Close to strock 455 Need more power....BAD.

:ball: Hi I'm new to the site.

I have a 1974 455 in a 87 GN I was looking to turbo it so i went to Turbo buick.com They are all telling me I should do a Camm job. and spray. I was reading up on one of your forums about a Twin turbo on Carb that he did seem to spend to much.

details about the motor:

Heads were done. I Believe 10 to 1 Iron heads
I have a mild crawler cam
TA STP1 intake manafold
Mechanical fuel pump TA up to 500HP (no where near it)
Holly 750 double pumper
MSD 6aL?
Every thing else is stock

Tran is a T400 with a Saturdaynight special torque converter Tran was rebuilt

The rear is a Ford 9" with 323 or 353 gears.


If i do a turbo it has to be a a single B/C I have no room on the drive side and the passenger side is wide open. (NO heater)

My buget is around 3k What should I do.

I am not that technical and I am learning as I go along. Can any one lead me in the right track

As of now with my set up i cant even brake loose. with the bone stock motor i was doing better.

Thanks

Tax

 

I beleive James accomplished what youre after for around that budget. It included a rebuild of the engine.

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=168748

 

I started looking at his thread. it looks like he sarted plane jane but then did a lot more engine work towards the end. the people on turbobuick said i should do a choppy cam for the amount i want to spend. they said turboing it will run me over 7k. Hard to do with out a job.

I know i have a crawler cam. iIthink it was one that he recomended. when my fried chose the cam the intention was turboing the car.

I think I have more more problems then picking out a turbo or cam.

I was driving my car home from the garage for the first time since 06. I had the car running about amonth ago but I had to take care of some electrical issues before i drove it. (people i bought the car from butcheered the wiring) I had the car running for about 20 min, took it around the block pushed down pritty hard.. every thing was fine.

I took the car on the highway got about 8 miles and i started geting knocking and loosing oil preasure. had to let the car sit for an hour. did this 3 times on the way home its only 25 miles. I liquefied the old.

I am runnng a bone stock front housing. My first motor lost oil presure and i killed it. So i was afried to open up this one and change the waterpump and oil gears. I have 10w40 oil in it now.

What weight oil do you guys use?

Do you think if i spend teh $800 and buy TA's front housing will that solve the issue

 

There's no such thing as a "crawler" cam. Maybe you mean the camshaft was supplied by Crower. It would be a huge help if you can post the specs for the cam.

At the least you should be running the TA booster plate on the oil pump, but if the inside of the pump pocket is badly scored, it won't help.

What temperature is the engine running on the highway?

Devon

 

If the engine is knocking - I would pull it........

 

Crawer my mistake. I have to ding up the specks when i started this project i could culdent even change my own oil so i did not pick things out.
Crower part number 52239
intake D 276 lift474 clearance 000
exhaust D 281 lift 486 clearance 000

Is that enough info on the cam?

It looks like a plate was added but i did not want to open it up.

temp is another issue. I used a heat temp gun to see what it was before I left the motor was on for about 30 min if was not to hot. I have VDO gages and needed to order a sending unit. standard sending units dont work with the gage. Part of my wiring problem

 

sounds like you have many more current issues to contend with.

If you rebuild a 455 to stock stg1 specs (all in the heads) you should see just a tad over 370hp and around 490 ft/lbs of torque. Thats more than enough power to spin the tires loose at any speed in any gear. If youre at that, and youre not happy, look for something better.

But if youre starting with a tired motor, rebuild it before throwing money at power adders.

You cant compare "turbo" to "a cam" its just not apples to apples, youd need to do many more supporting mods for the cam to compete. Likewise with the turbo, many more supporting mods to make it live.

Deal with the pressing issues first before searching to upgrade the power level.

If James did everything he did at the end right from the beginning, he would have spent the amount youre considering. He purely slapped turbos on a stock 455 to prove that it could be done.

 

I think you should pull the motor, and freshen it up. Spend some money on some forged pistons, and a custom ground camshaft. Do the engine oil modifications, and pull the oil pump off to see how worn out that is. I'll bet that if you had knocking driving down the highway you will have a nasty surprise once you start pulling the bottom end apart.

Anyway, now that you are going to most likely be redoing the engine, I say you should do a turbocharger. One big single turbocharger, not twins. Just get some forged pistons, and some good rods, you will want to get a girdle for added security.

http://www.trishieldperformance.com/455_block_mods.htm

 

I would love to take it out and do it all over again if your paying. now back to reality. Im broke these Buicks are expensive and Im not working full time now. Thank you Obama. all reality, I want to get this motor working for now.(1 or 2 years). I have not drove the car since 06 and i want to play a little this summer. Do you think if i just do the timming cover and cam on this motor it will make me happy for now. or even just a timing cover. Before i do that should i just try a thincker oil

i have a spare block that blew on me back in 04. lost oil preasure right at the pick up. I want to get the motor in the car running with out problems and then i will have the other one build out.

I would love to have this one just run and use the other motor to mock up the turbo and get done.

My question is what step should i take first. just go to thicker oil. if that solves it, its the foont housing and replace that?

Thanks,

Tax

any one in lower NY that can showm me a thing or two

 

drain the oil and see if there is any metal in it

 

Better yet, open up the oil filter with a big pipe cutter...that will tell a story. Don't do it with a hacksaw, otherwise you'll be trying to tell the difference between engine debris and oil filter can shavings from sawing it open.

Devon

 

I opened it up. and changed the oil. put in 20w50 there was little metal particles in both. I will upload the pics soon

I turned it on to pull the car back in the driveway. Im still geting the noise, only when i give it gas. Oil preasure is either over 80psi with the thicker oil or the gage stoped working when i changed the oil filter.

Some one around here told me that these motors run hot and i might not have a big enough rateator for the motor. he also said to check the fluid level in the carb. the back seemed fine but the front needed a little more. maby i was running lean? the ratatior is for a v8 regal. its the bigest stock one that i could fit.

im going hunting maby i can blow off sum steam.

Tax

 

ok here are The pictures

 

here are some pics of the damage

 

You have to have 10 posts before you can link or attach photos.

Devon

 

Killing a Gobbler always makes me feel better:blast: :blast: :blast:


Still gonna have to pull the motor though

 

i fugured that . if im going have toget this done. around how much do you think machining the block and pistions and heads wuold be. and which block would be better to do it to a 72 or 73? same with the heads.

did not see a gobbler but a chipmuck dissapeared
to attach pics is 10 post on a thread or is it 10 diffrent threads?

 

tyler, wheat enginer OIL mods are you talking about. Im going to have to go the the machine shop with a list of everything that has to be done.

do any of you guys have a spare done up block laying around, Ill swap you the core and pay for what was put in....

 

http://www.trishieldperformance.com/455_block_mods.htm

 

wow is that all that has to be done. although i think i can do it myself i would feel more comfortable if a machine shop did it or do it with someone who has in the past.

What about the heads and pistons?

Thanks,