Hey folks, forgive me if this has been answered before but i just came up on a Buick 455 and was wondering what if any parts are the same between the Olds and Pontiac 455s. Anything else i should know about these motors? I wanna pick up some speed parts and i know Offy makes a 2x4 intake and i found some other stuff. Any tips/warnings would be appreciated this is my first Buick motor
The Buick, Olds and Pontiac 455 engines all use the same distributor cap. That is pretty much the only part that interchanges, all of these GM 455 engines are completely different.
That being said they are a great motor, strong with stump pulling torque stock. Had a '73 model in a '50 Buick sedan and it would fry the tires. Not a lot of speed gear for them though.
The one weakness is the Buick oiling system, it needs some help. High-horsepower racing applications will discover weaknesses in the block, not a concern for street engines. Here's a link to a company that offers Buick performance parts and information. http://taperformance.com/
TRW used to sell a high volume oil pump kit for Buicks that was popular. The intake fits 400-430-455 engines only, as they have a taller deck than the 350. Best get a Kenne-Bell catalog and start planning.
Thanks for all the info! Its probly goin into a 53 Merc if all goes according to plan. I'll try and get some pics up in the next few weeks.
i dont think kenne bell makes parts for these mills anymore sadly... there are plenty of old parts out there from K-B tho edelbrock makes two intakes for them... a performer and the b-4b. TA performance as mentioned is an excellent source for speed parts for these, and the kenne bell valve covers come up on ebarf from time to time the edelbrock numbers are: performer - [SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]#2198 B-4B - [/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]#5486[/SIZE][/SIZE] another thing aside from the oiling problems they had was core shift... the late blocks do not like being bored over very much cause of the core shift. best bet is a set of pre-72 heads on a late block (late blocks had better oiling) and have them built to "stage one" specs. wish ya luck with it, they really ARE kick ass mills
Hey MBOF, What year is that motor? Here are some specs I turned up. I got a '73 (dutuned) motor complete, sittin in my garage waiting for me to decide what to do with it! 1968 L6 - 225 1 155@4200 235@1600 3.875x3.530 8.5:1 38 V8 - 350 2 230@4400 350@2400 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 350 4 280@4600 375@3200 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 400 4 340@5000 440@3200 4.040x3.900 10.25:1 37 1969 L6 - 225 1 155@4200 235@1600 3.875x3.530 8.5:1 38 V8 - 350 2 230@4400 350@2400 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 350 4 280@4600 375@3200 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 400 4 340@5000 440@3200 4.040x3.900 10.25:1 37 V8 - 400 Stage 1 4 345@5800 440@3200 4.040x3.900 10.25:1 37 1970 L6 - 225 1 155@4200 235@1600 3.875x3.530 8.5:1 37 V8 - 350 2 260@4600 360@2600 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 350 4 285@4600 375@3000 3.800x3.850 9.0:1 37 V8 - 350 4 315@4800 410@3200 3.800x3.850 10.25:1 40 V8 - 455 4 350@4600 510@2800 4.3125x3.900 10.0:1 40 V8 - 455 Stage 1 4 360@4600 510@2800 4.3125x3.900 10.0:1 40 1971 V8 - 350 4 260@4600 360@3200 3.800x3.850 ? ? V8 - 455 4 315@4400 450@2800 4.3125x3.900 ? ? V8 - 455 Stage 1 4 345@5000 460@3000 4.3125x3.900 ? ? 1972 Note: All power ratings in SAE Net V8 - 350 4 195@4000 290@2800 3.800x3.850 ? ? V8 - 455 4 225@4000 360@2600 4.3125x3.900 ? ? V8 - 455 Stage 1 4 270@4400 390@3000 4.3125x3.900 ? ? 1973 Note: All power ratings in SAE Net V8 - 350 2 150@4000 ? 3.800x3.850 ? ? V8 - 350 4 195@4000 290@2800 3.800x3.850 ? ? V8 - 455 4 225@4000 360@2600 4.3125x3.900 ? ? V8 - 455 Stage 1 4 270@4400 390@3000 4.3125x3.900 ? ? Hope this helps. Paul
Here's one that I have in my coupe. It's a 1970 Stage 1 that I assembled myself. I've been building Buicks for about 25 yrs so if you or anyone else wants to build a Buick, just let me know and I should be able to help.
The Buick engines are awesome for cruising. Plus they are lighter than most of the other engines out there. I just installed a 350buick in my 50 buick.
Wow, thanks for all the info/pics. I really appreciate it. As far as the year of the motor i don't know. I got the motor/trans as a tip for a job i did for a customer.
If you look down between the #5 and #7 sparkplugs, you should be able to see a flat portion of the block deck were the cylinder head recedes. There should be a two letter code that will tell what year and HP the engine. (Warning...it will be very dirty so you'll have to clean the area with a rag and some carb cleaner). Buick big blocks make a TON of power and contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of HP parts available. I prefer TA Performance, but there are more places. Al
Al... PM me about sources for big buick speed parts, or hell better yet, post em here. i know TA performance, and seen some kenne bell NOS stuff on ebay but no others besides some cams, edlebrock intakes, and the offy dual quad intake
anyone know where i can get some header flanges for a buick 455. i'd hate to buy a set of headers and cut them up...would like to make my own headers that will be going on my model a. thx
Make your own. 1/4" thick cold rolled. You don't need anything thicker. The pics show one way - and these are for a 455 Buick - although not finished. These flanges are individual and should work well on my 31. I made a set of full length flanges for my 32 by cutting them out on a mill. Worked pretty good, but we were covered by the swarf before we got done. I say we cuz my pal was using an air nozzle to keep the pattern clean and I was cranking the wheels on my little mill. I believe Headers by Ed carriers 455 Buick flanges.
