Buick 455 rods

[std]

Does anybody make H beam rods for a 455 Buick? If not, what are people using?

This is the first Buick I'll be putting together and I want to do it right. It has a nodular crank and I'm putting forged flat top pistons in it. I haven't decided on a cam yet.

My only question right now is rods.

I'll take any other advise anyone has on Buicks, too.

Thanks

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Buick 455 rods

The ONE I did had good stock rods and a Ross .040 440 Mopar Piston the Top Place for Buik Parts is TA in Arizona Just make sure you degree in their rollmaster chain it was way off. as I remember it I had to put it 1 tooth adv. and 3 degrees retarded to get it right. Your not going to rev it so unless you spray it I would not worry to much.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Buick 455 rods

T/A's Catalog:

http://taperformance.com/PAGES%20PDF/2007_D2_WEB.pdf

Rods start on page 93, I didn't see H-beam ones, but there are some I-beam ones they rate for 800Hp and 7,000rpm. The stock rods are Forged.

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Buick 455 rods

I'm pretty sure the Sportsman rods are H-beam and around 600hp rated. I'm not sure the stock rods in a BBB are forged either, they are pretty strong though. One option is to offset grind the crank just barely and then use BBC rods and specific pistons for a small stroker and cheaper rods and pins.

Other Buick advice, machine it for tight clearances, SBC/BBC sized clearances don't work well on a Buick because of the oiling design. There are a whole list of oiling mods to do, most of the oversizing the pickup and feed to the pump and back to the block. Be very careful in assembling the oil pump as too much end play on the gears will kill your oil pressure.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Buick 455 rods

We ran 10.80 with ours and had a 300 PSI gauge pegged by the 3 rotation the dont wind up well but TQ was out of this world 4000 stall shift at 5800 A-1 converter and a 4.10 gear should have had 3.89 gear turbo 400 left on the bumper foot braking

[std]

Re: Buick 455 rods

Thanks for the info everyone.

I would like to find out more about the oiling system. This is a very low mileage motor and the bearings are really shiney and he said it had lots of oil pressure. It kept wearing out distributor gears. I haven't checked the clearances yet.

Two other people built this motor for him, both with bad results. I want to make sure I do it right.

[DanStokes]

Re: Buick 455 rods

The REALLY hot oiling system mod is to drive a length of appropriately-sized copper pipe down the oil galley and then drill smaller supply holes to the overhead to force oil to the bottom end. This is a fairly generic description, but I think I have the basic idea right. I'd check with TA, Poston, or, believe it or not, Kenne-Bell. Long before KB messed with blowers and SBFs, they started in the Buick high performance arena. I'm guessing that there must be someone there who still has the knowledge.

Later
Dan

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Buick 455 rods

I got 40,000 miles on my 455 and with a stock oil pump (no wear kit either) and a 80psi relief spring. The oil pressure cold at 800rpm is 75psi and fully warmed up to 190-200*F 20-25psi at 600rpm. By 2500rpm it's 60psi, and gets up to 80psi or by 4500rpm. The first time I pulled the distributor since the engine went together was last november and I didn't notice any thing unusual about the distributor gear (good as new ??? or at least only slightly worn).

--I'm going to look for my '72 Buick Service Manual to see what the connecting rods are made of to be sure, but the manual may be at my Dad's house--

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: Buick 455 rods

The REALLY hot oiling system mod is to drive a length of appropriately-sized copper pipe down the oil galley and then drill smaller supply holes to the overhead to force oil to the bottom end. This is a fairly generic description, but I think I have the basic idea right. I'd check with TA, Poston, or, believe it or not, Kenne-Bell. Long before KB messed with blowers and SBFs, they started in the Buick high performance arena. I'm guessing that there must be someone there who still has the knowledge.

Later
Dan

I went to Kenne Bell's shop in Rancho Cucamonga, CA last november to buy a Kenne Bell intake for my car (since I had the stock intake off I figured I'd put a better lighter one on) and to my surprise they informed me they stopped selling Buick stuff two years ago :-\ Poston and TA are still good sources.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Buick 455 rods

The T/A intske was the bolt on choice but I think the hot set up was a Mopar intake

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Buick 455 rods

The Mopar intake was until TA came out with the SP1 and Kenne Bell came out with the Cool Runner (now the TA SPX). This was simply because it was the closest thing to working and people made adapter plates. An old Edlebrock B4B (yes the old one, not the new one) is about the best dual plane out there though the performer is alright. The difference is the carb location, the new B4B and the performer both put the carb in the stock location to work with the GS aircleaner, the old B4B didn't.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: Buick 455 rods

Yeah it must have been 15 years ago when I did the 455 deal, 10.80s where fast for one back then LOL

[DanStokes]

Re: Buick 455 rods

Bummer that KB is out of the Buick business. Pop Kennedy must be rolling in his grave! Still, time marches on.

Dan

I went to Kenne Bell's shop in Rancho Cucamonga, CA last november to buy a Kenne Bell intake for my car (since I had the stock intake off I figured I'd put a better lighter one on) and to my surprise they informed me they stopped selling Buick stuff two years ago :-\ Poston and TA are still good sources.
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[PYSCHOWard]

Re: Buick 455 rods

Poston, was the source for me.

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: Buick 455 rods

Mine is a mixture of TA and Poston stuff back on my old 468 BBB. My Nailhead is largely off brand stuff but then again its never dumped anything other than accessories till now when its losing compression on the #1. My V6 is a mixture of TA, Champion, Poston, and some aftermarket chinesium since the only American made stuff is left overs from the old Buick Motorsports program and the super expensive and way overkill Carillo and Oliver rods.