Buick 455 Dyno Testing at CIA Performance! After 23 years, how strong is it? From Lucore Automotive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ส.ค. 2020
- Following up on our Big Block Wars video where we tested 4 popular classic american muscle car motors the 454 Chevy, 455 Pontiac, 455 Oldsmobile, and 451 Mopar we were asked by a LOT of people to test a 455 Buick well... here you go! Sorta. We happened to actually HAVE a 455 Buick in Rich's personal 1965 Buick Skylark "Grand Sport clone" that he had purchased a while back and we figured it was worth a test. In a road test it certainly FEELS and SOUNDS healthy, why not strap it down to the dyno at CIA Performance to see just exactly how it does.
So a little bit of background here is appropriate to appreciate this car and engine. This car had its new car smell and daily driver duties that began after leaving the Fremont California assembly plant. After its tiring life of work and gofer duties it was built into a manual shift Nostalgia Super Stock car and raced for many years out west. It was purchased by a gentleman in Texas in the mid 90s as a roller who built it into the car you see today. He then took it to the 1997 GS Nationals and won its class. After that it was purchased by another fella in Ohio who occasionally enjoyed it in then got to rest in an old Ohio barn.
The motor, as far as we can tell, hasn't been modified since its rebuild in 1997. So that's 23 YEARS of racecar duty at local tracks and national events, countless car shows and cruises, who know how many trips to get ice cream with the kids. This thing is NOT a fresh Buick 455 in it's current form but it IS still quite stout sounds great and puts a smile on faces all the time.
With all that background, we wanted to run this car for 3 purposes.
1) To make a video for all you Buick guys out there asking for one, even though it's not a freshly rebuilt Stage 1 monster it's still impressive.
2) Because tuning a motor in the car, in the natural air, with accessories and transmission/wheels/tires, gives you a much more honest experience of power.
3) It is an incredibly useful diagnostic tool for trouble shooting and improving performance as well as drive-ability of a car. As you'll see in the video there are things we found out in this testing you literally couldn't find out any other way.
Huge thanks to Eric and the team at CIA Performance for hosting us once again for this video, we wouldn't be as successful and able to do the things we do without you all! We know it's not the biggest meanest thing you've tested but hopefully you enjoyed some Old School American Muscle Car sounds for the morning! Also thank you to TA Performance for the excellent valve cover gaskets to get rid of our pesky little leak!
Lucore Automotive is a small independent american small business located just outside Columbus Ohio. While we are a full service shop that maintains and repairs countless daily drivers we are also well known for our work on classics, race cars, and collector cars.
We would like to thank all of our friends, fans, follower, supporters, subscribers, and most importantly customers for being here with us! Without the wonderful people who let us work on their toys, and help their dreams come true we wouldn't be in business!
Music provided by and licensed through Hooksounds.com
"Road Trip" - Nicolai Heidlas - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Say what you will about old school muscle, but that SOUND of an angry rumbling Big Block! We had to film this with so many Buick folk responding to our Big Block Wars video so here you go! What's next for this Buick 455? Well... let us know what YOU think!
Very nice Buick, might frown but I built a 455 and put it into a 66 Chevy fleetside pick up, with a four speed. Stock rebuild with a stout cam, headers and performance intake. All parts came from that company that always advertised with a small add in the back of car magazine's, forget the name, it's been a moment. Great car.
These things could make colossal low and grunt, perfect for either destroying tires and pushing a big heavy muscle car down the road OR a serious work truck! Remember cR magazines? Flipping through pages and oogling at the "cover cars"? Feels like a different life ago!
Thats the same direction I'm going with my 84 square body
In 1965 It wasn't called a GS. It was a Gran Sport. I had a red one, original 401 cubic inches known as the 445 for the torque number, 325 horsepower, factory four speed, dark red buckets, black vinyl top, what a great muscle car! Did really well up until about 1969 when the factories were unleashing much more horsepower for street cars. Then bought a Ram Air IV Gto...
