67 326 Firebird

[aintright]

I never owned one , but a friend did . It was a sharp car and very similar to the Camaro . Just didn't have the juice the 350 300 had though .
We raced once and I ate him up in a Camaro , but I always like the looks of that car . It resembled the Camaro , but at certain angles I always thought it had a little of the 70 GTO profile to it in the front quartered toward you .
Anybody here own one ? How did yours run ?
Kenneth

[Major Tom]

Using my 'Way back Machine' a friend had one and thought it would out run anything. That is until we 'drag raced' our cars and I beat him hands down, several times. BTW, my car was a 1964 Chevelle SS with the 300 HP 327 CI motor.

[aintright]

The Chevelles were sharp cars too . The 327 300 was the second engine in that Camaro . Hobbled around on crutches , got her running , put new clutch , pressure plate and throw out bearing in . Opened the breathing up a little with headers and a high rise with 780 Holley . She hit a pretty good lick for what it was .
Kenneth

[jon_norstog]

Best thing happened to the Firebird was when they started putting a small block Chevy engine in it.

jn

[Allen]

I like big blocks. In 1972 the rated HP dropped by about 1/2 due to all the insurance claims. They also started rating the HP at the rear wheels instead of the crank so the actual drop wasn't quite so severe. Anyway, 1971 was the last year of the muscle cars back then and unfortunately most of the Firebirds and Trans Ams that had big blocks were during these years of aneimic HP. Though the urge was there to replace the pistons and cam to make the engine what it should have been most of the gas companies after the fake energy crisis never made the 100+ octane fuels again so most people just left well enough alone. The last T/A to have the large engine was 1979. If you bought the manual trans the engine would have been the 400 (derived from the old Pontiac 389). If you bought one with the auto trans it was the 403 Oldsmobile engine. Both were decaled 6.6 liter on the hood scope.

[holdover]

I had a '67 with a 400 4 speed, silver with a black interior, restored it in 1980 kept it till the 90s. Ran strong about like my 67 Mustang 390 4 speed FB. But my favorite classic was my '65 mustang 289/ 271 HP 4 speed FB. with a lighter engine and the Shelby conversion to the A frame location it ran great and handled as well. There all gone now, replaced with 4 Model A Fords.. But I still have my hot rod a 1984 Mazda RX7 with a built 302/ 5 speed with '95 Corvette front and rear end, ZO6 wheels, Z rated tires. Fastest car I have ever owned, the weight and HP ratio makes it a fun car to drive, plan on putting twin turbos on it to go for a 200MPH jacket at East Coast Timing Association.

[leftyo]

I had a '67 with a 400 4 speed, silver with a black interior, restored it in 1980 kept it till the 90s. Ran strong about like my 67 Mustang 390 4 speed FB. But my favorite classic was my '65 mustang 289/ 271 HP 4 speed FB. with a lighter engine and the Shelby conversion to the A frame location it ran great and handled as well. There all gone now, replaced with 4 Model A Fords.. But I still have my hot rod a 1984 Mazda RX7 with a built 302/ 5 speed with '95 Corvette front and rear end, ZO6 wheels, Z rated tires. Fastest car I have ever owned, the weight and HP ratio makes it a fun car to drive, plan on putting twin turbos on it to go for a 200MPH jacket at East Coast Timing Association.

depending on what "built" is, probably a small single turbo will get you there. in something light like that ,might not need much more than 700hp to do 200 in ohio.

[Tuna]

Ah yes the 271 HP 289. Ford only gave a 90 day warrantee on that engine. Shelby took that engine and changed the intake to an aluminum intake with a Holly four barrel. Added a set of headers and the engine was rated at 306 HP. Those were the days
of our youth.

[Ken The Kanuck]

We picked up a work truck for my son a couple of weeks ago, a 2018 Dodge Ram 1500. I was surprised to hear it has 390 odd horse.

I had a 72 Mustang ragtop but it had a pussy of an engine.

Favourite car of my youth was a 66 Marlin, that was sweet but again a pussy of an engine.

KTK

[Darreld Walton]

I spent a bit of time driving a 326 Firebird. It 'felt' a lot like a 351 Windsor Ford in a Mustang to me. A lot of weight up front in the Pontiac, but it still handled well over the road, and for someone who knew it's limitations and was willing to put up with that level of performance, it was a neat little car. No 'slouch', but it also struggled to do much more than chirp the tires. The 'upside' was that it was a simple bolt for bolt swap to drop in anything else with the B-O-P bellhousing, and my friend, IIRC, ended up with a very stout 455 to replace the 326. Until he got the rest of the car sorted out, the poor little car would do little more than fry one tire while the rear axle bounced around.
The 'quickest' 326 I had was in a 63 Tempest, the one with the engine up front, and the torque converter and transmission in the 'trunk' connected via a long solid driveshaft. Independent rear end, but the suspension in the two door that I had wasn't very sophisticated, and I didn't think that it handled all that well. It was quick, but a two barrel 289 with a three speed manual in something like a Falcon or Mustang would eat it's lunch at a stop light.
Seems like the Firebirds were always set up to be a road car, much like the Cougar. A lot more comfortable than a Camaro, quieter, heavier, but looked good doing it.
I grew up on Fords, and have continued to buy the brand for 50+ years. My most 'fun' vehicle was a 67 GT Mustang, 330 hp 390, 4 speed, with a locker in the rear. It was set up for the stop light drags, and would cause you to soil yer knickers if you encountered a sharp turn 'at speed'.
Fastest ride I'd been in for many, many years was a 72 Pantera that a friend in the USAF owned when I was stationed at Malmstrom AFB, back when Montana had no speed limit. We headed up I-15 out of Great Falls, and the kid driving asked what it felt like to be doing a buck sixty with my ass somewhere around five inches above the road surface, and before I could respond, he hammered that 351 Cleveland, and then grabbed fifth gear.... The memory of that ride came back last year when my son pulled up in his new Mustang, the one with the five litre "Coyote" and six speed.
Oh, Ken, last summer, I noticed that a neighbor has an AMC Marlin parked in front of his house. Hadn't seen one of those for a lot of years!
The best 'sleeper' I owned was an early AMC Hornet two door sedan that originally had a 304 and auto. It ended up with a fairly 'warm' 401, and a very quiet exhaust. Always wanted a set of personalized plates that read "Q Ship" for that car.