Buying a Pontiac W72 engine

This glorious American made V8 performance car engine was silenced about 17 years ago. If you only include big bore engines, add another couple of years to cover the loss of Pontiac's 455 in 1977. When North Americans started restoring muscle cars in the 1980s, the choice of engines in wrecking yards was pretty good. Today, Chevrolet V8 enthusiasts still have ample opportunity to find what they want. What if you're restoring a different brand such as Pontiac, Oldsmobile or something from the full size line such as a Cadillac 472?

They're still out there. With internet auction houses and online classified ads, the entire continent is available for searching. The parts are still hard to find for restorers and if you don't know what to look for, it's easy to pay more and get less. Parts need to be examined in detail and preferably up close. There's only so much a digital camera can display. Another problem that has risen from the "buy it now" button is a reluctance to ask proper questions and making sure the engine or part in question meets your needs.

A good case in point is the engine purchase I made recently for my 1980 turbo Trans Am Special Edition. I restored the car a few years ago doing everything over except the engine because believe it or not, it ran perfectly when I got it seven years ago. This wasn't any trailer queen, but an honest 97,500 kilometer car needing everthing to make it look new. The engine runs fine and it is numbers matching. However I've put seven years of summer driving on it and I'm nervous about driving such a low production engine. They only made the turbo 4.9 V8 for two years. I decided to build a replacement engine to power the car and store the turbo V8 away.

I went on the prowl for a Pontiac V8 and found a nice 1974 455 HO YY code block. It was bored .030 over, had been magnafluxed, hot tanked and included main bearing caps. It needed another hot tank to melt out the cam bearings and check up before ordering new parts. It had spun a rod bearing within 200 miles and the owner gave up on it. I was ready to use that one when I came across another Pontiac V8. This one was complete and even cheaper than the 455. The suffix code Y6 made it a 1977 Pontiac W72 high performance Trans Am engine. It also had the satin chromed valve covers, 6X4 cylinder heads, oil pan, water pump, timing case, pushrod valley cover plus all the little pieces you have to buy if you're using a short block.

Let's look at the math. The 455 was $350 for a bare block ready to hot tank and start over. The 400 W72 was $300 and it came with everything from original oil pan to intake manifold. Buying these little bits and pieces cost money. A replacement timing case is $179. A fuel pump cam and eccentric is $40. Since the engines share the same pieces externally, you end up saving money on the rebuild. Remember this when you see a nice short block for sale. If you don't have the other goodies, some one else has and you'll be paying for them.