You’ve no doubt heard the stories about the legendary ’69 Pontiac Ram Air V, the exotic, rev-happy V8 with cylinder heads that reportedly outflowed the vaunted Chrysler Hemi. Stuffed between the framerails of a GTO or Firebird, it offered the Pontiac faithful a stab at an 11-second timeslip. It was an engine that was set to rewrite muscle-car history before it was canceled at the eleventh hour. The Ram Air V saga was yet another agonizing chapter in Pontiac’s history, one full of potential and promise, shot down by upper management unwilling to rock the boat on any level. There would be more such sad chapters in Pontiac’s history before the axe finally fell on the brand in 2009.
Compared to an unmodified Ram Air V exhaust port, the difference in McCarty Racing’s heads becomes easily apparent. The turn in the exhaust port was originally designed to simplify exhaust system servicing from under the car.
The factory Ram Air V intake-port design was more or less replicated here and the pushrod tubes go right through the center of the port. Some later versions of the factory Ram Air Vs were equipped with airfoils to improve airflow around the tubes.
The truth is, there were actually four versions of the famed tunnel-port Ram Air V V8 developed: a 303ci short-deck version for SCCA Trans-Am racing, a 366ci version for NASCAR, a 400ci powerplant for street use in GTOs and Firebirds, as well as a 428ci version for drag racing. While not a clean-sheet redesign of the Pontiac V8, it was essentially an ultra-heavy-duty Pontiac short-block, stuffed full of forged bottom-end componentry and topped off with completely redesigned heads. The Ram Air V featured intake ports so huge that the pushrods ran right through the middle of them. It offered the potential for both killer street engines and competitive race engines for privateer racers.
As it turned out, only about 25 of the 303ci engines were ever built, with about a half dozen 428s and a like number of 366s having been bolted together. More 400ci motors were built than the rest; estimates range between 80–200 engines, as this version was the closest to hitting the streets. Quite a few 400ci engines were dealer-installed and they were street stormers of the first order.
An AllPontiac.com IA II block was used in the build. The bore spacing has been moved from the stock 4.620 inches to a wider 4.685 inches. It is tight, but the move allows for a 4.500-inch bore, something that is not possible in a traditional Pontiac V8. The unmachined blocks are sent from AllPontiac.com to McCarty Racing for finishing to its specifications.
Lynn and Stacy McCarty are twin brothers from Indianapolis who have been competitively racing Pontiacs in various NHRA classes since 1982, starting with a ’69 Trans Am clone in A/MP. It was powered with a 440-inch Ram Air V that ran in the 9s at more than 146 mph, shifting it at an amazing (for a Pontiac) 9,000 rpm. Not bad for a 3,400-pound car, especially back then. Stacy currently has the fastest Pontiac Super Stocker in NHRA and IHRA history: it’s a GT/AA Grand Am with a 428ci Pontiac that has run a best of 9.11 seconds at 146 mph.
Lynn currently runs a Trans Am in GT/CA and it runs 9.45 seconds at more than 141.23 mph. If anyone knows how to make a Pontiac run in such competitive classes, it would be the McCarty brothers. “Our dream has always been to build Pontiac tunnel-port heads in aluminum,” Lynn said. “It has now come to fruition. We are now building Pontiac engines that no one else has even attempted before.”
The dyno room just seconds before the 609ci Ram Air V Pontiac’s big dyno pull began. Check out the video below!
The dyno sheet for the best pull shows 1,219.8 hp at 8,100 rpm, with 898.8 lb-ft of torque at 6,500 rpm. It is likely that the torque peak was a bit lower than the chart shows, as the pull was recorded only from 6,500 and up. That is a very impressive number for any engine, let alone an underdog Pontiac.
Case in point: The McCartys have recently completed and tested this 609ci Pontiac V8, topped with a heavily ported set of their reproduction Ram Air V cylinder heads. With just a single 4-bbl carb, this max-effort engine took the world record for a normally aspirated traditional Pontiac engine, cranking out an astounding 1,219 hp at 8,100 rpm.
