462 Rebuild

Running at LVD against Ralph Barbagallo in the Supercar Shootout series a few weeks ago.

 

Sound just like my 71 with a posten 116 cam.

 

Nice vids , very smooth running idle ,perfect for what I’m looking for ,I’m actually at 108 not 106 for 7.40 dcr , .040 off the deck with TA 1607 and felpro , quench is .046 , I have 67 rockers and cracked exhaust manifolds from the 400 or new stamped steel set , both solid and hydraulic TA lifters , stage 1 springs etc . I was wondering about a lag off the line ,but with power now at 2200 and high stall around the same I should be ok .Thanks

 

I was worried about low end too, the Desktop Dyno did not like this cam but in practicle application it has 40 more ft lbs of torque that the 218/230/110 I had before. After the dyno session I was worried that I had advanced the cam too much, and it being tricky to launch on stock tires (Cooper Trendsetter whitewall radials int he video!) but I found that even with a 3000 rpm stall the car just walked right out. I think your tighter switch pitch will work just fine.

 

Car launches easily without any fuss considering converter stall , additional torque and stock tyres , and I’m sure there is more top end to come with fine tuning . My 2.93‘s will reduce torque a little and be less likely to smoke off the line, and should return around 16 mpg, pretty good I think. I will be watching your progress with interest .

 

Y

 

Guys, I would appreciate your tboughts. A machine shop I have used in the past have been building Buicks for decades. They told me about a customer who is selling a 455 as they just built a new motor for him.
The motor smokes a little, has about 2k miles on it- was built by another shop that does not know Buick motors from a duck. The motor has stage 1 heads, valves, cam etc. from T/A.
The motor needs a freshening up; the shop I would use is extremely thorough and I trust them.

What would you consider a fair price to pay?
No distributor, intake, valve covers or water pump.

J

 

Well lets put it this way- This motor refresh cost me 2100.00 in wear items and machine work (nothing major: boiling block, cyl hone, etc. ) I did all the assembly labor including cam bearings myself, but had an easy 40 hours into it. . JW can build you a long block for what... 10K? I would consider that motor nothign more than a core, and would not count on the pistons, cam etc.. on being usable. Heads needing work are worth 500.00 (with all hardware, good valve springs and usable valves), block and crank with quality machine work needing refresh are worth 500.00, frt cover is worth 200.00 with verification of gear pocket and water pump impeller area, pan and pickup 100.00, balancer and flex plate 100.00, hardware , valve covers, etc.. 100.00. If I could inspect it closely, make sure the existing machine work was done correctly offer 1500.00 at most. Some people would be insulted by that, but honestly the math is irrefutable. Youre gonna have to start from scratch anyway , especially if it's smoking after 2000 miles.

 

Makes a lot of sense. Thank you

 

Remember most true cores (stock motor wore out) go for $500. $1500 is $1000 more! If the seller won't move, tell him to let your shop tear it down for inspection, then using Rhett's numbers come to a price. No distributor, intake, valve covers or water pump - there' $500 right there. If the carb is great (it has the carb?) that could be $500.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I’ll wait for something else to come along…

 

I think you can be more willing to be aggressive with cam, but even with variable pitch, that 2.93 gear will be calling to you for an improvement. Careful with narrow lobe center, though.

Probably the biggest hyd cam I ran with really good street manners was Crower's 52243 in my 436, specs below. Sounded great, off idle snappiness still there, plenty of power brakes:



Getting up above that I did in two stages, but I pushed static compression up too. Had TA source me a custom solid, which I loved.

Later said what the hell and with other mods including custom headers and went solid TA 308s in a 462.

THAT one is marginal for vacuum and really does want compression. Lost a lobe on that one and bought a very similar TA 294-04F solid cam from a board member. I get away with "not enough" vacuum for brakes at low speed driving my manually downshifting to raise engine rpm, thus manifold vacuum.

Not sleeperish at all, though...



Devon

 

I found a 455 out of a 75 electra with 77k on it for $400 complete with carb...... Ill probably pick it up this weekend and take it directly to the machine shop.......

 

The 75 will have issues with the heads/intake for performance and those are easy to replace. - but thats a great starting point!

 

Can the heads be opened up enough ?

 

Thank you. I found some 70 stage one heads for it. Could you direct me as to parts , cam / piston etc. suggestions for the motor. I am wanting a strong running street motor - no visits to the drag strip. I was thinking of keeping the turbo 350 but changing the converter , rear end is currently 3:23 but may change to a 3:42 posi...

any thoughts ; suggestions would be appreciated. The machine shop I will be taking the motor to is aware of the oiling issues on the 455.

 

Thank you Larry, I will do more research and be as definitive as possible with my expectations...