I am picking up a 68 Firebird with a Pontiac 350 in it. I have noticed that there are very few parts available for this engine in major publications and sites. Most of what I see are for the 400 and 455. I understand that all have the same mounts, but what else is interchangeable. Are any of the parts from the two more popular engines going to work in my 350. Also is there a stroker kit for this engine. Would this be a good builder or ought I look into just trading/buying a 400 or 455??

Thanks for the help as always

Dave

RIP Doc

There are alot of parts available for the 350 Pontiac and yes there is a stroker kit available also. One of the best out here right now for building a 350 Pontiac is Ken "Ace" Brewer, and he has a nice stroker kit for the 350. You can contact him at www.pacificperformanceracing.com. Ken has the parts and knowledge on Pontiacs and developed the aforementioned stroker kit and is running a stroked 350 in his own personal Firebird, and currently building more for customers. If you have any questions you can call Ken and he will talk to you about your car, and the best way to choose parts like cylinder heads, intakes, cams,what timing you should run etc.. I'm planning a 350 build myself here in the future that may replace the 400 in my Grand Prix if I can't get the 455 I want.

Just a quick question shouldn't it be "poncho" not "ponocho" unless I am missing something here.

Dave, I'm thinking that you could make the same power with a mildly built budget 455 as you could with a high-buck 350 build. I'd be thinking a pump gas friendly 9.0-9.5:1 build with a tight squish and matching hydraulic roller cam with a wide 112 LSA for good manifold vacuum, something like this....
http://www.cranecams.com/?show=brow...rtType=camshaft
Small tube primary, equal length headers and maybe a well-built 700R4 with 3.50 rear gear for low rpm cruising. A slightly looser converter, maybe around 1,800 stall, would prevent creep at stoplights and make the car more responsive.

"Just a quick question shouldn't it be "poncho" not "ponocho" unless I am missing something here."

I have idiot written all over my forehead right now!! Yes you are totally correct! Can't believe this error. I shall hold my head in shame for the typing error

Oh it is no big deal but I probably spent a half an hour trying to figure out the acronym, like FoMoCo (Ford Motor Company) I thought maybe it meant Pontiac *insert "O" word here* company high output. Which doesn't make sense but was the best I could figure. I don't know if Poncho stands for anything I think it was just a name that caught on back in the day.

altho all pontiac parts are pretty much interchangable, i would try to score a pontiac 400, there plentiful, and pretty much have the same bore as a 455(minus a couple of thousanths).
ive taken junkyard 400's slapped a set of 428 heads on it and it RAN...
parts are VERY plentiful, the only diffrence between a pontiac 350 and a pontiac 400 is the bore, they share the same crank and rods.

right now im in the process of building a 467 ( 060 over pontiac 400) eagle 4.25" crank and a set of big block chevy H-beam rods.
there potient! and big power, the only downfall is big money...

just remember, the only thing that changes from a 326-455 is the bore, stroke, and main bearing sizes.

Well, while I agree there is no substitute for cubic inches, Ace's 350 stroker (383 cubic inches) makes 462 horsepower, runs on pump gas and is fully streetable. I have 400's in both my 85 Grand Prix and my 71 GTO and while I like the 400, the 350 stroker is something I have been seriously considering for my GP as it's my daily driver the 400 in it is starting to get tired and I think the stroker would provide more than enough punch for the GP and still retain reliability for driving to work everyday and long trips in the summer. A stroker kit from Ace is also being considered for the GTO (not the usual 461+ kit that has gotten popular with the Pontiac crowd) along with a pair of aluminum D-Ports from Kauffman Racing, or I may use the 670's that I have on the GTO engine right now. There are alot of options out there and seeing that you already have the 350 the expense of buying a 400 or a 455 and then the cost of building would be about double the cost of the 350 build. Jim LeHart of Central Virginia Machine Service would be another one to consult on a stout Pontiac along with Paul Spotts of Spotts Performance. Paul not only builds Pontiac engines, but like "Ace" Brewer also races Pontiac's. There are some other very good Pontiac builders out there, and it all comes down to what you want and how much you are willing to spend, and whether you want something that you can drive everyday or want a weekend street/strip brawler. The main thing is to keep your Pontiac powered by Pontiac.

[QUOTE=The main thing is to keep your Pontiac powered by Pontiac.[/QUOTE]


AMEN!!!

but seriouslly, if your gonna do a stroker kit, its going to be the same price no matter if its a 350 or a 400.. am i wrong?(if the only thing thats diffrent is pistion diameter)

i dont know how the rest of the world is, but i have about 6 pontiac 400's that people were practly begging me to take.

if someone showd up at my house with a pontiac, id gladly give them one

Hotrod389 I see that you too are in Nor-Cal, what part? Willing to sell a 400? And by the way Techinspector, I do have a built 700r4 that was for a previous project, but what would I need ro do to get this tranny to bolt up to the 350? Currently it has a powerlide.

I have found that MSD (my preferred ignition ) does not make a distributor for pontiacs (or am I not looking hard enough?). I typically run the Ready-to-Run Pro-billet distributor, 6al and Blaster SS coil, however I cannot find anything for the pontiac. Is there an MSD system out there? If not, what would be my next in line? I have heard that Pertronix typically comes in at a close second but they also offer nothing that suites me. What do you guys think??

As Always Thank You Guys,
Dave

ill sell you a short block 400 with crank rods n pistons..message me

MSD does sell a pontiac distributor, check your summitracing catalogue, 300 bucks for a pro billet, matter of fact, i got one on my last 350, traded it for a 100A 1 wire alternator, and a trans filter /gasket from a friend!

Yeah I looked in the catalog and couldn't find it and went to the website and looked and couldn't find it there either, so I went to the MSD page and got the part # and ran it on summit. It came up at ~364 big ones. Not too bad, a little higher than the GM and Ford ones, but not much...

does anyone know if there is a forced air induction system (ie blower or supercharger, not turbo) available for the pontiac line of engines? I checked the summit mag and online for a weiand, vortech and procharger, but didn't find anything. Also went to Procharger, Vortech and Weiands' pages and found nothing that was for a pontiac. Vortech had chargers listed generally (ie v1 through like v9) but didn't mention if they would work. On the vehicle/engine specific pages they had nothing and under the carburated section they had an option for GM but it only referenced the SBC and BBC. Anyone know where I can get one or if they are even available??

Thanks

Dave