# Basic build questions for a 455



## Onebrokegoat (Sep 27, 2018)

Getting ready to put my 67 in a shop and have the 455(out of a 72 something) built. The only part of this that I will be personally doing is loading it on the trailer and pulling it off at the shop. HP means 0 to me. The car never sees 75mph, let alone faster. Im
fine if the speedo tops out at 90. I like a lot of torque to roast the tires off and show my a** as I’m pulling out and then promptly cruise straight over to the tire shop.

It has the th350 and eventually will be upgraded to the 200r4 after the engine build and $$$ is saved. I’ve converted it over to a Holley sniper EFI, serpentine belt, power disc breaks, and fully bagged it. It’s purely a cruiser. There’s nothing original about the car. Different motor, Chevy 12 bolt rear, all the things I’ve done to it, gold interior converted to black. It’s not really a survivor and it’s way to far gone to be a restoration candidate. It’s just a hot rod.

I want it to have bomb proof internals. Overbuild and under utilize. Forged crank, forged pistons etc... I want it to be reliable enough that I’m confident in my wife and toddler heading across the Smokey’s in it to rod run in Pigeon Forge,TN and back while I’m at work. I want a stump puller, lopey cam that screams “listen to me I’m cammed!” And sounds really awesome when I pull in somewhere to turn heads and get people looking. This is the part I really don’t know how much you can balance with drivability and reliability(remember it has EFI)

I don’t care about hp at 5500 rpm. I don’t care for the car to ever see 75 mph. I don’t need bragging rights from a Dyno sheet.

I want it to be reliable, look good and sound better.

Budget I’d like to stay under 7500$, but I can go as high as say 10 if need be. Higher than that I’ll just buy a Butler drop in.

What kind of cams should I be looking at so when I sit down with the builder I have an idea of the direction we should go? I know what lift and duration are but not really what the numbers mean and how to read them. 

I talked with him briefly and he basically said hydraulic cam, roller rockers, probably aluminum heads(recommendations?), but never got into the internals. Cam brands? Upper kits and lower rotating assembly kit recommendations? Through butler the kits are about 5k for both, but I kinda figure you can piece it together cheaper?? Plus I don’t know what kind of end game those kits produce.

Would either a big bore or stroker kit be more beneficial over the other for low end torque and ultimately reliability and especially drivability. Like I said, my wife takes our 4 year old and cruises without me. What you send your wife and daughter out in?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know it a super long shot, but has anyone ever dealt with Ben Barnes Performance in Asheville Nc? Or recommend a builder in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Atanta, Knoxville, Bristol area?


----------



## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

Sounds like you have a good build going and know what you want. 

Should be no problem making a very reliable, pump gas friendly 455. Torque is what moves the car and with the 455, you should not have issues with burning tires off.

So here are a few of my quick tips for you to think about. Others will also chime in here and give you advice on your build.

The factory 455 crank is a very good piece. I would not hesitate to use it and the factory crank is cross drilled for better oiling to the rods. Keeping it, as long as it makes spec, is a $saver.

Spend the money on forged rods and forged pistons. On my 455 build I went with the KB FHR forged pistons as they are light. Less weight on the rotating assembly means less stress. I also like that they are offset as factory and has a factory type ring package. They have longer piston skirts as compared to some of the other makes which are more aimed at a racing type piston and where weight can be conserved, but I feel that the factory type skirts will give a more stable piston with less piston rocking at the top/bottom end of the stroke. The ones I got are dished as I am using iron heads with a 98CC combustion chamber and this combo puts me just slightly over 9.0 compression so I can use pump friendly gas and not worry about detonation issues.

The EFI is a good modern choice and the way to go for the family - less grief, but for me, it has to be a Q-jet and I can work on them.

Cam choice is very important. A roller cam is more costly, and I have never used one as I prefer flat tappet/solid cams for the nastolgia aspect of it. Roller cams are essentially bullet proof. But, I feel that with a roller cam, you need the lifter valley brace that supports the lifter bores so you don't bust/crack one. Some will say these are not needed until you gt into high lift and a lot of side loading, but my response is do you want to chance it? That's a lot of money in an engine to lose if things go sour. What lift/duration? I am not sure. There are other more qualified with roller cams than myself. I like a cam with an 112 LSA with a 455. With a roller and its quicker opening rates, 114 LSA may be a better choice. Lift/duration will also be based on head selection and its CFM's.

You can go aluminum or iron. Again, price. You can get more CFM's right out of the box with aluminum heads, but you can use iron heads and have them prepped/flowed fairly reasonable. One of our members, Jared, is using Nightmare Performance in Connecticut and buying pair of heads ported and fully ready to bolt on verses aluminum. I have no experience with aluminum heads, but if you go this route, you will need to raise compression 1 point to 10.0 as aluminum draws heat quickly and the higher compression is needed to generate more heat. SD performance is another iron head builder as well as Butler, KRE, etc., but these guys seem back logged.

So put a little more thought into all the above and throw some more questions and thoughts out to us and we can steer you to where you want to go and can share the info with whatever builder you go with so you can hash out a build you both agree on.


----------



## Onebrokegoat (Sep 27, 2018)

Thanks! The LSA info when I looked it up is definitely sending me where I need to go for some cam info.

I’m worried the crank is going to show some wear. When I got the car 4 years ago I figured the engine was shot it was missing and billowing blue smoke out the right bank. We figured it was rings as the car had been sitting for 19 years in storage. Turned out someone must have missed a gear as every pushrod was in some form of a “C” shape and 2 were completely missing. Never found them and the oil looked like it had glitter in it. So it ground up 2 pushrods. We spent a day flushing the motor with kerosine 8 or 9 times and doing oil changes after running it for a minute till the oil was clear and clean. It’s been good since, but I always have that wee bit of distrust in it because of that(and it’s always had lowish oil pressure) But we’ve gotten 4 good years out of a shot motor.


----------



## PontiacJim (Dec 29, 2012)

Onebrokegoat said:


> Thanks! The LSA info when I looked it up is definitely sending me where I need to go for some cam info.
> 
> I’m worried the crank is going to show some wear. When I got the car 4 years ago I figured the engine was shot it was missing and billowing blue smoke out the right bank. We figured it was rings as the car had been sitting for 19 years in storage. Turned out someone must have missed a gear as every pushrod was in some form of a “C” shape and 2 were completely missing. Never found them and the oil looked like it had glitter in it. So it ground up 2 pushrods. We spent a day flushing the motor with kerosine 8 or 9 times and doing oil changes after running it for a minute till the oil was clear and clean. It’s been good since, but I always have that wee bit of distrust in it because of that(and it’s always had lowish oil pressure) But we’ve gotten 4 good years out of a shot motor.



OK, almost lost your post as you posted in the 2004-2006 GTO section and not the "older" GTO's below.

The 455 crank can be turned, so not an issue. If it was running for 4 years, it'll most likely be useable.

I like flat tappet cams and very little problems with them although you read/hear more bad stories and I often wonder if some of it is put out there by those promoting roller cams/lifters which yield more $money. Most failures are the owners fault.


----------



## Onebrokegoat (Sep 27, 2018)

My bad. Is there a way to move the thread to the general conversation?


----------

