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Old 01-13-2018, 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by 1967Z28 View Post
Very cool car, no doubt. I'm very confused why the Firebird had four different 400 engines available in the Firebird in 1968. Is the 400HO not as hot as the Ram Air I?
-When you ordered a 400 Firebird, you got the base 400 at 330 horses with the #16 casting heads.

-Then you could order a 400 HO which used the high-flow exhaust manifolds from the next-rung-up 400 Ram Air engine and the hotter cam for the manual trans car. Everything else stayed the same as base 400. Closed air cleaner, closed hood scoops.

-Then the 400 Ram Air Engine had the special exhaust manifolds, and different heads, casting 31, with swirl polished valves and special valve springs, for higher RPM operation. And, of course, the foam air cleaner element that mated to OPEN hood scoops.

-In April 1968, came the first "round port" Pontiac engine. The nasty b#*ch Ram Air II (even though Pontiac never used Ram Air I as a designator for their 400 Ram Air - until much later) This was a very special engine with completely re-engineered heads with round exhaust ports, forged aluminum pistons (versus cast of the other 400s), special crank, special 4-bolt block, re-balanced Armasteel crank etc. Foam element air cleaner, open hood scoops. The lousy 5hp difference at 340 was a joke - it was much more.
A beast in a Firebird.
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Last edited by Tracker1; 01-13-2018 at 04:36 PM.
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