Why This Rare Engine Wasn’t The Formidable Muscle Automotive V8 Pontiac Had Hoped

Within the late Sixties, Pontiac had a pair of significant V8 engines that ate up an enormous amount of air, using what the brand called “Ram Air” induction. Later Ram Air V8s used round exhaust port designs, which allowed more airflow than the usual D-shaped ports. Nevertheless, Pontiac faced a little bit of a pickle, because it desired to also increase the dimensions of the intake ports, thus improving airflow and maximizing power, nevertheless it couldn’t since the pushrods that operated the intake valves in its Ram Air engines were in the best way. That is when it resorted to some shady tactics to get around the issue.

Pontiac caught wind of a Ford design that helped get across the pushrod issue and decided to borrow it without asking, ultimately creating the mythical Ram Air V. But though the Ford-copied design served its intended purpose, it inadvertently robbed the engine of a big chunk of the performance Pontiac had hoped it could gain with the borrowed tech. It was an issue that engineers couldn’t solve before corporate brass pulled the plug on this system. So while Pontiac almost built and sold some of the formidable engines of the height muscle automobile era, the Ram Air V ended up being a disappointment and died before it could ever make it to production.

Pontiac’s “Ram Air” name goes all the best way back to 1965, and it’s still a reputation that makes classic Pontiacs hugely desirable. It was a dealer-installed performance add-on initially offered for the GTO’s 389-cubic-inch V8, which included a metal pan and foam gasket to surround the carburetors’ air intake. The froth gasket sealed the gap between the metal pan and the hood, in order that only cool outside air entered the intake via the 2 hood scoops. Ram Air V8s went through three more iterations before Pontiac hit an airflow roadblock after the Ram Air IV. That is where things got tricky.

Pontiac still wanted to extend airflow for its recent H.O. and Super Duty engines, but their D-shaped intake ports were limited in size attributable to the engines’ pushrods getting in the best way. That is when George DeLorean, the legendary John DeLorean’s brother, caught wind of something Ford was doing, so he took a cheeky look and let Pontiac copy Ford’s homework.

George DeLorean had a drag racing contract with Ford while he was doing a little engine development work for Pontiac. After learning that Ford’s engine had an analogous design to Pontiac’s but made more power, he knew there was a difference price investigating — Ford’s round intake “Tunnel Port” heads. George pulled a number of strings along with his Ford buddies and got his hands on one in every of Ford’s newfangled cylinder heads. He told his brother John, who famously worked for Pontiac on the time, who then called Pontiac engineers Steve Malone, “Mac” McKellar, Tom Nell, and Bill Klinger, telling them to go test it out.

Once they got there, they realized Ford solved the round intake port problem. Relatively than shrink the intake port size to suit across the engine’s pushrods, the Blue Oval just ran the pushrods straight through the intake ports. Before George needed to return the pinnacle, Pontiac engineers took pictures and measurements, and even made a mold of it. Once they built their very own version for the Ram Air V, it they internally named it the Tall Port head.

The Tall Port system initially worked as intended. It let much more air into the cylinders than any Ram Air V8 before. Nevertheless, karma has a way of punishing unoriginality, and an issue cropped up: There was simply an excessive amount of air. At just 400 cubic inches, there wasn’t enough capability to handle all the air, so a few of it sat stagnant within the ports, robbing the Ram V of its low-end power. The issue was even worse with the smaller 303-cubic-inch engine. The truth is, the Tall Port intake would only work well on massive displacement engines and at high rpms because smaller engines couldn’t suck in air fast enough. But by the point Pontiac’s engineers planned to increase engines to accommodate it, Pontiac killed this system, and the Ram V never made production.

The brand built a few hundred 303- and 400-cubic-inch Ram Air V engines, but all of them were developmental and never made it to road cars. The Ram Air V 400 was meant to be the brand’s most formidable engine of the classic era, but despite all of the thrill, promise, and engineering spycraft, it was ultimately lost to history.