Reply to: RE>3500 stuff (was Re: 3500 in
Ed Devinney writes about the history of the Buick V6:
Olds went with a 330-inch all-iron engine, and (I think) Pontiac
introduced the 326 that same year.
***** I used to have one of these! My car was a 1963 Pontiac LeMans, which was
essentially a Tempest with a nice black vinyl/chrome interior. It had the 326
CID aluminum V8. Gawd what a magnificent engine! Fastest car I ever owned.
Unfortunately, the chassis was no match for the engine. That car was an
evil-handling pig. In fact in "Unsafe at any Speed"
Ralph Nader wrote: "The Corvair was the worst-handling car ever foisted off on
the American public, with the exception of the original Pontiac Tempest", or
some such.
I would have lived with the pitiful handling, but it also ate a clutch
every thousand miles! The car's transmission was between the rear wheels, and
a long curved torque tube connected it to the engine, with a little tiny
driveshaft in there rotating at crank speed. Somehow, when you engine-braked,
a the driveshaft would go "sproing-sproing-sproing" in there, and sooner or
later, it would tear the middle right out of the clutch driven plate. I got
real good at changing that clutch!
- Jerry
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