Hey guys I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas. I have a super clean 71 lark/ GS clone 455 with 36000 orig. miles on it. If I can ever get my machinest to get going on boring my block and ballancing my rotating assy. I might get back on the road this coming month. I am going with the TA 308S cam, I know its not the best cam for the street, just know I will be adding gessler TA heads. I don't have the money for new TA Stage 1 heads right now, so I am staying with the gessler level 2 iron heads for now. They are 1973 castings with stage 1 conversion. Just want to get the car back drivable tell this spring when I can afford the heads. Heres a list of what I have so far: TA SRP spherical dish pistons 38 0ver, TA sportsman rods, TA 1.65 roller rockers, nice stock crank, TA SP1 intake, completely referbished timming cover with boster plate. I have a few questions on this build: First one is should I 0 deck the block? second is when I get the TA heads I want to be in the 10.5:1 or 11:1 range. Also want a nice carb for this build. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Just wish I had of drove the parts to Jim at Tri Sheild it would have been cheaper, This local guy has had my engine since last March and all he's done is clean the block, I already paid for the machine work too. Im gona make sure he's done with it this week if I have to sleep there. LOL I just can't wait to turn heads again, the car realy messes with peoples brains.:3gears:
I would get your $ back and take the engine to a place that knows Buicks and are eager to work on them. It seems as though your machinist is slightly laid back (you think?) plus the BBB warrants knowledgeable experience to build it only once. Ray
X2 its obvious the guy doesnt care and in my experience it can only get worse from this point on ......get your money back J
I run that same cam in my 70 GS, zero deck height 12 to 1 compression 4.10 gear 9'' convertor , I drive to the local cruise spots,twice a week in the summer. try a 4150 carb 950 cfm. best the car ran was a 11.17 at 120 mph thru. the muff. rear tires are m/t et street 30x12.50. I now run 1050 carb. and have se heads and the best the car has run is 10.75 at 125mph, hope this helps AL
hi you dont have to have a 0 deck height you want max .050 quench area,so if you use a crushed .038 detroit head gasket the piston would need to be under the deck .012 if it were a perfect world if you have a stock deck and dont have head gaskets yet,fist assemble and check your deck height(the amount the pistons are under the deck) you may be able to pick or choose the correct thickness head gaskets rather than drop the $ for square decking the block there is no decking a buick block, only square decking, if he cant do it, run away fast with your block in the trunk id saycceptable quench to avoid detonation would be .035-.060 range , you need to check all 4 corners pston to deck height. just do what ever it takes to get there and leave square decking for a last resort,milling the heads will raise comp. but wont help get quench area. after you determine actual deck height and head gasket thickness to be used i can help you calculate actual estimated compression ratio. ken
Thanks guys but I met with him today and took the rest of my parts back to him. I wish I had the knoledge that is wasted in his head. He has a mind blowing machine/ performance shop, wish I had pictures. I think he has a serious drug problem, what a shame. I know he doesn't have the money to give me back, thats why I took my rods and pistons back to him. He swares that he will start on it tomorrow and I will be helping him so wish me luck. Also TA closed for the holidays and I needed the main and rod bearings, so I ordered clevite bearings from summit. I hope that wasn't a mistake cause I realy wanted the TA 3/4 groove ones. I have also changed my mind on the cam choice, I might be getting the Gessler stage 3 or 4 heads now, got a lil money left over from my refi on the house. I still want to go the solid route and get close to the 10 sec. range, I was looking at the TA 455S.584 cam, I want it to sound like a drag car but still be streetable and pull hard!!! I am looking for all the imput I can get for this because to be honest its a little nerve racking
ken sounds like you know you stuff, I will make sure I go over that stuff with him tomorrow. He just called and asked me to come help him do the balancing tomorrow, he has hurt his shoulder now. Thanks so much Mike
anyone break lifter bore with 308s? seems like alot of lift and spring pressure for a stock block with no lbg or support of any kind anyone know the lift/spring limit for a solid, before getting nervous about busting a lifter bore? ken
I run a 508s stock lifter bore no issues @ 6800 RPM...WITH T/A 1160 springs I think spring presure is 160@installed and 310@ max lift..