This combination is one of those builds that’s based on the tried-and-true Pontiac V8, but uses no original factory parts. The block is an AllPontiac.com IA II piece, which was delivered to McCarty Racing as an almost completely unmachined casting. The reason for this is that the bore spacing was to be altered, jumping from a stock 4.620 inches to 4.685. This allows for bore sizes to increase to a whopping 4.500 inches. Combined with the Bryant billet crankshaft stroke of 4.785 inches, displacement works out to 609 ci.
If you are going to feed a 609ci engine with one carb, it had better be a big one. This 1,650-cfm CFM Performance Carbs billet carburetor features 2.5-inch throttle blades and fits on a Dominator base. It uses 0.148-inch jets at all four corners.
The cylinder heads are McCarty Racing Ram Air V reproductions. Two versions are offered, a replacement stock-style version and a builder’s version, which can be machined to the customer’s specs. The heads used in this build are the latter and have been extensively ported and treated to a high-port exhaust conversion, which eliminates the 135-degree port turndown seen on Pontiac V8 heads. These mods combine to flow 470.5 cfm on the intake side and 331 cfm on the exhaust at 1-inch of lift. They also received an external pushrod conversion and raised ports, per the customer’s request. With the standard pushrod location, flow numbers of more than 500 cfm and 5.5 square inches of port area have been realized, so there is still a lot of potential for more power.
What’s next for the McCarty brothers and their record-breaking Ram Air V? “We are shooting for 1,250 hp at 8,600 rpm, by way of a hotter cam with 296/316 degrees duration and more fuel,” Lynn said. “We need more exhaust flow to get the horsepower numbers up there with a similar max-effort big-block Chevy of comparable displacement, and we think the cam will get us there.” When asked about the addition of a second carburetor, McCarty replied that they were sticking with the single 4-bbl, due to the NMCA class the car would be racing in, though a second carb would add around 40 more horsepower.
Will the brothers meet their goal? It is only a matter of when. A larger version of this engine will be built, with a 4.6-inch bore and 2.5-inch intake valves, as well as a 3-inch stroke version that will be built to run close to 11,000 rpm.
Lynn McCarty adjusts the header V-clamp while Rich, the dyno operator at BES holds the pipes up. Lynn’s twin brother Stacy is observing their progress.
Inside the Engine
Engine built by: BES Racing Engines, designed by McCarty Racing
Block: AllPontiac.com IA II block specially prepared for McCarty Racing
Displacement: 609 ci
Induction system: 1,650-cfm CFM Performance Carbs billet carb with 2.5-inch throttle blades and special fuel blocks with 0.148-inch jets at all four corners.
Intake manifold: Cast-aluminum single 4-bbl prototype by McCarty Racing
Heads McCarty Racing Ram Air V ported by BES Racing Engines, 470.5 cfm at 1.00-inch lift
Valves: Victory titanium, 2.40-inch intake, 1.72-inch exhaust
Pistons: Flat-top Ross
Rings: Total Seal gapless
Rods: Crower titanium, 6.750 center-to-center length, 2.2-inch journals
Compression ratio: 15.0:1
Crankshaft: Bryant Racing billet, 4.785-inch stroke
Camshaft: 55mm McCarty Racing billet roller
Duration: 292/312 degrees at 0.050
Lift: 0.560-inch at lobe, 1.036 inches at valve with specified rocker arms
Lobe-separation angle: 120 degrees
Rocker arms: Jesel 1.85:1 ratio
Ignition: BOP Engineering crank trigger with MSD 7AL-3 box and coil
Total timing: 32 degrees that is in by 1,500 rpm
Headers: 2¼x23⁄8x2½ three-step primary stainless-steel tube headers by McCarty Racing
Collector size: 5 inch
