Rare But Unwanted 4.3L: 1981 Pontiac Firebird
What engine would make a Pontiac 301 cubic inch V8 engine look powerful? Well, Pontiac produced a little known V8 engine in 1980-1981 which was available as a step up from the base V6 engine. It was the 4.3 liter V8 engine that displaced 265 cubic inches. This 1981 Pontiac Firebird is in exquisite condition and is equipped with this underpowered optional V8 motor that was designed for fuel economy. The car is listed for sale here on eBay with 7 days remaining in the auction. The odometer reading on the car shows 38,750 miles. The Firebird is located in Lambertville, Michigan and is currently bid to $14,667. The seller also has a Buy It Now Price of $17,500 as an option.
The blue cloth interior is the standard interior available on Firebirds in 1981. The car has air conditioning, automatic transmission and manual roll up windows. The seats, door panels, carpet and headliner look mint. The Firebird has the remote side mirror on the driver side and is said to be painted in its original paint except for some touch ups and the front urethane nose was repainted. The seller states that the car does not have any rust and has not been restored mechanically or cosmetically.
There is not a lot of information on this little V8 engine. It is similar to Chevrolet’s 262 V8 engine which was used in the 1970’s. My Dad bought a 1975 Chevrolet Nova with a 262 V8 engine and it was fine but obviously not powerful. We had a lot of trouble with the car stalling when we pulled away from the light when the car was new. My brother rebuilt the 2 barrel carburetor and found the problem. The 301 cubic inch V8 engine was rated at 155 horsepower with a 4 barrel carburetor and 135 horsepower with a 2 barrel carburetor. I couldn’t find any horsepower ratings for the Pontiac 265 cubic inch V8 motor but it was probably below these ratings.
The car has had exhaust work including the replacement of the catalytic converter and the addition of dual chrome tips. The transmission was rebuilt, too, which is concerning if this is a low mile car. The seller states that the car has 4 new BFG Radial TA tires and the car runs great.
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Comments
The transmission was probably rebuilt because of everything drying up.
I believe the Oldsmobile 260 2bbl V8 was rated at 115 or 120 hp. The Pontiac is probably right around there. Cant help but wonder if it has the Turbohydramatic 200 trans in it. That would possibly explain as to why the trans needed to be rebuilt.
Not a corner-carving edition and wasn’t built to be one. If you want this bodystyle in a cruiser, you can do a heck of a lot worse.
Yep Driveinstyle Pontiac rated the 4.3 at 120hp. Looks like it was GM’s attempt to create a low weight engine with a special crank with only 2 counterweights instead of 5. Can’t imagine it was a real smooth runner.
Terrific candidate to modify if one so desired…
Looks great without the lower spoilers, hood decal, etc. – and the dark blue paint is very appealing.
I’ll bet there is a Pontiac 400 or even a 350 (actually, 355) that could be exchanged, a 2004R or 700R4, and a rear gear with strength and deeper gears.
Add some tasty all chrome rallys, or WS6 reproduction wheels, and an aftermarket gauge set that looks factory (add the extra factory pods next to the a/c vents), and you’ll have a terrific tourer, Cruiser or ?? that people won’t look sideways when they see you didn’t modify a true T/A or Formula.
There are plenty of Firebirds with larger engines. Buy one if you want one. Hopefully, whoever gets this leaves it AS IS!!!
Clean! Yes it would make a fantastic candidate for a resto-rod, but it would also make for an interesting conversation piece at a local C&C.
GLWTA!
I’m always flabbergasted when I see how many people see a car like this and want to trash it by modifying it! This is a great looking car, in great shape. Who cares if it has a smaller V8? Appreciate it for what it is instead of pining to destroy it.
Yea I agree leave it alone and cruise it that’s what it was designed for if u want to race or to just sound big just buy one already built that way
Because when you actually drive the car Jim and not just admire the looks of it, you will quickly discover that it doesn’t have enough power to get out of its own way. It is frightening to drive such a slow car on today’s highways.
As Williams says….if you want one with more power, BUY ONE with more power.
There are a limited number of surviving vehicles in stock condition. Every one that is trashed because it isn’t “fast enough” is one less.
Don’t buy something you don’t want and change it. Just buy something that satisfies your indiscriminate need for more power.
Do you seriously believe this car cannot cruise all day long at modern highway speeds? Because if you do, you’re wrong.
Jim and William, you won’t know what a dog this car is from just a test drive around the block. When you have to live with it day to day, you will agree that it is just too dam slow!
If you don’t like it, then buy another car and pass on this one. It’s that simple. Why the insistence that it be modified?
Who is going to live with a 38,000 mile 1981 Firebird day to day? Nobody is going to buy this as a daily driver. It’s going to be driven to cruise nights and cars & coffee, and who really cares if it takes a few extra minutes to get there? I sure don’t want it, but I’m not going to dump all over someone who does!
