Help me with some engine build decisions, please............

That was a great read, thanks. I'm very close to Scotty G and spoke with him this morning but, although he has a full service machine/assembly shop, he says his dyno is in storage and the shop where he dynos racing engines doesn't have any exhausts to hook up to a Buick 455. He says even my ported stock manifolds won't fit on their dyno??? Don't understand that. He says he can build me a Buick 455 with the horsepower I want without having to dyno test it. He did however say he could break in the cam for me so I could just install the motor and go. What do think?

 

Scotty is one of the all time Buick gurus.
I don't think there is anyone on this board that would not trust him to build them a motor.
And I am sure there are plenty of people that would use him if they were close enough to him.
If I remember correct back in the 80's he had a 1970 Electra running in the 10's.
Search his name here and throughout the Buick world and im sure you will find some info.
Be sure to keep us all posted.

 

Yes, I saw that Electra run at the GS Nats often. It lifted both wheels and was a real crowd pleaser. Scotty and I are still talking about my build and I'll keep updating this thread with more info. He's sending me a budget to look over.

 

:tu::tu:

 

Don't forget to read oiling upgrade posts. It will allow motor to live longer.

 

Yes, my motor is a '73 with the enlarged oil suction holes and the other oiling upgrades will be done by the shop.

 

I'm talking with Dan and he says he thinks they milled about .030 off the heads and the intake sides when he built them. They were '71 non-stage heads to begin with and he added the large valves and says he has about 60 hours in the porting.

He thinks they have about 60-62 cc of volume. Isn't that a bit small for my application? (71 heads should have had about 71cc stock) If I use 10cc for the gasket and 12cc (.050) for the deck, that makes about 84cc before the piston dish. So, to get 9.5 CR, I'd need pistons with a dish of about 25cc; and for 10.0 CR piston dish would need to be 19cc. What is the dish volume of available pistons for my engine and are my figures right?

 

The Speed pro Forged or even cast pistons would be fine for your application IMO, and they are around the 25cc mark I believe, but unless your gonna cut the deck, the piston gonna be
Down pretty deep in the bore, prob gonna need the small chambers if deck is just cleaned up, just thinking out loud tho, but if Scotty is maybe gonna do the build id let him use pistons of his choice and let him do the thinking,dude is one of the best

 

What are reverse dome pistons? would that be forward dome or dished?

 

Scotty built my motor,10k miles and still running strong!

 

A picture is worth a thousand words

 

Well, after hearing a few suggestions that I go with headers instead of my ported stock manifolds, I thought I'd at least look into them. Two questions,

1) Can the TA shorty headers be installed onto the heads before the engine is installed into the car?
2) Does anyone have some estimates (or tests) on the relative HP gains between ported stock manifolds, shorty headers and full length headers on a 450-500 HP engine build?

 

I don't but I can tell you that going from stock outlet diameter exhaust manifold (2") to 2.25" is worth about 12-14 hp (can't recall the exact number). I'd guess if running a wider lobe separation angle (114-116), the gain of headers will be less. My GS weighs 4000 lbs with me in it, 10:1 actual, mild cam, Gessler heads and runs 12.2'x ~80 F. I wouldn't put headers on it if they were free.

Come to think about it, a buddy had a 455, 10:1, mild Scott Brown cam, Scott Brown CNC Edelbrock heads, headers, B4B and a QJ. He ran 11.87 @ 111 mph. He then put ported exhaust manifolds on it and it ran 12.2's @ 108 (different day at the drag strip). His cam was 226/238 on a 113 and a 3.42 gear.

 

That's great feedback, Rob. What are your typical trap speeds in the 1/4 and 60 ft times? I think I'd be happy with using my ported stock exhausts (by Jim Rodgers) if the combo would go 110 MPH or so in the low 12s. I'm not into really hard launches, by the way.

 

See post #34, http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?275366-Post-your-11-12-second-455-combos!/page2

My converter is too loose for my application, car usually goes 108 with my current set up. I'm working on a few things, hoping to get it quicker/faster and hopefully a new converter at some point.

 

Also see post #3, http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?283424-Custom-cam-specs

 

Yup. The more research I do the more I believe that the cam and heads are everything on a sub 500 HP 455. I'm leaning heavily on keeping my ported iron exhausts and just doing a good set of heads with intake and exhaust ports matched up. I'm even considering the TA aluminum heads and having a little extra porting done.

 

I think your intake will be the limiting factor. I've never tried it but thought an SP1 with an otherwise stock appearing engine might yield better results.

 

I went from a ported matched B4B to a port matched SP1 on a 500hp combo and no significant changes were seen in all honesty my 1/8mi mph dropped, but back to the manifolds Mike at Wildcat told me that headers on anything under 450hp was a waste of money, he said he rarely ever seen over 10hp vs manifolds, granted like Rob eluded too cam profiles,flow and compression will all play a part in just how bad a engine needs headers, but if all I wanted was low 12's on pump 93 headers wouldn't be the first thing on my list anyway, unless of course you just want some MT Scavengers for they nostalgia effect