I figured I'd start a thread to chronicle my engine build project. I've been doing a bunch of reading and researching, and am confident moving forward with this. I've had multiple chats/visits with my local machine shop and I feel confident with them as well. The machine shop is Burtonsville Performance Machine, they are experienced with Buick engines. The engine will be going in my '76 Electra, which I purchased in October 2014. The goal is a weekend cruiser that packs a punch. The HP goal is 350+, but I'm honestly not as fixated on the dyno number as much as I was when I first started. I just want a solid, reliable engine. The current stock engine runs just great...but its only rated at 205hp. My parts have just about all been purchased. My heads are '72 iron heads that have been ported, and fitted with Stage 1 valves & hardened seats. They visually appear to be in good shape. They were run for a few months until the original owner upgraded to aluminum heads. I got them for $879 shipped from a member here. The machine shop will disassemble them, clean them, lap the valves, replace the valve seals, mill them for flatness, and reassemble them. My block is a '72 block, bored .030" over. I purchased this used from a member here. He was going to use this block for his build, but decided to build a '76 block instead. The block has not been used since it was bored. Visually, it is in pretty good shape. Main & cam bearings are still in the block. The machine shop is going to clean & inspect the block; align hone the cylinders; mill the block (I'm waiting until they tell me how far in the hole my pistons are before I tell them how much to mill); install cam bearings; install new freeze plugs; perform a couple of the simple oil modifications (LH deck oil hole plug, oil hole chamfer at the main saddles) The rods are reconditioned stock rods, that have been balanced and outfitted with ARP bolts. The crankshaft is from a 430. The machine shop will grind & polish as required. They will then balance it. I got the rods, crank, & block for $500 from a member here. The pistons...I was going back and forth between forged vs cast, knowing my intended use of the engine. I won't be racing...I won't be running high RPMs. In the end, I decided to go with forged pistons anyways. The difference in cost was $95 (TA 1607 vs TA 1621). A little piece of mind, and more margin of error during tuning. I went with the Sealed Power 10:1 CR forged pistons. The machine shop will be assembling the rods & pistons. I went with a stock timing chain cover, despite being fully prepared to pay $760 for the fully assembled, ready to run unit from TA. Instead of using the current one on the car, I got one from eBay in good shape for $106. From my research (reading old threads here), the stocker will do just fine for my intended use. Camshaft will be the TA 212. (Target static compression ratio for this build is 9.3~9.5:1.) I ordered a bunch of miscellaneous parts from Advance Auto Parts. Lifters, piston rings, water pump, fuel pump, gaskets, etc. 30% off coupon and free shipping. I purchased a valley pan gasket for the intake and remflex gaskets for the exhaust. Despite having a planned budget for this project, I went ahead and splurged on a couple of items. I got an Edlebrock B4B intake (advance auto), and I got chrome shorty headers (from TA). I THOUGHT I talked myself into using the stock intake & exhaust manifolds...but I went ahead and spent the $$ on these items. I have a bunch of parts due to arrive from TA next week. The machine shop will assemble the short block for $375. They will be performing the dyno tuning as well. As of last fall, they now have a full service mechanic/repair shop on the premises. They will do the installation of engine. One stop shop! I'm glad to finally get this project rolling. I will share updates in this thread.
Sounds like a great start to a build. Horsepower is great, the combo your building will make enough torque, you won't be wondering about horsepower being pushed back in your seat. Have fun with it.
Your plan for this build is very sound! You'll have a great cruising engine with a healthy kick in the pants when you want it, that's a good combo. Its obvious you did your homework. Another comment you made which is fantastic, is not getting fixated on dyno numbers. Its easy to do, I started to with my build and had to remind myself a dyno is a tuning tool. Numbers are fun and all, but its more about dialing everything in so all the components are performing optimally. I look forward to updates as assembly progresses!
Thanks for the kind words. For the carb, I am planning on using the stock carb. When I drop the car off, I'm gonna have them remove the carb. While they're doing their work, I'm gonna ship the carb out to one of our resident q-jet guys (carmantx) for rebuilding. For ignition, I honestly want to use the stock distributor. It would be nice to reuse the current one thats on the engine, but if I have to buy a new reproduction HEI, I'm ok with that. I'll buy the crane advance kit so the timing can be adjusted as required.
