Should I even bother

[holyhombre]

This is my first post on hybridz. A friend of mine found what he said was a 1967 pontiac 400 c.i. small block. He said it was rebuilt and came with a th400 bolted to it. Supposedly its a running motor pulled and replaced with an HO 350 crate engine. $800 takes the motor and the tranny. Of course I'm stoked at the idea of putting this bad boy into my 74 260z.

When I finally check out the engine and run the codes I find out that its a 326. The weakest v8 made in '67.

My question is, should I take the trouble to slap this into my z or should I wait until something else shows up further down the road?

I searched and found next to no info for z's running a pontiac 326. Any suggestions?

 

p.s. I have initial goals of getting a v8 into the z that has potential to put 300 hp to the rear wheels. But I'm pretty sure that when I reach that goal I'll want to bump it to 400. Which makes the 326 a very pitiful replacement for the 400 I thought I was in for.

[Hey_Allen]

I don't know Mopar, but could it be overbored if you wanted more displacement?

Heck, if it's a common block, just with different bores, you could theoretically overbore it to the 400 dimensions, and drop in 400cid pistons.

 

Again, I don't know the engines of that line.

[Pop N Wood]

I don't know Mopar, but could it be overbored if you wanted more displacement?

Heck, if it's a common block, just with different bores, you could theoretically overbore it to the 400 dimensions, and drop in 400cid pistons.

 

Again, I don't know the engines of that line.

 

Mopar?

 

Has anyone on here done a pontiac motor swap? Would be pretty cool from that aspect.

 

But I think you are going to find that common wisdom says to do a tried and true Chevy swap. That swap has been pretty well worked through. Anything you come up against someone on here will have a solution for. The aftermarket support for the chevy motor is also more extensive and cheaper.

 

You will probably be dollars ahead with the chevy swap, but wait and see what some of the others say about the pontiac.

[grumpyvette]

ok, while a 326 is never going to run with the larger 389-421-455 pontiacs if equally modified a 326 can produce a GREAT DEAL of power and can certainly provide spirited performance in a (Z)

no, the pontiac won,t be as easy or as cheap as a chevy, but if you want to go jumping thru a few extra hoops the pontiac can easily produce 375-450hp with aftermarket heads, intake, cam,etc. I build pontiacs frequently, you CAN get tire smoking power,but youll need to sellect the correct heads, rotating assembly ,intake and cam combo!

 

A few suggeated parts,THEY ARE A HUGE IMPROVEMENT

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CAT-Pontiac-455-H-Beam-6-625-4340-Connecting-Rods-ARP_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ107063QQihZ001QQitemZ110164381210QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

you WILL NEED better rods (not necessarily these)

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=EDL%2D60599&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=EDL%2D2957&autoview=sku

 

(huge improvement over stock in a high performance build)

 

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=NOS%2D02001NOS&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

 

don,t overlook pontiacs, they have alot of features superior to chevys (and a few FLAWS)

 

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/672hp_pontiac_350s/index.html

 

http://www.wickedpontiacs.8m.com/tips.html

 

http://www.wallaceracing.com/techarticles.htm

 

http://www.pontiacstreetperformance.com/psp/camselect.html

 

http://members.tripod.com/futom/id113.htm

 

http://members.tripod.com/futom/id59.htm

 

http://fiedlerh.home.att.net/PontiacCams.htm

 

http://www.teufert.net/pontiac/cranks.htm

 

http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/index.html

 

http://www.pontiacpower.com/

 

http://www.rpmrons.com/Pontiac.html

[Guest Linkstar07]

I'd be concerned of the extra weight. Pontiac never had a big or small block like chevy. just one block 326-455. For that reason, I woulnt put in a heavier engine with less displacement (costlier too) when you could use a SBC with more displacement. Most Pontiac people recommend not messing with anything less that the 400 engine for performane applications. (the 389 is usually acceptable too) Although the coolness factor of a Pontiac engine in a Z might outweigh all that. (pun intended)

[holyhombre]

Wow. Thanks for all the solid info. That list of links is cherry. I decided to buy the engine and tranny since I have a reliable source that saw that it ran strong in the car it was pulled out of not more than two weeks ago. I figured at the least I could unbolt the th400, sell the engine and come away with a real steal on the tranny while I look for a block with more cubes. I still haven't decided on whether I'm gonna blaze some trails with the 326, but since I haven't finished the rust repair, suspension, and differential upgrades, I figure I have some time to decide while the z is sitting on jacks. I'm logging my progress with pics and I'll update when transplant time arrives.