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in order

-As far as stock is concerned, yes. It's hard to know for sure though, as people hack these cars up all the time, and weird things happened on the assembly line all the time. My car came with a saginaw 4 speed, which, according to just about every source I've found, is impossible. Yet, every piece of documentation, including the window sticker and build sheet, show it as factory.

Nevertheless, i'd wager it's a 350. Moving up to a 400 is generally necessary more on power levels than it is on plain old engine size, so you'll have to decide on your plans for the car. TH350s can easily be built to handle 400+ hp, though.

The 301 is a pontiac motor, and thus a completely different design than the SBC. You'll have to use pontiac manifolds/headers.

Not sure what you mean on the two pipes on each side. Are you talking about the splitter tips? If so, I believe they showed up around 76 and carried on out. Why do you ask if they're year specific?

glad to have another punkass kid around.
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http://wofford.typepad.com/wes/

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Posted By: firebird455 On: 07-20-2006 @ 18:49:50     Reply | Top | Edit

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Hey, if you are looking at a '79 Bird with the 301, iwannafirebird is very correct, that is a Pontiac motor. The only problem with it is that it is the stepchild of the Pontiac family and pretty much useless. Fortunately, because motor mount brackets, trans bolt patterns, fuel pump, distributor, and what not are the same it is very simple to swap it to a 400 or 455 Pontiac. I have a '80 Formula that came with a 301 and a turbo 350. I switched to a Pontiac 455 motor, still using the original carb., distributor, and transmission and have been able to tune it into the mid to low 12 seconds in the quarter. Hope this helps.

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Posted By: IwannaFirebird On: 07-21-2006 @ 12:45:31     Reply | Top | Edit

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yeah he's right, the 301 has a pretty tough rep. Pulled from another website:

"The new 301 was designed with the highest tech processes of the day. It was largely machined in CNC processes which tightened up the tolerances of the engine while reducing the labor required. The problem came when Pontiac engineers were not allowed enough time to fully debug the process. Many early 301 engines failed due to errors in the CNC programs that made them. This didn't mean that ALL 301 engines were flawed -- but the ones that were died within 20 miles of the dealership. Needless to say this took the shine off the 301 in a lot of people's minds.

Pontiac did their best to soup up the 301 and offered the 301 Turbo as an answer in the TA the next year. But that was near the end and as good as the 301T was, it didn't have the low-end torque needed to really move the gen 2 car around."

I'd highly reccomend yanking it, too.

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http://wofford.typepad.com/wes/

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Posted By: BMM On: 07-21-2006 @ 15:32:12     Reply | Top | Edit

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Thanks guys.

I guess now I have to decide whether to keep the 301, or put something larger in it. Problem is I am going to university in a year, and who knows what my financial situation will be.

I was wondering about the exhaust because I would love to put it on this car. I don't think the typical straight dual pipes looks all too swell on these cars.

Thanks.
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Heavy Metal?

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Posted By: OneOwner On: 07-21-2006 @ 16:22:09     Reply | Top | Edit

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My 79 had the 301, T350, and single exhaust.

It has neither of those now

You can drop in just about anything under the hood. I stayed with Pontiac and dropped a 350, a TCI tranny, new suspension, rear end and gears and I went with duals and added the splitter exhaust tips. If you ask me, it is the best looking tip for a 2nd gen car.
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“When given two competing explanations for an event, one involving conspiracy and the other incompetence, always choose incompetence." Dr. Richard Cottam of the University of Pittsburgh (my mentor)

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Posted By: IwannaFirebird On: 07-22-2006 @ 01:22:00     Reply | Top | Edit

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Yeah, if not splitters, some sort of tucked-under slash tip is a must. My car had these interesting concoctions on it when I bought it...



Looked terrible, sounded like an old pickup truck..bleck. So I swapped all that mess out for these. Not quite splitter tips, but I liked them.



Now they're cut off too, as the back half has to be rerun with my new suspension. Dunno what I'm gonna do now.
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http://wofford.typepad.com/wes/

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Posted By: BMM On: 07-22-2006 @ 05:38:02     Reply | Top | Edit

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You have a beautiful car.


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Heavy Metal?

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Posted By: 327BlackBird On: 07-30-2006 @ 19:40:54     Reply | Top | Edit

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Or you can do like me and dump the exhaust and run without cats!

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Tino's Evil Twin
1967 327 SB. edelbrock performer intake. Smallblock 400 heads. Port and polish. Speed Demon 650. Crane Energizer cam 480 lift. Scorpion 1.5 ratio aluminum roller rockers. Comp cams moly pushrods. Pete jackson noisy gear drive. B&M Shift Kit. Melling high volume oil pump.MSD 6A ignition Box. MSD pro billet distributor. B&M Roll Control solonoid. Miloden Deep sump racing oil pan. B&M deep transmission pan. Holly Blue electric fuel pump & Regulator. Griffen 4 Core aluminum Racing rad. Comp cams springs and locks. AutoMeter gauges. Compitition Engineering Sub Frame Connectors.
Keith Black domed Hyperutetic pistons and speed pro moly plasma rings. SIR rods. Cloyes 2 peice billet aluminum timing cover. Black Crinkle tall Chevrolet valve covers. Energy Suspension transmission mount and engine mounts. Lakewood traction bars. Flowmaster mufflers. No cats, Exhaust dump. Hooker Longtubes. Taylor 8 mm Spiro Core wires.

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Posted By: 4Birdman On: 08-01-2006 @ 08:29:08     Reply | Top | Edit

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Dump the 301. It is a dog and there are virtually no performance parts for it. Get a good running 400 or 455 and freshen it up. It'll bolt right up to everything you have and you'll get a ton more performance out of it.
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1998 Trans Am - A little bit stock / 1979 Bandit Trans Am - Built 400, blown 4-spd
http://www.ponchoparts.com - All Pontiac Performance
http://www.steelandskin.com - Hot Girls and Hot Cars!

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Posted By: lambo5150 On: 07-21-2007 @ 22:42:00     Reply | Top | Edit

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I have a 1981 pontiac with a 301, yes I am pulling the motor for a 400 Olds from a 79. But until I do that I want to put a quadrajet from summit on the 301 and get rid of the all the emission control BS. can this be done and what should I be careful of?? Any help would be appreciated..

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Posted By: Mitch455 On: 04-29-2008 @ 14:30:17     Reply | Top | Edit

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Hey I've got a 74 Formula 455 and want to swap from the turbo 400 to a 4 speed. Any suggestions or help?
Thanks!

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