has a 400 sb bored 30 over to 406,3 speedauto,crane cam 284/ 284, Lift .480/ .480, edelbrock 1407 carb 750 cfm, Edelbrock Performer Intake Manifold , headman headers, dual flow master exhaust ,msd 6al box,msd wires, 2500 stall Hughes torque converter, TCI Pro Super Transmission Overhaul Kit, Hughes Performance Deep Aluminum Transmission Pan, B&M Transpak Kit. dual electric fans, dual oil filters, B&M Quicksilver Shifter, Richmond Gear Ring and Pinion 3.73s , Lakewood Street and Strip Traction Bars, holley red electric fuel pump, battery relocated to trunk. what kind of power would i be looking at for this ? anything i should look for when looking at the car/test driving it ?

 

I have had several late 70's T/A's with many of the same performance add ons. I would calculate you are close to 300 HP if its a true Pontiac 400 not the Oldsmobile 403 that would have come stock with that year T/A.

 

When you say it has a 400 sbyou're referring to a Chevy engine, is that what it has? Pontiac didn't have a sb/bb designation, it was all the same. What kind of heads, and has any perf work been done on them? Horses on that engine would definitely be more than 300, and could easily be closer to350, or more depending on the heads. That car should be quick! Things to look for? Does it have any body or undercarriage rust, strangeengine noises or knocks,smoking, etc. If it sounds solid and drives well, then the test drive should clinch it for you.

 

yes sorry, it has the pontiac 400 engine, not sure about which heads, but they have been ported & polished during the rebuild

 

350hp would be a streach, now your into 455 teritory, stock that engine produced 190hp. Heads are deffinetly importent to know with pontiac's. Look at the numbers on the center two exhaust ports. there are several referance sites on line that can tell you what you have. Most common power making heads are 96

 

shoot for 300 and you'll be happy.

 

Keep in mind that 190 hp rating is Net, not Gross numbers. Advertised HP ratings (1972 and up) were based on all smog and power accessories running on the engine. Prior to that, hp ratings were based on the true output of the engine alone. Comparing the two is apples to oranges. That 406 that Alih described is nothing like what pontiac put out at the time. A well built, healthy breathing de-smogged engine is easily capable of achieving 1 HP for every cubic inch.

 

floor pans front and rear.rear window area,inside the trunk-rear quarter's,bottom part of the front windshield ,where the firewall meets the dash,if all of those area's look good and it drive's good ,i would say go for it

 

400hp is possible for a 400 but very, very difficult to achieve for the muscle car era engines. They just plain werent efficiant enough or had acomputer making 100 corrections a second for them. Remember that for many years it was considered a benchmark goal for all the auto makers to try to reach that magical number of 1hp per cubic inch. Very few engines actually reached this goal. Dont get me wrong I love my Muscle Cars but we all must admit that todays engines are far more efficient in almost every respect.

 

I take issue with this post. I am not saying the Pontiac 400 is easy to hit 400hp. I also agree that new engines are more efficiant then the muscle car era but not that much.During thesmog years (73-88) engines where notably less efficent. But theyears prior engine where reaching 26% efficiant. Versus todays 29%. Example is my 68C10 pickupwith its 230 6 cylinder. I get between 24-26 miles to the gallon on the highway. Itis rated at 190HP. Compair that to a 2003 short bed with a 4.3. The 67-69 chevy 302 was one of the few small blocks designed for racing. On paperit listed at 275 HP but if you build a motor to factory specs and put it on the dyno you could hit 490 HP with aftermarket intake and headers. Guys likeSmokey where most likely pushing 550-600. That kind of blows away 1 hp per cubic inch.

Most engines where not designed for racing so HPhad to be balanced with fuel milage, power curve/drivablity and the big one COST ofmanufacture. Firebird was not a big player for Pontiac they never really design a engine just for power. They where just modifing existing design, designs that did not add cost so they could handle 400 hp.

The worst years for efficantcy was around 76. I remember my dad had a 1976 Charger with a 318. OMG 140 HP in a 3500lb car and it got 8 miles to the gallon.

The computer is one of the main reasons why performace engines like the LS1, LS2 are comon. The computer allows the engine to acklike a "normal" car when light on the throttle and a monster when WOT. The old musle cars where one trick ponies now engines like the LT1 can be put in all types of car. Try to use an 302 in a parade, it wouldfight you every step of the way.