what year and block code 455 had the highest nickle content? what are the pro's and con's of a high nickle content?
People have told me that the newer block had way more nickel content. I would'nt be surprised if it was a myth, maybe jim will know.
nickel content- This sounds like something Dennis Manner would know and might have mentioned in one of his Buick engine development talks-anybody?
I noticed a small clue to that in the 71 stage one head machineing dwgs that were posted on here a while back. it appears to be GM standard iron. no special nomenclature on that. although they wern't casting drawings though. there maybe a whole diffrent matl spec'd on those. I'll need to look into it more to find out I didnt really look hard at it. nate
Fernando Alvare just had several blocks sonic tested the setting for Buick blocks was higher than Chevy and Olds blocks the business had recently tested. So, they are not "general" GM casting material. Also, Chevy stock heads from 70-2 were/are known to be of lesser quality and require hardened exhaust valve seats due to valve recession with unleaded gas. More evidence different divisions had different block material.
Denny Manner and I have been friends for over forty years, and he told me long ago to never worry about valve recession in Buick engines. I have driven my 1940 straight eight over 100,000 miles and never used an additive. I also hauled an Airstream all over the country with a 1957 Buick and never had a problem. My72 GS has showed no signs of valve recession, so I have to believe there is something different about the Buick block. I saw Chev engines on the dyno actually have the valves eat into the water jacket , so I guess seeing is believing to me. I guess it is up to the individual what you do. o No: o No: o No: o No: o No:
??????????/ what is the purpose of wanting to know bout the nickel content of the blocks? lol just curious
Dennis is a Riv Owners Assoc tech advisor. I'll write to him and ask him point-blank and see what he says...
Nickel is an expensive strengthening additive that was very common in the olds engines. At some point, however, during the gas price surge, olds decided to drop the content of nickel in their engines dramatically. This was due to both the trend that GM had entered to lower their big cube engine's weights and lower the cost of production. The ultimate example of this is the Olds 403 that can be found in the 79-81 trans ams. The 403 had a big bore (largest GM engine bore, even the BBB 455), yet weighs less than its predecessors significantly; the 403 had a very low nickle content and had crappy casting as well as design flaws that can be looked at in the "what-were-they-thinking" category, it had windowed main webbing. Because the Olds was a very heavy GM when equipped with Nickel in the casting alloy, I wouldn't imagine that the Buick would be equipped with such amneties as Nickel as it is so lightweight.
I have read in the past that GM's top of the line Buick and Caddy had higher Nickel for longer lasting engines. If you paid more in the beginning, you should have the benifits of a longer lasting auto. I have read many listings that Caddy 472 and 500's are loaded with it. I have also read that the later Buick 455's had more. I would really like to know the truth. So, someone find out.
I'm inclined to believe that the Caddy has high nickel content, but I still have to support my original theory that the Buicks do not. If you quickly look at the weight of the Caddy and compare it to engines known to have high nickel content, e.x the big Olds, you notice a similarity: the caddy and the Olds are both very, very heavy. The caddy weighing in at nearly 800 lbs., it makes sense for it's alloy casting to include the heavy hardner, nickel. However, if you Compare the Olds to the Buick, you'll notice the significant weight differences: the Buick weighs not much more than 600 lbs. making it the lightest of the GM big blocks during the late 60s-early 70s period when block strength was emphasized. However, this is not to insult the Buick in any way, also take note of its main, much of the metal in the engine is concentrated near the bottom end, this signifies that it was well engineered and intended for heavy duty use. Maybe it has some nickel content, but I would seriously doubt that it would be very high. Nickel is a heavy substance. With a block casting that is nearly that of a sbc and much larger in physical size, I find it seriously unlikely for the very large yet very light engine to have heavy materials. Although, it can be argued that much of the Buick's lightweight quality can be attributed to it's aluminum oiling system, I have doubts that this alone can shed so many pounds over the rest of the big block engines.
um hey guys, the atomic mass of pure iron is 7.89 The atomic mass of pure nickel is 8.90 this is a very minimal diffrence and as small of an amount of alloying material that would be used in the iron. it isn't going to add a whole lot of weight. I'm guessing it would add about the weight of some nasty flashing in the lifter bore. just as a refrence. the atomic mass of lead is 11.35 carbon is anywhere between 1.8-3.6 another spin ____________lbs/cu inch___lbs/cu ft Iron, pure______0.284_____|491 Iron, wrought___0.280_____ |480 Iron, cast (gray)_0.256______|440 Nickel_________0.322______|556 Lead__________0.41_______710
I've noticed that Pontiac and Olds BB's are much thicker than Buicks. That may account for the weight difference. The same can be said for Buick vs. Chevy heads.
Actually, not to start a materials lesson... But nickle makes the block material more durable, even though it makes it weigh a little more. What a lot of you aren't thinking about though, is if (say) the nickel increases strength by 20% but weight by 10%, you can use less overall material and have the same strength. In fact, "thicker" castings are probably LESS likely to be high nickel--the reason they are so thick is that the thickness is REQUIRED for strength with the un-alloyed metal.
Just playing around. Don't worry about me. Anyway, I am not afraid of metals. I have a torch to fend them off.
