Hello,I am back again....And I need a pair of BUICK HEADS indentified,please....

Sorry,,I'm not buying any of that...

 

You can believe whatever you want! I'm just trying to be helpful, that's all. You don't have to take only my word for it, either:

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?128280
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?32728
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?197570



Devon

 

I'm not trying to be rude in any way,I just do not believe the stories out there apply to my situation... And none of the treads you posted have anything to do with me or my situation.... I DO BELIEVE WHAT I BELIEVE,AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH "WHATEVER I WANT ",IT HAS TO DO WITH THE EVIDENCE I HAVE BEEN PRESENTED WITH BY THE VEHICLE OVER THE LAST 16 YEARS...... Again, sorry if this annoys or offends anyone,but they don't pay my bills and they don't own my car, so I'm doing right by me and my car...

 

I think you need to do some reading over at the Stage 1 Registry --> http://www.stage1registry.com/stage1info.html :TU:

 

It's worse! The guy got a machine shop that didn't know to increase the combustion chamber size along with the valves. How do you know this is a GS 455 car vs a GS?

 

Lou,

I didn't mean to upset you, I apologize if I did. My only intent is to help you out with your original question about your cylinder heads.

Someone, somewhere in your car's history had the Stage 1 valves installed, but did not modify the combustion chambers as the factory did. That's all.

If you don't care about that and the fact that you have the larger valves in place makes you happy, that's fine.

The whole point of the links I posted earlier was to (hopefully) make you aware that while the heads are off the engine that you can easily have your machine shop modify the combustion chambers at least as well, or better than Buick did. The lack of that chamber work pretty much kills any benefit you could realize by having the bigger valves to begin with.

If you're not concerned with making the most out of the heads, that's fine! Maybe you'll be happy to know that the valve size increase, even with the proper chamber mods, doesn't give you a significant performance increase unless a lot of other cylinder head work is done as well. If you're interested in getting the heads close to or better than what Buick did, talk to your machinist...it's not a difficult modification.

If your hope was that you landed on an original set of heads converted to Stage 1 specs by Buick, I'm sorry, these were not. But you can make them perform as well or better if you wish to have the extra work done.

Devon

 

Thanks Devon,, I appreciate your response... Personally, I do not agree with your assessment,but thank you anyway.... I'm sticking with what the machinist says,since he has been doing these engines for over 30 years,so when he says "They are stock Stage 1 heads " I go with his assessment... No Disrespect intended,but i'm sticking with the opinion of the guy with the heads in his hands...AND ,the guy from GM OBSOLETE who told me more then 16 years ago " Its atleast a GS 455 Convertible,and could be a Stage 1,,theres no real way to tell them apart,,,check the heads out....".....

 

Geesh. Devon didn't just give an assessment, he gave you the truth.
I see no reason for us to waste any more time trying to help you.

 

Sorry to hear you are un-happy that the heads are not what you thought they were.... Thats is the reason you started this thread though is it not? Either way the info these fellows have given you is not an opinion it is the facts.

Tell us more about the car, any pics?

 

the heads are stock.
The valves in the head are not the valves that came in those stock heads.

 

The valves are brand new...Hence the term "Rebuilding ",,, can't use stuff thats been ruined.

 

Lou, if it's not too late, you can still have your machinist do the unshrouding work. If he has the right cutters it won't affect the valve seats at all. Show him the photos from Greg Gessler's site HERE or AM&P's site HERE. This is what you want your chambers to look like to take advantage of the big valves:




Devon

 

I keep reading this thread and shaking my head.

Lou, the ONLY difference between stock heads, and stage 1 heads are 2 things. Must be 2 things, not just one or the other, but BOTH things MUST be done to be stage 1 heads. That being said, ANY standard stock heads can be modified in a million different ways, even to be made to be EXACTLY like stage 1 heads.

What Bhambulldog meant by saying "the heads are stock. The valves in the head are not the valves that came in those stock heads." is that the valve SIZES are not what came in those stock heads.

In order for GM to have called them stage 1 heads, they HAD to have larger valves like yours, AND BE UNSHROUDED. The unshrouding just removes some of the head iron around the valves to further improve the flow into and out of the valve. The AM&P and Gessler links show this very well.

Your heads have NOT been unshrouded, therefore they are EITHER NOT factory stage 1 heads, or you got a factory mistake that somehow were shipped out. In the grand scheme of things, if you have them unshrouded, then there would be no way of ever knowing that these were not original GM stage 1 heads.

Being a 40 year old car, you really do not know what was done at any time in the past before you owned it and swapping heads may or not have occurred. All this being said, the heads do not make or break your car's history. Contact some of the sites that can trace your VIN number and COWL tag to see if they can verify whether your car was stage 1 or not. It may very well be a stage 1 car that somebody swapped heads on after 12 years by doing a head exchange rather than rebuild.

I'm wish you well and your car looks great. I bet you can't wait to get it on the road and I hope it runs like a raped ape when it does.
Good luck and god bless.

 

THAT makes sense to me,,,Thanks.... Yea man,,its been a long long labor of love and I CANNOT WAIT to start my roadtrip,,to wherever the wheel takes me !

 

Any idea if the car has ever been apart? How far into the restoration are you? Has the tank been dropped, dash off, seats out? I'd be interested to see if there's a build sheet lurking somewhere. That would be your indisputable answer at least as to whether or not the car was a Stage 1 beyond any doubt.

 

Ken, No Build sheet,,, As described,i've had the car since finding it roting in a corn field in 1996,they were shooting bottles off the hood (literally ! ) with a 30-06 when i pulled up.... Check my pics out,car is completely torn apart now,new steel where needed,and in process of recontruction....

 

Good work on saving that cool car!!! Lots of sweat and tears into that car, I can see that!

 

Thank You, Sean.... Real glad to see that you "Get it " ...... The first time I saw the car,I heard the voice of my late brother,Angelo, in my head saying , "If you don't buy this car and do this rebuild project you'll be kicking yourself over it for years and years !",,,,,,, So I bought the car...(Thats a true story,my brother was "The real Motor head" in the family,and he passed away in 1976,so, 20 years later when i heard that voice again I listened to it .....)... NOW, it's 16 years later and we're getting close to done and I'm so pumped up that its sometimes hard to sleep cause I'm thinking about all the nice people we will meet and all the cool places we are going to see once we start our ROAD TRIP !!!!!............... Can't Wait !!!

 

Good for you, that is what itr is all about!!! Keep up the great work and keep us posted!

 

Will do,Bro.... Thanks