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Anyone working on a Pontiac FireTurd?

BeepBeepRR

BeepBeepRR

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My neighbor wants me to swap engines from his 79 TA. It currently has a 403/th350 that run. I will be getting the th350 and 403. Might be stuffing a 454 Chevy into the car. Question is does anyone need this combo for their project. I know a 403 is a turd but for originality someone might want this stuff. I have the chance to swap this for a 4.8 LS with headers and after market engine mounts. I don't really need either setup. The 4.8 comes with the harness and computer but lacks the drive by wire pedal and throttle body.
 
Yea I know but many people have frying pans on many stoves... You never know what people are working on. Hell, I'm a mopar guy myself but ended up with this fireturd in my yard... So......
 
HEY :soapbox: be nice, it's Firebird, and no I don't need any boat anchor 403.

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There are enough chevy powered Firebirds out there already. If it was mine, I'd look for a Pontiac 400 or 455 instead. Or even an Olds 455 which could be made to look like a stock 403 to those who didn't know the different deck heights.
 
The 403 is a pretty good engine for it's time, it can be modified to produce good torque and decent horsepower but they have a reputation for block cracking. I have built a few for trucks back in the day for 5.7 diesel replacement and they did very well, it is an easy and rewarding conversion. Converting to a Chevy engine in the T/A will require a lot of harness work since the starter/alternator are on opposite sides as is A/C routing etc not to mention mounts and all accessories and brackets. A big block Olds would be easier as you can still use the brackets, pulleys, harness etc , it weighs less than the Big Chevy and produces a huge amount of torque. Just a consideration.
 
Greg Ducato said:
The 403 is a pretty good engine for it's time, it can be modified to produce good torque and decent horsepower but they have a reputation for block cracking. I have built a few for trucks back in the day for 5.7 diesel replacement and they did very well, it is an easy and rewarding conversion. Converting to a Chevy engine in the T/A will require a lot of harness work since the starter/alternator are on opposite sides as is A/C routing etc not to mention mounts and all accessories and brackets. A big block Olds would be easier as you can still use the brackets, pulleys, harness etc , it weighs less than the Big Chevy and produces a huge amount of torque. Just a consideration.
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Great info.. Its not my car I will see what I can find for him. I know the 403 is a windowed engine and that's why they are not decent engines. But I have seen some modifications don't to them that can make decent HP. One is to use 350 olds heads for a smaller combustion chamber. Its up to him what he puts in the car. It's not a numbers matching car and most likely will never be anything other than a hot rod to drive around.
 
Yeah 403 is weak. ..this has a built 400 that runs well. This LS engines are something else, but I'm not electronically adept, and I just don't like the look.
 
The 403 and trans are mine he said I could have them... So I was hoping to swap this stuff out. I have no need for any of it. lol.
 
If I'm understanding you correctly someone is willing to trade for the 403 . A 4.8 is money in the bank everyone wants one !
The 403 as noted is junk I've scraped tons of them a Chevy 350 has more power
Overall a swaps a swap if he's paying for it but the 403 is unwanted everywhere
 
Yea guy wants to swap me for the 4.8 with headers and swap mounts. I plan on doing this trade if nobody else needs it.
 
If this was around 1999,2000 I knew a guy that would have took that 403 in a heartbeat. He had an early eighties Hurst Oldsmobile that he was running with a 403. I worked at the same factory as him for about 5 years. In that time I think he went through 6 of those engines. Always cracking around the main webbing. When he wasn't replacing engines that car could run high 11's. Last time I talked to him (around 2004) he sprayed welded the openings around the webbing and still cracked it. I know he was working with a company called Mondello to try and get his issues solved. Don't know if he ever got it figured out.
 
The 77-78 trans am are great looking cars...The movie theater had Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen when Burt Reynolds passed and a group of us went multiple times and saw it. I certainly loved the bandit TA and loved the movie in '78 when I saw it as a kid. My brother has a 77 Trans am that he is restoring. The 403s main saddles are very light duty and takes a expensive girdle to hold it together beyond 450hp..only the die hard olds guys mess with them like Mondello. We have raced both olds and pontiacs. Never really cared for the olds head layout, they have no short side radius in the intake ports.
They make stroker cranks and good heads for pontiacs. A pontiac should be a easy swap, easier by far then a BBC. Should be a easy swap.and IMO.. By far the neatest thing.... Just saw a popular engine builder build a 455 pontiac with edelbrock heads that made 787 hp naturally aspirated. That would wake up a firechicken. Doing a 455 olds like said most would not know any diff then a 403...but I am always disappointed if I look under a TA hood and find a oldsmobile and seeing cars repowered with a chevy Small block makes me quesy:eek:. A BB chevy can't say that does much for me either. Pontiacs are plentiful....wouldn't have to be a 455...could be a 400 with stroker crank. No brainer to me...pontiac.
 
Thanks for all the good info. I will look around and see what I can find. You would think this stuff would be plentiful around here but a few years ago YEAR ONE was buying up trans ams and firebirds to make year one bandit cars out of.. So they got scarce. However there is a guy over in AL that has plenty of pontiac engines.. Maybe trade him the running 403 for a 400 or 455 short block.. Something to think about.
 
There should be some demand for a running 403 with so many trans am restoration guys going back original. The bandit TA had a 403.... It was a California car and because of emissions you couldn't get the high output pontiac in CA. In CA you could get a trans am with a 400 pontiac but it was the base 400 and it ran like crap(way worse then a 403)..the base 400 pontiacs all had low compression and high gears...a good recipe for going slow. To swap a pontiac the tranny would bolt up the same and the starter is in the same location as the 403. Chevy put the starters on the other side which just adds to the to-do list for a swap and more wiring to change. The accessories for pontiacs are all the same...so they could pretty much come out of anything built from 1967 and up.
 
If you try swapping for a 400 pontiac beware that 75-77 400s they took metal out of the main webs like a 403. My brother is designing a girdle to run high hp with that era of block. But it's better to avoid those years if you can...but still better then a 403. The 455s all are heavy and good 2 go...and the 400s they returned to the heavier casting in 78-.
 
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