There was no mistaking who held veto power over the competition: The Judge could be optioned with four engines in 1970, all big-bore Pontiac muscle. The standard engine, shared with the Grand Prix, Firebird and Trans Am, was Pontiac's 400-cu.in. V-8, which, with its 4.12 bore, 3.75 stroke and 10.25:1 compression ratio for manual-equipped transmissions (automatics had a 10.0:1 c.r.), made 350hp at 5,000 RPM and 445-ft.lbs. of torque at 3,000 RPM.
The Ram Air III upgrade, with its D-port head, brought 10.5:1 compression, produced 366hp at 5,100 RPM and the same torque, but at a higher 3,600 RPM. The ultimate Pontiac V-8 was the 400-cu.in. Ram Air IV, which made 370hp at 5,500 RPM and 445-ft.lbs. at 3,900 RPM. Taking the leap to the High Output 455-cu.in. V-8 brought 10.25:1 compression and 360hp at 4,300 RPM, but even more torque, totaling 500-ft.lbs. at 3,100 RPM.
This heavy-duty engine made its figures with or without Ram Air, in manual or automatic form. All The Judge V-8s used a cast-iron dual-plane intake manifold with a four-barrel Rochester Quadrajet carburetor. These engines all demonstrate Pontiac's contemporary reputation for reliability, and they can be inexpensively tweaked for even greater torque and power without bringing on a finicky temperament.
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