How do these look for a street build up with a TA413-ish cam, Al heads, and a set of the older high compression TRW pistons? Like I said earlier, I don't want to cut a bunch off the deck.
John, This is the route I'm going. The Pontiac 455 rods are .025" longer than stock Buick rods (6.60 vs 6.625). Figured up how far the stock piston was in the hole - .081". So I've gained .025" with the Pontiac rods. Figured a .015"-.020" square up on the deck. The pistons I'm using have a .009" taller compression height. I've purchased pressed fit rods. The Pontiac pin is smaller than our Buicks, so we're going to offset drill the small end with bushing for free floating pins. Should be able to gain another .025" on the small end for a total of .050" just with rods. Make a long story short going for zero deck w/ longer rods instead of cutting the deck so far - plus a longer rod can't hurt. Final compression should be around 10.5:1 with alum. heads (polished cambers & piston tops) and .039" compressed head gasket. Wes
Scott, Pontiac rods are same diameter on the big end as the Buick. They are wider & will have to be cut down. I'm not sure if the 'tangs" on the bearings are in the same location. Worst case is to narrow some Pontiac bearings. After some research about the only stock Pontiac rods worth using are the 73-74 'Super Duty'. I ended up with some Crowers & about $200 more machining to make them fit the Buick Wes
