All About the Engines That Power the 1977 Pontiac Hot Jet

Usually when we think of a muscle car, we think of some sort of V8 roaring under the hood, but in the case of the 1977 Pontiac Firebird, the standard-issue engine wasn’t a V8 at all. Instead, it was the Buick 231 V6, which Buick replaced with an automatic as a result of the 1973 fuel crisis, as the company’s V8s were not very efficient. This V6 was built off Buick’s old Fireball V6, but the designers were able to bore it to match some of the smaller V8s of the time. Because Buick and Pontiac were both owned by General Motors, it was common to take engines from one company and bring them to the other.

This Buick 231 V6 engine was not powerful by any means. Under the hood of the Firebird, it was only able to produce about 105 hp and 185-lb-ft of torque. Compared to the muscle car’s heyday, this was nothing, but in the new era of production restrictions, you’re going to have to deal with these things. In fact, this was just the standard engine that came with the car. If you want to have something with more oomph under the hood, Pontiac had several V8 engines available for you as well.

(Photo featured by Jadcol via Wikimedia Commons | Reduced and reduced | CC BY-SA 4.0)