I bought the 84 Park Avenue new in 84 and drove it for over a decade as my main car. I kept it because it was the last of the "big-boat", RWD, carburetted machines. They are much easier to work on than the new machines. After over another decade in my garage, I decided to restore it as a street rod. I removed the old 5-liter Olds engine that came with it (still going strong after 180k miles) and bought a 1970 Buick Stage 1 455 engine that was originally in a GSX. The engine was bored and built up with an 8.71 Hampton Blower kit, Diamond forged racing pistons and many TA parts including a supercharger-grind roller cam and full MSD programmable blower ignition with 3-bar map sensor. It runs two Edelbrock 750 carbs. A compression ratio of 8.2 was used because of the blower. Its not easy finding low-compression forged racing pistons ... everything is special order. Its also not easy finding an 8.71 blower intake manifold for a Buick 455 .. another special order! For ease of installation the engine was hooked to the stock 2004R trans that came with the car originally (just to save time). You guessed it ... a big mistake. It didn't last and I've arranged for a Art Carr 800 HP version now with a 2800 rpm stall converter. The photo shows that this 84 Buick Park Avenue body has a HUGE engine compartment (to go with its huge interior and trunk, etc), so there was plenty of room for a big block, and it fit in nicely with no problem. Its intended as a cruise and street car, not for racing, otherwise why would I put such an engine in a 4800 pound 4-door car?? Still, it is fun to drive, is fairly unusual, and has a LOT more torque than the tired old Olds small block. I run about 10 pounds of boost as currently set up. It has transmission and oil coolers with fans, and runs all digital gauges, including wideband A/F gauges for each bank. It has a 3 1/2 inch stainless exhaust exiting in front of the rear wheels. All luxury items were removed during the engine swap. There is no AC, no cruise control, no fan belt, no heater, etc. It is a pretty clean install. A dual-core aluminum radiator with Flex-a-Lite Extreme fans cool it without problem. Dave Harrington Troy, Michigan
Now that is one hell of an example of an original owner car!! Good for you for giving that car something it never would have known without you. Nice clean work from what I can see.:TU:
Wow!!!! What a clean job. I say if its yours, do what you want. Boy oh boy did you!!! The engine shot looks like a work of art. You have to take it down the strip for a shake down pass no? Ain't you curious to see what it will do???
Hi Dave; Long time no talk! Glad you still got your car. Welcome to the board. I remember when you told me what you did with you "mild street motor build", I was very excited. I just had to post the coolness for everyone to see. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?212561-Pix-of-a-Newly-Built-Roots-Blower-455&highlight=
Thanks for the comments and questions guys. I'll try to answer them ... and add some additional information that may be of interest to builders of big-block Buicks. The only trouble I had in installing the 455 was having to move a passenger side brake line and pass it through the frame. The three goofs that I made originally (one small goof and two big ones) were to try to use the stock radiator with a four-inch fan pully extender to clear the supercharger drive belt. The stock radiator wouldn't cool it, and the big cantilevered fan broke off at high rpm and went through the radiator. That whole system was junked for the big aluminum radiator and extreme electric fan (it now works great). The second goof was to originally connect it to the original 2004R trans and converter. It indeed does bolt right up, but it is not a good choice. Don't do it. I burned the clutches out and it began slipping in all gears but low. Also, the stock trans shifts at about 4400 rpm, just as the blower is starting to build up boost. Also, the converter stalls at about 1600 rpm; way too low. You need a performance trans. Don't try to get away without one. I had one built to my specs on a Grand National core with performance billet parts, as that core has a superior valve body and high-rpm governor. I also now having a smaller performance converter with 2800 rpm stall, with a Derale dual-fluid fan cooler (trans fluid and oil). I've saved my biggest goof for last ... I goofed in the original build and when I couldn't easily find low compression pistons I bought stock, cast 455 pistons because many 455's had 8.5 compression pistons. Well, you guessed it, I blew out two pistons; blowing the cast top outer ridges off the pistons. I then worked hard to contact JE, Mahle and many other piston manufacturers to inquire about a custom forged racing piston that did not give me more than 8.4 CR. For that I needed 34 cc of piston dish volume (not easy to get). Most racing pistons have a dome, rather than a dish, and their designs are set up for 11:1 to 13:1 CR. Only Diamond piston could give me what I needed in a special spherical-dish design with valve cutouts for my high-lift Stage 1 valves. Its not cheap, but what could I do? As for the other questions, the engine paint is indeed quite striking. It is a Dupont show car color ... Hot Hues "Sinful Cinnamon". Its not a high-temperature paint, but has held up very well, except right next to the exhaust ports. I recommend it if you want a striking engine color. I have not had the car on a chassis dyno yet, nor at the strip, mainly because of the slipping trans. I've just fixed that problem in the last month, so maybe next summer. I don't drive the car from November through April because its Michigan! Azeem in Canada: Yes, its good to hear from an old friend like you again. Its been a number of years! Dave Harrington Troy, Michigan
