Another 455 Build Up

Discussion in 'V-8 Buick Powered Regals' started by johnwwjr, Jul 10, 2011.

  1. STAGE-2 TORQUE

    STAGE-2 TORQUE STAGE-1 Buick "494Stroker" in 2021

    ... John; after STARING at your TA-Engine-Photos for about 25-minutes straight (haven't even gotten to the damn chassis pics), the only words that (with 100% adamant respect & admiration) came out of my mouth were, "WHAT-A-BASTARD." :TU::TU::TU::TU:


    YOUR BUICK 455 IS THE FREAKING "BESTEST" I'VE "EVER" SEEN!!!!

    ROCK-ON!


    :gp:
     
  2. STAGE-2 TORQUE

    STAGE-2 TORQUE STAGE-1 Buick "494Stroker" in 2021

    John,
    Your spark plug wire neatness is like a naked-woman to mine eyes; question (ALL) ... why are my wires leading off the H.E.I. "not" in a neat/perfect order like yours???

    What's entailed in getting mine "like-art-work" like yours????


    :pray:
     
  3. johnwwjr

    johnwwjr Founders Club Member

    Sorry, been a while since I have been on. I must admit that I stepped in it and was luckily able to afford the motor from TA. I have been doing all of the work outside of the engine, trans, and rear on my own and things have slowed down a bit for winter and lack of funds...mostly lack of funds. This is my first full project like this and its been like going a mile an inch at a time with some of this crap. Anyhow, to the wires... the distributor and wires are Mallory. The looms are TA's 400-455 set and they are about $60 from them (pg 131 in their online catalog). Did you install a universal wire set where you had to cut the wires to length and install the boots yourself? If you want, I will give you the measurements of my wires from the distributor cap to the plug for each cylinder, that may cut down some clutter, The length will include the boots/ends in the total since I am not peeling back the boots to get just the wire length. I did a wire set myself a long time ago, and I f'ed up the looks big time. They worked, but looked like "you know what" when I was done. Also, women look much better than a set of wires, depending on the lady of course.
    I went to TA to see the motor run before it was shipped, f'en great. Mike T of TA told me he built one of these for one of Mr. Weise's customers with a slightly better cam and compression, and was worth about 600 to 625 hp with similar torque numbers. Mine should be between 570 and 590 with about 600 lb/ft. He has no dyno, so he's relying on what gets fed back to him. The motor with accessories (wires, coil, carb, headers, mounts, elec. choke, crating and shipping was about 16,300. Got an extreme automatics 200 4r with their 2.57 billet gear pkg, Moser 12 bolt with 4:10's. If I can get the car together,... correctly....., it should go like a bat out of hell. Looking to get this done by June or July. Getting roll bar fitted then getting the motor/trans in and a boat load of other stuff. Thanks for your kind words and look to hear from you soon.
    John W.
     
  4. STAGE-2 TORQUE

    STAGE-2 TORQUE STAGE-1 Buick "494Stroker" in 2021




    :TU::TU: is ALL I can say, John.


    :gp:
     
  5. johnwwjr

    johnwwjr Founders Club Member

    Obviously I am doing this the hard way....

    IMGP0963.jpg IMGP0964.jpg IMGP0965.jpg IMGP0966.jpg IMGP0968.jpg IMGP0970.jpg IMGP0971.jpg


    • :Dou:


    Spent the past few weeks getting the ol' 455 fitted with the body on the chassis. When I set the motor mounts, the body was off. Getting the motor in with the body on, I discovered that I had some "minor interference" with the firewall and transmission tunnel with the 2004r mounting tabs on the driver's side. Fixed with some cutting and welding. Driver's side of the block needed about 1/4 inch of additional space once set in the chassis. Tilting the engine/trans combo to get it set required some more space. I know others have done this with out such mods, but the results may be a bit better since the motor is slightly further back in the chassis than I thought it would be. I have test fit the T/A 2" long tubes and they fit with only very slight mods to the no. 2 tube where it brushes the hard brake line clip bolt between the passenger side cross member and the rear lower a-arm support, and a very slight dimple on the no. 5 pipe where the steering shaft joint is close. Having the headers coated and will have the motor installed and a couple of days, I hope.
     

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