430 and 455 Buick motors miles ?

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by 66sky, Jul 25, 2017.

  1. 66sky

    66sky Well-Known Member

    I have never seen my dad drive anything but Buicks from the seventies to 2008.I was wondering how many miles was the 430 455 good for back then? 100-120k max? Don't remember back then but seemed like you always wanted to buy one with under 100k.
     
  2. Electra-fied

    Electra-fied GR8WHTE

    I've had two 455's (1975 Lesabre and 1976 Electra) that well exceeded 225,000miles. The second one was actually a victim of flash flooding and swallowed large amount of water. After draining oil/water and replacing 8 spark plugs...the car took a few hours to "clear the barrels"and went on for another 9000 miles before I sold it. They can be bullet proof if well taken care of.
     
  3. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Most V8's went 100,000 miles, then you had a party:p
     
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  4. Philip66

    Philip66 Well-Known Member

    My first car was a 72 Skylark that I wrecked! My next car was a 1972 GS 455 Red with Black top and interior. When I bought it there was 156K miles on it. This was in 1982 and I got it from the original owner. It was completely original. I drove it everyday for the next 3 years and got it up to 212K miles. It still had great oil pressure, great power, it handled great, the interior still looked new. Now I probably over maintained it! I changed the oil every 2500 miles at the most but I drove it hard and fast. The Dukes of Hazzard was a popular tv show and I drove the way they drove, except for the jumping!! I raced and beat any and all challengers except the one time the quadrajet bogged when I nailed it.
    But they definitely didn't expire at 100k miles!!
     
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  5. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    I think we need to differentiate between the "most mileage" stories we all got, and what the average mileage these motors typically got. I bet for every engine that lasted 250,000 miles, there were a dozen that ended up in the junkyard at 80,000.
     
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  6. Philip66

    Philip66 Well-Known Member

    That's true!
    I had a guy try to sell me a 71 Electra and this guy was a redneck hillbilly, (no offense) the car had 56K miles on it and I needed the engine. We took it for a ride and it was great. Sitting in his driveway he revved it up a couple times and spun the bearings.
     
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  7. bobc455

    bobc455 Well-Known Member

    Back then, most of the issue was that the engines ran crappy because they fell out of tune. Most people had a hard time keeping the carb's in tune and the ignition up to snuff, they became problematic. The problem wasn't usually the mechanicals themselves (valves, pistons, bearings etc.).

    -BC
     
  8. Jim Weise

    Jim Weise EFI/DIS 482

    Before cars became ridiculously expensive, pre about 1980, I have heard that the industry philosophy was the average auto should last 3-5 years, and they were engineered with that in mind, whether it was a official policy or not. They wanted you to keep buying new ones, and I knew many families growing up that got a new car every two or three years.

    Hence the lack of virtually any rust/corrosion inhibitor on the old cars. Most of those 80K mile cars in the Yards were there because they were rusted out, at least around here. I recall as a teenager, walking down half mile long rows of Full size GM cars, the vast majority had "engine good" written on the windshield. But the bodies were rusty. And when new cars cost less than 10K, and often less than half that for the economy models, it never crossed anyone's mind to actually fix the rust, you just got a new one. With no resale market for a rusty car, a lot of them ended up in the scrap yard.

    The rapid escalation in price during the 80's and since, along with the influence of imports that were designed with no such philosophy, caused the detroit engineers to rethink that.

    I recall working for Honda.. and owning a few too, and unless they were contaminated with oil, the coolant hoses never wore out, the shocks never wore out, at least not the cars of the late 80's and 90's... don't get me wrong, they had their issues, after all I was a dealership tech and had a secure job, but the materials used and engineering had a different philosophy behind it.

    That's not to say the Big three could not do that... They chose not to..

    My latest 17 year old Suburban has nearly 350K miles... it needs shocks and a transfer case, one of the cats is plugged up due to oil consumption and has a couple other issues, but it is still a very decent looking, driving and riding vehicle. I have done a water pump, fixed the AC, and changed the oil, in the last 100K miles. Most of that is because of better engineering and materials. My truck has most of the original coolant hoses, and there is nothing wrong with them.

    I could not imagine a 1980 Suburban with that kind of mileage.. I had one of that vintage, and by 200K, we had replaced virtually everything but the rear Axle.

    So in relation to your question, they have been scrapping 400 and 455 motors for nearly 40 years. I deal with a lot of core engines, and it's actually fairly unusual to find one that had any issues.

    JW
     
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  9. John Codman

    John Codman Platinum Level Contributor

    Agreed. In the pre-PVC days, engine life was based on oil change frequency and type of driving. Highway engines that received regular oil changes lasted about as long as today. Engines that did a lot of stop and short trips did not fare so well. Taxis did pretty well because despite the short trips, the engines ran all day long and got to operating temperature and stayed there. Today's engines run hotter (less condensation) and have good crankcase ventilation. Sludge and clogged passages are not nearly the issue that they were decades ago. Lubricants are also much better today.
     
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  10. pbr400

    pbr400 68GS400

    And fuel injection means you're not washing the bores with gasoline, flooring it when cold to get it running, driving on fouled plugs, etc. Once the carburetor got out of whack, things cascaded from there. Throw in plastic coated timing gears failing and you've got a sick engine that invites abuse from a frustrated owner. Combine that with a rusty body (up north) or a ratty, split up interior (hot climates) and you've got a zero resale trailer park/ghetto lookin' junker. And to the scrapper she goes. I see a lot of that now with the wrong wheel drive appliances. The engines are sound but the modules, security systems, and interiors doom them.
    Patrick
     
  11. rogbo

    rogbo Gold Level Contributor

    The thing I remember from the 50s, 60s. and 70s was highway miles were a big factor
    assuming regular maintenance. My Dad, a Buick mechanic would get me a salesman's
    car with high mileage that he knew from the dealership as my first few drivers.
    Didn't cost much and I guess he didn't want me driving his! :rolleyes:
     
  12. 66sky

    66sky Well-Known Member

    I just can't remember the mileage on the Buicks that my dad had. Just remember his always ran smooth always changed oil every 2 or 3 k. Early 70s Electra was like having a four wheel drive when you put snow tires on it!
     
  13. gstewart

    gstewart Well-Known Member

    I know from records, that the engine (original and still is) was overhauled at 92000 miles.
     
  14. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    I remember growing up in the 70's, my parent would get rid of a car when it reached 100k. At 100k, when the odometer rolled over, a car was generally considered unreliable, worn out and sold off. If you look at classified ads from the 60's and 70's, used cars had absolutely zero resale value. A 10 year old used car would sell for $150-$300 in that era. My friend Bob bought a brand new 67 427/ 435 horse Corvette convertible. By 1973, he sold it for $2500 and thanked the guy for taking it off his hands, but that was more so because of the Arab oil embargo. You couldn't give those cars away at that time

    I bought my 69 Riviera GS in 1984 for $800. It was basically just a 15 year old used car with 127k miles on the clock. To put it in perspective, it would be like buying a 2002 Buick today.
     
  15. JayZee88

    JayZee88 Well-Known Member

    My 70 Electra with the 455 has 125,000 miles on it and it runs like it has 25,000 miles on it. My 59 Buicks with the nailheads had similar miles, but every running one I had (5 since 2006) excessive wear on the valve train and needed adjusting. Buick V8s have always been over engineered with a larger margin for wear then the crappy standard dodge, ford, and chevy V8s. Buick V8s will make it to 150,000 miles even in the 50s with basic adjusting and maintenance imho.
     

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