Ok. Im looking to rebuild an engine. Ive never done it before but I have many family members and friends who have so I feel confident I can pull it off with their help. My dad has a '73 Delta 88 royale convertible currently with a 350. We're pretty sure the car had a 455 from the factory but I havnt checked. Weve had it for over 20 years and the engine runs strong, but weve always wanted to put a 455 in.

1. What needs to be changed in the car for a 455 to drop in?
2. What years/types of 455 will fit?
3. How hard is it to rebuild a 455 and what is the approximate cost?

Any other tips appricated.
Thanks,
PTTM

 

A 455 is an easy installation and not much changes. They are all the same as far as mounting and dimensions. I would budget around $5k for a relatively stock build installed.

 

1 - nothing
2 - all years/not sure what you mean by types.
3 - difficulty level is the same as building any engine; cost depends upon which brand/quality parts are used and machine shop rates in your area.

 

I know some engines go through different variations over years of production. I wasn't sure if all 455s were created equal.

Unfortunatly I live in the Chicago area, so machining will be expensive. I have family in Peoria so I will likely have most machining done there.

How much does a 455 engine weigh approximately? What are some good websites and/or threads to look at for 455 builds?

While this would not be a budget build, I dont need high performance. Im looking for a strong engine that runs good on 10-15% ethanol 91-93 octane fuel (yes, premium here can have as much as 15% ethanol) and that will last another 20+ years/50,000 miles or more.

Thanks for helping with my newb questions.

 

A complete engine weighs 620 pounds. The 455 dimensions remained the same but the exhaust manifolds changed through the years...some of them will work in all bodies, others won't at least not without modification.

 

Look at my build in my signature. It was build for reliability and street use with occasional strip visit.

 

Note that the 455 weighs less than 100 pounds more than a 350. Using an aluminum intake manifold drops the weight to nearly the same; aluminum heads would drop it even more.

 

The weight is me trying to figre out how the heck I can get this thing into my basement instead of trying to rebuild it in my already full garage. If we were concerned about weight of the car we wouldn't have a Delta 88.

70cutty: I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

Getting it into the basement is one thing...how ya gonna get it out?

 

I figure if I can get it in safely, I can get it out. Still. Even with the heads and intake/exhaust off the thing probably still weights over 300lbs. O well. Maybe if I clear all my stuff out of the garage ill be able to fit it and the cars in. As you may imagine, a 73 D88 and a 04 DeVille really fill up a garage.