The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

you won't be able to get that .021 head gasket, commonly available gaskets for Buick 455s are .040. also, the .030 in the hole number-every one I ever checked was more like .038 or more in stock configuration. lots are .045 to .050.
I am sure you know TA and Tri Shield in minnesota and most other Buck engine builders urge you to cut that deck as low as possible and use a deeper piston dish for better quench. try this calculator

http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/compstaticcalc.html

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Thanks Scott all those wrong assumptions of mine should put my compression back to where I was hoping to be. (~9.5) I hadn't heard about cutting the deck and using the deeper pistons instead.

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

at your altitude you can get away with some serious compression with iron heads, Gary over in Fallon has his 455 at 11 to 1 with NO issues on 91 octane. I believe I found out TA or someone had a special order head gasket that was thinner than .040 when compressed, but they were like 70 bucks a piece!! so I always just used the Fel-Pro .040 blue ones. Chris Lee and I both had problems with TA's orange crush head gaskets, so I wouldn't use them again. if you have the heads decided on, and know what the ccs are going to be, you will likely find your deck height to be somewhere in the numbers I quoted-adjust the deck to get wher eyou want to be assuming you already have pistons in hand.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

I have the standard felpro head gasket set already, I just haven't opened the box to check them out. Currently the engine is completely disassembled so I haven't yet measured how far in the hole the piston will be.

I know up here I can get away with a lot of compression. My thunderbird has 10.5:1 compression and it runs awesomely up here on 91 with full timing, go down to Las Vegas and I have to back it off, go down to CA and I have to back it off even more and even then it'll still ping (like lug nuts in a coffee can). I'm hoping to avoid that scenerio when I travel (though MS should be controlling timing by that point). This will be my daily driver, cross country driver, etc. so I want a safe compression ratio that won't get me in trouble.

Thanks for the info Scott.

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

hey randall-are you using the stock 72 pistons? complete dish with no obvious valve reliefes? can you post a picture of what you have there? I might have something left over here that matches and could pur it with my burrette (which happens to be out, since I am going throught this with the ford right now)and tell you the exact cc to expect from that piston.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Scott, go to page 8 on this thread I have pictures of a '72 piston and of the T/A 10:1 piston, I did cc them, that's where I got my numbers from. The numbers I don't have are the deck (because the short block isnt' assembled) and the Head Gasket dimensions simply because I haven't taken it out of the box to check. I figure my cc'ing job must have been decent as the heads matched up close to the published sizes and what I got for the piston dishes give me a reasonable number on the compression ratio calculators.

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

sorry Randal, I missed those last few photos completely-so you have heads done at 68 ccs and you have pistons at 21 ccs, the last block I did (currently in car, new owner has it) was a 72 block that was .038 to .045 deck when I checked it before disassembly with the stock buick pistons. After adding the selaed power 28 cc forged pistons ( no longer available?) and I had the block bored .030 and the deck SQUARED ONLY-NO EXCESS MATERIAL REMOVED!! it checked at .038-041. Now knowing I had a flat, square deck, and new forged pistons and nice pins with rebuilt rods, I could determine the variance of deck height to rods (or possible crank throw) inconsistency. but 3 thou aint much and didn't worry me. with an average of .039-040 deck that motor came out to 9.3 or so to 1 and would almost run on piss if I needed it to. I always ran premium at the track, but especially when gas was 5 bucks a gallon, I ran regular in it with no issues. I would determine the deck after getting the block bored, but I wouldn't cut it till you know where you are at.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Too late in the game for any new machine work now, the block/crank/heads/rods have already been cleaned up and checked out at a machine shop, the deck squared and bored 30 over. It is what it is, I'll be happy with anything in the 9.0 to 10.0 range.

This is my first build that wasn't just a stock refresh so I'm finding I'm doing things in a less than ideal order (read bumbling through), but I'm confident I'll be satisfied in the end.

Thanks for the info Scott, I'll gladly hear all pointers, and look forward to seeing what you have in store for that Ford engine as my T-bird will be the next engine victim ;D

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

always happy to help a guy working through the Buick weirdness-I did it for a long time, they are certainly unique inside. the oiling system of the FE ford is very similar in that it oils the camshaft first, then the crank-no wonder I was drawn to them. BUT they do use a real oil pump inside the pan. and one of the beautys of the FE ford engine family
(and i DID NOT know this till I owned one) is they come from the factory with floater rods-so it is easy to try different pistons (within the bore size you are at) to determine c.r. No pressing on and off of wrist pins. Of course I need to get my block bored .030 for the pistons I have, before I can do anything. I will have it bored and the deck squared, then check the deck height tod etermine final cr, might need more off, might not. it is currently about .015-.020 but who knows how close to straight it is.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

I should flip this over to your project car thread ;D I also like the front mounted oil filter and distributor. I pulled out the T-bird service manual, and sure enough floaters, I hadn't noticed that before.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Don't move this thread - I've been lurking since I have a 76 455 block (currently doing duty as a portable building anchor) that I will - eventually - put in my Buick.... with a couple of hairdryers

[stage1scott]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Don't move this thread - I've been lurking since I have a 76 455 block (currently doing duty as a portable building anchor) that I will - eventually - put in my Buick.... with a couple of hairdryers

I'm sure he was teasing me!!!

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

Don't move this thread - I've been lurking since I have a 76 455 block (currently doing duty as a portable building anchor) that I will - eventually - put in my Buick.... with a couple of hairdryers

I'm sure he was teasing me!!!

Just as the conversation was going Ford, just put the Ford talk on Scott's thread ;D This thread isn't going anywhere.

As for car news. Gotta love Ely, after waiting two weeks for tires I ordered at the local tire shop to show up they called me yesterday and say they can't get them. So they ordered some Traction T/A's with a 130mph speed rating.

[jays67]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

tractions t/a SUCK every set we sold at work lasted about 1/2 the life they should
on a good note they are not a bad looking tire

oh your gears and such was sent to shipper today will keep ya posted

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

I'm sure I'll play a factor in the likely short life span of the tires ;) I haven't any real way to confirm, but for the size I've requested the tire shop said BFG said they discontinued the Radial T/A line and replaced them with the Traction T/A's. For the standard tire speed rating (S?) the cost was $10 more per tire, but I opt'd for 130mph rating (H?), I tried for V rated but the shop said they couldn't get those. They should be good for a May Silver State run in the 100-110mph range.

Thanks Jay.