The Pontiac 301 Turbo is an engine that
Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to:
* Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief
*Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand
Pontiac may also refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apo ...
produced for the 1980 and 1981
Trans Am. It was a
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
Origins
The first known V8 was the Antoinette, designed by Léon Levavasseur, a ...
with a displacement of 301 cubic inch which produced an officially factory rated and of torque in 1980. In 1981 it underwent some changes and offered a conservatively rated and of torque.
The Turbo Trans Am was first added to the Pontiac model lineup in 1979 as a 1980 model year, and was the first production Pontiac V8 engine to use forced induction; in this case through an exhaust-driven
turbocharging
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
system. It was only available for the 1980 and 1981 model years, which were also the last two years of this body style of the
Trans Am before it was succeeded by the all-new third-generation F-body in 1982.
Design
The 301 Turbo was unique in that it had a stronger block with thicker cylinder walls made from reinforced materials compared to the '77-'81 301
naturally aspirated
A naturally aspirated engine, also known as a normally aspirated engine, and abbreviated to N/A or NA, is an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure and does not have forced induction through a turboc ...
low-deck block, and featured a lower compression ratio (lower compression due to the increased pressure created by the turbo system). The 1980-81 naturally aspirated 301 used in the Trans Am and Formula used the 301T block.Further it had newly developed internals such as forged pistons, a relatively mild camshaft, a high pressure oil pump (60
psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ or ψ), the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviat ...
) to ensure adequate oil to the oil-cooled
Garrett
Garrett may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Garrett, Illinois, a village
* Garrett, Indiana, a city
* Garrett, Floyd County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Garrett, Meade County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
* Garrett, ...
TBO-305 Turbocharger, a rolled fillet crankshaft with 2 instead of 5 counterbalances, a fully baffled oil pan, and a high pressure fuel pump (10
psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ or ψ), the twenty-third letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviat ...
), a unique single plane intake, side and turbo-specific exhaust manifolds, and an Electronic Spark Controller (ESC) using a knock sensor to retard timing when detonation is detected.
The M4ME (E4ME for 1981) 800 cfm Rochester Quadrajet, unique to the 301 Turbo, had super rich "DX" secondary metering rods and a remote vacuum source for the primary metering rod enrichment circuit; the "PEVR" or Power Enrichment Valve Regulator. Boost was regulated by a wastegate, and was delivered to dealerships with a standard factory limit set to 9 psi (+/- 1 psi), although measured real-world factory default settings ranged from around 7 to 10 psi. The wastegate could be safely user-adjusted to 15 psi by adding alcohol or water injection, or even higher with heavier modifications.
The 301 Turbo package (RPO code LU8) required factory air conditioning (C60) due to a turbo-specific heater core box, and featured automatic transmissions (TH350 (non-lockup) for 1980, and THM350C (lock-up) for 1981) with a 3.08 positraction
limited-slip differential
A limited-slip differential (LSD) is a type of differential gear train that allows its two output shafts to rotate at different speeds but limits the maximum difference between the two shafts. Limited-slip differentials are often known by the ...
rear axle ratio (G80).
Because the engine still used a
carburetor
A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter)
is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...
instead of
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All c ...
, it could not take full advantage of the forced air through the turbocharger. The low-octane fuels used in the early 1980s could have caused severe detonation under boost, had it not been for the ESC.
See also
*
Pontiac V8 engine
The Pontiac V8 engine is a family of overhead valve 90° V8 engines manufactured by the Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac Division of General Motors Corporation between 1955 and 1981. The engines feature a cast-iron block and head and two valves per ...
*
List of GM engines
This list of GM engines encompasses all engines manufactured by General Motors and used in its cars.
Divisions
When General Motors was created in 1908, it started out with Buick and soon after acquired Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland. There were ...
References
{{reflist
Pontiac engines
V8 engines