This car is my first attempt to work on a buick, up untill now i have only done work on mopar and chevy, i did break the linkage off a ford tranny once, if that counts as ford experience.I am not a skilled mechanic at all but i do my best. I bought this car off of a guy with an ad in the newspaper,my friend who was with me at the time gleefully named this man "Joe Dirt" , after he informed me that the rust on the car and bumpers would buff right out."Joe Dirt" informed us that the car had been his grandpa's and that it had been setting in a barn for the past 20 years. the exterior had lots of surface rust but only one major dent. I brought the car home and tried to turn the engine at the crank with a breaker bar,didnt happen, then i tried every trick i could find on getting it to turn, still no luck. Gave up on turning the engine decided to pull it and do a full rebuild, the block is full of coolant so i have high hopes that it isnt cracked. I dont have the tool to turn the flywheel to unbolt the engine so my brother and I decided we would yank the engine and trans out all at once, we did it on a charger before so we felt we were experienced. That is when I noticed the driveshaft was completely different from any I had dealt with before. I yanked the 4 bolts in the front, driveshaft didnt move, noticed a small bolt in the back tried to remove it, stripped it, very rusty. Am i on the right track here to getting this thing off? is that little stripped bolt which i now plan to torch off the problem ? Once i overcome this problem I plan to bore the engine .40 over and put in a set of forged pistons from TA performance. I dont really have the cash for a set of aluminum heads right now so I am wondering if any of the earlier 455 heads would be a better choice then what i have right now? Whatever heads i get i plan on having them rebuilt and getting a 3 angle valve job on them.Anybody got any good heads for sale ? Im getting the hi-volume oil pump, but is the anything else that is a must have on a Buick 455? The stock intake, air pump, and air conditioning unit are all heading for the trash, along with the quadrajet. If anyone wants the intake or the carb, send me a check for the shipping and they are yours i have no use for them and i doubt they would bring enough off of ebay to even bother listing. Any advice anyone wants to offer me about anything to do with this car and engine will be appreciated.
The '71 455 heads are direct bolt on, no emmisions. Same with the intake. Ask for Mike at T/A, he will give you lots of good advise on doing the motor. I think the .038 over pistons are the same as the Mopar 440's. Good choice with plenty of compression. Might be a bit hard on gas though. Jim
Does the driveshaft have a Center Support Bearing in the center of it? If so that could be whats keeping it from coming out.
i dont know, i havent really had time to mess with it this week, i need to get a digital camera so i can post pics when i get stuck like this. driveshaft looks different then anything i have had before, even the one on my old 72 c-10 didnt look as funny as this thing, but all i have ever tore the driveshaft out of was Chevy's so i dont have a clue about Buicks. Hopefully i will have time to work on the car this coming week, but its hard to tell, this is my busy time of year working. o No:
I don't really know whats up with your driveshaft. But, I can tell you that its much easier pulling a 67 skylarks driveshaft, i did it on mine yesterday and its just 4 bolts on the rear u-joint and she pulls right off.
