Engines » Pontiac Tri-Power

Check out this awesome restored engine from Butler Performance. This engine is a nice example of many of our builds. As you can see in some of the pics it came to us exactly as you would expect a 40-year-old motor. Tired and rusted and the heads were in the same shape. Many would look at this and think there was no hope, but not us. We see potential Pontiac Power. We had the customer's engine shipped to us and the parts were inventoried. What was usable was saved. We use what we can but replace the parts that need to be replaced after 40 years. We then put the block and heads through what we call "The Butler Process". This process is our tried and true method of combining the old block and heads with the proper machining, quality performance parts, and meticulous assembling by experienced, professional engine builders. We then dyno test to ensure the performance meets our expectations. In this build, we took the customers 389 block and bored and stroked it to a 453 cu.in. We specialize in stroking 389's, 421's, 400,s, or 455's up to 500 cu.in. and keep that stock appearing look. The compression ratio was lowered to 9.4:1 for pump gas. Here the customer opted for porting the cast iron heads. Some choose aluminum heads where we remove all the logos and paint match it so it gives that factory original look that is hardly noticeable. As you can see in the pictures, the block and heads are tested, cleaned, machined, blueprinted, cleaned again for paint, painted, then sent up for assembly and building. During assembly, each step in our process is done with precision and consistency. We upgraded this build with a Butler/Comp Hydraulic Roller Cam with Lunati Hydraulic Roller Lifters. This eliminated the need for oil additives and gives it more longevity and better wear characteristics with less valvetrain noise. We then added a fully restored Tri-power set up. Once the assembly is finished we then move to the dyno. This is where we engine goes through the break-in and is put it through a series of performance runs. With each run, we tune to get the optimal results. So here it is, a beautifully restored Pontiac Tri-Power that is leaps and bounds above what came off the assembly line.