My '74

Thanks! HD

Reply to
HoDad
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HoDad spilled my beer when they jumped on the table and proclaimed in

Heh. When I read that, I didn't realize who you were. :)

Welcome back, man.

NOI

Reply to
Thund3rstruck_n0i

Thank you. Been kind of busy the past year getting into brewing beer. Came up with some very good recipies. Basically an extract/mash red ale. Now that I've been there, done that, I can get back into my real interests! Love the homebrew, but found it to be, well, very fattening! Don't want that to get out of control! HD

Reply to
HoDad

work, that should be a good combo. Also the

The RA III heads on your 455 is going to give you about 12:1 compression ..which I don't think you are going to like running 110 octane racing fuel at $3.99 a gallon. I don't think dishing the pistons would be a great idea either because that might mess up the flame pattern in the combustion chamber. If you want to bump up the compression with heads look for a set of 1970 455 HO heads. These are D-port cast iron heads that will give you about 10.5:1 compression. You'll be able to get by with premium fuel and octane boost or 5 gallons of racing fuel per tank full.

I don't know how much HP you want but with the RA/HO cam, windage tray, your headers and exhaust you are probably right around 325 net HP and can still use the recommended 87 octane fuel.

Reply to
Dennis Smith

Try a mead. Not quit as fattening. 'Course....ye' can always drink less. (Gonna make an I.P.A. and an Irish Stout next, but got an ale mead on the back burner.)

Martin '01 Formula - MTI Air Box Lid, K&N Filter, Hurst-6, SLP Cold Air Induction & Smooth Intake Bellow Corsa Catback w/Premium Tips '83 V45 Magna

Reply to
GLK9MM

Thanks for the help, Dennis.

HD

Reply to
HoDad

message

Maybe a little later this winter I might give that a try. And drink less? ... but it tastes sooo good! And I needed the empty bottles since I was brewing a batch every 2 weeks! Of course, my friends did help some. ;) HD

Reply to
HoDad

HoDad:

When I rattled off that list of "older" heads, I think I confused you a bit about Pontiac heads. I was referring to heads with chamber volumes that would keep your car running on pump gas but let you bump the cam up a bit. You have to keep in mind that Pontiac made heads in various chamber volumes. The 69 heads you are thinking of using (72 ccs) would crank the compression up into the 11s like Dennis posted which would probably not be what you are looking for. There are larger chamber heads off of 400s that will bump your compression up without having to run fuel to prevent detonation. You could run a 068 cam in your 455 but IIRC you have 8:1 compression and I don't know how well the cam would work with a compression ratio that low.

Here's a link to a Jim Hand article on Pontiac cam testing in a 455. If you haven't heard of Jim Hand, he's done tons of testing over the years with factory parts to see what combinations built the most power. I followed his advice when I was running the "junkyard 455" in my 4025lb T/A that ran 13.7s with a crappy exhaust system.

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Here's another good site if you want to play with chamber volumes to achieve a specific compression ratio with flat top pistons:

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If your buddy wants to give you those 69 heads, snap them up. You may want to use them on a 400 in the future or build a high compression engine one day.

For some real world information, here's a link to a 8.7:1 455 with an 068 cam (you have to scroll down near the bottom of the left hand column to Lady Dude's 79 T/A Street Car):

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Not bad for a sleeved 455 built out of leftovers. ;^)

Dave

Reply to
poncho462

compression

Thanks for the links, Dave. I already had the Wallace Racing site, but I saved the others. I'll keep my eyes open for an earlier set of 455 heads. I have a lot of time before I could use them, so maybe I'll get lucky. Thanks for taking the time to come up with all this info. I'll keep everyone posted when and if I get this project started next summer. HD

Reply to
HoDad

I find growlers are pretty good, though bottling and corking is pretty easy too. Mead takes at least 6 months fermentation. (Think an ale mead only takes like 3.)

Martin '01 Formula - MTI Air Box Lid, K&N Filter, Hurst-6, SLP Cold Air Induction & Smooth Intake Bellow Corsa Catback w/Premium Tips '83 V45 Magna

Reply to
GLK9MM

Poncho, the 068 cam was installed by the factory in 71-72 455 HO engines which have 8.4:1 compression. This engine was designed to run on regular 91 RON(87 octane) gasonline.

The 068 may have originally been intended for high compression engines but it still works great in low compression engines. The RA IV cam on the other hand doesn't work good at all with low compression.

Reply to
Dennis Smith

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