455 Buick Olds or Pontiac Which is most desireable, reliable etc

Even the stock smog motors made lots of torque for those "sub compacts" Instant sleepers...

 

A 400 Pontiac weighs less than a 350 Chevy. The parts for the 400, 455 or larger are readily available. Check out Butler Performance. You can get a rotating assembly with a fully prepped block for $3000. Or you can get a rotating assembly or a complete custom engine. Check them out. You might like their products and prices. Also, tri-power setups are available for Pontiacs.

 

I never had a Pontiac 455, but I did own a Buick 455 & an Olds 455.
Both the Buick & the Olds I owned were in wagons. They were both brutal from a standing start. The '71 Olds Vista Cruiser was a little faster than the Buick due to the lighter weight of the car.
The '71 Buick Estate Wagon weighed around 4200 lbs. I think an Olds Vista was around 3500#

The Olds also sounded better than the Buick, IMO (both had stock exh manifolds, 2.5" duals & glasspacks) I think the Olds had more cam in it.

Regarding aftermarket support, Pontiac would be first, followed by Olds, then Buick. Olds got a lot of help due to the 70's jetboat market. I find old jetboat parts all the time for my BB Olds.

Whatever 455 you choose, set the rev limiter at 5500 RPM at it should last. I think my Olds 455 has around 300k miles on it without a rebuild or any internal modifications.

The Buick 455 in your Buick car would be the best choice for resale value tho, & that's the motor I would choose.

 

The aftermarket support for the Pontiac is so good you can build a Pontiac engine with NO factory Pontiac parts involved. While a 455 Pontiac is lighter than a big block Chevy it isn't lighter than a small block Chevy unless you lighten it up.

 

Buick for sure. You can even still find good old granny cars that have sat under carports since the old girl kicked off. Hurry though the crushers are eating them like popcorn. Also, my personal experience with the BBB is they can be made to run with some very high $$$ machines for relatively little $. Whether you rebuild one or run it like it is make sure you address the oiling issues and know where to shift. Those big old motors don't like to spin too fast.

On a side note; I hate to hear about C9, he was world class. I gota come around here more often.

 

my vote is buick 455, have one. damn thing runs like a champ. yeah its in a big ole boat.. which i do not drive a whole lot.. cause 10mpg. but it sures rides smooth and when you hit the gas that boat gets up on it. laughs.

 

Take your pick!...

 

olds 455 rocket!!!

 

My 48 98 Olds vert has a 455 engine in it. Expensive to overhaul, but it has plenty of power for the big beast that it is in. A friend of mine has 455 Buick in his 41 Buick, and it is a great runner. I never had a 455 Pontiac, but 400 Pontiac is a great engine. Any of the three engines would be O.K. to use

 

Might I suggest an olds 425?
Great tq motor that loves to rev, rare for a BB.
Plus, if in the future you want to go to a 455, the 425 will go to 455, no prob.


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how big ya wanna go? Pontiac 400's can go to 488cid with a stroker crank, the olds 425/455 can go to 498 with a stroker kit...and edelbrock makes heads for either to breathe right.

buicks weigh less, and the web strength matches that weight. still, GS's race hemis for a reason...

and those Cad 472/500...you can get 540cid or up to 572cid, there's bulldog heads to feed that...but it sure ain't cheap, like say a ford 460 punched out to 557cid or more...

 

This is an old thread, but I did have a 455+.060 Pontiac with the 16 heads in my Vega and it did go 208 in 1992 on the salt. Fastest I ever went, so it must have been good.

 

http://youtu.be/5CMp8T-Fmtc

 

My vote is for a 500 inch Caddy for the Caddy.
Cheers.

 

Late getting into this thread, but my wife drove a '70 Buick GS 455 Convertible, came from the factory with 515ftlb of torque. It moved that car down the road!!! My wife always liked to pick on Mustangs. Leaving the lite, the Mustang would leap forward, smiling; then, you could hear that Quadrajet open up (huge sucking noise), the car would hunker down on the rear suspension and start to move. You could see the Mustang drivers eyes start to widen as the Buick ran it down and blew past it.
Starting in '71 they started to de tune 'em and they were never the same. BTW-I agree, Buick in the Buick, Caddy in the Caddy.

 

430 buick in my 55' stude went 11.91/110 (quickest ever), at the hamb drags. Stock bottom end, ported heads, 490 lift cam, 850 demon, headers, aluminum intake, shifting at 5000 rpm. 3480 lbs. 3.73 gears. You can't beat the torque of these BOP and caddy motors, the buicks are limited on parts availability, and pricey. Build it right and any of them will be a damn fine engine.

 

They also make great "sleeper" motors for the Chevy Nova clones... Pontiac Ventura, Buick Apollo and the Olds Omega... I miss those days of swapping in the BiG dogs...
Thank you Car-Craft Magazine!!

