muncie or saginaw

[jgoertz7]

I recently purchased a 74 gto. I know many of you die hard gto fans don't regard this year as a gto because of the ventura/lemans deal, but here's a question. I have the original 350 with comp cam, performer rpm intake and performer 650cfm carb. i'm in the 325-350hp range, and I'm not sure if I have the saginaw M20 or the muncie M20. can anyone help me out. which one is better?

[jgoertz7]

I recently purchased a 74 gto. I know many of you die hard gto fans don't regard this year as a gto because of the ventura/lemans deal, but here's a question. I have the original 350 with comp cam, performer rpm intake and performer 650cfm carb. i'm in the 325-350hp range, and I'm not sure if I have the saginaw M20 or the muncie M20. can anyone help me out. which one is better?

[MrPbody]

Saginaw was not used in Pontiacs with V8s after '63. Too many blown up transmissions... A Muncie has an all-aluminum case, mid-plate and tail housing. Saginaw is all iron.

An article in Hot Rod Magazine, in '75, showed the '74 with auto trans to be a tad quicker than a '64 with auto trans. While there may be some GTO guys that don't consider the '74, I'm not one of them. I nearly bought one new, but I spied a '70 Judge for less, and it was too cool...

Jim

[multicarMike]

Originally Posted by MrPbody

Saginaw was not used in Pontiacs with V8s after '63. Too many blown up transmissions... A Muncie has an all-aluminum case, mid-plate and tail housing. Saginaw is all iron.

An article in Hot Rod Magazine, in '75, showed the '74 with auto trans to be a tad quicker than a '64 with auto trans. While there may be some GTO guys that don't consider the '74, I'm not one of them. I nearly bought one new, but I spied a '70 Judge for less, and it was too cool...

Jim

I have a 74 with a 4 speed (hatchback) and have owned it since 1978-it did have a saginaw (broke it twice, cluster gear, fixed it once) now has a Muncie-they did come with Saginaws back in 74

[MrPbody]

Mike,

Never saw one. I don't believe I ever saw a '74 with a Muncie, either. The few I HAVE seen were Borg Warners. As far as I know, Muncies ended in '72 in GTO.

I DO recall, Saginaw being "gone' for several years, even in Chevy, and returning when Sunbird, Astre, etc. (H-body) got the V6 AND a 4-speed. I've seen a couple of '76 or '77 Vegas with Saginaw, but the vast majority of those I worked on (and that was a LOT of them!!) were the Opel 4-speed.

Most of my statements regarding these types of questions are based on what I saw as a line tech, not on what may or may not have been available. I make no claim to be a parts-wizard.

Jim