I am new to the buick 455 and need some guidance from the old pros. Who is the best for price and quality for building a 455 for my 65 skylark. I am lloking to build a street engine that I can run a/c and disk brakes but also want some hp. I have looked at TA and also Poston. Any thoughts? Todd.
I really like TA. My input would be: have the engine block and crank gone over very thoroughly by a pro machinist who understands Buick engines are close tolerance engines Have the block and crank done 'to the nines'. The goal I would have would be to have a solid, reliable engine with good machine work that I would be confident in, as a base to build on when I get the money/time to put some hp into it. The Buick 455 can be built to make good power in hp and torque easily, but it does take a little money compared to say, a Chevy engine When I first built my 455, it was simple because I used a great machinist. His whereabouts are unknown to me now...Tommy Cavuto, where did you go??? That engine was built close to 1970 specs, although with low compression heads. It made about 340 hp and 490 lb/ft of torque at around 2200 rpm. It moved my 4,000 lb convertible right along. With careful cam selection and higher compression heads, a 'stock' type Buick 455 rebuild should net you around 360 hp and 510 lb/ft of torque at low rpm- a great street motor You will want to talk to the pros, notably the Jims, and get their input :TU: I'm sure they'll pop into the thread. Good luck, let us know what happens, and welcome to the 455 crowd :3gears:
Todd, It would help if I knew what kind of power you are looking to get. I recently posted some results of a mild 455 that went over 500 horsepower. It's a pretty easy recipe to duplicate. If you are going to have it built, use someone that builds Buick's on a regular basis, if you are wanting to build it yourself, again, talk with a shop that does this all the time to set you up with the correct combination of parts. There are several places out there, myself at P.A.E ENTERPRISES comes to mind, some of the other shops names escape my memory right now :laugh: . Jim Burek www.paeenterprises.com now if only I could remember who those other guys are,,,,,,,,,
Todd--put your location in your avatar info---from the sound of it you will be here awhile...there is/are great info and people on this site and I think you will find it helpful. Patton
There are some good dynos results for various pump gas build ups by Jim Weise the founder of this site at www.trishieldperf.com. I suspect they span the current state of the art for street engines capable of using pump gas and still having the vacuum necessary to run accessories like power brakes. Do not make the frequent mistake of installing too big of a cam for your intended use. You will slow the car down and make it less user friendly. What is good for the best track car is NOT the best for a street car like you are building.
