Boat Anchors Award

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Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
1980 and 1981 Pontiac 301 4.9L engines combined with a TH250 and 2.29 or 2.41 rear gearing.


I have one in my 79 trans am. I'll eventually rebuild it with some block fill to strengthen the block and put a stroker crank in with SBC pistons and BBC. rods.
 
Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
The 88 S15 with the 2.5L Iron Duke automatic. I lost in a race against a UPS truck!


I was going to say anything with the Iron Duke/Tech IV 2.5. I drove a 1989 Olds Cutlass Ciera Cruiser with that engine and a TH-125. Being a wagon with the third-row seat, the 110 HP that engine put out coupled through a short-shifting slushbox meant it was slow and thirsty. Hills were a problem when that wagon was used for vacations. It never got much more than 25 mpg highway to boot.
 
Originally Posted By: roadrunner1
My experience with the slant 6 were far from bulletproof, last one I had was in an '84 1/2 ton Dodge, which I bought new. It broke two exhaust manifolds due to overheating trying to maintain 55 mph into a 50 mph head wind, yes twice. Also it came from factory without completed machine work on the end of the camshaft, starving the lifters of oil. The dealership put in 7 sets of lifters before it was tore down and found the cause. It also ate starters, they usually lasted 10,000 mi., also due to overheating/ not adequate heat shield to protect it from exhaust manifold.


Sounds like you just got a lemon. We had a 66 Valiant in the family with a 727 behind it that got 150k on the motor before it gave us any trouble. Just had the normal stuff, most severe was a timing chain. Sold it to a 16 year old kid and they drove it for two more years before a deer got it.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
The old slant six engines were bulletproof though. Probably part of that was just how under stressed they were.


I used to have a good customer (RIP), That had a '68 Clark Cortez motorhome (Think Clark forklift), It had a 225 slant six Industrial engine with a 1 bbl carb, He put over 200,000 miles on it before the radiator split & overheated so bad it spun a rod bearing. It had a 4 speed manual transaxle (front wheel drive), This engine was overtaxed with the weight it had to pull around.
 
Originally Posted By: Eric Smith
The 88 S15 with the 2.5L Iron Duke automatic. I lost in a race against a UPS truck!


Yes, but the iron Duke with a manual behind it was a fun little truck. Put many a miles on one of those running auto parts in high school. Maybe the lack of power steering helped.

The 3.3 in my caravan sure feels like a boat anchor to me, then again my other vehicles have a bunch of HP.
 
The old Corvair motors were a nightmare. That fan belt setup and leaky old school seals. Modern tech in seals and in other areas helps now, but back then, not so much.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
The old slant six engines were bulletproof though. Probably part of that was just how under stressed they were.


But they weren't enough in a 4600lb Fury with 2.94 gears!
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
1980 and 1981 Pontiac 301 4.9L engines combined with a TH250 and 2.29 or 2.41 rear gearing.


I have one in my 79 trans am. I'll eventually rebuild it with some block fill to strengthen the block and put a stroker crank in with SBC pistons and BBC. rods.


It would probably be much cheaper, easier, and far more rewarding to throw it away & install a 400 or 455.
 
My parents mb 240d auto was piggishly slow. Not sure of the aura of this smokey slow car besides the badge. The other pig was my dads bmw 318 automatic company car which could not get out of its own way.

1980s were very dark years for auto industry.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
My parents mb 240d auto was piggishly slow. Not sure of the aura of this smokey slow car besides the badge. The other pig was my dads bmw 318 automatic company car which could not get out of its own way.

1980s were very dark years for auto industry.

Guess you weren't around for the '70s??? About everything from around '79 up was a breath of fresh air compared to 'most '73-'78 models...

As far as just plain junk, nothing posted so far comes close to the 2300 Vega motor...

So I'll post a another top contender, GM's 5.7 Olds diesel... 105Hp in a 4000lb pound full size model was pitiful... Biggest problem was the tendency to break head bolts, blow head gaskets or toss the crank out of the bottom of block(generally with ZERO notice)... Injection pumps rarely lasted 50K mi, usually car was on it's second engine when that failed...
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
305/5.0 Chevy small blocks


As bad as they were, I believe the 307 was even worse...Pontiac's 301 was an anchor too!
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
crazy2.gif



That may have been a slow combination, but the 283 and powerglide tranny were both very good...
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
305/5.0 Chevy small blocks


As bad as they were, I believe the 307 was even worse...Pontiac's 301 was an anchor too!


I owned two...thought they were great engines. Not terribly fast, but well built.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
305/5.0 Chevy small blocks


As bad as they were, I believe the 307 was even worse...Pontiac's 301 was an anchor too!


I owned two...thought they were great engines. Not terribly fast, but well built.


You're the only one....NOBODY I've ever talked to liked the 307...
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
305/5.0 Chevy small blocks


As bad as they were, I believe the 307 was even worse...Pontiac's 301 was an anchor too!


I owned two...thought they were great engines. Not terribly fast, but well built.

Agreed couldn't have been any better or worse than any other small block Chevy of the era, was nothing more than a 283 with a 327 crankshaft... Was never a 4bbl version so was not a performance engine... Chevy's 400 small block was ragged on for same reason, just a low RPM smogger, not built for performance... Then the hot rodders figured out with a good set of heads it was a holy terror in a Camero, Firebird, Nova etc...

The 305 Chevy was poor design, bore was so small a really good set of big valves would not clear the cylinder walls, plus the ones that could be used were hampered by shrouded valves...
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
305/5.0 Chevy small blocks


As bad as they were, I believe the 307 was even worse...Pontiac's 301 was an anchor too!


I owned two...thought they were great engines. Not terribly fast, but well built.


You're the only one....NOBODY I've ever talked to liked the 307...


We're talking about the Olds 307, right? There's a huge Oldsmobile V-8 fan club community who restore those vehicles. The 307 was an emissions-era engine that didn't produce the horsepower than its predecessors did, but it was still a torquey engine that was favored by many over the Chevy 305. Even General Motors used the 307 instead of the 305 in some applications, like Buicks and Cadillacs.

How many did you own?
 
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