I have an opportunity to buy a pair of 1231786 Stage 1 heads fully assembled off of a running motor that broke a crank and destroyed the block. (the owner states) Also, 8 Sealed Power forged 10:1 pistons p/n 2362P (.030 over). And, a cam with unknown specs. Can anyone tell me what's a fair price to pay for each separately? And, can the cam be identified with just the info on the end? (see pic). PM if you wish.
Heads 1200/1700 with port work/ without any bent valves, which I’d be looking for the way that engine grenaded Cam 100 Pistons 150
The pistons aren't 10 to1 they are capable of close to 10....with decking.....cam is 473 480 lift 290 advertised straight pattern it appears
That’s why their cores they’re all used and came out of an engine with issues. The heads are the only thing worth something to cam and pistons aren’t worth much.
The deck is NG and so are the springs. Somebody did a wire wheel valve job and any mystery porting that someone else has done can be considered a major red flag You know what the throat to seat ratio is under those valves? If it's wrong, theyre junk. The pistons are ok, but we dont know if it's the 23cc or 27cc version, and the block will take a lot of work to get power out of them. The cam , whatever it is , is a paperweight. I guess my point is , I wouldnt spend more on those heads than you're willing to gamble. Could be meat, could be cake. Good luck.
i would never use used cams or pistons unless i was young, flat broke and in a jam. why take the risk of installing used hi perf parts that have been worked super hard in a new build. to many variables, bent cam, rockwell{ hardness } on lobes, detonation on pistons, ect ,ect, it cost to much time and money to put together a engine nowadays. with that said i have installed used cams waaay back in the 80s. when i was a kid and was broke lol. got away with it most of the time by sure luck. charlie
If you want to buy these parts with the intent to have spare parts then go ahead and try to get a deal. If you're buying to flip, then take the asking price and move that much cash from your left pocket, put it in your right pocket, and skip buying the parts...
ARE those "Stage 1" heads? I thought genuine Stage 1 heads had more-extensive unshrouding around the valves. I think someone crammed larger valves into non-Stage 1 castings.
Could be right as the chamber is missing the heart shape look after the factory took them off the line and did the unshrouding. Are the head numbers shown 1970 castings? Wondering if they came off a big valve 74 455 that some Big body Buicks had?
Those are pretty early date codes. Wasn’t someone on here looking for an early 70 date coded set of heads? Cliff
Hey Kammer,... I did stage 1 valve's in my 1970 heads and unshrouded the chamber myself and did alot of porting on them, also have the same exact heavy TRW piston's with valve relief's in my 72 buick skylark right now. So the heads at the right price are usable and the piston's are questionable... My TRW piston's are on their 2nd build.. thats just because I didn't have the money to buy new one's back in the day.. The right combo of parts is the key.. This motor is in the car today, read down below.. Motor is built with probably 80% factory parts with old heavy TRW pistons that have valve relief's to clear the valves.. Not a mind blowing build here, just old common sense race technique's still used today, then people call it that freak motor from the factory,.. lol --Buick 462 motor: 1972 short block, .030 over 462 cu.. stock rods ARP bolts side rod clearance set at .016, rods polished rebalanced, stock crank and old TRW pistons with extra oil holes drilled over the wrist pins and metal taken out under neath the wrist pin, stock flywheel and balancer, all completely rebalanced and decked to .017 to top of piston, all together for smooth RPM action. --Compression; true 10.8 to one using .020 steel factory gasket.. No girdle, stock oil pan with 5/8 oil pickup, No oil baffle's in pan.. --This motor see's 6000- 6200 rpm all the time.. MSD dist. timing 32'- 34' with MSD 6al set at a safe 6000 rpm. Shift at 5700 rpm,. Motor has been together 17 years this year.. --Heads,. 1970 - Stage 1, 786's milled down to 62 cc ,. Stage 1 stainless tulip valve's 2.13~ 1.68, heavyly ported by me back in the day and 3 angle valve job, maybe flow 270 ish.. alot of port work..!! but no epoxy added.. -- Rocker's, factory 1969 buick 430 rocker's approx 1.59 lift with all adj. 3/8 pushrods installed for action.. -- Cam; Old GSCA -hydraulic custom, 537-545 lift at 112,.. 240-250 Dur. installed at 108' in.CL. -- Intake: 3 used, port matched T/A stage 1 , Eddy B4B carb pad in center and Eddy performer carb pad set back for Stage 1 air cleaner, the Performer intake was on the motor and 1/2" wood spacer with custom 950 Holley for the best pass it ever made.. ~~ET Ran best at - 11:57 at 116 on a cold 50' degree nite at Milan dragway. same pass..! -- 72' buick skylark; full interior, all steel body, factory power steering, factory clutch fan with heavy 4 core brass radiator, altenator, manuel drum brake's, 3;73 gears, 350 trans & shift kit, 3500 ATI stall converter,.. -- Exhaust: Set of old Kenne-Bell headers bought in 1989 and 3" stainless exhaust pipe thru flowmaster muff's to the rear bumper, never unhooked for racing. -- Wheels: Lite M/T wheels on street legal Drag tires, 3800lb. with me in the car , No AC components.. --Fuel, 93 octane running thru -8 line from the factory sumped tank to the Holley carb. using 2 Black Holley elec. pumps. -- Its been a great combo..!! I drive it evry where in the summer.. Just a simple build from back in the day.. and running strong today...Well it is a little tired now.. lol P.S.... I now have a set of Bulldog heads and Eddy heads I still need to try after I get them ported.. Should be interesting.. ! Well,. I'll at least lose some weight off the front of the car....
In that example the unshrouding is very pronounced. Here is a set of factory 73 stage heads and you can see clearly the unshrouding isn’t as pronounced. Most of the originals I’ve seen are not as pronounced as your example. Stock gm stage 1 valves are a good tell.
Yeah, those are the pictures off of George Nenadovich's site. http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/455hdcompare.htm
My Opinion..... I would find out what it cost to have a set of 70 heads done up fresh to stage 1 specs then cut that price in half. You dont know what these heads have been through and how well they will hold up.
Thanks for all the good feedback, folks. I'll post them on the forum if I'm able to get them at an attractive price and one of our local GS guys doesn't buy them.
BTW: Both sets of my 71 factory Stage 1 heads look like your 73's. Very little unshrouding around the intake, and none around the exhaust.
I'm guessing the difference is from worn tooling or from who ever the worker was on that day that did the Stage1 upgrade machining?
