Pontiac 326 V8 Engine

In 1963 Pontiac continued with its tradition of making new engines out of old engines and decided to reduce the bore of the popular 389 motor in order to make the 326. The Pontiac 326 was produced as a replacement engine for the Tempest since these earlier cars had the all aluminum Pontiac 215 engines in them that were produced by Buick. The stroke in the 326 was not changed at all and the compression was kept much higher than many of the lower end 2 barrel 389 motors. This gave the standard Pontiac 326 up to 50 more horsepower than many of the low compression 389 engines coming off the assembly line.

By 1964 a high output 326 was introduced that included a 4 barrel carburetor and gave the engine a respectable 280 horsepower rating. The Pontiac 326 also had the special honor of being installed in some of the first Firebirds for 1967. After 1967 this engine was taken out of production. It is still possible to find parts for the 326 engine but don’t expect an ample amount due to the fact that this engine never really caught on with performance enthusiast.