Newbie pontiac owner question

[DIESELFUMES]

How do you know if you're straight 8 is a high compression engine ? Are they all or only certain ones ? I just found out that mine also is a Canadian built vehical.

1949 Streamliner with a straight 8 and hydromatic

[Larry]

Sharp looking old Pontiac!

Our only question concerns the Canadian built idea. The only engine used in Canada in 1949 was the flathead six, not an eight. We would suspect that either the car is U.S. built (where Eights were used as well as Sixes) or an engine swap happened somewhere along the line.

The horsepower rating for the U.S. Six was 90 while the Canadian was upped to 93 (how or why nobody seems to know perhaps just different dyno readings).

As for high compression heads, both the Six and Eight standard ratio was 6.5:1 with an "optional" 7.5:1. We have a flathead engine Tech Advisor for our members who would probably know how to tell the difference.

If you send us the VIN we will be able to tell if the car is U.S. or Canadian built.

[DIESELFUMES]

Very interesting. I do have pretty much all of the stuff that has been done on it through out the years. Big stack of papers and I did see where it said the engine was overhauled sometime in the 1980's. However, I didn't see anything about the engine being replaced. It has the straight 8 with the automatic

[Larry]

I saw your post on Face Book and responded there too.

Nothing I find in my research books (including one on Canadian Pontiacs) verifies an 8-cylinder in 1949. That doesn't mean there weren't any, just that nobody seems to mention it.

I did find a Canadian magazine ad that mentions 6 and 8 cylinder engines (see below).

[bolten]

The high compression heads in the US anyway were used primarily in high altitude areas for improved driveability. It was available elsewhere on request and most popular on the hydra-matic models. On the top area of the cylinder head it will have "HIGH COMPRESSION" cast into the surface.