The Current Engine
The original 330 hp engine in my bird was destroyed by the previous owner. The story that I was told was that he was 'cruising' at 130 with no oil. The car does have a 2.56 rear, so the speed was possible, although I would not want to cruise at that speed with the 1968 suspension. The new block is a 1975 400 that had 185 hp stock. I saved up and bought the Edlebrock Performer RPM Heads, Intake manifold, and Ram Air IV camshaft; which I had planned to bolt to the existing block. When I pulled the old cam out of the 75 block I noticed something that scared me. The cam bearings felt like sandpaper. At that point my ideas of just bolting on a new top end fell through. I broke down the block, and took the everything to a machine shop to get the block punched .030 over, and the bottom end balanced. The owner of the machine shop happened to be an old Pontiac guy, and he was excited to see a Poncho engine. He rebuilt the shortblock for me, and I got back a pretty painted shortblock, with forged pistons and the Ram Air IV cam.

I am currently a history major at USC in Columbia, SC.