I am building a 455 for the strip. right now i have a basically stock 455, i have added a performer intake, msd,edelbrock carb but thats about it. in my regal today i ran a 13.01 at 105 and some change. I am on a lmited budget for next year and would like some ideas for where to spend my money! if any one can help me i would appreciate it Thanks Dustin
Dustin The first thing you need to do is let us know EVERYTHING that you have in your combo as it sits now. From fan to rear end gears. That'll help us help you. Oh, congrats on a 13.0, thats pretty darn good for stock.
Specs Basically this is the break down of what i have. 1983 Regal The motor and tranny came from a donor 1972 Electra with 141,000 miles! Aluminum radiator with two electric fans, 1 push 1 pull. motor 455 standard bore, pistons, rods, crank, bearings. standard cam shaft 455 heads hardened seats installed. Edelbrock Performer intake Edelbrock 1405 600cfm carb Accel 8mm Super stock wires Ngk v power plugs Msd 6T ignition box Points distributer TH400 trans with Hurst Stage 2 street strip shift kit stock convertor Fabricated drive shaft 1350 u joints 8.5 GN posi rear with 3.42 gear set 29.5x9.0x15 Mickey Thompson ET/Drags set at 9.5lbs The car with me in wieghs 3119lbs with 39.9% rear weight. For suspension mods Competition Enginering 3 way shocks up front set at 90/10 V6 front springs V6 rear springs Rear air shocks with individual lines running 70lbs in the right rear and 15lbs in the left rear. That is about it I think. If there is anything i might have missed let me know. I only have access to the computer about once a week so bear with me if I don't reply right away. I appreciate any help you can give me Thanks Dustin
Bigger carb...definitely. 600cfm isn't even enough for a 350, let alone a big ol' 455:Brow: Find something at least 800cfm or more. I am partial to the quadrajest, but lots of people are running Holleys and Edelbrocks. There should be someone chiming in about this...I can feel it:grin: Also, instead of running points, call the IgnitionMan Dave... www.davessmallbodyheis.com
600 cfm I ran the original quadrajet for a while, but i had a few problems with it and had this one laying around. I bolted it on and picked up .2 in the quarter. I can't explain it either! Dustin
Dustin I'd get that Quadrajet built by a pro. Get it tuned to your motor. You're STARVING that motor after 4000rpms. You need 800cfm to keep up after that. You need a better distributor. Also, if you can swing it, your best money is spent on heads. A set of '70-'71 455 castings or '68-'69 430 castings are the best. They flow a little better and will give you a head start when doing some mild porting. It'll also give you a little bump in compression to maybe a little over 9.0:1. If you cut the heads, you'll get to 9.5 which is primo. If money's an issue, work with what you've got. Get a good valve job done, some bowl work and port matching can help and isn't mega money. Didn't see headers mentioned, a set of 1 7/8 headers would do you justice. Can those plug wires, too much resistance(try Taylor or MSD). Lastly, any trans shop can get you a cheap stall convertor around 2400-2600 like a Dacco for around $200+/-. You can pick a decent cam around *228 @.050 from several vendors but stay under well under .500 lift. You don't want to spin a motor with high miles over 5000. Do a compression test. Make sure you've got something worth playing with. If not, it may be time to build it.
Reynold, The motor that I am working on will have to be rebuilt. the rings are going and she smokes at startup. These are some of the parts that I am looking at tell me what you think. Poston hypereutectic pistons 10.0-1 small chamber heads and 9.85-1 large chamber. Stock rods beam polished with arp rod bolts stock crank indexed ground and turned the stock heads I already have cut for new valves and springs possibly milled to get down to the small chambers I need some input on the next few items: Bearings-what bearings should I use and should they be grooved? Camshaft- I really am new to all this and don't know what can to run. Torque convertor-what stall rating should I be at? Headers- The reason that I don't have headers is that so far I have seen nothing that will fit in the regal's with out beating them up pretty bad. So I am still running the stock manifolds. My car doesn't need to be street able, so I know I have options I just need some help on the decisions. thanks Dustin
Dustin Definately get the TA "GROOVED" cam bearings. Install them with the oil hole in the 3:00 position or just follow the directions. The oil hole in the cam journal is at 9:00, opposite where it needs to be. The lifters and valve train is pushing down on the cam shaft so the area worn most is the bottom of the bearing(6:00). So putting the oil hole in the bearing at 3:00 redirects oil to come in after that which means the oil "wedge" will be at the bottom. Make sense? Also, DO NOT get a high volume oil pump. Just get a stock rebuild kit and a booster plate from TA and an adjustable pressure regulator. They're both cheap. I'd stick to something in the *230(intake) and mid*240's(exhaust) @.050 duration. Anything more than that with gears you have will not help much. I'd look for a 2800ish stall 10" convertor depending on the cam.
