Here to learn how to build a 455 for bracket racing

Hi,my name is Jim Corcoran and i guess the title says it all. I recently did some trading and ended up with a 455 that the guy was gathering parts to make a strong street/strip 455. He also had various TA Performance new parts with it. They include the SP1 intake and TA510 cam,lifters. I would like to build this engine and put it into a 65 Chevelle that I have. The car is an old drag car-nothing special,just stripped down,ladder bars,no fender wells,battery in the back as is a small fuel tank.
I have always went roundy round racing,but am looking to have some fun with this car. Recently it was announced that an old track is getting reopened. It is Onondaga Dragway which closed over 40 yrs ago. It is a 1/8 mile strip.
I would like to do a budget build using the parts that I have,though i will need to get pistons,rings,roller rockers,maybe have the rods done or replaced,ect. I have been reading through threads looking for the right combination of parts that I could use to make this Chevelle fly.
Any help would be much appreciated. I need to do research on the heads that I have. I know that Kinsler Injection did the port work on one of the heads but not the other one.
I have a repair facility and have been around cars all my life so i am not totally ignorant but there are obviously some very knowlegible guys on this board. I am not looking to get into the big dollar parts as i am not able to afford that but looking for a dependable engine to be used strictly on the track,manual brakes,auto trans. Again,I would appreciate any and all help,advice,ect Jim

 

Welcome Jim.
There is a bunch of good advice on this site. And ask anything you can't find.

Look at the street/strip 455 sticky's and read up on all the block modifications that need to be done. That's the most important start. Then you have to decide how much power output you want. That will determine what parts you need.

The SP1 is a good intake. Get more information on your heads. check the valve size. The power in the Buick comes from the head work.

We run stock crank/rods, and dyno'd engine at about 550hp and added 100 shot of nitrous. We will fill and girdle the next block to target over 650 hp.

 

stock crank and rods will save me a bunch of money that I could use on the upper end. The cam that came with the engine is a TA510 and would like to build around that. thank you Jim

 

Ok, good start. That's a hydraulic cam. You can find some good lifters and information for those on here.

 

Welcome!
You came to the right place. These guys know their stuff. I'll just sit back, read and learn.
:beer

 

Here was my 510 motor with Rhoads lifters, 10to1 comp, sp1 with 1000hp Holley, stock rods & crank ext balanced, ported irons with 1.65 rollers 2" headers, sfi balancer & flexplate.
With 411 gear 29.5" tall tire 8" 4500 stall and at 3500lbs it ran 10.90's off the footbrake.
What I would have changed on that build larger sumped stock oilpan and forged pistons from the hypers.
Jamie

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the welcome/ Koko,those are impressive numbers especially when you consider what you have to do to a SBC to get those numbers.

I have a question about the heads that I have. This engine is supposedly from a 71 Riviera and the casting numbers on the head is 1237664. All I can find with search is that these could be GS heads or HP heads. Please tell me whether these heads would work well with the TA510 cam? Kinsler ported one of the heads and I need to try and match up the port job with the other. I think these are known as small valve heads but would like to know more about them. Would someone enlighten me? Thank you Jim

 

i run a sbc and a 430 buick. far as you said what you have to do to a small chevy to get those numbers,i built a 220 vortec iron heads.560/248 @50 hyd roller /kb hyper tech flat top piston/ 383 small block naturally aspirated.runs 10.80 @124 and i built it for around 3900.00 bux.it dosnt take much with a small chevy to run tens.but im redoing the 430 hoping for 9.90-10.20 pass.the 430 has gone 10.52 in a 68 sport wagon

 

True,but it will be much more fun to build this big block and then get it installed into this ole Chevelle-something different. I was going to put a 383 into the car and had most all the parts gathered to do just that when I traded a car and got this as part of the trade.
I have been reading threads here and find this engine really interesting. I suppose I should do a build thread and post pics of what I have and from there start on gathering the rest of the parts. This will be fun. and I will learn at the same time.

 

i wasnt trying to tell you not too build a buick engine.i have one in my nova.was just saying its not hard to get a small block in the 10s.i run both engines on and off at at different times.there both great.the buick has a lot more torque and dosnt have to be reved to 7000 rpm.good luck on your build.you came to the right place,these guys on here know there stuff/and are always very helpfull.there are alot of very impresive cars on this site

 

You need to measure the valves in those heads. Only difference in GS heads and others was valve size. A quick search will show you lots of information on head choices, the Buick can get great power with headwork. Or consider aluminum heads. We run edelbrocks, and hope to have a 9 second pass this year with pump gas, hydraulic cam 464. Most people run TA heads. I haven't had a set or iron heads ported, but they say it cost as much to port them well as it cost to buy new edelbrocks, and eddy's will flow as much as ported irons.

 

IIRC...

All Buick 455 heads have the same casting numbers, regardless of what "type" they are, "normal" or "Stage 1". The normal casting uses 2 inch intake valves. The Stage 1 head uses a normal casting, that has been machined to unshroud the valves somewhat, and uses a 2.125 inch intake valve.

