you guys are the best brain-trust i know about all that is driven, so i thought i should ask. I have an aunt that is restoring her '72 grand prix (having a shop do it) she and my grandad have owned it since new. she asked me if the SBC HEI dist would fit in the 400. i had no idea since i've never touched a pontiac... i can only ***ume yes, but what do i know? Thanks all!
Well..... yes it will work. The engines are all interchangable from '68 to '78. The '76 was the first HEI engine. Find a '76 to '78 PONTIAC distributor, a set of wires and the correct plugs for a '76. Gap them for the '76 and install them...drop distributor in....run wires.... and time the engine for a '76. This HEI distributor needs 12 Volts direct from the switch. If you have a ballast resitor, please remove it. All it requires is a one wire power supply. I have a rebuild '68 block with the '76 setup in my '59 and it runs great. Good luck and.......BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
well. no it will not work. a small block chevy hei distributor will not work in a pontiac engine. do some research .
I think he missed the SBC in all of that. as far as all pontiacs being interchangable, physically, all of the parts are. however, it ain't always happy in Pontiac land when you start mixing and matching pulleys and bracketry. every line of car had a different bracket and pulley set (or so it seems...F Body is it's own, A body is it's own, Collonade is it's own, and "big car" is it's own...then you get into differences with a/c or non, power steering or non, and there are 2 different ***emblies due to water pump.) point being, is yep they're the same...and completely different.
In addition to the fact that the Pontiac V8 and the Chevy V8 engines use different distributor housings...and one will not interchange with the other...it's also important to know that although factory HEI distributors are widely available for both engines, the ignition coils are different, as well as the housings. One coil will physically interchange with another, but Pontiac distributors rotate counter-clockwise while Chevy distributors turn clockwise. The wires for the coils are different for that reason, so if you nab a common HEI distributor for your Pontiac V8 (found in Pontiac V8s from 1974 to 1981, with 74-79 being preffered), don't just pop the ignition coil out of an old spare Chevy HEI cap and run it on your Poncho...buy a coil for a Pontiac HEI. This messes some people up...and it's a fairly easy mistake to make.
If it's being restored, wouldn't it make more sense to keep the points distributor and convert it to electronic with a Pertronix kit? An HEI is a pretty noticable change. -Dave
I agree with this. The HEI will mess up the looks of the engine compartment of a restored Grand Prix, IMO.
If the car is a resto, then just put the points back in it and leave it at that. They worked fine for 35 years...why change now? sounds like improvement for the sake of change, not because it needs to be improved.
No kidding????? The only reason I'm asking is my 50 chevy came with a poncho 350. My ponch fiend friend said it has 400 heads..hmmm, I'll have to bug him about this....
Pontiac 400 heads should work on a Pontiac 350, shouldn't they? Pontiac 400 heads wouldn't work on a Chevrolet 350, nor would Chevrolet 400 heads work on a Pontiac 350. A lot of people don't realize they're two completely different engines. GM had all its divisions competing engineering-wise for a long time. It was a lot cooler, if you ask me. Damn accountants... -Dave
Sorry, I wasn't perfectly clear... Definately poncho heads. He crossed the casting numbers for me. Nothing special but definatelt 400 heads. If it fires up I'll run it.
The distribs from the worthless Pontiac 301's will fit fine...coil wires are color coded (Yellow for CW vs...?? can't remember...) You WILL need an aftermarket vac can with about 12 or so degrees advance, as all OEM are EGR engines I think and have WAY too much vac advance for an engine without that (pingpingping at cruise...) Also you will probably like it better if you put in a Moroso advance kit with one of the lighter spring sets. These mods are cheap and easy. You can run the next 35 years without even looking at the ignition...
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