I made my own header flanges but when I was making mine there was someone on Ebay selling them. You may try looking there. All the hours i have in mine, I think I would have came out better buying some.
TA Performance makes a nice header flange set with tube stubs already welded on for smallblock, big block and nailhead Buicks. That's what I used if you look at the first pic I posted. The nice thing about them is they have a thick 3/8" flange for better sealing. As far as Buick part availability goes, you can get anything from aluminum heads to roller rockers, camshafts to electronic injection conversions. Basically anything you can get for any other popular engine can be got including lightweight pistons and roller cams. TA Performance is my choice because they have EVERYTHING, but there is also PAE Enterprise in El Paso,Texas or Postons. Edelbrock has also just come out with an aluminum head for the big block and is redoing the famous B4B intake manifold again. It is pretty well known that Kenne-Bell used to be the leader in Buick aftermarket parts, but has switched to Mustang(ugh!) parts these days. They may still be selling off inventory but many of their original parts such as cams and intake manifolds were purchased by TA and are available from them. Al
A couple years back I read a blurb that made you think Edelbrock was coming out with an aluminum head for Buick. At the Bakersfield Western Nats I asked an Edelbrock guy about it and he said there were no plans to make an aluminum head for Buicks. Later on, Edelbrock came out with an AMC aluminum head which made me wonder a bit cuz there seems to be a lot more Buick guys building the late models than there is AMC people. Is the Buick head listed in the Edelbrock catalog? I'm wondering as well if it's set up to take a stock pattern intake manifold and not be specific to an in-house manifold like the TA heads are? Granted, the TA intake works great with the TA heads, but there's a bunch of us out here with good aftermarket dual and single quad aluminum intakes that would like to use them on an aluminum head.
C9, the Elbebrock heads was on display (from what I here) at the GSCA Nats this year. It does take factory intakes ,but for some unknown reason, they chose to switch to a chevy style stud rocker set-up as compared to the shaft mounted that comes factory. They claim they did this so chevy roller rockers can be used, but it seems you'd be giving up stability to do it(?).Anyways, the head should be available very soon. One thing you should know is that the TA aluminum heads come in both intake mount styles. You can get TA's aluminum heads that bolt right up to a factory intake or if you want raised intake ports, they have intakes for that too. A big plus to me is the fact that all factory parts will bolt to the TA heads. Did you perhaps look at a set of raised port TA heads and see that only TA's raised port intake would fit? Al
I have a TA catalog that's maybe 3-4 years old. I don't remember seeing a stock pattern head setup, but I could have missed it. As for the Edelbrock using Chevy rockers, I'm all for that. The Buick rockers are such a low volume item they end up being very costly. I don't think stability will be an issue considering most Buicks don't get too far up the rpm scale. About 6 grand for most street runners and 5 grand for a milder cammed engine such as mine.
Kenne-Bell used to carry them. They aren't too hard to make. All you'd need would be a piece of aluminum in the proper thickness. And a little determination....
Charlie Evans still makes the adapters to fit a B-block(not RB) Mopar intake to the Buick, though they're not too popular simply because there are now a few good single 4 barrel intakes available now . I nearly ordered a set of adapters so I could run a 3X2 set-up before I ordered the blower from Dyers. I believe you can locate Charlie Evans at Automotive Machine service (AMS).
awesome info, MANY thanks! tho $425 might sound like a pile of money for headers when SBC headers can be had for less than a hunnert fiddy... i took into thought the time, BS, mess, blood and cussing into account while makin my own and i think imma just buy a set of the TA Comp headers for the willys... now for a real no-brainer of a question... imma ford man, always have been, prolly always will be biased. anyhow the intake i have has a stock Q-Jet, and im wondering what if any aftermarket carbs with that are simpler to work with (no vac secondaries or choke) and has mech secondaries will bolt to the factory iron intake? 70 GSX, you opened up a whole can of worms dood... im gonna be pickin your brains while i'm learnin 'bout Big Beyoooick mills... again, thankee thankee thankee
Oh,by the way, did I mention that I have extensive experiance making Q-jets run hard..........? The biggest reason I see for guys bailing on the Q-jet is the infamous BOG which is usually a result of the little dashpot(choke pull-off) on the pass. front of the carb being busted. Most don't realize that that dashpot doubles as the dampener for the secondarys. If it's bad, the choke will come on too hard causing the engine to load up on a cold start AND have a bad bog when you mash the loud pedal. Any 1971 and up Buick Q-jet comes in at about 800 CFM and can be make as much power as a Holley with much better economy. If you must, you can run a carb adapter to mate a Holley/Edelbrock to your intake. Al
The Jalopy Journal
