Last night cruzin town lookin for some fresh meat, and what do I see in front of me ? A license plate that reads my81TA. So I get beside him at about thirty mph and we both look and nod, he pulled me by a car and a half, until I hit third then I was coming up on him. But by third gear we were shutting down due to city posted speed limits of 35 mph which we may have exceeded by 1 or 2 mph... So what did I do, I pulled up beside him and gave him the thumb's up, he rolled down his window and said it's ok there both Pontiac's. He had a shaker hood that said 5.7 liter, but that 81 T/A could run. I'm all stock, but he may of had some mod's. Reason I'm assuming he may of had mod's is when I pulled in behind him at a stoplight his fuel smelled stout, not like my 91 octane... But still, cool guy and a good race, even though I lost....
He would have definately had an engine swap, engine rebuild, mods or something. A full-stock 1981 T/A would have probably less than 200 hp. Cars kinda sucked back then for stock hp/tq production.
I'm also curious and will look this up some time, as from what I remember offhand, the car was offered with the 400, not 350. Not sure if the 455 was offered in 81's or not. Also not sure if they were using liter markers then--thought they were still doing cubic inches, though I also remember seeing some T/As of that body style with the 6.6 along the hood bump.
Add: found some info that indicates that neither 350 nor anything higher was available in them?
He would have definately had an engine swap, engine rebuild, mods or something. A full-stock 1981 T/A would have probably less than 200 hp. Cars kinda sucked back then for stock hp/tq production.
I'm also curious and will look this up some time, as from what I remember offhand, the car was offered with the 400, not 350. Not sure if the 455 was offered in 81's or not. Also not sure if they were using liter markers then--thought they were still doing cubic inches, though I also remember seeing some T/As of that body style with the 6.6 along the hood bump.
Add: found some info that indicates that neither 350 nor anything higher was available in them?
1979 was the last year for a 6.6 liter in the T/A. There were two 6.6 liter's, the T/A 6.6 which was a Pontiac 400 rated at 220hp and a 403 Olds motor that was rated at 200. Part way through 79 they ran out of big blocks and switched to a 4.9 liter 301 that had about 155 hp. In 1980 and 1981 you could get a turbo T/A that had a 200 hp turbocharged 301, but they were known for losing head gaskets and not being very potent. 1980 and 81 also had the base 301 and an up option 305 that had 170hp but was only available with a stick shift.
My guess is this guy really had a 5.7 and had done a LT1 or LS1 engine swap which is fairly popular for someone not looking to keep the car stock.
I had an 82 TA that came with a 305 but I swapped the motor and tranny with my 600+hp 383 stroker and a turbo 400 tranny. If it's older you have to be on the look out b/c you can harness a lot of power from a carb motor due to the fact that it's usually cheaper to build one up. And it may still seem stock b/c it may "look" stock. I had loads of fun squashing vettes and other people who thought the car was stock. Never trust how a vehicle looks when going though possible opponents. My TA when it was first fitted with the "upgrades" was the ugliest thing till it got painted. I had a licence plate holder that read... "Ugly as sin but fast as hell" JMO. Have fun out there.
75 was the last year for the 455.
81 had the options of 301 Pontiac Turbo, 305 Chevy, and 350 Pontiac. (and possibly a 400 Pontiac, but that doesn't sound right)
This is going off fuzzy memory. I used to know this stuff like the back of my hand, but until my GTO I haven't been into Pontiacs for over 10 years.
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"Some people are like slinky's. They really have no useful purpose, but they can still put a smile on your face when you push them down stairs."
Most of the 2nd gen Fbodies I run into do not have the original stock motor in them. But they almost all look stock from the outside (they may have been repainted, and some T/As have had the screaming chicken decal put on the hood when it didn't originally come with it, but that's pretty much it). 455 swaps seemed to be pretty common. Built 350s also. I haven't heard of someone swapping an LS1 and actually using 5.7L stickers, but I can see it happening--should be a pretty straightforward swap.
The disco dash on those late 70's T/As was pretty wild in a way, but I don't know if sunlight can get in and reflect off that holographic decal and cause driving distractions.
I had a 79 T/a had the 4.9 on the shaker, but I had stuffed a 450 plus hp 455 in there. I tell you you want a talk about some reactions when people got smoked by what they thought was a 301.
problem with racing older cars is you never know what their packing the worse beatings i've taken so far was from a early 80's style monte carlo & a mid 80's F-body stang. both turned out to be 10 second cars.
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