I have a 455 BBB it has 9.5-1 compression, performer intake, mild cam. (Not sure on the specs. little lope) port matched and a little head cleanup. Holley 750 performer carb. 30 board out cylinders. Performance distribitor and racing wires. What can I do as far as bolt-ons to give it more power? Any ideas would be great. Thank's Mike
well.. For a street car I'd leave the mechanical water pump in place... HOWEVER.... I'd look into making sure the distributor is dialed in with the proper total timing and curve. then I'd put headers on it. Check that the rest of the exhaust system is 2 1/2 in or larger and find out what kind of mufflers are on it. Problem is the headers and a new exhaust system will kill about $500-$700 really quick!!! And while I was spending money maybe get a stage-1 style fuel pump for it. regards
Biggest bang for your $.... I get headers, full length or shortys, then install an "X" and 2.5" exhaust. Maybe look for a bigger carb, & a stage 1 pump is a must. About $1,000 or so. Yeah, alum heads would be nice, but more like $2,500-$3 after roller rockers, valves, springs retainers, prolly new covers......Plus you would still need the exhaust above. Guess it depends on your budget.o No: It wouldn't hurt to upgrade the distributor/ignition system too, maybe Dave's conversion.:bglasses:
Re: Biggest bang for your $.... Isn't there a TA special for BPG members at the moment? 1900 complete and ready to bold on?
It isn't going to add a bunch of power, but I would put a fan on the motor, and replace the "rag air cleaner" with a higher flowing unit. :grin:
You should throw away that FRAM filter, and replace it for a ACDelco if you want to keep that engine alive.. What size of carburator do you guys recommend for a engine set up like this? Is a 750 cfm Q-jet to small? D*mn, I just purchase one...
Everyone says 800 Q-jet is the smallest for a big block. Seems like a lot of people have good luck with 850-950cfm on moderate street motors. BBBs like big carbs!
Other things that don't necessarily "give" it more power but will effect the seat of the pants are: Gears: I like 3.42's for a street/strip gear. If they're a little deep for the street, just run some 275-60-15's and change to 26" tall tires for the track. If it's more strip than street, you could go with a 3.73. Trans: Make sure it's up to snuff with a strong rebuild. After that, put in a torque convertor that matches your setup well. If you'r running gears in the mid-3 range you could get a convertor that's somewhere in the 2200 - 2400 range. You just want to be sure that it will be locked up at your normal cruising speed. You don't want a 2800 rpm stall if it turns 2200 rpm at freeway speeds. Lose weight. It's all about power to weight ratio. More power helps as well as less weight. Wherever you can save lbs, you will go faster. A good thermostatic clutch fan setup or an electric fan will also help a little in freeing up some power.
really clean up the bowles, and then have a 3 angle valve job done, stage 1 fuel pump, and git rid of that fuel filter (THOSE ARE FIRE HAZARDS!!) put a metal canister type down buy your fuel pump and run a solid line up to your carb, if you are turring over 5000 rpm a 800 cfm might help. and a 2 1/2 exhaust. then you change your rearend gears. just my 2 cents. Kelly
Good advice. Thank you to everyone for the great advice and the funnies thrown in there. I should have told you all. I have 3'' exhaust and TA Headers through Torque Master Mufflers. I agree with the Fram junk, I just bought the car, and it now has a new Aluminum Radiator and fan. From TA Performance. What would you recomend for oil? Synthetic blend maybe? Just curious. The previous owner ran Mobil One Synthetic! and fram oil filter!! I also have 3.31 posi 12 bolt from 71 Monte Carlo & and built TH350 trans. Thanks Again for the great advice. I'm learning! Mike
Mobil One synthetic is supposed to be one of the best oils out there. The delco filters are the best of the cheaper filters.
I've read a couple of comparison tests that point out the WIX oil filter as being one of the best. NAPA carries them - labeled with the NAPA name and they cost about $4.00 or a touch over. (You will see the WIX name on the box in small print.) Not sure how much it helps, but I have to run a remote filter in my 462" BBB powered 32 roadster and there's two of them mounted to a dual remote filter base on the frame under the passenger seat. The extra oil probably helps in the cooling dept. and it doesn't darken up until right at the 3000 mile mark when I change oil. For a gas filter I use a single remote oil filter base with a smaller nipple on the filter end. #8 lines along with a shut-off valve for servicing the filter and electric pump. The filter used is a fuel filter and about 2/3 the size of the commonly sized Fram PH8a. (The PH8a is used on the remote oil filter bases in most cases.) As far as the actual oil filter adapter that goes onto the original filter base I don't care for the commercially available ones. Especially when you consider the Buicks very thin gasket surface in the sealing area. The thin gasket surface works ok with the fat rectangular in cross-section oil filter gasket, but the skinny O-ring adapters worry me and I don't trust them. What does work well for me is a home-made adapter that uses an oil filter gasket and the inlet and outlet lines can be placed anywhere on a 360 degree circle as well as point to wherever you wish. Making it a very flexible setup. What looks like a trustworthy and well done oil filter adapter is the one made by Ford - seen in their SVO catalog and other places - for the 460 engine. Since the big Fords take the Fram PH8a filters and this same filter matches the Buick oil filter base it looks to me like the Ford oil filter adapter would work very well. Way better than the off-shore filter adapter carried by more than a few hot rod engine supply outfits.
'nuther tip, you could throw on an electric fan. Even a good wrecker fan will do the job if the rad's good...
Ordered parts & A Question I ordered TA's high performance pump similiar to the stag.1 I am sure it will be better. also a better fuel filter & oil filter. How can you tell if the carb is to small? Will it run bad at high rpm's? What do you all think of synthetic blend oil? Thanks for your replies. Mike
Re: Ordered parts & A Question Mike, It wont run bad at high RPM's, just not as well!! I say full synthetic. Who knows what they're [blending] in?:Smarty:
