Well, to be specific, he said: Regarding post I put up with the pics I took of my lifter valley, do you think the area I have marked out to grind is OK?
Yeah, sorry, I just overlooked the post. I would think the areas you have marked would be OK to trim, but I'd want confirmation from a person with more experience in this area.
It's nice to see other 70 LeSabre 455s surfacing, although I think I'm still the only one on here with a 4 door LeSabre 455. You have a very nice looking car...it's rare that I see one in that color green that looks so good! :laugh: The later block has the oil passages opened up as others have mentioned, so it's better to start with. Also, as others have mentioned, 70 or 71 heads would be the best to get. Or Aluminum heads. It would probably be a good idea to get the block hot tanked to get all the crap out of it, just make sure you find a reputable machine shop. You may was well just take the block to the machine shop to have them clean it up and check deck height, bearing alignment, and bore it out. As for deburring, as long as it's just flashing you're taking off, it makes no difference, just make sure any metal you take off gets cleaned out of the passages! And since you have the engine out, put in a different torque converter with about 2000-2500 or so stall speed. Also, the Chevy big cars had 12 bolt rears with the same width as our cars, but the suspension mount points are different. However, if you have a welder and some patience, this is no big deal and then you have a wide variety of options for gearing and a posi. I think you were saying something about shocks...what exactly are you looking for? A while back, I had looked for better shocks, but honestly it's dependent on what you're using the car for. If it's just cruising around, Monroe shocks have served me well. If you want something more for road racing or drag racing, I'm pretty sure but not positive (because I don't have my car here in CA to compare) that Bilstein shocks for a VW bug are the right amount of travel. I also think it's possible to have Bilstein custom valve the shocks to whatever application you want. Shocks are really just for damping the spring...if you want a less cushy ride, you can either get custom springs or put on a larger front sway bar. I don't know if you're interested, but the steering box can also be switched out to something of a quicker ratio. All the GM cars used Saginaw boxes, so if you can find a quick ratio box out of a GN or Vette or even Jeep, you're good. The input shaft diameter changed over the years as did the power steering hose fittings, but if there's a will there's a way! Hope that helps some!:TU:
I've done little research on this... I never really had a problem with my shocks other than a slight sway over 100 mph... It is something we are going to end up replacing though so im pretty curious as to what we are going to do. I asked my dad the same question a few days ago and he kinda shrugged. Let me know what you find out and i'll keep researching. Right now im working on getting the horn working (got fried) and then reinstalling the instrument panel. Cleaned out the trunk.. Need to get the inside soda blasted and recoated with that textured no slip stuff. Took her for a spin today and got down on it a bit... man I miss that sound. Still waiting on the power steering pump to be finished, and man is it a pain to steer that boat without it. Heading to the junkyard now, found a 70 wildcat close by going to see what goodies it has for me. No engine I need a choke setup for the original rochester. Anything you need let me know. If you get on while Im out there and think of something you really need feel free to give me a shout. I'll PM you my number. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Maybe overlooked it, or not.. but the difference in buick 455 engines from all years is really in the blocks strength. the 70-72 blocks have a weaker engine valley causing it to twist.. the 73-74 block i was told weighed about 3 lbs more than the earlier models, now the 75-76 engines are more popular with racers that need more strength.. they weigh 6 lbs more than the previous engines, also have bigger oil passages, some of these year engine dont have the water passages on the top of the cylinder head mounting area. i beleive it was 72 and down. If i were you.. id do everything once take your time on it, that is something i did not do in the first place and now redoing everything all over, although i do have a 71 455 with forged pistons that im going to build, its still a good thing to have your block thats in your car worked at only once while you have it open, id say invest some time in oil mods, both oil passages and valley passages, id say while the engine is out might as well install rod bolts from arp..look what happened to your other engine, doesnt hurt to install arp bolts on the crarnk aswell..just my opinion. i have no experience whatsoever compared to these guys in the board.. but still smart enough to know about the oil mods..very important. good luck and hope for the best.
Romy, thanks for all the compliments and the input! It always helps to have people who own the style same vehicle to contribute to the brain storming:Smarty::laugh: Since it doesn't appear to be an issue, I'm going to clean up the lifter valley to the lines I have marked in the pic. If someone ends up telling me that it will weaken the lifter walls after it's done, then I'll just have to start searching for a girdle or another block or something. A new torque converter would be nice, as would a 12 bolt rear w/ posi. Know of any good leads with fair pricing? As far as shocks go, I have seen many different types of muscle cars before that got a new suspension/shock setup (year 1 for example) and handled way better in high speed cornering as well as everyday lane changes. I'm putting in new bushings all the way around and considering taking measurements for a future fabrication project of tubular A-arms & rear control arms. That is in the future tho, for now I just want to take a corner or make an evasive lane change on the highway without as much body roll and lack of control. I know that a thicker front sway bar will help that, but don't know where to get one that fits. I know of a place that makes bitchin rear sway bars, but they are for A & G bodies. Maybe I could make one work on my B body, but I don't know if it would hold up. I just want the car to handle better in general. I'll have to look into those VW shocks & Bilstein in general. For the time being I'll prolly go with Monroe. A quick ratio steering box would be really nice, but do you know how much of a difference it would make compared to cost? Also, would it be a smaller box that would maybe allow me to get away with using some 455 headers? I have been wanting to try fabricating some, but I figured buying a set and modifying them would be better and easier in the long run. Any ideas?
