# horsepower rating faked?



## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

i was doing some looking and found that online fourms show 64-66 326 2v had 1.88 intake and 1.60 exhaust and a 8.6 cp. rated at 250 horsepower however 67 shows 9.2 cp and 1.92 intake and 1.64 still the 250 horse engine. side note being the 6 was the same has 67 not the 64-65, i found this out in my phs papers that show the 66 had the same specks has the 67. anyway what im wondering is did they lye bout the horsepower being 25o in 64-65? was that higher then what it was or was the 66-67 a low rateing? i mean they bumped the cp up and added larger valves and i think the 2v on all of the above was a large one like 400-500 cfm, can it really be power didint change at all?


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## facn8me (Jul 30, 2011)

Hahahahhahahahaa The big three would NEVER lie about HP Anyway yer talking about negligible changes to a small engine. the factory and people like round numbers. 243.6 HP just doesn't have the same effect at 250hp 254.3 hp is not really a jump and would not affect performance in seat of the pants in any way.


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

There were lots of horsepower games played "back in the day". Pontiac was usually guilty of under-rating their engines if anything. Keep in mind that there was no rule that said the advertised rating had to be the "maximum", at least not as far as I know. Witness the 455-SD, rated at 290 HP. Yeah, right - 290 HP at 1500 rpm maybe, then too the SD carbs left the factory with physical stops on the secondaries that prevented them from opening all the way .... 

Bear


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## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

ha yeah thats my pont they lied! but i am just curious if the under rated the later ones or over rated the older ones, i mean the phs papers say a 250 hp 326 had 333 pounds of toque and 9.2 cp, the 4v one had the same size valves but diffrent heads, used a 4v cam a carter afb and had 10.5 cm but yet only boosted power to 285 hp and 359 pounds of torue but we are to beleave a checy 327 with conpairible valve size and a 4v had 300 hp? i smell detroit bull****


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## MPGTOF (Jun 3, 2012)

*Under Rated*

I have heard multiple times that Pontiac would post the HP ratings lower than they actually were in order to lower insurance cost on the customer. I am fairly sure that was done on every GTO Judge ever made.


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## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

no kidding, you know when cars rated sometimes 100 horsepower less beat the other guy that the rating is fake. fake ratings or not a 326 or 350 will always be to pontiac guys what a 283 or 327 is to chevy guy, the hole 9well a 350 chevy is best0 or the hole ( go with a 400 or 455) but i have seen so much mainstream cars in books id kinda like to see some drag shootouts with common cars, like a 2v 283 with highway gears and the powerglide againts a 2v 326 st300 and highway gears, or a 4 door 283 powered car againts say a full size ford. oh well anyway im just curious what the real power is of some of the lesser v8's cause after all even the lesser ones had to live up to the companys name and for everyday drivers are cheaper to buy, cheaper to replace if it burns up or whatever and my tempest gets around 16-17 highway stock, not many muscle cars can do that. it may be a 326 but mines still getting a hei and a 4v:cool


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Well, 'fake' is a pretty strong word. You could say that the Ram Air IV made 370 HP at 5500 rpm and still be telling the truth, or at least close to it. The rest of the story was that up around 5800-6000 the motor was well over 400 HP 

Bear


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## chuckha62 (Apr 5, 2010)

Everyone did it. In the Pony car days, the 'Stang, the Camaro and the 'Cuda were all competing for T/A Glory with "small" displacement V8's (302-340 ci). Having driven a bone stock Z/28 302 and an original T/A 'Cuda, I can tell you that both of these produced power FAR North of their advertised 290 HP. I mean 290??? C'mon, both of those were not even close! I've read dyno test reports from back in the day where each of them were putting out in excess 375 HP, and the Boss 302 (also T/A spec) was supposed to be right in the same arena. The GM big block cars were even more under-rated.

It was a FUN era to learn to drive in though. I'm not quite old enough to have driven them NEW but, they weren't very old when I got to play with them. I'm lucky to be alive!


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## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

well im 27 so missed the golden years=/ im just lucky my first car was/is the family tempest and the car i took my test in was m y dads 1990 olds 88, now ive seen both of these great makes die. yeah i always knew theme cars with 302's had to be underated. i guess im just curious what the true max power and torque was on some of the v8's


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Pontiac generally under-rated their HP ratings and Chevy generally over-rated theirs. I've driven a bunch of 327 Chevies, and none of them even had close to the amount of torque and grunt of a decent running 326 Pontiac. At high RPM they ran great, but on the street, out of the hole, they were no match for a decent 326. This has been my experience over the years.....your mileage may vary.


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## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

me being a pontiac guy thats good to hear and it confirms my feelings about the 326 being a very torquey motor, may not win againts a true muscle car but i feel it hold its on againts other small v8s in its class. i gonna try and build some more torque into my 326 with a hei distributor, a 4v carb and stock qjet intake, maybe a more torquey cam and i was thinking bout repop 67 ram air exhaust mainifolds:cool


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## danthepontiacman (Jul 5, 2008)

oh and it already gets around 16 or 17 highway driveing at around 70-75


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