After reading lots of posts and noticing some of the comments about power adders, I thought I would make a thread and ask everyone's preference and reason why or why not they'd run them. Since I'm the instigator of this thread I'll start. I like 'em. I love LOTS of power and I like to drive the car with LOTS of power all over. Example: Although not a Buick, my little brother's 91 Z28 that I'm just about done with. This car has a 427 smallblock Chevy in it with all top line pieces. Without a power adder the motor could easily make 650 streetable horsepower. But, It would need a big cam, higher compression, lots of RPM and probably not make those numbers on pump gas. However, this particular engine has twin turbos, intercooler, and F.A.S.T. EFI. This same engine should easily crest 1200hp on race fuel at 26 psi and 850 to 900 hp on pump gas at 16 psi. The kicker is that the car has been run previously with a stock block 410 twin turbo and ran a no boost launch 10.71@ 130 plus MPH in the 1/4 at 9 psi, and we drove it to the track, drove it to the late night action and drove it home. A total of 275 miles. All on Amoco 92 octane fuel. This car has power windows, locks, seats etc. and weighs 3655 lbs. What I'm getting at is the power adder has made a real street car out of what would be a near race car if it was all motor. I'm gonna apply some of what I've done on this small Chevy to a real motor( a Buick of course) and with the new block I see no reason why a guy couldn't build a 500 cube Tri-Shield with 1000hp that idles at 800rpm, and will go on any trip you want to take. So guys give some opinions here. I think it's great to hear everyone speak about what you believe in.
I have also spent some time thinking about the new block that will be coming out. I was reading about it on the P.A.E website and it said that it could have a 4.600 inch bore. Now the blocks that people are using right now are being pushed to their limits, namely the ones that are in cars with power adders or very high horsepower levels (Rod Hendrickson, Doug Hecker, John Csordas, Mike Garrision). Then there are people who have pushed these blocks to the maximum like Scotty Guadagno and Mike Tomazewski. Now when Duttweiler came out with the Stage 2 block for Turbo cars look what happened...the cars slowly moved down into the mid-low seven second range. I think that this block will have the same impact. More inches=more power. Plus we have had almost 40 years to come up with an aftermarket 455 for the Buicks so we have very smart people to back up this technology. Plus if these blocks can withstand more then we can have more powerful hardware to power them (heads, cams, manifolds). I'm hoping for a Buick tunnel ram...man those things are cool. But definetely we will see a huge improvement in performance for these cars with these. This is what the people have been waiting for. I would also like to have a bet in the near future on the first car to break into the sevens with the new block.
Gr8scatfan,it was Buick who made the Stage2 block. You used to be able to walk into a Buick dealership and get one from the parts counter. I just sold a virgin Stage1 block about a year ago to help finance my 71 GS project.With the new big block soon to be out in the market,the sky is the limit
Turbo, EFI, and a FAST system on a mild 455 would be really cool to see. I agree that this combo could serve a 9 second/pump gas/small cammed Buick with ease. There is already a guy here in the Northwest running mid 10's on PUMP GAS (and no alcohol) with his Grand National and he hasn't spent all that much time rubbing on the pump gas combo. If someone starts making the headers with turbo mounts And someone else starts producing the intercooler plumbing And someone else starts making an intake with EFI bosses It all seems possible now that a new block is on the horizon.
