This was Pontiacs pay back to General motors not allowing their 455's to have forged rods after the mid 60's intentionally not allowing Pontiac to dominate Chevys 427 and 454's because the crappy cast rods would let loose after 6000 rpms' giving Ponchos an undeserved reputation on both the street and track as implemented by the politically pro Chevy brass that did not want the word out that Pontiac motors were faster then Chevy but would blow up eventually , so the street racers would buy a Big Block Chevy that had factory forged rods over the Pontiac " It was sweet revenge for Pontiac and their lucky well educated SD owners that researched those SD motors and their factory race blocks and heads for those 2 years 🎉 SD in my part of town if you came up to race against one that was tuned with Headers and duel exhaust was code for " Sudden Death " ☠️
I have a 1973 pontiac grand am with 455 SD m22 4 speed fully loaded power everything. Black on black with red pinstriping. The badge says 7.4 . Thats a 454 . 455 is 7.5 is that rite
Why do so many people insist on playing crappy music over the dialogue in their videos? Some guitar in the background maybe. But someone yelling 'Funky Town' the whole time I am trying to listen to the description is just annoying at best.
I'm a Ford and Mopar guy, but really liked Pontiac & Oldsmobiles growing up too. If I had to choose a GM car, I'd take a Pontiac or Olds over chevy ANYDAY. Remember...only two American automakers ever beat Ferrari.....Pontiac and Ford.....sure as hell no't a chevy junker. Thanks for posting.....you put a lot of good information into this.
Thank you Banjo455! You really opened my eyes WRT the Pontiac 455HD. I always thought it was a gimmick -- those engineers should be given access to hallowed ground in the Pontiac community. Absolutely amazing. In Thrust We Trust, for real.
When I was in high school in 1977 I had a buddy with a white Formula 400 but he always wanted a 455 TransAm. One day his best friend took me for a ride in the Formula, and he promptly crashed it and it caught fire, burning to the rims. The owner took the money from the insurance and bought himself his dream car: A black SD-455 Trans Am. I wonder if he still has that car.
I know I’m being picayune but Funky Town does not fit that era. Funky Town came out in 1980, the 455 SD ran from 1973-1974. I think Rock The Boat by the Hues Corporation which came out 1974 would have been more time appropriate.
i dream about a 69 trans am clone with a 73 455 SD swap.i would try and get the nascar transmission and dry sump system. i concoct mash ups all the popular kibbles and bits into one vee-hickle. when im into my third pina colada. like the pina colada itself.
I could only fantasize about finding one in a barn with only 20K on the ticker, and completely unmolested , and showing signs of factory markings on it. My next step might sound crazy, but, I would restore it to good working condition and then make it a museum piece.
Friend had a 1973, 455SD Trans Am. His had side pipes. Was his way of opening up the exhaust. Keeping it hooked up was always a challenge from light to light. On the highway, you couldn't catch it. Not even the Indiana State Police.
New sub here and thanks, I welcome you to my channel at Moodyblue Motorsports Pontiac powered trans ams and soon to be 1969 Chevelle powered by Pontiac! Please subscribe and share and I'm thinking 🤔 am I the only one to be doing a Pontiac swapped Chevy? Lol gonna be a huge upset to many but hey it's all GM, I choose to pick the better line of performance lol
This video popped up again, and after reviewing all the viewer contributions I was left with a lingering question. If the SD-455 heads were so choked off compared to the hemi and BB square port Chevy, how come the SD cars ran so well relative to them? I have a considerable library of car magazines (sorry, these beat anecdotes any day) dating back to the origins of the 64-74 muscle car era. Someday, when I'm retired, I'll compile a full list of issues and performance results including averages. Based on memory I would say the range of professionally tested, factory stock, 426 hemi equipped cars from 66 to 71 would be from 13.1 to low 14s. A typical ET would be 13.5 @ 105 (C&D 69 Road Runner). None were equipped with ac of course and many testers had 4.10 gears to achieve that result. It's very similar looking at the 70 L6 Chevelle tests. One fair comparison would be the 1970 multicar comparison test by Car and Driver wherein an LS6 Chevelle equipped with an automatic and conservative 3:55 gears and driven by a professional race driver, clocked 13.8 @ 104. A couple of years later in 1973, the same Car and Driver editors clocked a 73 TA SD 455 at 13.5 @104. This was essentially duplicated by Hot Rod magazine the same year. That car had auto, no ac, 3:42 gears and weighed the same as the Chevelle. If the hemi and Chevelle have so much better heads, 2 points (plus) higher compression, way hotter solid lifter cams, stiffer gears, more carburation, dual reverse-flow mufflers instead of the SD's single crossflow muffler, and weigh no more than the TA, how is it the SD does so well? Oh, and Super Stock and Drag Illustrated (6/74) borrowed a private owner's new 74 SD-455 TA with ac, auto, 3.08 gears, and weighing over 4000 lbs and ran 14.2 @ 102 out of the box.
what compression ratio was it? i thought by '73/'74 the days of 11.5:1 were replaced with 8.5:1? How did Pontiac get away with building a race engine so long after the muscle car era ended in '71?
That was really cool and informative. Always wondered what the difference was between the HO and SD now I know at least some of it. Cool tunes too. A little loud in the mix but great pick, especially for a 70s muscle car. Do more.
I know this is an ancient video but I watched it to see if it had any info I hadn't already heard. It didn't. I'm very curious if you watched the video you made before you posted it because I find it difficult to believe that anyone would put that stupid awful music up so loud in what was supposed to be an informative video.
A very informative video almost ruined by god awful disco sound track. Why would you think that crap could possibly enhance a video on this excellent engine. There are parts of the video where the sound track is so loud viewers can hardly hear the narration. I was hoping to suggest this video to all of my Pontiac enthusiasts friends, but not with that childish blaring noise.
My Brother in Kentucky just passed away 3 days ago. He was 70 years old and in poor health. I live in El Paso, Tx and I went to Kentucky 2 years ago because my Brother gave me a 1970 Pontiac Firebird with a 350 cu. in. High Performance Engine. He called me about a month before he passed away and said he had a 455 cu. in. Engine and a 4 speed Top Loader Transmission that he was giving me to go in the Firebird. I can't wait to go to Kentucky in a couple of weeks to pick up my new toys. God bless my dear departed Brother. Oh if you only knew some of the stories that my Brother and I have from our younger days.
the compression was too low as issued in 1973-74. but it made a great kit to start from. mill heads .065" small domed pistons aluminum intake, Holley carb bigger cam or better yet, put milled RA IV or RA V heads on it, then presto you have a kick ass race motor. a solid foundation and framework was there for 600-700HP race motor, with 13:1 compression
