Hey just joined the forum wanted any info on my car anyone would be willing to give.... I plan on using her as a daily driver just wanted to no any common problems or hard to find parts. It's got 4 wheel drum brakes how terrible is that and if it's that bad then what are my options for switching to discs in the front. I've got a 2.73 rear end and a th400 tranny i've entertained the thought of throwing a 200r4 or whatever kind of overdrive tranny i can fit in it. Is switching to an electronic ignition and a hotter coil a good idea? Thanks for any input
with a th400 id swap to a 700r4 and use a adapter so you wont need a new driveshaft. also with 273 rear a 700 has a deeper first gear. still a gear swap is idea. coil and dist is going to help it with cold starts and all that but not really make any more power.
with an overdrive trans you need a lower gear set in the rear.........and no one makes them for our cars i would just drive it as is in town the mileage will suck but on the road i have gotten 19.7 mpg with my 70 wildcat and 2.73 gears oh yea welcome please state your name and location scott
alright well thanks for the input man, i've been doing some research and what im trying to do is get my rpm down so i can actually get decent gas mileage and drive home without blowing my engine. at first i was thinking muncie m22 but it's final drive is the same as the th400 so in essence useless....im not looking to build a drag monster ive got a 455 thus all the power i need. looked into tremec/t56/200r4/700r4 and the 200r4 seem's best because of the .67 final drive and ease of install. any advice on where to find a good one or trade for my th400 would be appreciated... also me and my buddy are throwing an 2003 crown vic front end into his 1966 ford longbed and it got me wondering if their where any similar bolt in or near bolt in front end swaps for my 1970 lesabre.... if not i also have not been able to find a beefed up sway bar only end links....why the hell'd they put such a tiny sway bar on this monster? any way thanks for any info or feedback.
if any body has any input as any info on the frame dimensions for one of these things that would be appreciated.
all right guys thanks for all the input so here's an update..... Carbs been rebuilt new shocks springs and stabilizer end links, I've just put duals on the old boat runnin 2 1/4 off the manifold to an h pipe the mufflers then 2 1/2 out the side in front of rear wheels.....looks pretty sweet sounds even better.... the guy i bought it from said thier were some leaky rear window and thus trunk rust issues that were mended....come to find out these issues were not mended properly and ive had the rear window trim off and tried to re-seal the darn thing like 5 times already....im gettin close but still no cigar leaks just the smallest amount. Also after driving 45 minutes one way 45 minutes back purring like a lion a woke up the next day to a very sick running 455 checked the timing and it had went from 6 degrees advance to like 20 something any clues on what may have happened???? I was under the impression that if a car jumped time the timing would retard and that if a timing chain were stretched it would retard as well and or bounce around a bit when you put a timing light on it....out of fear and frustration i went ahead and bought a dual roller timing set and plan on throwing that on soon. Are their any fairly inexpensive upgrades i should be looking into perhaps a 71-76 455 oil pickup tube heard they wear bigger or flowed better prolly gonna switch to a ta performance hei distro set up any thoughts on worthwhile upgrades for a badass cruiser....??????
It's unlikely that it jumped timing if the hold down is on the distributor. The weights on the centrifugal advance may have been gummed up and stuck partially out. Pop the cap and rotor, then inspect the advance weights to see if they move freely, a friend's landrover did something similar, it was just a matter of pulling it out and cleaning it up.
Thanks for the info man i appreciate it and ill certainly take a look tho they didnt seam sticky er anything when i changed the points out hmmm......my 455 has 81,000 miles on it and i was wondering since i already got the double roller timing set should i just throw it on or wait a while....in essence how long does the stock one normally last in a pretty well cared for BBB
Okay guys so here's the long story......The old boat developed a ticking that turned out to be a leaky exhaust manifold. Brought her over to my buddies house where he put a uniwiggle on an impact which promptly flew off at 1 million mph and destroyed my radiator....bad start....just wait.....we then couldnt get the last manifold bolt off where the leak was.....after a lengthy discussion we decided to pull the engine so we could better access the back left manifold bolt and since i wanted to throw a new timing chain and gear on her. Once out i was lightly tapping the stuck bolt to free it up when my buddy the mechanic say's "why don't you hit it with your purse" so i say fine you give it a shot....he promptly hit it too hard and cracked the head into the exhaust port.....we then decided a full engine rebuild was in our future. So fortunately i am an engine mechanic in the Air Force and so is my buddy so he happened to know a metals tech guy who could weld cast....for free woohooo.....came out looking great so over the last 8 months rain shine sleet hail and whatever else we finally finished.....1970 buick lesabre custom 455 (462) She has stock 30 over TA perf pistons a TA112 cam new lifters new clevite bearings TA perf oil pump set up clearance set at .002-003 all bearing were between .015 to 002 pistons were an average of .038 in the hole new TA perf front and rear main seals. TA perf hei distributor (bypassed TA here because they get it from another manufacturer who offered it on Ebay with plug wires for like 160) Also did a make shift pocket port job with a dremmel Broke her in with brad penn break in oil ran great geuss we didnt do a good job painting her cuz the primer stuck but most of the paint is chipping.... over the last couple weeks i've been trying to tune her and tweak her......running 6 degrees initial for about 30ish total calculated my compression ration out to be about 9.6ish to 1 stock plugs with a .40 gap (stock is 30 but i wanted to try .40 cuz the hei) runnin 91 octane in her....so far i've had a couple issues with the battery postive and negative loosening up on me......also she idles high in park and too low in drive or reverse she kinda clunks in to drive or reverse pretty hard.....also she is pinging pretty noticeably when i give her any gas in third gear but from a stop under fairly heavy throttle input little to no pinging at all. Oh and vacuum is like 18 to 20ish so i figure that rules out vacuum leaks but idk......well that's my story guys....oh and by the way before i rebuilt her i raced a buddy with a stock 2008 pontiac g8 from 35 to 100 and beat him.......o and the rear end is an open 2.73
