Vintage Pontiac Pics

[m22mike]

Worth another look.. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]
Anderson of course became Knafel Pontiac

[olredalert]

-----Love seeing any of these old cars that had anything to do with &quot;Akron Arlen&quot;. Knew him back in 65-66 and sold him nuts and bolts. Great guy and way ahead of his time......Bill S

[StealthBird]

Some experimental engines:

1963 SOHC 421 - This was installed in engineer Malcolm McKellars 63 Grand Prix. Mac just recently passed away. He was a camshaft guru, and designed some of the best hi-perf camshafts of the whole Musclecar era...

The 1968 Brabham 303 SOHC, a joint project between the famous Brabham-Repco Formula 1 Grand Prix team and Pontiac. DeLorean loved the idea of making a &quot;Super Firebird&quot; with an exotic engine, or with the help of racing team, similar to the Ford/Shelby collaboration. The Brabham 303 was abandoned when Pontiac engineers found out they were getting more power from their RAV 303 project.

The 1963 DOHC 4-valve 389 with sequential fuel injection - not making production, it was scrapped when the GM racing ban hit in Jan 1963, but this beast would have gone into Grand Prix's, Bonnevilles, and Catalinas. When the 1964 GTO hit the streets, the engine was deemed to expensive to install or make available in the GTO series, and the project was scrapped.

Another 1963 SOHC 421, with rear mounted cam belts, and 3-valve heads.

[StealthBird]

...

[Paul_S]

StealthBird,

Great engine shots and info. Is there any more out there especially of the fuel injection? Would like to also know what has survived. A bunch of neat stuff was in the works but the racing ban and emissions getting tighter (and redirecting development attention) killed a bunch.

Paul

[StealthBird]

Pontiac built 3 SOHC 421ci engines in the early '60s. The photo I posted earlier was the one engine that survived, and was presented to Chief Engine Engineer Malcolm McKellar upon his retirement. McKellar had it placed into his personal 1963 Grand Prix, and it's running to this day. McKellar said that during the testing, the SOHC 421 engines produced around 625 hp and were capable of turning 7,000 rpm.



What's really cool about this engine is that this isn't a tri-power setup on top, it was an an experimental single six-barrel unit that Pontiac Engineering tested for the 1967 model year. But when GM pulled the plug on multiple carbs, this setup was shelved.

Below is another view of the SOHC 421 I posted earlier, the one with the belt driven, rear mounted cam drives. Check out the exotic fuel injection setup.

[old5.0]

StealthBird, what were the differences between the late 50's Pontiac fuel injection and the Chevrolet unit? Was the Pontiac Rochester sourced? Any websites that discuss the Pontiac F.I. in any detail? It seems like all the discussion is about the Chevy unit and the Pontiac gets lost in the shuffle. I know the F.I. pictured above isn't a production unit, it just got me wonderin'.

[StealthBird]

The Chevy and Pontiac setups were both made by Rochester Products, and were similar. The main difference being in the manifold design, and the fuel-meter locations. The Pontiac manifold had longer runners, giving a ram effect, and was stronger in the low and mid-range areas. The Pontiac setup made a respectable 310 hp from 347 cubes, but unfortunately pushed the heaviest car in Pontiac's lineup. A 57 Chieftain with the tri-power was actually quicker than the 57 Bonneville.

All 630 of the 1957 Bonnevilles were fuel injected, all convertibles, and all of them were loaded up with every available factory option, which again made them the heaviest of the Pontiacs.

The 57's typically sell for $120K-$200K now, one of the most expensive collector cars out there.

This is a 58 unit, but the runners and fuel inlets were the same as in 57. Biggest difference between the 57 Chevy F.I. and 57 Pontiac F.I. was the plenum, and runner length. Pics are from an old post on the Corvette Forum.

[Paul_S]

I remember reading about his retirement, the engine gift and his '63. The single 6-brl carb was a neat way to cheat the system. I wonder how much FI development knowledge he had and whether he had any hardware.

All production Pontiac FI units shared the same basic design and some components as units used for Chevrolet (Pass) and Corvette. Their main difference was the &quot;Turkey Roaster&quot; sheet metal enclosure they were housed in on the Pontiacs. All were/are Rochester units.