RAMBOW

I've been on the lookout for a deal on a 455 since I had to sell my last engine project over the summer to fund a family emergency... Found this over the weekend on CL. Just went down and picked it up.

455 Block (Fa block), crank, pistons/rods. $150
Was at a machine shop, sitting for the last 10 years or so. Guy dropped it off to be cleaned & checked, then never came back. They are cleaning house now so it went on CL.

Block has already been cleaned, magged & checked. Standard bore, needs .030 bore
Crank could have been polished when it was brought in, but now needs ground 10/10

Pistons... Actually came with 2 sets of pistons and rods. One set was obviously the stock low comp deep dish take outs... The other set... Lap ground & polished rods, new arp bolts... and TRW forged shallow dish .030 pistons!!! (the ad did not mention these pistons, so total BONUS!)

Pistons and crank remain at the machine shop. Having them go ahead and grind the crank, check the pistons and size the rods for the crank.

Hoping the pistons check out ok... I was not expecting them at all, but if they are good & usable... Mega score!!

And because its worthless without photos....

("Good" pistons & rods on the far left)



I'll need to get a new balancer, and flywheel to have the rotating assembly balanced.
I think the brackets & pullys from my 330 will bolt right on... Not sure about the oil pan & timing cover. Probably not.

Wheee! Now the fun research & parts gathering/hunting can begin!

RAMBOW

Pistons are TRW L2323F-30

2blu442

Congrats Ben! That does sound like a good deal. I don't understand people who walk away from things like that , but I've heard of people doing that. When I bought my 1967 442 project car it came with a 455 in it. The correct 400 block had been at a local machine shop for 2 or 3 years. Thankfully the machine shop gave it to me when they learned I had purchased the car.

Timing cover is the same. I know you can put either a small block or big block oil pan on a 350, but I don't know if you can go the other way with a small block pan to a 455. I've got lots of used parts such as the balancer, flexplate or flywheel, oil pan, etc. if you don't find the parts local and are OK with used let me know. John

leadfoot067

good score ben! i have access to many of the parts you need...

bccan

Subject line isn't too far fetched. I had a friend that had an old Volvo 242 w/ Late model Ford 302 in it. Clean install, great sleeper. IIRC the only problem was the peg leg rear end.

Ranzan

Ben Awesome score. I saw the ad and thought of you the minute I saw it glad you picked it up .....sorry no thumbs up Icon on this board but you got one from me lol

Ranzan

oh and I might actually have a full extra gasket kit for it if you need it ..I`ll have to check ...but if you want it you have to come get it I`ll supply the beer

citcapp

Ben,

Great score. I have a toro pan with scrapper and all the bolts for installing same if you interested let me know. will let go real cheap to get out of garage.

dster69442

Nice score ! If you need a 455 intake manifold,or a new cond. olds air cleaner (red with 455 sticker ) I have. I am in Bonney Lake WA. Derek 245-332-5545

nonhog

Hmmm? I have not heard from my machinist in about 10 years. JK

Actually my 455 sits, waiting its turn in a very similar condition.

Nice score!

RAMBOW

Heh... Well its out of the volvo and into the garage now

I'm super stoked. Ordered BillT's new book from amazon last night.
Thanks for the offers guys... Pat- let me get back to you after christmas. I will be a while before i'm ready for the tin stuff, but never too early to start gathering.

Derek, not really ready for intakes yet... what kind of air cleaner is it- is it the 65-67 style or the later style? If its 65-67 i might be interested.

Wes... What can i say. Someday i'll make it up your direction. Really... i swear! My wife actually got her passport updated... i still have not got mine or got the fancy drivers license... but i will!

allyolds68

You should have seen the 350 DX with 2 cranks in the trunk of my honda civic coupe (350 miles from Hartford CT to BTR in Rochester). I picked up my front & rear bumper from the plater in Syracuse on the way home too.

citcapp

Also have a set of big valve E heads is great condition setting around if your interested

RAMBOW

You've got a PM

dster69442

Ben the aircleaner I have is 70-72 style,base,lid and 455 sticker. In new condition.

RAMBOW

After some head scratching on my part from various conversations with the machine shop after nearly 2 months, i went down and picked up my rods&pistons today.

All they had done was measure the pistons... they did not take them off the rods (so they could resize the rods) as i had requested multiple times. Really not sure why but I guess I'll take them elsewhere.

