Question
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-----Question-----
Hello Dick,
Do you remember when Pontiac would factor into their marketing "WIDE TRACK"?
What years and models did in fact have a wide track?
thanks
-----Answer-----
I'm going from memory here, but I'm pretty certain that started in 1959, and continue long into the future for the US models (not Canadian Pontiacs). That was on the full sized cars, which was all they made in those years. I don't recall when they stopped crowing about it - I think it lasted for about 10 years. This was one of the marketting campaigns started by John Z. DeLorean - later responsible for the GTO series.
Dick
Thanks,
How would you define "big block" from "small block"?
Also, I wonder what the "Ball-park" HP is on my "toy"
I have a 1928 Ford mdl"A" roadster pickup. It has a 1965 L-76 Corvette motor...listing 365HP when bone stock. This has a big Edilbrock Carb, bored .030 over, headers.
And, I have no idea how to calculate the "power/weight" ratio. But, it does have alot of giddyup to it.
thanks,
loren
AnswerThe "365 HP" option engine for the 65 Vette was a 327 Cu In engine, definitely a "small block". In Chevrolet, things got confusing because there were "small blocks" all the way up to 400 Cu In, and "Big Blocks" smaller than that! 396 Cu In, for one. So the name really refers to the design of the engine, not the displacement or the horsepower.
When you see a Chevy V8, it is easy to tell from the appearance of the engine whether it is a small block or not - from the configuration of the head and the exhaust manifolds, for one thing, but that doesn't tell you the displacement or the horsepower.
You may not be aware that there was a major revision in the way HP was measured in 1972. They went from quoting the gross HP to net HP (a more realistic measurment, closely related to actual power at the rear wheels), which reduced all the marketing hyped numbers about 30%. Thus your "365", if made in 1972 or later, would have been rated at about 255 HP.
I can't tell you what your engine is putting out now - I don't get into mods for power (or any other reason) - I like to keep things original. The way to find out what actual power you have is to find a dynomometer setup in your area and have it tested. You probably won't be happy with the result, I'm warning you. Most of the numbers that people brag about are highly inflated. I ran my stock Chrysler 440 on a dyno one time - the sales material said it was a 375 HP engine - and the dyno said it was actually producing about 160 HP at the rear wheels - and that was at the peak! This was on an almost new car- just well broken in. It would go well over 120 on the Nevada highways (no speed limit in those days), and get up to 60 pretty darn quick, but it certainly wasn't anything near 375 HP! Those numbers were all marketting hype.
When you know your actual road horsepower, you can take your car to any commercial truck scale and have it weighed - the power divided by the weight is the "power/weight" ratio.
Don't get killed in that thing!
Dick