Sounds like it should be a nice cruiser. Once they CC one of the heads chambers they'll be able to figure out what compression you'll have. The pistons will be down in the bore the usual .040-.050" to start unless the block has been decked. I wouldn't worry about decking the block much over a .010" cleanup if needed. You'll probably be right in the 9.5:1 range without much decking depending on the heads. I'd stay on the low side with a heavy car because it keeps you out of the danger zone as far as spark knock goes. It is better to run full timing on an engine then it is to have to retard the timing because you have too much compression and not enough octane. IMO for a BIG car with highway gearing I would have gone with a milder cam. I'd want as much torque down real low as possible especially if it is just for cruising. Since you have the 212, and it will work well once you get moving a bit, I'd just install a very slightly higher stall converter. The t400 should have a 13" unit. Back in the day when we wanted a cheap upgrade we just installed a stock 12" t350 converter in place of the 13" unit for a slight stall increase. In your case I'd go with a 1600-1800 converter. Just something to add a bit of oomph off the line. Anything more could start to get mushy because of the weight of the car and the 2.XX gear out back. Put a 1" 4-hole spacer under whatever carb you end up using for some extra low end torque. Don't forget to get a thrust plate and the TA shim gaskets. That will allow the oil pump to be set up right and increase its efficiency.
Hey Mike, I have a TA 112 cam that I originally planned on using with the low compression pistons. Since I reworked my plans (to a full rebuild with a higher CR), I changed to the 212 cam. I really didn't want to change the stall converter... Any other input on the 112 vs 212 for this specific application would be much appreciated
Yeah, your not going to break any 60 ft time records any time soon with those, but you don't need overdrive for highway driving if you keep them. I would go with the 112 if I wanted to keep the 2.56 gears because the extra upper RPM power isn't really needed with that gear, on the other hand the extra down low torque would go a long way with that gearing. Stock converter will do better with it as well. GL Derek
If your keeping the low gear, why not the 284-288h or similar spec'ed? The porting work helps below the powerband and boost your midrange up further with the tighter LC. If you do a gear swap you get the best of both anyways, but you'll be better off regardless of any gear change. Since your staying with a Qjet and it's been mentioned to use a smaller converter, you won't see any flat spot off idle. The slightly tighter lobe centers and an earlier intake closing point installed will negate any anticipated loss of low rpm cylinder pressure... over a cam with a few degrees less duration and wider lc, esp. with ported heads. Basically, more gets in AND is trapped. The porting picks up a bunch of response when you give it a little more breathing with cam.
I agree with overkill. the 112 is better suited to your needs because of the vehicle weight and gear. Its easy to over cam a very heavy car IMO. Jim P
Thanks for the guidance. Makes sense...I'm quite certain this car will rarely see high rpms. In its stock form, I love the low-end punch. Definitely don't want to lose that, or shift my power band too far from that..
What I'm saying is that I'm not guessing or erring conservatively here. All the pieces are in place and it will make more cylinder pressure throughout the rpm curve with tighter lc at same or earlier closing point as ta 110. Porting is the key to this, otherwise the few extra degrees might delay the powerband. You are no longer overcamming it because more gets in earlier and remains trapped...plus a bit more scavenge during the overlap really helps jump start things. It doesn't matter to me which one is used. What I wrote works on even much smaller cubic inch engines in heavy cars as well. These are both really tiny cams for a 455. What might make this an overcam situation would be things like: no curve to the dist., single 2" exh, big (primary) Holley carb in disrepair, cam not degreed or excessively retarded. The OP seems very detail oriented and wanting to do things right vs. quickly. I don't think he'll have any problems making this vehicle work.
You sir are a student of the game. Good choice for your carb rebuild. You're gonna have a nice piece when all said and done.
Thanks. I've been wanting to do this for so long. I looked back at my posts when I first joined back in '04...man I didn't know anything! Lol
I disassembled my timing chain cover/oil pump housing just to see what things looked like inside. There is some minor wear on the housing. Is that wear around the center bore of the gear on the left normal? There is some scoring inside the pocket... Included in my massive order from TA is an oil pump rebuild kit, the shims, and the booster plate. I plan on doing this myself. Any idea where I can get the clearance measuring tool pictured below?