There are basically three routes to getting good heads on a Buick 455:

1. Iron Stage 1 heads. Any decent machinist can turn any Buick 455 head into a Stage 1 head. Greg Gessler is the machinist you want. He will Stage 1 your heads for $1099, and that includes new valves, new guide liners, new springs, new retainers, plus prep and paint. That's like $500 worth of new parts alone.

2. Edlebrock aluminum heads. Edlebrock has started making a set of Performer heads for the 455. They use a Chevy valvetrain, which adds expense for most of us Buick guys, but you seem like you might have a bunch of Chevy parts laying around, which might make this a good choice for you. They're like $1500 if I remember. They will flow as much air as a nicely ported iron head.


3. T/A Performance aluminum heads. These are the heads for those with deep pockets. They make Stage 1, 2, 3, 4, your wallet is the limit on how fast you want to go. The Stage 1 heads flow about the same as the Edlebrock heads out of the box, but if you get them ported they will substantially outperform the Eddys. I think they're like $2400 assembled.

Another thing to consider, is that beyond about 550-600 horsepower, you are in serious danger of breaking your block. The 455 is a lightweight, elegant design, and will not take the punishment that a Chevy 454 will, its got about 150lbs less reinforcement cast in. So if you start going too fast you've got to start looking into filling water jackets, block girdles, lifter girdles.... or $$$$$$$ in other words.

In a built-to-race Chevelle, a 500 horsepower 455 is going to put you into the 11s easy, probably 10s. That seems pretty fast to me :TU:

 

Greg Gessler:

http://www.gesslerheadporting.com/gesslerheadporting/ghp.nsf/822dcaaaa26c6da985256dd80023623d/e7a2fa3e738d643985256de800493e18!OpenDocument

 

Welcome to the site. I grew up In Jackson Michigan and I know the track your talking about. I did most of my racing on Michigan av. in the late 70's and early 80's. I live in Fl now.

 

Really good info. Thank you. Briz,I did a little Michigan Ave action myself back in the Mid to late 70's I had a few different cars,one of which was a 70 Chevelle SS.Gobi Beige with black stripes. It had originally had come with a LS6 which was gone by the time I got the car. I ended up putting a Big Block Olds 455 from a 70 W30 into the Chevelle,so i am not a newby when it comes to putting better power into a Chevelle. I am really looking forward to putting this engine together and fitting it into the Chevelle.I believe that in a 2700 lb Chevelle with the frame rails tied together,ladder bars,the right tires,ect,that this car will be alot of fun!

 

:gp:

Stampy,I have been looking at what it is going to cost me to get these heads done,with port work,valves,roller rockers,ect and i believe you are right in that it would be cheaper for me to go with Edelbrock heads and use the Chevy roller rockers,ect. I do have a couple of sets of 1.6 roller rockers already,so that would be a big expense that I have already popped for.
Now if I could find a good used set of Eddys for the right money,well that would be better yet. especially if i could do some trading for them! It's not that I am cheap,I just have no budget at all and will have to build this on a very thin budget. I still need to get the Chevelle back into shape. It came with new qtrs and rockers to put on. It still will need the trunk and floors redone. The trunk is done in aluminum. The inside has no interior and has a sheet of aluminum where the back seat was. It has the stock cluster in it but I want to take that out and make a gauge panel from aluminum or sheet steel. Then will need to get guages,brake lines,tires,right gear in the rear,transmission,shocks lexan for windows......... and the list goes on and on. I did some work for a guy who does old school lettering so once the car is painted,we will need to name the car and have him letter it up.
I realize the Chevelle is not a buick but the heart and sole of this car will be Buick all the way and thus belongs here! i want to thank everyone who may give advice,ect in the future as it will be greatly appreciated!
I have started working on the block. Should I do a build thread in the street/strip 455 section so as to be able t take pics as i go as well as get advice along the way? Jim

 

you don't need roller rockers with that motor.

Stock stamped steel rockers with good hold downs on the shaft is super cheap and may perform better than rollers.

 

even if i go with the TA510 cam? Do they make a stock stamped rocker at 1.6 like what is recommended with the TA510? I would rather go with the stock heads and do the porting on the them. One of the heads has been ported by Kinsler Injection. I did some match ups the other day and beilieve i can get close to the same ports that he put in the one head. It has the small valves but either way,I need to buy new valves so thought I would get the bigger valves installed. If i could use stamped rockers-at least to start off with,well that would be great! Then down the road as money permits,get roller rockers. TA Performance recommends using 1.6 rockers with that cam. thanks Jim

I just went to T/A's site and with a 1.55 stock rocker they say the TA510 has 558 lift. What would be good hold downs be other than the stock ones?

 

My motor has a 510 and did not like the roller on the dyno. Made much better power on stock rockers.

Use the roller rocker clamps on the stock shafts.

Don't worry about the 1.6 ratio - I made over 600hp with the stock ratio

 

Thanks Chuck. I see by your sig line that yours is a stroker with stage 2 heads and a SPX manifold. Mine will not have quite the power that yours is putting out but the fact that you are using bigger parts with the stock rockers means alot to me. That is a pretty good expense that could be used elsewhere. There must be some good parts out there for sale from someone that decided to go with rollers instead. I assume that the roller rocker clamps could be bought from someone like TA. I would like to buy from someone who helps to sponsor a site like this rather than from someone who doesn't.