Stage 1 option was heads, cam, distributor, fuel pump, carb, and gears ! The BB th400 trans was Stage 1 specific All have part numbers to validate its a stage 1 optioned engine/car..
Given this is a "GS Clone" and a '65 it's highly unlikely this is an ACTUAL stage 1 motor. More than likely just built to perform and look like one. BUT if we ever have the guts to pull it out... we'll see ;)
@@LucoreAuto The engine is obviously a replacement engine. The original motor that would've been in that car would've been a nail head. Probably a 364....or a six.
Buick didn't put 430 heads on the 455. They developed a high performance version of the head that was normally offered with that engine.
Very nice car. Enjoyed the video. Sort the small stuff & drive the wheels of it.
Thank you! It's actually going to go through a bit of tweaking and improving this winter to be ready for spring 2023. The '70 LeMans is very motivational ;)
Just not enough like buttons for me, I’m 63 and been a Buick lover all of my life. Once had a 67 Riviera GS, and a 1970 GS 455 Stage 1 Convertible I Like the GS Stage 2 hood scoop on that, sweet Buick.the stock 68 Buick 430 made 360 advertised HP.
We actually happen to be pretty big Buick fans ourselves, not sure if you saw the Riviera video we did a couple weeks back? Lots of modifications to make some very pretty wheels work.
We also have a 425 nail head at the machine shop that you'll be seeing in the not too distant future as well
@@LucoreAuto can’t wait for that one, a family friend back in the 70’s could squeeze every ounce of power out of a Buick. He had 2 Rivs, a 67 & a 66 GS 425 wit 2 quads, his 66 was the silver grey and he put a set of thrush side pipes on it. Back when Eat N Park had the car hops we would go in there and the people laughed when they seen the side pipes, when he called them out for a run they never came back but we did. Little did they know he put the. Side pipes on to below away the sa
T on the roads in Pittsburgh for better traction before it snowed.
Beautiful Buick! Nice Car Fellas! I just love that its a GS Clone! Smiles per gallon as they say!
Thanks Dan! It's definitely a had turner and WAY more unique since it's a Buick! She's definitely better to measure on smiles per gallon versus miles per gallon ;)
Love that buick!!!!
So do we! It's not the most comfortable daily but it sure sounds looks and GOES great!
Not far off my numbers from many years ago. Car ran 12.4's all day long. That was a 70 stage 1, ported, SP-1, Holley. Everyone said it would not run 12's but it did.
With how hard this thing leaves it definitely feels like it will be in the low 13s pretty easily mid 12s possibly. There are a few opportunities for improvement for sure but it's a pretty stout Buick! Especially when you consider this motor has been together for 23 YEARS of racing and cruising, that's very VERY solid motor!
I Had a 70 GS Stage 1 455 convertible as a 17 year old, I’m 63 now and wish I still had it
Great looking and sounding buick. My dad just bought a 65 skylark convertible, cool cars!
Great Video nice Buick !!!!
Thank you! It's had some experiences over the years and likely some new ones ahead of it next year!
Also agree hood scoop needs gone .
The rocker arms appear to be the 1:55 ratio stamped steel units. Nothing wrong with them as I ran them in all my Buick 455s. With a correctly designed camshaft, they last a long time on the street. Make sure you use an engine oil with sufficient anti-wear additives to deal with these old school loose fit rocker arms as they tend to scuff / wear on the underside of the rocker shaft over time.
What oil do you recommend?
