Thanks for the "vote of confidence". I DO try...
Spinn,
All this is interesting, but completely irrelevant to the Pontiac. Chevy "boys" nearly ALWAYS talk bad about the Pontiac. It's a turd and blows up. IF you build it like a small block, this is 100% true. If one were to delve into the actual history of the GM engine programs, you would know the small block and the Pontiac are "cousins", but on the "mother's side", not the father. The Pontiac could be viewed as a "small block on steroids". Mac McKellar "invented" the stamped rocker arm. Ed Cole saw it and improved it. The blocks are similar in length, but that's all. The Chevy has a short rod and compact intake/head design, which, as we all know, works VERY well. The Pontiac has a "tall" deck (10.240", a full .040" taller than a "tall deck" BIG BLOCK). The Pontiac also enjoys a "long" connecting rod and very good internal geometry (rod/stroke ratio and "rod angle", to be specific). The Pontiac exhaust port is the single "worst" design feature. The intake port, on the other hand, is among the better designs from the era. These last two factors are "why" the Pontiac makes such good low-speed power, AND why it isn't as good "up high" without a TON of porting. The aftermarket heads have "fixed" that particular problem in a variety of ways. Aftermarket connecting rods, too, have changed EVERYTHING. It's not uncommon now, to see a 475 CID engine making well over 700 HP on 93 octane, and "shifting" above 7,000 RPM. The old "myth", "Can't rev a Pontiac" simply isn't true either. With good heads and bottom-end parts, they rev with any. Dirty Bird shifted at 9,200 every pass.
I know I get a little carried away, but time has come for re-education of "the masses". Things aren't what they "were". We've already climbed over Dodge, and are aiming at the Fords. At 500 CID, using production-style cylinder heads, Pontiacs are again 100% "competitive". As the Warp-6 and Ram Air V heads get perfected, we won't even need the qualifier "production heads"!
Jim