Pontiac 301, are they really that bad?

I would do it too Baumi, 'would check the Water- and Gas Pump ,if it looks nesessary install a new Gasket Set include the Freeze Plugs,in every Case a new T-chain and run it.

 

All jokes aside, if it's complete & runs, use it. When it breaks, any '64-up Poncho should bolt right back in.

 

My next door neighbor's brother abused the supposed to be low mile replacement 301 I installed in his 79 or 80 Grand prix for a few years,the original 301 was not so lucky as it only lasted a couple years after he got the car from his mom but the replacement lasted longer but I seen traces of it being rebuilt when installing.

 

Is it any good. If it is still intact and running 30 plus years after it was built, I would say it probably doesn't have the defects so many seeme to have, even if it has low miles.

 

Run it until it dies. Then get a 389 or larger. Dont spend any money on the 301.

 

I agree with bostonhemi. My 389 is the single best thing I could have done for my '55.

Delivered by a blind carrier pigeon.

 

Had one in a 1980 Trans Am... ran great, was good on gas, was not powerful. It is cheap, in your hands and will work... go for it, nothing to lose.

 

I just built a 383 stoker 301.It made 379HP and 430TQ.We used a TQ2 intake and cut it down to fit the shorter deck.Used #15 heads,326 crank and 6.135 BBC rods.FWIW,Tom

 

Ditto on the carbon. Friendly GM mechanic told me the same thing. Years ago, we had a 79 LeMans Safari with the 301 and it ran wonderfully for 130K. It was like a 350 and had plenty of oomph for that size car. Years later I owned a '78 Buick LeSabre with a 301 and I got into it a little bit.It was a dog in that large of a car but it moved down the road. It was a low-mileage motor and under the valve covers it was a giant chunk of carbon. Friend has one now in a late 70's GP and has the same issue.

They'll run good but make sure you do a little seafoam or water sprinkle down a vacuum hose and de-carbonize that thing before you run it, especially if it was a grandma car and not driven much. Good luck. It should be a good runner just not a racecar.

 

Had one in an 80 firebird, the engine ran great, surprisingly. the rear end got munched up after the throttle stuck when driving on ice. still have the turbo and manifold lying around

 

The engine's are junk I had a few trans ams with them if you drive like my grandpa it will get you by for awhile but don't expect much from it ,if it were me I would stay a way from it sell it or make a coffee table out of it , do like everyone else drop a ls1 in your Buick get 25-30mpg and have a good motor with power a/c and won't blow appart when you get on it

 

I think Beach boys wrote a song about the Pontiac 301.
"My POS 301"

 

Pontiac 301 will run and run well.n.

 

39. Don Himes Q/SA 13.80 13.081 -0.719
Sorry but, I can't get the picture to post. But this a 301 4 barrel.
A very under rated motor indeed. Just don't spin it to hard.

 

keep the revs under 4200 and it will last a log time , longer than you want as in one of my cases the body rotted out but the motor still ran . its ment to be a economy motor not a high perf job . the turbo versions were a joke stock , but with a little work they ran decent numbers .

 

Same bore and stoke as a DZ302, so with a good set of heads they have potenial, but the shitty crank and low performance build kills it. Big bore short stoke motors arent good as low power motors since they dont get reasonable torque or the rpms they would love

 

You're going to have a task ahead of you putting "a good set of heads" on it, as the deck height differs from all other Pontiac engines. Sure, better heads will bolt to the block.....then go try to find an intake. I believe that someone made a racing intake for this purpose at one time, but not any more.

 

Being that you're in Europe, American cars and parts are't going to be anywhere as easy to come by as they are here. You have the engine, and the car you want to put it in, so do so; or sell/trade it for something more desirable. There is one good thing about the Pontiac 301, at least it's NOT a Pontiac 265! I had a 79 Buick, Regal Wagon (think Chevrolet Malibu) with a "corporate" Pontiac 301 engine. It moved the car around just fine, and I really liked the car. I even took it to the BOP Drags at Bremerton Raceway one year, where it was the slowest car there that day; a 17.something E.T. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I'd only use it as an absolute last resort in the buick. Even a low mileage motor is old in dog years. Parts are not nearly as plentiful as the 326-455 pontiac engines. Just no aftermarket support. That buick will make that little motor really work hard. Can you trade the Catalina for another GM V-8 and turbo 350. I have put some miles on a 301 powered lemans but they were gentle ones. Good Luck

 

IF you REALLY want to run good heads,there are good welders that can cut and weld a Edel T-II intake to fit.Mine was done by Dave at SD and it came out great.Tom

 

Ok, here´s an update on this issue... Today I´ve pulled this engine from the 1979 Bonneville donor car and started cleaning and checking it out. I ran the casting numbers ( 481988 block and 4x heads) and found out that I have a 1973 400cui engine! yeepeee no more 301!! Somebody must have swaped the 301 for a 400 years ago even the pre owner didn´t know about it. He just said that his little 301 was no dag at all, hahahaha, now I know why.

So my question now is....It has only got a 2bbl intake, what does it take to wake up a 400?

 

you have the desired heavy web block and a decent set of heads see what the h number is on the heads on the airconditioner mount or pop the covers to see if they have screw in studs ..

 

Yes,there are screw in studs,guide plates for the push rods and the intake ports are way to big for a 301. These details were what made me check the casting numbers... Hahaha, I had already asked a friend if he wanted this POS 301 for free, but he didn´t.... hahahaha I´m going to use it in the wildcat

 

a nice street combo is to change the cam to a the O68 ram air 3 cam , its nice since its hydraulic and no need to change anything in the valve train . make lots on low end torque and add a set of tube style headers and it really wakes up , the 066 is a good one also same lift smaller duration .

you got a good thing .. glad you checked the numbers , I found many keepers because people didn't think that people would swap out motors or make a oddiity .

 

Thanks for the heads up about the cam. What do you think, where should I look for a O68 cam? Summit? The cam that´s in it right now looks great actually , there´s not a lot of run time on it I think. The bores and bearings have no visual wear either. It only had a 2bbl intake on it, I´ll be looking for a 4 bbl and get rid of the EGR stuff I think.

 

its a low compression motor so dropping on a non egr manifold is doable ) imo going to a factory q jet manifold is best ) , as for the cam , buy it from Melling as they made the original grinds for them a little bit more in price but the quality is dead on as they are a Oem supplier . you can order the cam and lifters # cl-spc-7 from summit .

 

opps the 068 is the Ho cam, not the RA 3 , its ( ho) a nice cam, the 744 is the Ra3 cam and a bit much and you need a little looser convertor and some tigher heads ( compression) to run it

 

301s were dogs even with a turbo.

 

Bottom line I think the answer is don't waste your time on a 301.

 

Any of the eddy performer intakes would be good. If you are buying used flip it over and look for cracks in the exhaust cross over.