It's kind of a shame there probably isn't enough of a market to support a company offering kits for retrofitting 3.75" crank stroker kits in 301T blocks, normal Pontiac cylinder head conversions on 301T blocks, single plane intakes for short or normal deck engines that are designed with bungs for port EFI injectors, ports for various other sensors that would be needed to use something like Holley Terminator X with or without boost, that could also be used with a throttle body injection Holley Sniper or FI Tech, kits to either use a normal distributor or an LS coil conversion, a 24x reluctor behind the main pulley/balancer and a 1x cam position sensor that reads from the distributor or takes it's place, wide band O2s. It would really open up an entire new world of tuning, control and power using standard LS style sensors and off the shelf computers. You could run any factory short or tall deck Pontiac all the way to aftermarket blocks with aluminum heads with or without a turbo with a modern EFI system or a carburetor for low deck blocks. Once the control is there turbo kits with a simple GT45 or VS Racing 7875 mounted near the rad support, say where the battery used to be (after it is relocated to the trunk) could be offered affordably. Bigger turbos than those wouldn't be needed because of the limitations of factory blocks and the limitations of even a built TH350 or TH2004R, a triple disk lockup converters would be the way to go so that the boost would be less stressful on the engine a higher stall is best and as long as the converter can lock losses won't matter as much. A lot of these ideas came to me after I saw a 301T 383 stroker build on a forum where the guy made 478hp with a used 326 crank, factory iron #18 small valve heads a custom single plane intake with a carburetor. I would imagine a port injected 301T stroker if it would clean up at 0.010" over to keep the walls as thick as possible at 379ci with the same #18s, port injected with snake eater 1500 EV1 injectors, intercooled, 4150 style throttle body, a VS7875 turbo, twin 455lph fuel pumps on E85 would be able to make 700hp very easily and safely. Even if the engine made 400hp n/a with lower compression, a smaller cam and soft timing it should be able to hit 700hp at 9-10psi. With an electronic wastegate controller xxx boost per gear set to maximize traction in the lower gears, less boost and softer timing for safety throught the TQ spike would allow a nice peak power upstairs, would even allow more power to be made safely on 91-93oct with or without water meth. If someone created the solutions to use the modern EFI on Pontiacs for use with or without a turbo, a special aluminum intake for low and tall decks, the 301T block stroker kits and regular cylinder head conversions I think it would be successful. It kind of throws out all the odd stuff guys have been doing to work around the 301T's flaws and odd design but, it seems like the only way to ever see real power from a turbo Pontiac V8. I suppose deciding where to draw the line on development expense is where the power level and cost of an LS becomes too much to justify retaining the Pontiac architecture. That's justy fantasy I am not sure anyone with any business sense and money would ever attempt to create a market for those products for a family of engines that went out of production on April Fool's day 1981.
Wow what a treasure. I have a question a bit related to the engine. I like most people out there have limited knowledge of the 301 Turbo engine . Thanks to you I have gained much more respect for the engine. My son and I have a 1980 Turbo Trans Am all original. I have several manuals for it. But they might as well be writing in Egyptian Hydroglyphs. My question is do have a manual or diagram available for purchase, that identifies all the engine wires and components.. Hopefully exclusive to 80-81 TA’S We are going to refresh her electrical wires and harness. The cables and wires that are on her are bridle and dis color. Please help. Thank you. New viewer and subscriber.
Best thing is to purchase a factory service manual used by the dealerships. You can usually find them on eBay. There are other places that offer color coded wiring schematics, but sometimes the info is not correct for a 301T.
Used in the GM performance parts lexicon for decades.. Test mule prototype or an over the counter performance offering that never went into production perhaps.
Right place, at the right time Joe. Good job scoffing it up, altho I'll bet you gave more than "milk money" for it. It's gone to a good home. At least we know it'll be appreciated, and taken care of.
i have a mint 81 turbo trans am 48k miles, loaded red on red, the only thing wrong is a couple of slow oil leaks, i was told id have to have the engine pulled to repair them, the car is worth the cost to repair but i dont know if im going to invest the money right now
When this is put back together will it be displayed in the atrium of TTA World Headquarters? Will it be available for public viewing or will it be taken down to one of the secret underground labs at one of the offshore facilities?
That engine clearly has never been run, there is no way those paint marks on the pistons/valves would have survived even the briefest running lol. Last week I acquired and disassembled a "New" 1972 Olds 455 crate motor and it also had similar paint markings on the pistons and valves.
I am guessing that the "sp" could have stood for special project? That was probably a development engine and that they wanted them to do some testing on it and it never happened as it is clear it has never been run. Also some of the things you are pointing out say that it was not a production engine as there are some different parts on it. The rocker arm bolts are weird, maybe they shipped it that way and then a change was going to be made later? Basically you have a new long block?
Ok, I have a question. I’m trying figure out my next project. I’ve been toying around with the idea of restoring an “80” pace car. I would like to go with a larger engine and still utilize the draw through turbo so that it still looks fairly stock. What is the largest engine that will still work with one of your modified turbos.
The turbo can be modified to handle a larger engine. But, trying to keep the stock draw thru configuration on a larger Pontiac engine is a challenge. The 301 is a very unique, short deck block and requires a narrow intake manifold. It would be better to do a conventional turbo set up on a bigger Pontiac engine.
