In what years did Pontiac use the Chevrolet drivetrain in their third gen cars and was there any performance differences? Which is better?

 

all?

 

oh ok. i saw on tv they said somethnig about using chevrolets drivetrain in the firebirds because it was cheaper. just thought id ask the people who would know.

 

all 3rd gens were equipped with chevy engines/trannys werent they?

 

I believe the last Pontiac V-8 was the 301, and it last saw production in 1980 or 1981, IIRC. Since then, most Pontiacs with V-8s got Chevy engines. Some of the early '80s Ponchos, like the Parisienne, got the Olds 307 V8 or the Olds diesel V-8 for a few years. Fortunately, those were only around for a few years. Pontiac was relegated to manufacturing "corporate" 4-cylinder inlines, and Chevy and Buick also made V-6s. BOC Group (Buick/Olds/Cadillac) continued development of the small aluminum V-8 (both the Northstar and Aurora engine projects), but Chevrolet got all the rest of the automotive and light truck V-8s. Chevy had by far the largest market penetration, largest support network, widest variation of displacements within a single block casting, and a thoroughly proven design, so the choice was very easy for GM.

 

Years ago a couple friends had '77 & '78 T/As, both very clean, shaker hoods etc... but both had 403 Olds engines...Yuk..

 

my 79 TA has the 403. Not that bad of an engine, although I wish it came with the 400. My friend has a 400 sitting around, but I'm keeping the 403 because its numbers matching and the car's in damn good condition, considering it only cost me 400 bucks.

And yup, the last pontiac v8s would be the 81 turbo TA i think. Never driven one but apparently they were horrible.

 

The 403 is actually a really good engine because of its really big bore and relativly short stroke, however most 403 blocks have webbed mains making them very unstable for high performance use.

 

'77 was the first year for the 403 olds motor (first non-pontiac engine in a firebird as far as I know), some birds also had the olds 350 in that year if I'm not mistaken. '78 was the first year there was a chevy motor available in the firebird, but not in the trans am until '80.

interesting tid-bit about T/A shaker hoods, the ones with the pontiac 400 said "T/A 6.6" and the ones with the olds 403 said "6.6 Litre" from the factory.

 

The reason for the question mark is that i was wondering about the "Iron Duke"

Was that a Chevy motor?

What about the 89' TTA block?

 

Everything went corporate in the late '70's to save money. The Iron Duke is originally a Pontiac engine design, but nothing that I would be all to proud of. The early TTA ('81?) is an emasculated Pontiac 301. They cannot interchange parts with the rest of the Pontiac engines, and are highly unsuitable for performance use. The newer (89) TTA is basially a Buick GN engine with smaller heads to clear the hoodline on the Firebird. BTW, the Turbo Trans Am's of '89 are very quick, and with a very few selected mods are absolute rockets.

 

Thats what i was talking about.

 

that pretty much sums up everything !!