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Gearhead School: This Video Is One Of The Best We Have Ever Seen About Pontiac Engines


Gearhead School: This Video Is One Of The Best We Have Ever Seen About Pontiac Engines

If there is one family of engines that has likely triggered more gearhead arguments than any other it is probably the Pontiac brand. Because there’s not actual “big block” or “small block” Pontiac engines, people get all spun out trying to define the difference between a 301 and a 455. Gearheads that aren’t all that versed are very wary to believe that all of these mills came from what amount to identical cylinder blocks. There are a dizzying array of bore and stroke combos that were used through the Pontiac history but the basic foundation remained reliably the same.

This guy’s YouTube channel is pretty cool. He’s an engine builder it seems and he’s got lots of great stuff on it. A BangShifter recommended we check it out in the comments for a story the other day and when we did it turned into a great spot to click and watch for a while. There’s plenty of stuff we’ll share with you in the coming weeks but we figured that we’d begin with this video celebrating and educating on the history of Pontiac engines.

Give it a watch and tell us what you think below.

Press play below to get a great education on Pontiac engines –


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7 thoughts on “Gearhead School: This Video Is One Of The Best We Have Ever Seen About Pontiac Engines

  1. Curtis Wilhelm

    I agree with you about the fact that there were no \”big block\” and \”small block\” Pontiacs made. Just a few corrections though. The 421\’s were made from 62 to 66, not 61 to 62. The 455\’s all had a 4.25\” stroke, not a 4\” stroke. Only the 421 and 428 had 4\” strokes. And last but not least, the 421, 428, and 455 all had 3.25\” main bearing journals whereas the 400, 389, 350, 326, 377, 366, 347, 317, 303, and 287 all had 3\” crankshaft main bearing diameters. I\’m not counting the other two small Pontiac enigines made in the lay 70\’s and early 80\’s becuase they are not suitable for performance builds due to the casting strength of the block and the engine size. The Pontiac engine is a remarkable design. ALL the good engines mentioned above had the SAME connecting rod length of 6.625\” and all cylinder heads from 1959 to 1979 are interchangeable! However, as mentioned in the video, some of the smaller engines won\’t work well the the larger valve sizes produced on the larger engines (valve shrouding and possible interference depending on the camfshaft size. They
    make great performance engines due to the power being made from a longer stroke, (torque wins races, horsepower sells engines and parts). Just be sure you do your homework and check out the casting numbers on all the parts you are using. And one other thing, buy some aftermarket rods for your engine build, Pontiac rods are suitable for mild performance engine rebuilds if rebuilt properly but your better off spending a few extra bucks to pick up a set of aftermarket forged rods. The money spent reworking your factory rods will be more wisely invested on aftermarket pieces.

  2. Jaimon Durham

    You say the 301 has a weak block. Whats the differentce between a 301 and lets say a 455 block?

    1. Dana R

      The 301 had a lower deck height and windowed main webs. On the cylinder head, sister cylinders (1 & 3, 5 & 7, …) had common intake ports, which meant the intake manifolds were single plane with only 2 runners per bank.

  3. Jonathan k baker

    Can I say (big cube) pontiac. Lol I have a 1962 421 SD with the arma steel crank bored to 455, due to some trouble I had with a prior build. Not done by me, the builder of the engine left the oil pump loose resulting in spun bearings and needing a complete rebuild also had issues in a couple cylinder\’s. All better now.

  4. Matt

    Good video and good comments from you. I was going g to make some of the same comments about main size and the 455 stroke but you said it better than Inu would’ve. Still enjoyed the video and he is right about everything else including the 303 behind a badass motor, basically a smaller version of the tunnel port ram air V

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