Also I had a 72 350 gs purple with white interior.but could not keep a good trans in that car .after the 5th trans starting the same problems shifting from 2nd to 3rd . I was sick of changing trans,s and sold the car .now I with I would of just changed it to a 4speed . As motor was very strong .good running motor .my brother also had a 66 it was a good gray car black interior .auto
Had a stock 70 GS with 350 / 315 HP and stock 3 speed stick posi . What a little ripper ! Miss that car more now I learned very few built with that floor shifted Saginaw gear box . I live in Buick City now for 70 young years . Got a early gs 400 engine and tranny still . For sale
Almost never ever use the K&N top hat, seen the issues myself on the flow bench. It is so thick the air gap height inside the breather is often (not always) too short. The very reason logically to use it is to supplement air with limited hood clearance, results differ! :-)
it took me a bit to find hope u guys enjoy
Big carb Buick runs!
Great video with good presentation. Looks like a good candidate for a bolt on EFI conversion.
That is 100% in the cards, good guess! First the question is, do we fiddle with carb and tuning first and rerun it to see what gains we get.. or go straight to EFI?
Lucore Auto and LucoreRacing I say go straight for the EFI. Enjoy the drivability, crisp throttle response, and precise AFR’s. Like changing jets with a few “clicks” on the programmer to dial in the optimum for power on the next dump session.
Some 430 heads are better than you think, The tall port version 430 heads flow better then the stage 1 heads with mild port work ...
This motor has been between the fenders as far as we can tell since the mid 90s without any rebuild or upgrade work done. It runs SO well we can't make ourselves take it apart, though we will definitely conquer a few little issues to make sure it's running the best it can. One would imagine at least a little work has been to these 430 heads but.... who knows?
I'd like to see how that engine would respond to a Holley Sniper TBI. It should solve all your fuel metering issues. If that air filter hasn't been serviced lately, it may just be restrictive because it's dirty. I'm surprised you didn't put in fresh spark plugs before the pulls.
FWIW, it would have been nice to have been given the 1/4 mile E.T.'s that sweet old GranSport ran while at the G.S. Nationals back whenever. Perhaps the owner doesn't know, but if he did....I would have been mighty curious as to what she ran. Thx and God Bless from jbeinarizona.
Outstanding find. Wondering where the initial and all in timing was set? Looks like that dog will hunt. 👍
We're actually going over all that and some upgrades in a future video. There's definitely some performance left on the table we can find ;)
Idle seems very low probably wants to run around 900-950 but initial timing will take care of that.
@@karlsracing8422 idle may be just a tad bit low but not by much. The timing could very possibly use some adjustments as could the carburetor obviously you'll see that in the video.
Love it!! 430 Buick oil thru rocker shafts. 455 thru the push rods like a chevy. How do they change heads and make it oil the valve train?
You can put all the older heads on newer blocks but not the other way. Also the 430 rockers will also oil through the pushrod just need to use the correct lifter and pushrod.
Dyno's are fun ( =) ).
Interesting results.
Would've been nice to see how the power numbers would've changed, had you plopped on a generic chrome open element housing and a regular ol' Napa air filter, while it was hooked up to the dyno.
We joked about that in filming actually, like how much of a difference DO these make. The change in AFRs really threw us, seems to look like it was tuned to run no filter at all. Which IS possible given its racing history.
@@LucoreAuto seems like many have seen excessive turbulence with those filter lids and oddly enough putting a solid lid back on will straighten it out. That comment about the fuel pushing sounds related too. Great car :)
@@wtdonovan Well it also complicated the situation that this car has a hood scoop so at speed it's likely creating positive pressure pushing down on that vented filter. BUT, on the dyno we aren't creating that same sort of hair flow.
Thanks for the watch and the comment!
Not the biggest fan of the hood scoop but still a beautiful car
To be quite honest, neither are we BUT because it's been this way for 20+ years it's going to stay as is. It's a really fun vehicle even despite the power ANYTHING and a great time capsule to take you back to "how things used to be"
The power-loss with the air-filter may be because you get more vacuum in the carburator leading to the accelerators bleeding even more/earlier.
That's very possible. One thing Eric and I always discuss is the importance of tuning an engine how it will ACTUALLY be run not in the perfect conditions. One of the major downfalls to the engine dyno setup it's no where NEAR what is a "real life scenario".
