Hi, I just found / joined a little while ago and wanted to say hello to you guys / gals out there. A week ago I went to check out a 63 wildcat and ended up dragging home a 69 electra 225 4 door that had been totally g pimp daddy yo'd on. Complete with crumbling deep shag seat covers and mangy furry dice. Anyways, the reason ive got a boat parked out back now is because the 430 in the thing actually runs quite well and has new exhaust , brake booster, battery and solid shifting transmission. The price was to right for the good drivetrain. The plan is to build up the engine while its in the car and upon completion find a GS or something similar with a sick or missing drivetrain. Anyways! This is my first buick ever and its been fun so far, just kind of a challenge to find something even as simple a nice set of valve covers. However Im certain that the answers all lie buried in the archives of this forum as far as finding where to get good parts etc.. Oh I have a quick question if anyone feels like answering. I have learned that the 430 and 455 share almost all components except the slightly longer stroke on the 455. Thus would it be a simple thing to swap the larger stroked crank into my 430 to pick up the extra cubics? Is there even anything that has to be done? Ok, not wanting my first post to be a novel so i'll cut it here. Thanks and Hello from a buick noob
Jason, Great find:beer Welcome to the best Buick information source in the world. I mean that. You won't have any problems finding answers for your 430 buildup. There are LOTS of folks on the board that have built many many buick big blocks (BBB), and are always willing to lend an ear, and possibly a helping hand...for the right price:Brow:
Thanks for the welcome Adam! I definately look forward to spending inordinate amounts of time on this site when I should be working. ( like now ) hehe Believe me when I say I am relieved to have found this place. Was starting to think I'd gotten in over my head. Thanks again
Nice find indeed. Good luck to you. I know what you mean about a pimped out ride. My car had velvet crush interior and at one time someone decided to paint it pimpin purple.:TU: Did I just say that. Well needless to say it's back to it original state of being.
Pimpin purple.. Oh man.. This was more of an autozone and parts snatch-n-slap pimpout job. Lets see... Glittery bug deflector with buick emblem glued on it. Rear view mirrors from who knows where, also with buick emblems glued on. On where? So you can see them from the front of the car. Yea.. I couldn't believe it either. And we cant forget the 2 bike reflectors slapped on next to the bondo by the tailights, oh also there is the 3 steering wheel covers that I pulled off today. ( yuck ) Im not sure what the statement was supposed to be but something got lost in the translation to me. Lots of salvagable parts on her though! If anyone reading this either has a good electra and needs something or has a sister car with interchangable parts pm me. I'll give you anything non vital to the running / driving condition if you can pick them up. ( North Dallas ) Otherwise the only parts of this poor abused creature that will live on are the drivetrain components and buick ralleys. Jason
Jason, just so you know, the strokes are the same between the 430 and the 455. The difference comes from the larger bore of the 455. Having said that, I've seen street 430s run just as well as a street 455. Not much difference in performance, with what you want to do with it...o No:
430 and 455 cranks Thank you for pointing that out Al. I found the buick engine familiarization page at taperformance and have found many answers to other questions as well. TA looks like about the best place on the web for performance buick stuff. I didn't phrase my first question correctly about the different crank strokes on a 455 vs 430. What I should have asked was if there was a stroker crank/kit available for the 430. Poking around on ta some more answered my question when I found that they do have full stroker kits and/or just cranks. Yeehaw. The ta wagon rocks. hehe