This car is located in my town, though I have never run across it a show in the area. I would absolutely think it a crime to tuen this car into a tranny. Instead, if HP is a concern I would maybe look for a hotter cam, do a little head work and intake work, maybe change the gears in the rear differential but nothing that the eye could see is not original. Probably could get it to push 170 or more HP and that would be OK for a cruiser like this.
I thought a 4.3 is a v/6. not a v/8.
I could be wrong, and it’s hard to imagine why they would have been swapped, but those sure look like Camaro buckets to me…
Probably original seats, remember it’s a base Firebird, I think that’s why they look like Camaro seats.
It would be interesting to see which is faster & gets better mpg –
this 265, or a transplanted 267 chevy v8, 260 olds v8, or a 250 chevy strait 6. lol
Looking at the sticker, the weak auto trans was $370 more, but no extra charge for the turbo 400 auto in a ’74 t/a with HEI which, stripped – no radio, a/c, etc is 1/2!!! the price of this car just 7 yrs later! & this is not even a formula, let alone havin a big motor! & they sold so many of the ’79-81s?! & so few of the ’70-74s?
Better to have ordered this car with wheel covers & whitewalls & no rear spoiler, so the guy next to you at the stoplite can save his gas.
Odd it has a formula steerin wheel but no aux gages.
Looks like the start of the “greying” of car interiors.
Funny that Pontiac didn’t grab the 4.3 from Chevy or the 3.8 from Buick instead of developing the equivalent of Honda’s CB350 four. Where I worked we had a Chevy Astro van with the 4.3 and it ran great and was easy on gas.
I don’t think the 4.3 Chevy was out yet. Chevy had some smaller 90 degree V6 options and Buick had both the 3.8 and 4.2l variants of its V6. As I recall, the even-firing Buick V6s were better on fuel and about as responsive as the 260-ish GM V8s. My Dad’s company has a fleet of ‘78 Oldsmobile Delta 88s with the 260. They were impressively slow, but burned nearly as much fuel on the highway as his Electra 225 with the Olds 403.
We also had a ‘75 Regal with the odd-fire 232, about the same size and weight as those Oldsmobiles. It seemed slightly less slow, but the rough firing pattern caused a vibration both at stoplights and cruising on the highway.
If someone actually hit the BIN and brought this home they would know the meaning of buyers remorse about 10 minutes into driving it lol.
It’s a beautiful car but w/ that motor, don’t count on doing many Rockford turns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X7XGmS6Pe4
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-perform-a-j-turn/
I do remember the 265 Pontiac V8 was put into Pontiacs and Buicks in 1980 and 1981. My friend had an 80 Buick Regal with this engine. I never knew they put this engine into Firebirds though. It wouldn’t be too swift on its feet.
I wouldn’t destroy it for Pete’s sake I would preserve that 265 V-8 on a display stand while I tried to destroy a SD 455 I popped in there going after everything with a small block lol
My 1986 Ford Escort Pony 4 speed is better than this.
Ha, u keep thinking that Charles! 🤣
On a scale of 1 to 1986 Ford Escort Pony 4 Speed how much better is your car Charles?
Barn Finds: “Rare but Unwanted”
Me: Speak for yourself I want it
The 265 Pontiac engine has the same bore and stroke as the early 265 Chevy small block, but that is where the similarities end. It is simply a smaller bore 301 Pontiac engine.
Pontiac 301 is actually 4.9 liters, not 4.3. Surprised this was not spotted earlier. You guys know your stuff!
This car doesn’t have a 301. It has the 265 V8.
265 ÷ 61.02 = 4.3 liters.
Wow! I learned something today. Thank you!
Wow, that IS super rare! Thank you for the correction.
“It produced 120 hp (89 kW)” from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_V8_engine
SOLD for $16,500.
When I went to order my ’81 Camaro, the Sales Manager talked me out of this engine and into the 229 V6. He said that all I would be doing is paying more for gas.
He also talked me out of this shade of dark blue, saying that there were a lot of issues with it and lots of them being repainted under warranty, so I went with black.
I guess he felt that he needed to help out a young guy with his choices. I ended up with a car that had no problems in the years I owned it.
I had one of these Firebirds with the 265. I could do 85 mph on the interstate all day. (I was a police officer) Acceleration was poor from a standing start. Bought the car used, repaired and painted it. Rebuilt the tranny. My wife and I enjoyed it. Sold it to buy a house.
It must have been hard to tell how fast you were going after you pinned the speedo at 80, or did it go to 85? I forget.
I popped out the speedo and pulled off the little pin that stopped at 80/85 so that the needle could continue its journey around the clock. Not that the 220 V6 could do much more than that.