Buick to Buick Swap

Post by **Rossco** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:16 pm

Omex looks interesting, however I have a natural aversion to websites that dont have prices on them.

Usually means they want to spend an hour justifying the price to you

Post by **Rossco** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:28 pm

The 455 is off down to Vulcan Engines in a few weeks for a +0.030 bore, line hone, crank grind and deck height equalisation.

Bloody expensive but the only people who wanted to touch it.

.........and yes I tried everyone

r2d2hp · Post by **r2d2hp** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:37 pm

Did you try this place Allan

Bob Harman Performance Ltd - Watford - UK101-107 Sutton Road, Watford, WD17 2QG, UK. Telephone:. work(01923) 224303

http://www.bobharman.com/

Have not used Vulcan recently but once bitten

Post by **Rossco** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:42 pm

r2d2hp wrote:Have not used Vulcan recently but once bitten

Care to elaborate?

r2d2hp · Post by **r2d2hp** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:21 pm

A friend has his Essex done by them a few years back and it was returned with some bit missing. As far as I can tell the work it self was ok but the engine has only done about 1000 miles.

Many years back they made me some exhaust manifolds. RH was fine but LH angled towards the floor. Took it back and that cut and re welded but it then just fowled the tunnel and floor. Took it back again but it was never right.

Think in recent years its been taken over so maybe its ok now

Bob's is ex Rolls Royce as are most of his staff. Think he has a very good name.

Post by **Rossco** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:24 am

Been in touch with Bob and he doesn't have the capacity to do the work I need.

Cheers anyway for the info but I'm sticking with Vulcan as the only other alternative would be David Eales at Osseli

CastleMGBV8 · Post by **CastleMGBV8** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:56 am

Rossco wrote:The 455 is off down to Vulcan Engines in a few weeks for a +0.030 bore, line hone, crank grind and deck height equalisation.

Bloody expensive but the only people who wanted to touch it.

.........and yes I tried everyone

How much did Vulcan quote you for that work?

You could try Southern Engineering services in Charlton London SE7, they have done work for me on my new 4.35 Rover. Bore + 30 and hone was £160.00 and decking the block would probably be about £80.00 you'll have to ask re the crank. I suppose the size and weight of a 455 block adds a bit of a problem.

Kevin.

Give Alan a call on 0208 858 8539

Post by **Rossco** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:32 pm

CastleMGBV8 wrote:How much did Vulcan quote you for that work?

You could try Southern Engineering services in Charlton London SE7, they have done work for me on my new 4.35 Rover. Bore + 30 and hone was £160.00 and decking the block would probably be about £80.00 you'll have to ask re the crank. I suppose the size and weight of a 455 block adds a bit of a problem.

Kevin.

Give Alan a call on 0208 858 8539

Kevin, Hi

All in it'll be the best part of £750.

Weight isn't that bad. Complete engine all up at 640lbs. Dimensions are surprisingly close to the Rover.

The main issue is the 455 has to be bored using torque plates. It's a thin wall casting and there is no room for misaligned bores or tapered bores.

I'll try them anyway.

Cheers

Post by **Rossco** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:27 pm

Well quick update.

Not done much due to family problems but what I have done is blow my budget wide open.

Original plan was for a mild tune at around 380bhp. Having spent months looking at value for money against budget I've decided to go with a more radical build involving alloy heads and forged pistons.

Cam will be quite a bit more wild than I had planned on but the addition of a 'switch pitch' TH400 transmission means I can run a much more radical cam and still get the two tonne beats off the mark in rapid order.

So the spec so far should be closer to 500bhp and around 600ft/lbs

Best estimates from the guys in the USA is that as the Rangie weighs less than the cars they run I should be able to get the old Rangie into the sub 13 second quarter quite easily.

Of course any time now I'm just as likely to fit a couple of M112's and really go for it

Post by **Coops** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:39 pm

nice one mate,
if you dont use the M112's give us a shout mate, as i know a 3.9 thats begging for a bit of forced induction

you still got the inlet manifold you had the 112 on on the rover?

Post by **Rossco** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:40 pm

I've still got the prototype manifold which could be modded to make a good basis for an M112.

I'll dig it out after I get back from the Ukraine on the 29th.

Post by **Coops** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:19 pm

cheers mate,

Post by **Rossco** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:53 am

Well having decided that there's not a single engine builder in the UK who I would trust with this engine the project has taken a right turn.

I'm now going to buy a turnkey engine and trans from TriShield in Minneapolis.

I'm going for what they call a Level 1A+ engine. Same as the Level 1AH found at the link below but with more cubes and a bit more fettling in the right places.

Extras include:

Offset ground crank to give +15 cubes
Longer Eagle H-Beam rods for better rod ratio and angle, also gives zero deck height.
More porting work on the alloy heads with a competition valve job.
More radical cam profile. Cam specs are 288in 292ex and .525" lift.
Larger Holley 4150 1000cfm carb.
Re-curved dizzy with MSD mag pick-up

http://www.trishieldperf.com/level_1a_engine.htm

The extras should add a few more horses to the dyno graph

http://www.trishieldperf.com/level_1_ah_engine.htm

Hoping that we'll see 600 on the dyno sheet.

Post by **Coops** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:26 pm

sweeet mate,

also did you ever sort that manifold out?

Post by **Rossco** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:53 pm

it's sat in the kitchen as we write