the 403 olds made 160 hp (i think). i have read about this motor and the heads and the low compression were the real problem. the pontiac 301 was around 150 hp. the turbo made around 200 hp.

the pontiac 400 for those years made 220 hp and was only available with a 4 speed. the 403 olds said 6.6 liter on the scoop and the 400 said 6.6. t/a.
the 403 went behind the automatics.

so glad i store all this usefull information about cars my sister and friends had 20 years ago.

if i won the lotto there would be a restored black and gold 79 with a 455 transplant in my fleet of cars. other than the motor i would not change a thing, i still like the rims they had, 15" and all

 

You've retained more specs than I do and I still have mine.
Do to time and money I haven't been able to do anything to it since it blew up 4 years ago...

But one day (probably when the kids are gone) it will be a ground up restore.
I'll definatly have more in it than it's worth, but.... It's my dream car since I was a little kid, 2 it was a gift from my grandpa. Now that he is gone it means that much more to me.

 

join the club:lol i have a building full of stuff i need to finish......someday

 

Hersh--Actually in 1984 the Monte Carlo SS was faster than the Cameros. The ony thing purpose built for the car was the engine, everything else was off the shelf. Of course GM couldn't have that so they put that engine in the Camero in '85. I found all this information out when I owned my second '85 SS. Some dipsnit put an '85 350 in it. I looked in all the books I could find and was never able to locate a 350 that was set up stock to have more power than the '85 305 HO. The Monte Carlos SS was my dream car in high school and after owning 3 of them I came to realize GM's suck. I still like the car though, just don't want to spend all the time and money keeping it running.


Edited to add: Even the engine was built using off the shelf items, put together for the first time in the Monte Carlo.