All in all though for how much time and abuse is on this Buick motor we were pretty impressed by the numbers it put down to the rollers!
@@LucoreAuto I totally agree!
7:08
7:55
Total content in this video = less than 30 seconds
Video length = over 19 minutes.
You're welcome, i didn't waste your time :)
Well Jeez thanks for giving away the fun parts! ;) If all you are after is motor sounds on a dyno yes, you are correct. Hopefully you watched the full 19 minutes though.. and thanks for the comment!
you're welcome :)
and no i didn't watch 19 minutes of it. just watched the parts i was interested in
@@Hardy_H_H well vroom vroom rumble rumble hope you at least enjoyed that part
@@LucoreAuto I did enjoy brother, been driving, fixing, hot rodding and generally messing with buicks for 35 years :)
@@Hardy_H_H well good. Once this muscle car sickness there really is no cure, not even money can get you away from it!
Fix the carb/fuel delivery and upgrade the distributor/timing and you'll be really surprised, more power you will to pick up
give love to kenny
Seems someone might have left out the little weight above the rear accelerator check ball and it sucking it up off its seat, been there done that
Something definitely ain't right, but that's why you test! We bring this up a little in the video but one of the best parts of dyno testing isn't the end results it's the data and knowledge you can walk away with!
With we learned from this experience we will likely be making a few changes then taking her back to see our results. What's honestly even more impressive is this thing has been driven and raced for 23 YEARS without the motor being touched and it made THOSE kinds of numbers! Does beg the question if we did a full rebuild and ran it... ;)
@@LucoreAuto yep its a testament to the guy who built it, just because its a performance or race engine don't mean it should have a short life span or be unreliable
I miss the days in engine you still look like a piece of jewel, now you pop the hood and you can't even see the valve covers😢
if you guys get this take a look
If we get this? Message received!
What kind of heads u got on there
Is there more option to build the 455 compared to the 340-4 engine
Ohhh very much so, you can build all sorts of things with the 455 with a very good selection of aftermarket parts available. Stock to mild to wild it's pretty much all available.
Did i miss the peak hp numbers of the other car?
Of which car?
Man, what a disappointment with that air cleaner. I've never run one, but have always thought they look just bitchen' as hell AND classy to boot. I'm so sick of seeing the same old chrome Edelbrock units (no dis to Edelbrock at all) that have been around forever. I really thought that that air cleaner like is on this Buick in the vid would breathe just fantastically. I wonder what in the world is causing such restrictive flow with it? I swear, I never would have guessed it would be such a bad filter. That's a shame....absolutely a shame.
Get easy stuff fixed you found with carb ,pipes and ignition .and a new timing chain .then Dino it again and walla you I’m sure will gain another 40 to 50 hp. But run without air filter as that engine needs all the air it can get .
Stinger ignition and 4 size bigger jets in carb
It's fuel and ignition!!
That must be a dished piston low compression 400 or 430. Certainly not a 10:1 455. You are missing at least 100 ft. lbs. from where it easily could be. In reality the higher output 350 is rated above this motor in both horsepower and torque.
Can I drag race it???
Nice car, minus the wheels/tires,...and that hood scoop really needs to go, 60's cars had the best maroons, all manufacturers. No glitter in the paint
Bigger exhaust more carb!!!
Cam is not dialed in
Nice car, minus the wheels/tires,...and that hood scoop really needs to go, 60's cars had the best maroons, all manufacturers.
Agree regarding the scoop, but disagree about the wheels. The Buick Rallye wheels were the wheel of choice back in the day, and they were beautiful. Now, everyone wants 19s-20s, which IMO, makes the car look like dog shit.
It don't take 9000
to much bull
Pardon?
@@LucoreAuto to much talking no buick stuf
@@donpratt9872 there's a lot of talking in this because there's a LOT of data to talk about. As for the Buick stuff, watch the more recent video where we ran the 455 Buick on the dyno!