 

Agreed. Buick 455 in the Buick and Cadillac 472/500 in the Caddy. The problem I see with the Buick is that you'll be hard pressed to find one running in a car that you wouldn't rather restore as is. The Cadillac, not so much.


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Olds bigblocks don't take kindly to low oil levels. My 425 threw a rod on the I-75, because I drove with too little oil. Around the curves, the oil warning light would come on. My fault, in any case. Other than that, I'd prefer the 425 over the 455, simply because of the shorter stroke allowing higher revs. Mine had plenty of torque stock with the original Quadrajet. Olds only stroked out the 425 to make it a 455, because of emissions constraints.
The 455 is more prone to cylinder wear, because the longer stroke causes higher piston speeds.
Thirdly, there's nothing like the sound of an Olds exhaust. I used the original dual exhaust mufflers in mine and replaced the resonators with Thrush straight-throughs.
High-displacement Buick engines are about the size of Chevy smallblocks, making them practical for tight-fit applications

 

i got a buick 455 for a buddy of mine a few year ago he put it in his 66 gmc and it flat gets it. im a huge fan the 472/500 cad tho

 

bttt

 

They are all junk. So being the good guy I am I will come to your place and hall all of them off for a small fee. But really all 3 are good choices . Kenny Bell has the low down on the Buick mills,At this time I am assembling a 53 Ford car with a 455 Buick power plant.. I have purchased 2 spare 455 buick engines. Both of mine came from Derby crashers. They have trouible finding Impalas so they use buicks and install Chevy engines.

 

Had a 455 Pontiac in a 70 Chevy p.u. it pulled the heck out of my race car trailer. Would use a 500 Caddy if I had a choice.

 

if you have the money d0 a hybrid 400/455 Pontiac , its a 455 in a 400 block , they make a new crank with the smaller main journals 3.0 vs 3.25 ( allows higher rpms , so you do not have the oiling problems the 455 had with high rpms or the problem of the heavy crankshaft pounding out the mains , 455 P's are 2 bolt mains unless its a H.O. Or S.D. or a old 428 block ) ,
the hybrid comes 2 ways with the chevy 6.8"BBC rod ( gag ) and the pin is in the rings or uses the stock length 6.625 pontiac rods ... Pontiacs are undersquare and made more for torque than HP
as for Buick and Olds I respect them have raced against a few , but Olds is trying to find the right heads that flowed and goofy valve train .
Buick it was oiling problems from the cover pump ( Buick had the nice rocker shafts that didn't move around and no studs to snap ) all the 455's were stump pullers .
but like said before do not overlook the Caddy 500 as they make racing parts for it .

 

455 Pontiac hands down. Both Buick and Olds have oiling issues that a Pontiac does not. I know there are all kinds of fixes for these, but why not use what worked from the start? Buick oil pump is a mess with right angle drilling in the cover. Olds does not like to be over-revved or run low on oil. Even back in the day Pontiacs went more miles before rebuild than either Olds or Buick in my experience.

 

Here we are ,six years later, and these big torquers are a lot harder to find, in running condition.
Any of them are okay, for just a tune -up, clean up, rattle can rebuild.
If I was going to build one and hop it up a little bit, Pontiac is the way to go .
As stated , much better oiling design, and easier to build , all around. Lots of parts interchangeability too.

 

Pontiacs do have a oiling problem if the wrong pump is used , on the large journal motors you should use a high pressure pump ( 70 psi vs 55) , not high volume as the crankshaft size has a bit of a problem of trying to starve the rods , and the rods , replace with aftermarket or change out the bolts and resize . have seen more motors lost due to the rod bolts letting loose and dropping oil pressure ( all of them from 326's to 455's ) , max stock rpm is only 5K . 5500 and you start to stretch them . and the biggest mistake is to build them like a Chevy , its not so do not think like it ,

 

Never had a problem with large journal engines oiling, with out of the box TRW engine kit oil pump, and standard spring. Threw away many of the hp springs..Just waste hp.
Yes, the rod bolts should be replaced if one expects to see high 5,000 rpm's. The cast rods are a lot stronger than people think. The guys that spread that weak stuff around , probably thought they were driving a SBC.

 

Currently.. aftermarket support is more like.. Pontiac, Buick, Olds, then Caddy.


Crazy out all builds Pontiac, Buick 11xxhp NA (540 cid with 400 CFM heads).. dont know old and Caddy.

Sidenote: that little Buick v6 twin turbo ran in 6s st 210mph was over 2000hp..


Like Pontiac, the Buicks are getting their 'Big Chief chanted heads' aka, "Stage 6" and a full billet head that looks like a Stage 2 head on steroids at least 500cfm.

From the factory buick a high performance program for the Big block. The stage2 programs started with the 400 in 69 and continued with the 455. With over 540 on tap, the 70 GS stage2 ran at the strips running 10.70s at 123-125 mph. There was a match race between the factory Chevy green chevelle with LS6 or 7. The gs beat it in the first two heats and Chevy guys didn't want to run the third heat.

