1968 SOHC 303 Pontiac V8 Aussie Cammer engine SCCA

[@peterschoon9966]

Very fun video. I worked at Pontiac Motor division in 1970 in the financial department, but one of my superiors, Bill Hoagland knew I was an NHRA drag racer w/Pontiac sponsorship, and so one day he came up to my desk and said, "come with me." Down in the basement level parking garage we hopped into a Chevrolet Vega of all things (substitute for a Pontiac Astra I assume, which was not yet available.) He drove to a parking lot across town. Popped the hood and said, "Hop out." Which I did.
Under the hood was the engine your video documents: an all aluminum, SOHC V8! Only had a 3 speed manual trans. I drove back to the plant. Very strong engine, lots of RPM. He shared that the engine, heads etc. had all been one-off machined from solid blocks of aluminum by Pontiacs new milling machine. Quite an experience for me.
While at Pontiac I got to know the engineers in the Special Projects Engineering Department a little as well: Tom Knell, Herb Adams.

[@peterschoon9966]

Also meant to mention that a month before the above occurred I was hard at it over in the Administration Building across the plant site "bumping and grinding" (recall I was in an accountant role) and from my desk actually heard this unbelievable "SCREAMING" emanating from the Engineering Department's dyno exhaust tunnel (it ran a hundred yards below ground to its atmospheric exit). Same day when I had a little time I visited the Special Projects Engineering Office and inquired, "WHAT THE HECK DO YOU HAVE ON THE DYNO TODAY!" Answer was, "Pete, sorry, can't say much but think 'Jerry Titus' and 303 CID".

[@dominicgarcia85]

Almost don’t even want to hear the story of how lucky someone is especially when I’m a Pontiac man born n raised this is like a dream priceless but I have a few cars that would love that heartbeat under the hood gto lemans and a trans am all 70s

[@deborahchesser7375]

Damn that’s gotta be rare as hens teeth, neat stuff.

[@Conradchristopherson]

That is a great part of Pontiac history. It should probably be in a museum somewhere, not that it wouldn’t fun to play with, but if you broke it that would not be good.

[@Sheisthedevilyouknowwho-ft9we]

4.125. X 2.84 stroke. I didn't know there were any actually in existence. I have the Pete McCarthy book from '89-ish. He talked about the "Latin square" (?) camshaft, I think that took a lot of tinkering, a camshaft that really worked with this engine, got the 303 making at least 480 hp

[@tunnelportterror]

The 303 with Ram Air IV heads and single cam was the best combination 5 liter Pontiac that actually raced..

[@willkincaid5841]

I just read the article on this in Google it was motor trend I believe. But this is one of 5 I believe that made it back from Australia. It's a very cool article to read. Apparently the engine was built, ran but was never put in a vehicle. It was supposedly an r&d GM engine for trans am racing. I can't remember the guys name that Larry dillion got it from. But he had a buddy that went GMI for school/college in the 90s. The place was getting out when the guy found this. He asked the the school about it and he ended up taking it home and to put in a project. It sat for 20 some years, then he went to see Larry, they got to talking about a 60s Latham blower I believe. Larry's buddy brought up this crazy old engine he had stashed away and Larry ended up with it. I would love to hear this thing run or see a tear down. It is always cool to see this kind of stuff, I'm a die hard pontaic fan myself. It's what got me into cars and I will always have that love Pontiacs and vehicles in general.

[@tunnelportterror]

it's a shit motor though, lots of teething problems. the factory Ram Air IV heads made more power, a SOHC 303 is like going to hell to light a cigarette.

[@willkincaid5841]

@tunnelportterror I'm just simply enjoying the one off thing that was was an r&d project. For sure it has it has its issues as all engines do. I just appreciate it for what it is and that someone took the time to do this. It's really a pretty cool article if you get the chance to read it. I was never a fan of the 301 that was in production or whatever that weak ass engine was. I got into the 455 ho . My 3rd transam I had I built early 70s 400 ram air 4 block and heads I can't remember exactly all the numbers. But it was bored 20 over balanced and blue printed. Put a nice healthy cam in it with a air gap intake. The heads I carefully hand ported myself before the valve job. Toped with a 750 or 850 carb, we did all the tuning. This car would knock the tires off forever it seemed like. I did swap a ws6 rear end with 373 gears and disc brakes onto it. It had the factory 256 gears that was an open diff and that just wasn't going to work.

[@willkincaid5841]

I was 16 then just so you know Maybe 17.

[@chiefkikyerass7188]

The Pontiac guy said, this was to compete against the Ford 302, Chevy 302 for can-am racing in 68/69 more than 1 was made

[@tunnelportterror]

Yes that was it's purpose but it never raced. They never even ran. They were outsourced by Pontiac, examined, then discarded. They ran a short deck, cam in block 303 built by GM.

[@chiefkikyerass7188]

@@tunnelportterror thanks, wild story huh

[@kellynestegard5208]

It could be a belt drive; Pontiac was building a 421 OHC in the early sixties that had belts.

[@tunnelportterror]

Yeh they weren't reliable at all in dyno tests, they kept flipping the belt off

[@kellynestegard5208]

@@tunnelportterror Right. That was a DOHC. The SOHC 421 that Mac McKellar had in his '63 GP must have been reliable or he would not have used it. Any idea if this was belt driven, or chain?

[@thegdfp6447]

www.wallaceracing.com/RAV-303-mystery-engine3.jpg

[@chiefkikyerass7188]

No belts, it's sn 9/11 k rpm, motor, gear drive most likely

[@tunnelportterror]

It's not a gear drive. It was a chain drive, as shown by the cover, and tensioners adjusters, oilers, and it was a failure. It's main purpose was R&D to further develop the Pontiac v8 for SOHC DOHC future production, for corporate use into 1980-90s, which never materialized. Federal emissions standards got so tight, only the small block Chevy, Olds could pass the 1980s standards. The 265 and 301 Pontiac short deck motors died in 1981-82.

[@williamhelms9942]

The chain is too long. It snaps, shrapnel all over the place in a huge explosion like what happened to
"Big Daddy" Roth's UFO he built.

[@tunnelportterror]

That's a possibility but the SOHC427 Ford cammer v8 had a very long chain too, and tuners of the time figured out how to advance one bank, retard the other. That in itself is not insurmountable. It's the fact this engine was an engineering exercise, nothing more. Those heads are a POS