This is my 1971 Pontiac LeMans Sport that I bought in 1985 for $700 in San Diego. It had 100,000 miles on the stock 350 but it ran strong so my friends and I toured the western U.S. and Canada in it taking pictures and having a blast putting another 100,000 miles on it without any major problems. We ran the rig pretty hard though we did keep up on maintaining the car and adding after market parts like more gauges,a remote oil cooler and a triple tier radiator.

This is a picture of the car as it looked in 1990 when it was a bronze color taken near the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
In I995 with 250,000 miles on the odometer the engine started losing power and the tranny went. A minimum rebuild got it rolling again for another 30K and in 2003 the decision was made that the "Unit" as we affectionately call the car should get a majormotor rebuild. The race boys at Wilsons Machine in Encinitas Ca pulled the big block Pontiac 350 and three months later this is what we came up with.

The block was magged and bored .40 over making it a 357. Edelbrock aluminum heads modeled after the Pontiac "Ram Air IV" design were bolted on. The stock crank was refurbished and a Schneider Cam along with new cast pistons,bearings,chain and gears, oil and H2o pump and a set of Comp Cams Magnum Roller Rockers and push rods were added.

Top end included trading in the old Rochester Quadrajet carb -which could easily smoke the treads and IS a great carb- for a new version of the classic Holley 650 mechanical Double Pumper. I tried the Edelbrock 650 carb first but found the vacume secondary of the Edelbrock didn't have the response. A new Holley 110gph 8ps mechanical fuel pump was added to keep up with the new fuel demands. Wilson's Machine then added an Edelbrock polished aluminum intake manifold. Up top a Tornado air vortex unit was added to an Edelbrock air cleaner. Polished chrome valve covers by the same company. The old timing chain cover was shot but we found one on 'e' Bay in great shape for a $100 bucks from a guy in Oregon.
The engine compartment was detailed black before the engine was dropped back in.The ignition system was upgraded with a MSD 6A box and 8.5 Superconductor plug wires all hooked up to a new MSD Pro Billet distributor. Got to like the upgrade to electronic ignition. I will not miss the point sets I went through - and they were getting harder to find. For exhaust the only headers that would fit the Edelbrock Ram Air design heads were the Hooker Super Comps which are nice but are so phat that the old starter had to be replaced by a Pro Torque that could pivot out of the way. The headers were followed by a crossover pipe and a pair of Flowmaster mufflers with chrome tips. Suspention was beefed with new heavy duty GTO springs and rear air shocks. New ball joints and bushings top and bottom. To stop this beast- which is not dyno'd but estimated at close to 400 ponies- the front drum brakes were replaced with a Stainless Steel Brakes power front disk kit.This addition made the car a lot more fun to drive! A new coat of double blue paint and a set of 70 series LeMans SR tires mounted to classic Craigar rims pulled it all together for this LeMans Sport. The torque in the high end is dramatically sweeter and the car sounds BAD and is a blast to drive! To heck with the price of gas-it's worth it!
We plan on including this and other cars in segments on our sports TV show The X Corps. www.xcorpstv.com
Let's Roll!
J.Stuart Edmondson
Tel.619-223-8659

Edelbrock doesn't really advertise that their Pontiac Ram Air IV aluminum heads will fit a 350 - but they do if you eyebrow the block! The 1971 Pontiac 350 block is the same big-block as the 400 and up, they just bored them bigger. Edelbrock doesn't make headers to fit these heads. The Hooker Super Comps are the only ones I found that will -and they are sweet! This rebuild project took more patience and way more $ than expected but when you hit the gas it all gets sweet! Roll the windows down - crank the tunes and roll!

All dressed up and somewhere to go. In the yard at Wilson's Machine-Encinitas,Ca

A Jegster lift bar kit was added to lift the rear end and dramatically increase the traction to the LeMans SR tires.

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Before this rebuild I topped The Unit out at 136mph on U.S.15 between Vegas and LA. I'm anxious to hit the road with this new power plant - find a lonely stretch of asphalt and let her roll! Watch for the updates of this '71 Lemans Sport on upcoming episodes of The Xcorps.
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