Buick 350 heads are coming! The single plane intake is here..

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old thread needs to be revived for these modern times !
these engines are drying up. ZERO 455 Pontiacs in junkyards now in my area. very few 400's.
very few 425-455 Olds, local yards I go to, I'm buying the last of them cuz some have only 1 or 2 left, of all those brands put together ! get 'em while you can, when they're gone, they're gone. I just bought a 425 and 455 Olds engines yesterday.
of all of them, the most still kicking around are 455 Buick, because they are the least desirable. but eventually when all the Olds and Pontiacs are gone, then the Buick will be bought up too.
let's face it it's all about the displacement !!
I've built all 3, the best for power and strength is the Pontiac. it's the only one that came factory with 4 bolt mains, 80 lb. oil pump, factory air gap high rise intake manifold, and fully machined combustion chambers. also special phoshate or cadmium coated distributor drive gears, solid lifter cams, and won major NASCAR events into the mid-1960's. Pontiacs also have stud mounted rockers, way better than the Olds bolt-in pair rockers, or Buick shaft system. Pontiacs also had better camshafts designed by the legendary Mac McKellar, and tunnel port heads over the counter 1969-70, and SD455 heads in 1973-74. Olds and Buick never even made anything comparable to the old Pontiac 1961-63 SD421 engines, let alone the later Ram Air V and SD455 engines. Pontiac also made the 303 and 366 CID Trans Am and NASCAR engines during 1970-72 era. the 3" main Pontiac 389/400 bottom end block webs are thicker and can take 800HP before they start splitting. the best setup was/is cut down/aftermarket 3" 455 crank, in a 400 block. Pontiacs had full length windage trays, 6 quart oil pans, and 2.11/1.77 valves all from factory, larger than the Buick or Olds. Pontiacs are generally easier to work on, less intake, timing cover bolts, easy spark plug access.
in comparison, the Olds and Buick only had 2 bolt mains, period. no 4-bolt blocks ever made. never won any NASCAR races in the 1960's, although they did win back in the 1950's. truth be told OLDS was the most winning-est engine in NASCAR during the 1950's ! winning more races than Chrysler, Chevy, or Ford.
and also truth be told, a Pontiac is a copy of an Olds, an improved copy.
the aluminum timing cover, with external oil pump, is a nightmare on a Buick. the timing cover distorts causing the distributor gear to shear on the cam, requiring the timing cover changed, or upgraded. the oil galley are too small. both Olds and Buick have no air gap intake manifold, the intake IS the valley cover, meaning hot oil under the intake heating it up. Olds, Buick are also flat intakes, the port angle is much lower with a more drastic short turn radius. they aren't higher rise like a factory Pontiac intake. the oiling system on a Pontiac is way better than a Buick, and slightly better than an Olds.
having said that, the Buick and Olds have a few advantages. Olds has an excellent r/s ratio with the 425 and 7" rods. Buick has a better bore/stroke ratio, with a bigger bore. but it also has a huge 3.25" main bearing which is an rpm limiter, so the big bore is not of much use, you can't rev it as high. the Olds perks are FORGED rods and crank in 425's and early 455's, and a smaller 3" main than a Pontiac or Buick. but the Olds also has a huge 2.5" rod journal, and main webs are thinner, with lack of oil control in the oil pan, Olds are notorious for turning on the oil light on hard deceleration or turns. Pontiacs had better header-type exhaust manifolds, while Olds and Buick did not, or were not quite as good, Olds just split the center port. (although the early nailhead DID but it's a different motor). as issued the premier Pontiac 455 is a tad better. just look at the combustion chambers. Olds and Buick were crude, Pontiac was fully machined, they were tapping into swirl very early in the game.
as issued I'd rate them Pontiac, followed by Olds, then Buick.
of the whole bunch, it was the Pontiac that had more of a professional racing image, albeit it ended in the 1960's when the 427 Ford came out in 1963, then the 426 Hemi in 1964, then later the 429 Ford in 1968. and of course the Chevy canted valve 396/427 engines in 1963-65. once the canted valve wedge and hemi engines from Ford, Chevy, Mopar hit the scenes, it was all over in pro racing for the inline valve B-O-P motors.
having said all that...in reality, today as I key this in, it comes down to, what's available at your local junkyard or swap meet or Craigslist ads...if I was building a GM powered hot rod and wanted max CID, and all I could find was a Buick 455, go for it. hells bells, I'd take a Caddy 472/500 if there was nothing else, sure ! but that would be 4th choice after Pontiac, Olds, Buick in that order, for reasons stated above.
ps- someone said Olds was the most reliable. I'd agree with that. not by much over a Pontiac, but it seemed I never opened the hood on my Olds Cutlasses, and I drove the wheels off 2 of them for years. but the Pontiacs made more power, inch for inch.