As we all know, the Pontiac SD-455 Firebirds were the last mighty gasp of the muscle car era before it was smothered by government regulations, fuel crises, and a public that was far more obsessed with economy and the environment than burning rubber in the 1970s. So what the heck makes the 1973/1974 engine that much more awesome than other 455 engines of the muscle car period and perhaps more awesome than ANY of them, no matter the maker? As it turns out, perhaps way more than you think.
This video is not about horsepower ratings and the like but rather the hard tech behind the SD-455 engine, the block, the components, and how engineers build a full bore race engine and tuned it down for the street. We really had no idea that the purpose of building this particularly awesome combo was on the back of Pontiac’s NASCAR development work and lots of that technology is sitting in the lump of cast iron that resides between the frame rails of these cars.
A Pontiac built with an envisioned 7,000 RPM redline?! This is the one. Hell, the parts were so good people were actually stealing them from the factory! That’s one of the more interesting stories in this video. We didn’t know that one, either.
Listen to a guy who is an OG Super Duty owner tell you why this program was wild, why the heads were so good, and why the block and other parts have a LOT more going on than meets the eye.
