something else to be honest. The Cooper 255 60 15s spin a bit, but I can make it dead hook with as much as 3/4 throttle running the UMI bars out back and half a tank of fuel. WOT on Cooper radials is a pro stock smoke show, but it does not hop at all. You want the front end to come up kinda fast, I grind the teeth off front arm bushings to make that happen, stock arms work fine up front, just put polyurethane bushings in them. Springs are more abut ride height and not bottoming out than anything else, you could try the trick springs if you want, doesn't need a corner carving spring rate though, you want movement. Swaybar in the rear helps considerably, a small one up front like a stock LeMans unit greased well and set up so it doesn't bind at all will keep the car level so it doesn't waste time twisting or lifting one tire. Only a rear bar makes them tail happy, they will over steer SUPER easy with only a rear bar. Leaf spring cars (F and X) can go without a front bar, I have better luck with the bar on my A bodies and the coil spring rears. Waiting to see what the 68 wants so it can hook 1000hp or so with the blower. (Keep that under your hat.) Currently the 68 doesn't have front or rear bars for a baseline. If it twists the suspension with the cage in it, the bars will go on. I do a specific alignment. Usually I can't get more than 3 degrees of caster, if you can get more throw as much in as you can, it will go straighter down the track and be more stable at the top end. Since the front end is up about two inches going down the track I set it with the nose two inches above static, as close to 0 camber as humanly possible, half a degree toe in, and lots of caster. They drive fine like that too, with power or manual steering. Put your weight in the car while aligning it, that seems to help mine, but I am rather heavy. In the 90s I picked up .4 with the 79 Formula by turning the rotors, repacking the bearings, making sure the calipers move very freely, and that alignment. It also went from moving all over the track to going straight and launching straight. I backed off the rear drums to where I could hear but not feel the shoes touching, and removed the adjusters to keep it from tightening up every time I backed up. Electric fuel pump lower than the tank, close to the sender, and if you can't get a sender with a 3/8" line or larger, modify it to get at least a 3/8" and that should feed a 350 easily. A 455 is where you might need to step up to a 1/2" line, stock pumps will run you out of fuel at the top of second once you get in the 12s. They can't pull from the tank while accelerating that hard. Guess how I know. I have an untouched running 1972 350 sitting here, I am thinking of throwing a set of untouched 62 heads on it, they are around 72-75cc, Summit 2802 cam, factory intake and Qjet, maybe RA III manifolds, maybe headers, 2800 stall and putting it in something to see how well it runs, probably a lighter car rather than a heavier one. Might be a fun project for this fall if I can get the 71 Firebird up here from the farm. It would probably run fine on 89 octane.

[@SweatyFatGuy]

Oh yeah, all the suspension and gearing stuff will work to make the 455 in the yellow one faster... ;)

[@leprechaungarage]

You know it would be cool to find a 400 block and build that since you already have a 350 and 455. Or pull the 455 out , put it in the 68 . Put a better intake and an ATM carb on it and run your 11.80 lol

[@hydroy1]

To ME, I think you're making a hell of a mistake by NOT using a 400 motor. You could build a EASY 12 flat car with a 400, 62 heads, and a Sig Erson 500HLH cam) 505lift/ 308 Der.Hyd. on a 108 centerline, a old Edelbrock single plane Toquer intake with a 850 Holley and 4:33s in the rear and 11 inch wide 29"tall M&H slicks plus a 4,500rpm stall convert. It will go low 12s all day long ALL MOTOR! and won't beat the bearings out of it like you will with NO-2 or a turbo. Pontiacs weak link are there cast iron rods & cranks.

[@Null-h6c]

Isnt black crow from big chief same engine ?

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

Essentially yes or at least it was last I paid attention to that show. However he want aluminum headed and built by Butler. I had to limit this motor drastically or would have risked breaking everything attached to it.

[@Null-h6c]

@@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin i just meant the gist of it . Graphite compressed iron is ideal for turbo . What you use is plenty . If you want light , there is smart

[@WiSeNhEiMeR-1369]

HOWdy Austin, ... pOnTiAc addiction COOP the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA AMC'ya ... ...

[@Connor-m5h]

Can you make a Pontiac 350 have 600 hp while it being reliable?

[@davefroman4700]

Oh dear sir, you really need to see a specialist about that addiction. Its very dangerous. I know a couple of men that have lost their families to this addiction. And Im pretty sure at least a couple of men died virgins because of it too. 🤣😂😉

[@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin]

Not sure what sort of treatments are available for this kind of sickness, but I'm at least at step 1 which is admitting you have a problem right? Definitely not dying a virgin, but I'll probably be one of those who dies with a WHOLE lot of toys whenever that day comes!

[@davefroman4700]

@@AutomotiveAdventuresWithAustin Remember the teachings of Jesus my friend. "It is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle? Than it is for a rich man to enter heaven" Confucius also teaches that with great wealth, comes even greater social responsibilities. And only by living up to those responsibilities, can you achieve balance in ones life.