The crank has been ground, but is still out at the specialty shop to have the pilot bearing hole drilled for the m/t.

anyway... spent about 15 mins this evneing and got all the rings off the used pistons. (TRW 2323-30's) Took these pics before i did that, but after hitting them wiht a squirt of wd40 the grease wiped right off and they looked like new.






In other project news...

I picked up a set of Large valve E heads from citicapp- They are in awesome shape, i think a basic valve job, possibly new guides and will be ready to use.

he also threw in a Toronado oil pan & crank scraper/windage tray in wiht the heads, so Cool! I plan to relieve the "bump" to allow the oil to drainback into the sump, and then it should be good to go.

Picked up a Flywheel from dster (Derek) above... So i threw that onto the growing pile as well.

Plans at this point are still pretty fluid.

Pistons will put me about 9.6:1 with the stock 80cc heads, figure I'll have the heads milled a little bit to square them up, and the block milled a hair as well- Not planning to zero deck it.

I'm thinking hs shaft mount rockers

Probably a custom cam from CutlassEFI- I'd like to do a hydraulic roller, but not sure i'll be able to fit it into the budget.

I rode in Shanes 71 and was very pleased with the performance of his 455...
his cam specs are:

*unknown brand Hyd Flat tappet
233/246@.050
519/541
LCI108
LSA112


Andy72 has an erson grind (can'd find it this sec to refrence it) thats a hair smaller, and he's running about a 12.6 quarter mile with slicks... So i'm thinking something around the specs of their cams should give me what i'd like.

If i could afford a hydraulic that would perform the same but give a little better idle quality that would be ideal.

anyway... So thats my little update. Not much to report really, but i'm learning & gathering parts. :-)

*** hey could a mod move this thread over to the build/projects subforum? Thnx

citcapp

PM CutlassEFI about you setup, he'll help you even if he doesn't sell you a cam. Offers great info about your build combo for the whole drivetrain

RAMBOW

just got a call from the machine shop... the crank specalist they sent my crank off to for boring the m/t pilot bearing just called ot let them know it was done.

Just shy of 3 months so thats pretty lame, but at least i can finnaly move forward with balancing & block machining.

woot woot!

boondocker

...actually Volvo has a V8 made by Yamaha, put's out about 325hp.

blueRAYwhale

...dude, i got the same deal on a '71 455 block and forged pistons back in '99. guy dropped off the block, had it cleaned, magnafluxed, bored, decked, honed and bought new .020" pistons then never came back. it sat for 3 1/2 years. the shop guys pulled the guts out of my '75 motor(it had a 3" crack by the motor mount, common on these blocks if you're not careful with the anti-freeze). rebuilt the "J" heads and i got a sweet running 9.5 to 1 comp. motor for a descent price. i like it when that happens. it went into a '76 delta 88 for five or six years. then it ended-up in my '76 cutlass, i like it even more when that happens. happy motorin', see 'ya. btw, i believe all the tin off of motors from 330 thru 455 c.i. will interchange, along with the timing cover, water pump, distrib., fuel pump. the bracket and pulleys will work too, if the altenator is located on the drivers side and the car has A/C. you will need the lower altenator bracket(triangular shaped), from a 455 motor, power steering fits too, might need longer belt(s). the shop dudes told me with a reworked q-jet and curved distrib., along with the factory emission stuff in place it was making about 325 HP(put crane cam in it), not too shabby and it runs all the vacuum stuff, idles good and don't get hot.

RAMBOW

Bringing my engine build thread back to top, finnally getting rolling on this thing after almost a year of planning, scheming & gathering parts, and waiting.

The block & pistons have been sitting at a friends backyard machine shop (his hobby business) patiently waiting for their turn. The block is actually sitting on the boring machine, sleated to be next in line when he is motivated. The price is right for the work, and the guy is awesome, but you have to be exceedingly patient.

In another thread somewhere I posted my mess with the crankshaft. Supposedly it was a virgin crank needing to be ground 10/10. When i got it back after they sent it to a specialty shop to have it drilled for the pilot bushing, it was 30/30 Needless to say i was a little pissed. It turned out to have been a mixup between the matched peices. The crank & pistons i got were a matched & balanced set- and the block was a virgin block that came in with junk pistons & a virgin crank. When they wrote their ad they flubbed it. But in the end they made good on it- refunded me the cost of having it drilled for the pilot bushing, so it made me feel better.

