I have a Buick 455 out of a 71 Centurion and so far I have been unable to find the compresion ratio. I have recently ported and polished a set of heads and am looking at a cam. For this build I will use the cam witch best suits the compression ratio. From all that I have found they have to be between 8 to 1 and 10.5 to one. I dont want to put to much cam in the engine and waste my time if it does not scavage properly. Any help would be great!
Thanks for the info.... guess I wil have to buy pistons. Shame the block has no ring ridge but I would like a little bit hotter than factory but still be able to run on pump fuel. 9 or 9.5 to 1 should do the trick.
You can pick up half a point of compression by using a shim steel head gasket that TA Performance sells. It's .020" thick instead of the usual .040" of composition types. Cheaper than a set of pistons, rings, and machine shop work.
John, I ordered some items from TA 2 weeks back. When I inquired about a steel head gasket, they told me none was available. My car is a 1971 455. Were they confused? Or, do their gaskets not fit a 71?
I bought a set of steel head gaskets from TA for my GSX back in 1997. I talked to Dave@ TA Performance about 2 months ago to see if I could buy some more and he said they didn't sell them any more. This info hopefully will help you John. Eric Nelson/ gsx.man@verizon.net
Thinner gaskets TA offers a new gasket called the Cometic gasket and it comes .027 thick up to .120 I believe. Clint
