well, its about time... im finally ready to break in my 455 today!! thats if the weather is good to me its been rainning the past 3 days, ehhhh. this is my very first rebuild and thanks to this board all all of the buick community would have had so many unansewered questions and would have guessed alot or tried to build a chevy out of a buick, not good hee he.. so,my build is '74 block stock crank n rods with 10:1 hyper pistons, postons 113a cam, 510 intake n 490 exhaust, '70 heads n intake and stock specs 800 cfm rock carb and stock dist with accell coil. Ive tried searching this forum for a post from awhile ago about timming but couldnt find it . It was a short cut of some sort. Some thing like set the balancer to zero and mesure over like 1 1/4" or something like that and u would be at 32*-34* advanced and that would be your new mark. If anyone knows what im talking about please chime in. Im kinda unsure where i should start as far as timing because I have a bigger cam now.. Also, I had the cam degreed with a 9-key way dubble roller from T/A. Other than that i know ive gotta prime the system and run the motor for 1/2 hour at 2200-2500 rpms and make adjustments.. Is their anything else i need to know or any tricks or ajustment? I dont want to damage the motor i put ALOT of blood sweat and $$ into it .. I guess what im asking is for those of you who do this often or more than once, do you have a certain system that you do that works great? like I said its my first rebuild, after tomarrow i will no longer be a virgin at this, ha ha :grin: also, is it ok to use water for the break in? I want to flush the system after the break in and thought it would save me $$ to use water and then refill it with 50/50.. If not then ill buy the 50/50. Again, any help or suggestions would be really appreciated:beer Thanks, Vinny and another thanks to Jeff. The headders worked PERFECT! and another to Jim. those templates were such a BIG BIG help and worked great!:TU:
Put 50/50 in it start with. Why do you need to flush the system? On the degreeing. That is to mark the balancer so you will know were 32-34 degrees is when you set total timing. Base timing should be 10 degrees. Once it fired check for LEAKS When 2500 rpm comes up check you timing. Watch temp and for leaks. BUT BEFORE YOU START MAKESURE IT HAS GAS IN IT !!
I always start up engines with just water in them, save the antifreeze for later. If by chance there is a leak, water is easier to deal with. The mark on the balancwe is 1.75 inchesclockwise from the stock balancer mark, this will be 30 degrees when this mark is at zero on the timing tab. If you don't have some sort of distributor curve kit, put one in, what you wnat is to get total timing in early, I like 220 to 2500 rpm. Set the initial timing to aprox 10 or so degrees, the engine will start there, make sure the carb has fuel in it, Pump the throttle about 5 or 6 times, the engine should fire rigth off. Bring the rpm up right away. The start up shoulg go smooth. Jim Burek
you'll want a big fan to keep it cool while breaking in the cam. Slowly raise and lower rpm. What valve springs? We break in using only the outer springs, then reinstall the inners. Know where the fire extinguisher is!
If it starts to overheat, stop! Let it cool off and start again. I agree with the water only, easier to clean up if something happens (and cheaper, too)
Make sure the cooling system is filled all the way. One time I thought I had filled the system and had apparently only filled the radiator, when the water pump finally caught water and sent it into the block it must have flashed to steam because it pegged my temp gauge and broke it, It never did come back down. Thankfully I didn't cause any permanent damage with this fiasco.
water pump lube? never heard of it .. where can i get it? I didnt get to start it today but ill keep ya posted. thanks again
Any "REAL" parts store. I bought mine at the local CarQuest, about a buck and a half a bottle, on sale.
Red Line water wetter, available in any speed shop or Pep Boys. Lubes the pump, has anti corrosives. One bottle mixed with 18-20 qts. of water is fine. Will help the water to cool the engine.