Back around February I picked up the Big Valve E heads from citicapp & a toro oil pan & balancer.
The heads were low mile units w/ valves & guides in excellent shape, basically only needing a valve job & new seals.

I bought a Nice M/T Flywheel from DSTER69442 around the same time.
In July, after doing the tripower restoration & installation on my friends 442, I scored his old Torquer Intake & Holley 850DP for my build.

A month ago I picked up all the extra tin & misc stuff my block was missing when i bought it (bare) from another guy on this site (J-chicago?)

Using Summit Racing Gift certificates saved from a couple birthdays & christmases, i ordered rod, main & Cam bearings, freeze plugs, timing chain & gears & oil pump & driveshaft

My Crank, flywheel & balancer & one rod & piston have were dropped at the balancing shop last week.. We suspect that the rotating assembly was balanced together before should be interesting to see how far off it was.

I'm hoping to have the block bored, squared & decked by the end of december so i can start assembling the shortblock in january.

Today i went and purchased an electric die grinder from harbor freight, and started working on the cylinder heads. They were disassembled & hot tanked back around april and have been sitting waiting for me to start on them. I went after the first one's AIR bumps in the exhaust ports. Pretty happy with the initial attempt. I'll do a little more cleanup, then do the other heads bumps- then i think i may attempt to teardrop the guides. I was going to wuss out and leave them alone, but the air bumps came out so easy, i figure its worth the try.

Anyway, so photo of my head work... & more photos of other stuff as it happens

1971 Large Valve E Heads:



Exhaust Bumps before grinding:


After grinding:

gearheads78

title changed as requested...

BIGJERR

Same pistons Iam running......Set up the combo correctly and it will scream.....9,1 is about correct CR.......Got my car to go 11.60s on the motor......

RAMBOW

Finished grinding out the AIR bumps in the other head now as well.
Did some more reading, thinking that i may skip on doing the teardropping. Sounds like it has a lot of potential for harm if done wrong, vs minimal gains on motor with teh power goals i have.

I may still do a little cleanup in the ehxuast ports with a flapper wheel though... something that won't take off too much metal.

I dug out my edelbrock exhaust crossover plugs, and did some filing and got them fit in the heads.. Just unsure if they are going to cause issues rattling around in there. They are a fairly tight fit- but still loose enough they will probably rattle.

Thoughts?

RAMBOW

I was up at my friends/machinists shop today and got to watch him do the bore operation on my block. Very cool.

RAMBOW

Not much progress on the block... still waiting for my buddy to do the final hone on my block & do the mockup for taking measurements to square & deck the block... Thats the price ya pay for not paying much

in the meantime, i started farting around with the edelbrock torquer intake i got last summer in trade for restoring & installing that L69 Tricarbsetup for another friend.

It had been clearcoated long ago, and had turned yellow over the whole thing & dark brown on top of the exhaust crossover passages.

I tried it in my blast cabinet w/ glass beads and they didn't even make a dent. So i soaked it with jasco paint stripper- got most of it off... bought another can and soaked it 2 more times and got it all off. Put it back in the blast cabinet today for a final touchup, and looks like a brand new intake again! Not bad for free!

I didn't take any before pics, but i did forget to strip the heatstove cover- its the same color most of the intake WAS.



Think i'm gonna go pick up the oxy/acetalene rig from my father-in-law tomorrow so i can start farting around with melting down some old pistons to fill my exhaust crossovers in the heads.

I'm all about farting around

RetroRanger

Ben the Intake looks like new !

Thanks for the pics of the exhaust bumps I wasnt sure what those were but you had some good pics of them

can you show me a pic of the exhaust crossovers ? I keep reading about them but im not really sure what they are either

nonhog

Nice work Ben! Idea on completion date? Ready for the Fall BOP races?

RAMBOW

I wish... Even if Doc gets the block machine work done in Feb, it likely won't be going in the car till next winter.

I've got kid #2 due in May, and any and all car fundage will dry up for a while. I've got most everything i need to assemble the long block- but i still need exhaust & probably a new clutch... and of course TIME

Good thing the ole 330 still runs good. If i can get an hall pass the BOP weekend, i will bring it down and run it with the 330. Still fun to row the gears, even if its only running a 15sec 1/4

RAMBOW

I don't have any pics handy, but i can explain it...

On the intake side of the head, the center port leads to the two center exhaust valves.

Many intake manifolds will also have a corresponding passageway that runs under the carburetor. Its purpose is to use exhaust gases to heat the carb, to make cold starts & cold weather driving easier.