I'm with Thumper on the carb. He and I both run a ProSystems Dominator built for our combinations. It's been a great carburetor. I run 10.7 compression and pump gas. The car has run a 10.81 and been on two Hot Rod Drag Weeks that include 1000 mile drives, again on pump gas. The cam is a solid flat tappet similar to the 308 but was custom cut by Comp Cams. We did not 0 deck the block but it is close. I would have to check how close but Mike at TA made the suggestions to get it where we wanted and then the machine shop set it all up.
When given a choice, I run zero deck clearance on everything. Beleive in it so much that I had custom pistons made, to build my 470 combo's, using off the shelf $450 rods with a mild stroke on the crank, and we achive a zero deck with just a .020 square/cleanup cut to the deck. Leaving the deck on the motor, is just asking for detonation. Use the head chamber size as your adjustment to determine compression. With your pistons, to zero deck, you will have to cut aprox .040 off the deck, which will require cutting the intake flange of the heads, to refit the intake, and be able to use a good compostion gasket. I would suggest the following, which is my old combo for the Level 2A motor.. at 464 ci. You already have the rods and pistons. Zero the deck, open up the head chambers to 68cc, with a .040 head gasket, that sets the compression to 10.6-1, which is ideal for your future TA STG 1 SE heads. I would suggest a more moderate cam, something like the 210S, if you want to go solid. The 308 is fine if you have the gear and converter for it, but not very streetable. Also, with the good heads, your going to get into the zone where the block starts to get worked pretty hard, and although some do it, I don't recommend going much beyond 600 HP without a girdle. Long term reliably just isn't in the cards. While I certainly have built "street" motors with 308S cams, every one of those motors has had serious block durablity mods, plus big oil pans and the like to handle that pwr reliably. They are also very "limited street" use engines. For true street motors, I like to work the heads more, and drop back on the camshaft. The prototype Level 2A ran 10.60's in a true street 87 Regal, at 3600 lbs. With just the TA 298H hydraulic cam. JW
Mr. Buick, If you need the 3/4 groove bearings right away, give me a call, I have most sizes in stock.
Not to step on any toes, but be careful with that "Hard" 3/4 groove main bearing that's out there. I recommend surface hardening the crank whenever using any type of hard bearing.. whether that is the ones that TA sells, or the R type clevite stuff. When those bearings first came out, I tried a set, and tore the motor down after the dyno session.. built with regular clearance, no problems on startup or dyno, but the crank was not pretty upon inspection of the rods and mains. Bearings had scored the crank, during times of crank/bearing contact (turning it over on the stand/start up). I reground that crank and went back to the "P" bearings, I prefer ACL's if you can find them. Never looked back, and Sweesy's 870HP 529 ran the standard P bearing with no issues. Many more 600-700 HP builds out there too with them. I personally have built over a dozen such engines. 5M908P (plus undersize) is the main set number 8B742P is the rod bearing set. Rods come in a set of 8, not individually like other manufactures. If you already bought the clevites, they will work, but are not the prefered bearing among engine builders anymore. If you really want to spend more money on bearings, send them to Calico Coatings and have them coated. Their coating provides extra protection at startup, and better oil retention on the bearing surfaces. JW
Thanks Jim and Greg, I don't want something like a set of bearings to ruin the whole deal. Speaking of deal I went to help this guy and get him going on my block work and he got sick on me, we didn't get any thing done. I think he had a drug over dose or something, I would kill to have a facility like he has and he is just throwing it right down the tubes. Now I just sit here and look at all your satisfied costomers. This Guy was highly recomended by the Snapon guy, now he did say he was a piece of work!!! I have already paid for the machine work. And blieve me he's not cheep. I just don't want to miss another summer, I work on a Fishing Vessel all week and I want to feel the ground shake on the weekends. I have found that you have to take these engines to Buick People to get it done right and in a timely mannor, The other guys just don't care!!! Plus I have spent close to $30,000.00 in the car that sits in the garage pissing my wife off cause we can't drive it. Happy New Year Thanks for everything Buick people are different : They Care
your not the first or last this happened to cut your losses and stay focused and move foreward its too bad setbacks like this exist ken
I agree and the sooner you get your stuff back the better off you are, The engine builder I had problems with refused to stop working on my engine, So in the end not only did I have to pay twice for the job, I also had to replace all the parts he destroyed while using my engine as a demo