Thanks for the heads up Dru!!:TU: I couldn't think of anything at the time, but now as I'm typing this, I'm remembering a couple things...go figure.ou: Just weeks before the engine blew, I had the tires changed at a shop down the road. A day or so after, I noticed that one of my hard to find (and usually expensive) finned centercaps was missing. i went back to the shop to ask if he's seen it lying around, but of course he hadn't. I figured he probably didn't put it back on tightly and when I went buzzing down the road, it flew off. Some person picking up aluminum cans sure had a present waiting for them... :laugh: Anyways, don't know if the Wildcat you were looking at had them (prolly not), but I'd be interested in 1 or 2 (in case it ever happened again). Other than that, one of my taillight lenses has a crack, could use another. Can't really think of anything else right now. What kind of condition was the car in anyways? Get any pics of it? Again, really appreciate the offer!!:beer
I hear that man! Check out the pics of this mess!! I still can't figure out which one crapped out first, the connecting rod or the wrist pin...o No: Thanks for the input!!:TU:
If I remember right, I got my front sway bar from PST. I got a rear bar too, but it didn't fit; go figure. The front bar alone considerably stiffens up the ride. A quick ratio box can be found in a junk yard fairly easily as there are quite a few cars that had a Saginaw box. Check out this link for a listing of what cars had which boxes and whatnot. The box is exactly the same dimension as your box, the internals are just different As for headers, they fit but you need to clearance them for the pitman arm's movement. I didn't and consequentially now have a big dent in one tube, although I find that to be an acceptable trade off. o No: Plus, I had a shop put them in while I was away doing army crap, so it was kind of a surprise. If you can find a cheap set, just get them and try it out, not much to lose! If you are considering making A-arms, it would be the easiest to model them using some modeling software like solidworks or inventor. Make sure you design from your wheel inward, meaning that it is very important that you know the width and height of the wheels you're wanting to ultimately run before you go changing suspension geometry. Then you can design the new geometry for it. And if you're going through all that, you may as well convert to a rack and pinion and have the tie rods connect ahead of the axle line, then there's no header clearance issues!:laugh:
No problem bud, anytime. It turned out to be a 4 door, and the engine was gone.. and i mean gone like not even a wire hanging off the firewall gone.. I did get a few pics. And no it didn't have the center caps.. I am looking for one also, same story.. I must have put it on a lil loose, and man did I look for it when I noticed it gone. And as for the tail light... You just missed out, there was a guy selling 70 Buick NOS tail lights on craigslist for 25 bones... I just looked real quick and they were gone. But for future refrence which tail light did you need? I have to go back with some better tools, there are a few pieces of trim i can pull off for my car and I have to get a few pieces of Trim for pphil's wildcat. -Dru <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
Hey I noticed in your pics you don't have the side emblems on the vinyl top behind the door. I have 2 extra's I picked up.. they aren't mint but look decent. If you want em let me know, I got them for free so you can have them for free. -Dru
That's awesome man! :TU: Hell yeah, I'd be more than happy to have a pair. :beer I'll send you a PM. Also, when you go back with more tools to see that Wildcat, can you take a look at the radiator core support (particularly on the passenger side under the battery tray)? Mine is full of rust holes and I don't have any sheet metal or tools at the moment to cut out the old and fabricate a new. I'll see if I can't find a pic to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
And here's a pic I just took of the whole core support sitting on top of the hood: Again, notice the rot over on the passenger side...
Yea i'll check it out. If I remember correctly it looked pretty decent under the hood, well what was left. And suprisingly it wasn't too rusted out for a florida car in the junkyard. I'll take pics of it and see what you think. I think it still had tail lights but I'm sure the wildcat tail lights are different and plus you would be better off with NOS anyways. -Dru
There was an Electra in the pick n pull by me a few months ago that had a perfect core support. Although shipping would be costly I think....
Cool, thanks Dru. :grin: I'm not as worried about the taillights anyway. They look good and work just fine, so that's good enough for me! Romy, I have relatives that live in Cali...I'll find out where. Wait, just did...they live in Yuba City (about 45min from Sacramento). How far is that from you?
Yuba City is about 2 hours from me...I'm in Oakland which is roughly an hour from Sacramento. There's also a place called the Buick Bonery in Sacramento, but I don't think he has any 69/70 full size cars...at least he didn't the last time I called. I can call again as I'm on the hunt for quarters for my 2 door LeSabre...know of those anywhere?
I've seen about 3 people looking for quarters also... Must be hard to find. I wish you luck though and i'll keep my eyes open. Shipping might be costly, about how much do you think it weighs?? I work at UPS and could get a rough estimate on the shipping price and maybe get a discount. My dad is going to Cali in a few weeks but he is flying IF he was driving that would be perfect. Just let me know.. I probably won't go back to the yard til at least next week anyways so take your time. -Dru
