average price for a complete rebuilt 455?

Discussion in 'Street/strip 400/430/455' started by GranSportSedan, Jul 4, 2019.

Page 2 of 2
  1. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    Here's the bottom line, I've said this before, but it bears repeating. The better your heads the less cam you'll need. Want to make 450 HP? With stock heads, you might need a big cam, and you might have to spin it 6K. Depending on how big the cam is, you might need roller rockers. So aluminum heads when all is said and done are 3,000.00. There is most of the difference. The aluminum headed engine will need less cam, so it will be way more streetable. The stock headed engine might be obnoxious on the street and get old fast.
     
    LARRY70GS, Jul 8, 2019
    #21
  2. GranSportSedan

    GranSportSedan Guest

    Doesn't matter, no way I'm spending 10 grand or more on an engine.
     
    GranSportSedan, Jul 8, 2019
    #22
  3. matt68gs400

    matt68gs400 Well-Known Member

    I agree with your technical explanation but the original post was for a low budget build of 400-450 hp.
     
    matt68gs400, Jul 8, 2019
    #23
  4. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    Low budget is closer to 400 HP, not 450.
     
    LARRY70GS, Jul 9, 2019
    #24
  5. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    400 HP won’t cost you anywhere near 10 grand. Probably 1/2 that. If you build an all iron true 10.5:1 engine and use a cam like the 118 that closes the intake valve late, it will run on pump gas, and make 400 HP. Then when the dollars are there, bolt on a set of aluminum heads and you get another 100 HP. That’s basically what I did and went from 13.20’s to 12.11.
     
    LARRY70GS, Jul 9, 2019
    #25
    matt68gs400 likes this.
  6. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    This has me thinking....

    I bought a set of (iron) ported Stage 1 heads locally, that were done by JW a few years back.

    The motor in my car is SF coded and has great oil pressure, which I'll attribute to the new, reworked TA cover I installed a couple years ago.

    With these heads, a new rocker set up, cam, etc., I could be cooking with gas sooner than I thought I would be.


     
    Brett Slater, Jul 9, 2019
    #26
  7. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Alot of guys have been trained to think it's harder than it is ,...engines are pretty dang tough sure its easy to go down the rabbit hole and let it snowball,..but 385 to 425hp is easy to screw together with used or budget stuff and live 4ever especially considering the limited usage these cars see
     
    hugger, Jul 9, 2019
    #27
    John Stevens, Brett Slater and quickstage1 like this.
  8. quickstage1

    quickstage1 Well-Known Member

    I agree, my son and I are in the process of building a 455 for his '79 Regal right now shooting for the 425hp range, not very hard, done it a few times. The block is at the machine shop now. We are working on it as his budget allows. We will have about $3500 in it not counting the EFI he wants to add. You don't need any exotic parts to get there. We will have the heads rebuilt with a good valve job but no porting. I had a similar motor to what we are building in my full weight Skylark years ago that ran 110mph in the 1/4 mile and I drove the car everywhere.

    Ken
     
    quickstage1, Jul 9, 2019
    #28
    matt68gs400 likes this.
  9. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Limited usage was the first thing that came to mind.

    I may do this.
     
    Brett Slater, Jul 9, 2019
    #29
  10. GlenL

    GlenL I'm out in the garage

    It's hard to give a number as people roll-in machine shop work they needed or part costs from "I had it" to full retail. I shoulda kept receipts but here's what I recall from a mild build 7 years back:

    Rebuild kit w/pistons: $800
    Engine deck and bore: $700
    '70 heads off eBay: $350
    Heads rebuild: $750
    Cam: $200
    Crank service/undersize: $200
    Carb rebuild: $200

    So that's $3200. Likely a few things I bought and forgot so nearer $4000 in parts and machine shop work. I did all the mechanic work myself.
     
    GlenL, Jul 11, 2019
    #30
    matt68gs400 likes this.
  11. Scrappy

    Scrappy Well-Known Member

    So... what about: Thermal cleaning and wheel-a-brating, jet washing parts, magnafluxing of parts, align honing the mains, balancing the rotating assy, reconditioning of connecting rods, pin fitting pistons, pressing pistons on/off?? That's probably another $1000+ in machine shop services listed just off top of my head. Block oiling modifications, timing cover mods ? It all adds up! Machine shop costs have gone up, parts have increased as well. These are some of the differences of doing them right and throwing them together. Just finished a basically stock rebuild for a customer for a 430 engine with a slight cam, all machine work with fully rebuilt iron heads, customer supplied B4B and a few unforeseen costs which just crested 8K. Assembly fee is $1800, the rest is all parts and machine work.
     
    Scrappy, Jul 11, 2019
    #31
  12. GlenL

    GlenL I'm out in the garage

    Thermal cleaning, jet washing and assembly fee? I did that work myself. The magnafluxing is already in there. No oiling mods.

    That's why people need a list: some people add on optional stuff or pay for work more experienced, or ambitious, guys will do themselves.
     
    GlenL, Jul 11, 2019
    #32
Page 2 of 2

Share This Page