Hey Guys, I have acquired a 1969 Buick Wildcat with the original 430 that I'm totally in love with. The mechanical maintenance on the car has been abysmal but I'm pretty capable mechanically so updates have begun! I have also acquired a 1976 455 engine that runs and has great compression (150psi all around) I have an edelbrock performer intake and an edelbrock carb, thumpr cam kit and TA headers for it. What I didn't realize is how down tuned the cylinder heads are of the later 455's. I'm curious if its worth my while/ possible to use the heads off my 1969 430 that's in the car to up the compression? Anyone have advice on this?
Hey, You can totally use your 430 heads on your 455. The thing is, there's an oil hole at the front of each head that must be plugged. This was originally to oil through the rocker arm shafts. The engine will now oil through the push rods. That being said, you'll need to use your 455 rocker arms as well as your 455 pushrods to make it work
I'm going to tell you what I tell anyone looking to build a 455 Buick engine. Hold off until you have done some research here on V8. There is a ton of information here. If you read about it, it will prevent you from making common mistakes, wasting money, and not getting the results you want. You are way better off saving your money and doing it right from the get go. The 1975-6 455 Buick was a neutered version of the 1970 engine. While the 75-76 pistons had smaller dishes, they sat further in the hole. That combined with the open chamber heads made for compression that probably was sub 8:1. The 69 430 heads had about 9cc smaller chambers, and that would maybe net you another .3 in compression. IMO, that isn't worth doing especially if you want to run a cam. Static compression is very important when choosing a cam. The reason is Dynamic Compression. This article is a good read, http://www.empirenet.com/pkelley2/DynamicCR.html If you really want a hot 455 engine, the secret is head flow. The better the head flow, the more power potential the engine has. The aluminum heads available from TA Performance, and Edelbrock, with some entry level porting will easily out flow even the best all out ported iron heads. 500HP is pretty easy with 10:1 static compression, and a moderate cam. To build an engine that is most efficient, and detonation resistant, you want the piston to be even with the deck surface at TDC (zero deck). In the past, this required milling the block quite a bit, because the off the shelf pistons had compression heights (CD) that made them sit .050" or more in the hole. Milling the block that much causes other problems with intake fit. Today, we have more piston choices than ever. And they can be customized for CD and dish/valve relief volume. Diamond and Autotec pistons will make it easier to attain zero deck. In addition, there are aftermarket rods from Eagle and Molnar that will let you build 470 and 482 stroker motors from a .038" over 455. If I was you, I would do my research, and take my time. Build a zero deck shortblock. Use your 430 heads and aim for 9.5:1 -10.0:1 compression. Then save for aluminum heads. They will have smaller combustion chambers, so that will boost you up to 10.5:1 just by bolting them on. Aluminum dissipates heat faster than cast iron, so they need more static compression than iron heads, and will run on pump gasoline with higher compression. I'm at 10.54:1 with the engine in my signature. The engine made 602HP/589TQ, and runs just fine on the street with 93 octane pump gas.
No secrets, it's all available here for anyone who wants to look. http://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/your-new-diamond-pistons.181425/ (post #4) http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/470-vs-482-differences-similarities.327964/ http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/482-rods-now-available.324448/ http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/new-470-482-piston-options.324745/
Thank you guys so much for the Info!!! This helps my decision a lot. I'm going to slap my edelbrock intake and carb on the 430 in the car and run it for the summer. And save to biuld the 455 on the engine stand over the winter with a set of nice heads. One more question I have.... My 1969 Wildcat desperately needs an outer left tie rod end and a inner right one.... turns out these seem to be impossible to find. I cant find anything anywhere except the adjusting sleeves. Does anyone know where I could source these? I'm well connected in Lordco Auto parts up here in British Columbia Canada and they cant even find me a part number; neither can Napa. Maybe you guys in the states have easier access to these? If its this hard to get parts I might as well replace all the tie rods spindle to spindle given I can find them....
All the tie rod ends worked out perfect. I've got a couple hundred miles on them now and she cruises mint!