The downside to that is, it heats up the whole intake manifold, and in performance applications you want cooler air for a denser charge, not hotter... So high performance heads & intake manifolds usually do not have that passage.

For stock heads, you can plug the passage, fill the passage, or block it.

RAMBOW

Block machining & rotating assembly balancing was completed in Late april... just in time for my Daughter to be born... So needless to say its all just been sitting. The last couple days my wife took the kids to visit a friend, so i finnaly got some time to start assembling the shortblock!



When we test fit the crank to mock up the pistons for measuring deck height, noticed there were a couple tight spots when rotating the crank, so the block was sent out for line hone... Reassembling now- crank rotates nice and smooth.



Clearances came in at .0025 across the board & endplay was .007

Unfortunatly, when we were doing the final install & torque on the main bolts, the very last one broke. Just kept stretching & streching then snap.



Bolts were oiled on the threads & under the head. The rest of it threaded back out w/o any binding- so it wasn't the threads- the bolt just broke.

The first time we torqued these, a few of them seemed to take longer than they should for the torque wrench to click... but this last time, only this one did. But now i'm througouly freaked by it, so have new ARP main bolts on order, should be here monday.

In the meantime (making use of my day off, w/o wife & kids) I masked off the block & painted it & the oil pan & timing cover.





anyway... felt like good progress even with the broken main bolt. Better now than when its on the road.

I'll get the new main bolts in a few days, and start getting the rods & pistons installed.

I'm hoping to have the long block together and ready to go in the car by december. I have access to a test stand so we'll do the initial cam breakin & startup on the stand before it goes in.

ah64pilot

Ben, I have a complete set of ARP 455 main bolts NIB if you want to save your money. Shipping to you is all they cost...I'm not using them.

RAMBOW

holly molly thats awesome!! THanks!!!! You have a pm!

ah64pilot

Pm sent back. Call or text if usps isn't quick enough. Shipping on your dime so I'll send them however you want. Let me know.

joesw31

The crank has been ground, but is still out at the specialty shop to have the pilot bearing hole drilled for the m/t.

I don't see pad on the block for the clutch stud.

ah64pilot

Ben, postage was $5.30 to WA. Don't worry about paypal...this one's on me. Good luck with the build! Remember to pay it forward, joesw31 helped me on my last one with a few parts I needed last minute.

Take care

Steve

RAMBOW

Not to worry.. I've got it handled

WOW, thanks steve!

RAMBOW

Pistons & Rods are now installed and torqued. Its now a rotating assembly folks!
I love that my pile of stuff is shrinking.

Long story short on the mains- wound up ordering new ARP main bolts, Steve's turned out to be SBO main bolts, and are now on their way to another CO member.

Kinda sorta messed up my perfect set of 66 B heads when the drill bit walked off center while trying to drill out a broken exh manifold bolt in the center position... Of course this happened within hours of selling my Perfect set of E heads. DOH! (yes, i'm a dumb *** for selling them before i had the b's ready & checked)

Aquired yet ANOTHER set of heads (this would be my 4th set of heads for this build btw), a set of big valve Ga's this time... but unfortunatly they are a little rougher than the last two pairs- had to beat every single valve out- intakes are especially frozen. Even after soaking with penetrating oil all week, still have one last one that just won't budge- regardless of that one, i'm sure every guide is wiped out and needs inserts.... So i'll be bringing both sets of heads up to my machinist this weekend- see which he'd rather do, try to fix the goobered up exhast manifold bolt hole in the B's or do all the guides in the Ga's.

Anyway- Moving right along though! :-)

nonhog

Might be too late but I've had great luck freeing things up with a vinegar
bath. Works awesome.

Was reading on TCNW last night about your build, wishing I was back on mine. My pile needs some shrinking too. LOL

RAMBOW

I have not updated this thread in quite a while.
I purchased a set of Procomp aluminum heads in January and have since finished assembling the engine.

I pulled the original 330 out in april, sanded & painted the engine bay and will be finally putting it in the car this weekend!!! only 3 1/2 years to this point!

I fabbed up the z-bar bracket a few weeks back, since this is a '76 FA block and didn't have the provision for the ballstud.

I have a new set of Hooker Comp headers that will be going in with the engine, and a new flowmaster american thunder 2 1/2" pipe kit & dynomax ultra flow mufflers that I'll be putting together next week as well.

I hope to be ready to start it up in just a couple more weeks.