Thread: Everybody that is currently building a car...

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A few other shots of the Bmer Brickman...n thanx a mill for the kudo's.
You too Falcon, comments like that from fellow car crafters, im sure u agree mean far more than any critique from any other source.
In a Word, Yes, that IS a whole lotta mtr in that car, I don't show underhood installed pics of the car, nor do i often open the hood in public( i have since these picks made the HOOD lift off with 4 pins, and a 4" cowl, but still the stock steel hood)..u'de b quite surprised as i was when i 1st bought the car as a driver for 5k, at how much room there is under the hood of this lil devil.
Then too, for the cube capacity of 543" for the production 455 Buick Block, they are nearly the same weight(less than 50lbs more) as a SBC when both ar3e dressed in cast from the factory and 150 less than a BBC. Add alum heads(TA Performance makes Stage 2 alum dupes of the Stage 2 Head 1 accepts the Stage 1 exhaust, the full tilt version only accepts Stage 2 exh, and Edelbrock make alum dupes of the Stage 1 Head)intake and headers to both and the 455 Buick is near 10lbs LESS than an SBC, and still 165lbs less than a simularly equiped BBC, That liteweight is somewhat of a neg as well as a pos tho, since the TQ laden lw rpm nature of the BBB is very stressfull on the lite block, and strokers in production blocks require some "band aids" in order to hold up, especially at RPM's over 6k, and BIG SOLID roller cams should b left to race only situations since they tend to crack the lifter valley, even with some bracin in that area(i have scattered both a 523 n a 535 from what remained of that due to this, lifter valley cracks, u drop a valve n thas that).
Fortunately, up to 493, w/ attention to detail and good strong parts are more than u can shake a stick at and produce some unreal power numbers.. even so, tho u can retain the stock forged steel rods unless u stroke, and the stock nodular iron crank to 496 if u like, pretty much no matter what ya do, by 930whp in most situations the block isn't gonna last long, reason being is that by that point the thing's gonna b makin in excess of 1000lb/ft tq, at least 100 more than the block can take. TA Performance now produces the defunct BullDogg Engineering style iron after market Block and their own Alum aftermarket block, either of which will take up to 2200bhp and up to 604 cubes. I actually HAD a 573" BullDogg block version w/ the TA Stage 2 alum Heads 764bhp@6230rpm/714lb/ft TQ@4110rpm @ 9-1 on 92 octane; this with a flat tappet solid cam of LESS than .650 lift n only 298*/314* duration.
Whats in the car now is the engine in the picture, which was built out of the 70 Stage 1 455 that i originally crafted the car together with after the car was a driver with it, with the intake and carb from the strokers, but with headers rather than exhaust mans as it was before the strokers. Didn't wanna buy 2 sets of headers so only bought a set for Stage 2, none for stage 1. After the 535 i bought stage 1 headers b4 reinstallin the 464.
With the 523 and the 535 they lasted long enuff for me to realize that it was gonna take a lot more chasis and a lot more tire to make any use of the 573 and by the time it was done, i decided i was having too much fun out of my car to sink another 5-6k into it jus to have somethin more exotic and expensive to repair. I can make in excess of 800bhp on the spray with the lil Hydraulic flat tappet 464 which is bout the most i can effectively plant anyway. lost bout 3k on the sale of the 573 since at the time of sale, BullDogg engineering was no longer producin the blocks, they made less than 120 before stopping, but thats better than 6k more to have somethin i don't think i would have enjoyed as much.