hey guys,

in case you have a 455 out of a 1970 Toronado GT ...with the Toronado E-Heads and GM #400165 high lift cam.

afaik that cam was also put in 442 W-30 engines w/ AT.

so..what improvements will you get when changing to D or F heads? (stock SAE-HP rating is 400)

are there any better cams to use out of other olds cars?

just looking for better performance out of stock parts.

let me know

thanks
kay

 

You should get a performance improvement because your wallet will be several thousand dollars lighter.

Will the engine make more HP? Not that you can measure. The factory HP ratings are a joke. Ask yourself how a MT W-30, with the F heads and 328 deg cam and less restrictive exhaust, made only "370" HP vs 400 for the Toro motor. Also ask yourself how the AT W-30, with less aggressive cam than the MT motor, made the same HP.

 

The W34 engine minus the intake and exhaust manifolds is exactly the same as the basic 442 motor, and that includes the 400165 camshaft. Yes that cam was used in the W30 auto, but it was also the basic 442 cam for '70.
The most dramatic difference using Stock D or F heads would be the lightening of your wallet. Stock exhaust manifolds would negate any gain in the heads.
Under the confines of "stock", you don't stand to improve much no matter what you do. Not that the performance is lacking in that beast. In totally stock trim, it clicks off low 15s in the quarter. Trust me, I know. Nothing to sneeze at for a 4600# car.

 

ah ok..thanks for clarification..

i'm pretty new to that cam+heads+manifold stuff...

i see..nothing special on that W-34 ...i guess every upgrade for basic 442 motors also counts for me

@Kurt: nice toro..saw that many years ago on the internet, long before i got mine. that toro had an accident couple of years ago, right?

 

Yeah, just a little fender bender.

 

oh my...did anybody rebuilt the car?

 

That happened after Kurt sold it.

Unless there was some top-secret resto I am unaware of ... I'm pretty sure it got parted out.

IIRC ... Bruce Roe ended up with the engine & trans.

 

ok ...so i know about the heads....gonna pull the engine in 02/2013...new paint, timing chain, some gaskets...thats all i wanna do..

any "might-as-wells"? engine is completely stock and good so far... 15 In/Hg q idle ...compression OK ...only 45k miles.

would like to have some more fun on the street - no racing - ...any suggestions? (intake, cam, headers?)

would like to keep low profile intake

 

You might think about recurving the distributor. If it's completely stock, the stock specs work, but I don't think they're optimum for performance. Other guys might chime in on their thoughts about doing this on a completely stock motor.

 

Many years ago, flow tests were done on the low slung Toro intakes and surprisingly they flow virtually as good as the stock 455 manifolds. No difference you could ever notice in street use.

 

Well. . .you could put in a little more cam. Not so big that the converter etc. would need to be changed too. Rather than the 296 deg. or 308 deg. stock cams, why not a Comp 268 high energy or some such cam? Much easier while the engine is out already. That will actually give some gain even with everything else stock (and recurving the dist. is good too).

 

Just super tune the carb and ignition system. Yesterday’s fuel is different from todays and it should be tuned for it accordingly. Consider upgrading the distributor with a points eliminator kit when you have it recurved. This eliminates the need to replace the points at a regular cadence if you do a lot of driving. Points are fine too but be sure to invest in the high performance set and keep the dist cam lubed with cam grease. Or go HEI if it clears your air cleaner? Get a high quality ignition wire set (Taylor Spiral Cores are nice) and a fresh set of Autolite plugs. (Open the end gap .005-.010” from the stock .035” if you go with an HEI).
Dial in as much timing as possible w/o spark knock, using decent fuel & or octane boost.
Clean all the grounds in the engine compartment including the main battery cables and ignition system etc...
Give the carb shop the specs on the engine and tell them you'd like a slight performance tune on it. Install a 1” or higher carb insulator/spacer if hood clearance allows?
Replace all soft hoses in the engine compartment to eliminate all leaks.
Put in a free flowing air filter, muffler(s) and resonators, if so equipped. I've seen some Toro owners do custom headers with free flowing muffler(s) eliminating the resonators. If you choose that route consider increasing the pipe(s) diameters too.
These improvements will help bring out all the engines max potential without major disassembly.
I usually suggest putting it on a dyno before doing anything to establish base line HP/TQ #s. Then start making improvements as time as money allows. When your done re-dyno it. You’ll be surprised what some inexpensive simple fine tuning does.