Quote:
Originally Posted by rexs73gto
The olds engine was & is a slug, It weighs about 100 lbs more
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Don't know where you got that....The Olds 403 is actually 100 lbs lighter than a Pontiac 400. The 403 is even as light or lighter than a Chevy 350.
And I don't think it's a slug either. It made the same power as an L78 Pontiac 400, so I guess the L78 must be a slug too.
I think the reason they got a bad rap is because they were in automatics, mostly with 2.41 rear gears, whereas the Pontiac equipped cars got better gear ratios, and could have a 4 speed. Most people apparently don't take that into consideration. Give it the same gearing and it'll run faster too. Give it higher compression and better cam, like a W72 got, and it would keep up with it.
So, I think it's a good running and dependable street engine. And it doesn't take much to improve the power....just like it wouldn't take much to improve an L78.
It's not the perfect choice for a race engine, but not talking about race engines here. Even though, they can be built to make a lot of power. Like everything, it just takes money.