Hello Everyone, I recently bought a 73' Riviera and have been doing a major overall on over due maintenance to the car. Since the car is getting overhauled on routine items, I decided to install a victor race intake manifold and 850 cfm holley carb. Everything else is stock as is just getting a tune up. Is there any issues I need to be worried about with this set up or future upgrades to occur sooner than later? Plan for the car is on the weekend and not to hot rod the vehicle. I like to cruise and enjoy the car for what it is, but would like a little more out of the 455.
I guess your misinformed! Edelbrock does not make a Victor style single plane Intake for a Buick motor, and if they did it would not fit with your cars available underhood clearence anyway! What Edelbrock does makes is a Performer Intake that is flanged for the stock spread Bore Q-jet or a Holley. This Intake is a decent improvement over the stock Manifold with a peak hp rpm of some 5400 . The first thing I would do Motor wise long before swapping intakes and Carb is to check out the condition of the timing chain and gears and replace those first if need be. I loose chain can knock 25 hp off a motor easy and cost a ton more in fuel cost while also making the motor run hotter. Pretty much the best thing you can do to add more acceleration to your car is to change out the rear gears, especially considering the weight of your vehicle!
There is no such thing as a Victor intake for a Buick,..and if you just want a nice cruiser that would be a poor choice as would a 850 carb,...
Your car likely has 2.73 rear gears at best, here's a chart to show you how much performance can be picked up by just a rear gear change. Picking up the same level of performance gain ( like 18% ) by just applying external engine mods can not be done, period! If your looking to do mainly long distance highway driving I would go with a set of 3.23 gears, if you mainly doing a combo of around town and highway drives of under 70 miles then go with a rear gear in the 3.40 range.
Yes, that is correct I have a performer intake. So I invested into a performer intake with 850 cfm holley carb. The original rochester Q-jet was junk and did a rebuild of the carb and it was still not operating correctly. I live in high altitude mountain range, so more air / fuel was my plan and a carb that had automatic choke system. BTW hood clearance I researched and am able to clear the hood with a low profile spectre air intake https://www.summitracing.com/parts/spe-771 With my current set up what is the best options I have that you all would recommend using a performer intake and holley carb?
I would go with a DUI HEI distributor next,..dual exhaust if it's not there already with free flowing muffs
DUI Hei is great. Buy a stock distributor and then put nice new parts on it. At least, that’s what I did.
The Holley carburetor, as well as ANY carburetor will need to be tuned, especially for high altitude. At higher altitudes, barometric pressure is lower and there is less oxygen, so any carburetor will run rich all else being equal. I think you should have stuck with the Quadrajet carburetor. Since you recently bought this car, realize it is now 47 years old. Lots of parts get changed over the years. IMO, the Quadrajet is often maligned as being a problem carburetor. The problem most often is that it isn't the correct Quadrajet for the engine. The correct carburetor for a 1973 455 is 7043240. If you still have the Quadrajet you removed, check the part number. Sometimes, owners buy a re manufactured carburetor from a parts store as a replacement instead of just rebuilding/tuning the original carburetor. What happens is you get a carburetor that is calibrated for a different engine and it will never run right. Add extreme altitude to the mix, and you are almost guaranteed to have problems. In addition, there are small block and big block specific carburetors. A small block Quadrajet will not run right on a big block. Holley 850? This is a double pumper, or vacuum secondary carburetor? It is probably jetted rich for sea level. That means it will be even richer at altitude. The power valves will probably be wrong as well depending on the actual altitude. Beyond what you have done, you should also check ignition timing and adjust that. The same thing that applies to carburetors applies to distributors. They get changed over the years. They get replaced with a distributor from a different year or size engine. When that happens, the stock timing specs no longer apply, because the amount of mechanical advance inside distributors is different. The correct distributor for a 1973 455 is 1112110. See what you have now. Have a look at my thread on ignition timing, http://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/power-timing-your-buick-v8.63475/
Well after all the information given this morning. I will be going back to original everything on the car. I will send back the performer and holley carb and getting the Q-jet rebuilt, along with new seals and gaskets with original intake manifold. I will get a DUI HEI distributor and just get the rear gears rebuilt to 3.40. Thank you all for the help. While we are still on the subject any other great easy upgrades, while still keeping original rebuilt parts on the car?
3.42 gears is what you will be able to find, which are scarce. No 3.40 gears exist for this platform, so a little higher won’t hurt at all.
Yea a gear change for your rear isn't just "a click away" get the carb provided it's a 800cfm unit sent off to Ken at Everyday,..I like the HEIs for a cruiser because they are very durable,..provide plenty of spark and are very easily serviced if out on the road,..a valve job will work wonders as well albeit not exactly the easiest job
I would keep the performer. It saves almost 40 pounds itself compared to a 73 iron manifold. No bs air ports or egr w edelbrock. I have a 73 engine in my GS. I have a 780 vac on it now. When I get a chance I will repair my qjet. 780 runs great. Quick fuel 780 vac. Just what I’m using for now. Have fun w the boat tail.
You can get a crane ignition module for 65 from speedway. And a new pertronix coil. I used this combo over 10 years. Upgraded to msd. Was a waste on my street car for as I see for at least now.
Before you spend money on the Quadrajet, make sure it is the right one. It came with a 7043240. If you have it, send it off to one of the 2 guys on this board. Let them calibrate it for your altitude. They will use a rebuild kit compatible with today's gasoline (10-15% ethanol)
Performer intake HEI Dist Great dialed quadrajet Gear change Those are a very good start if everything else on the engine is right on the money
No one makes gears for the 9.3 Buick big car rear. That means used gears are the only option. Not so easy.
