[Will]

Originally Posted by track73

Way back ... he said "did you ever hear of Pontiac rod bolts breaking?"....

Everyone's heard that stock rods are the weak link in the Pontiac bottom end. And more often than not it was the rod bolt that failed (stretched or outright broke), allowing the bearing to spin and seize on the crank which then broke the rod.

You can run stock rods out to pretty high RPM with good reliability if you take certain precautions. One of those being replacing the stock bolts with ARPs. The biggest issue with stock rods is you rarely know what kind of life they lived before you got them so it's hard to determine how much life is left in them. That coupled with all of the work that needs to be done to make them reliable means they aren't a cost effective solution when building a high HP motor.

[Mister Pontiac]

If I understand the OP's question, he is simply asking about which "good running" existing engine to buy for a "back burner" kind of project.

If that's correct, first choice is the 455. From here, my advice is likely to run counter to most, but I say simply install it, fire it up, and drive it. If it has any issues, it will let you know fairly quickly, and you can always pull it back out. Not a big deal.

Case in point... I bought a complete 'unknown' 428 about 8 years ago off of a Craig's ad out of Chicago. Supposedly it hadn't been apart since Pontiac assembled it in 1967 and had been pirated from a wrecked GP in 1971 with something like 30K miles on it. If the story is true, this engine had not run in over 40 years.

I thought, well, who knows? Maybe she still has life in her? So I turned it over a couple times, drained the oil, pulled the valve covers for inspection (ugly), pre-oiled it, dropped it in my wagon, and fired it up. That was nearly 15,000 miles ago. Oh sure, she leaks like a sieve, won't rev much beyond 4500, but she's still rolling along. Her turn will come for a rebuild, but probably not for another couple years. I'm just having too much fun driving it.

Oh, and this is not the first time I've done this. Probably won't be the last. Heck, it's almost fun to bring one back from the dead with minimal effort.

Buy the 455, install it, and drive it.

[JLuger]

Originally Posted by Mister Pontiac

If I understand the OP's question, he is simply asking about which "good running" existing engine to buy for a "back burner" kind of project.

If that's correct, first choice is the 455. From here, my advice is likely to run counter to most, but I say simply install it, fire it up, and drive it. If it has any issues, it will let you know fairly quickly, and you can always pull it back out. Not a big deal.

Case in point... I bought a complete 'unknown' 428 about 8 years ago off of a Craig's ad out of Chicago. Supposedly it hadn't been apart since Pontiac assembled it in 1967 and had been pirated from a wrecked GP in 1971 with something like 30K miles on it. If the story is true, this engine had not run in over 40 years.

I thought, well, who knows? Maybe she still has life in her? So I turned it over a couple times, drained the oil, pulled the valve covers for inspection (ugly), pre-oiled it, dropped it in my wagon, and fired it up. That was nearly 15,000 miles ago. Oh sure, she leaks like a sieve, won't rev much beyond 4500, but she's still rolling along. Her turn will come for a rebuild, but probably not for another couple years. I'm just having too much fun driving it.

Oh, and this is not the first time I've done this. Probably won't be the last. Heck, it's almost fun to bring one back from the dead with minimal effort.

Buy the 455, install it, and drive it.

That's the plan 👊👊

[JLuger]

Well I might get lucky here the sellar set me a photo telling me the motor is out and ready for pickup. I pretty sure thats a pivot stud for Zbar so crank might be drilled.

[JLuger]

Got the 455 today and even though I said I wouldn't pull anything apart I did. Timing chain was a little loose so pulled cover,intake and valley pan everything looks nice and clean.
Found an intake to replace the egr one. And a set of exhaust manifolds. Didn't get lucky on crank bushing is just a little to big
Looks like I'll have to figure out a way to turn it down some.

[jww]

U did good.........
Have fun, be safe with that awesome power and keep us posted!

[JLuger]

[QUOTE=jww;6104624]U did good.........
Have fun, be safe with that awesome power and keep us

Thanks sure will.

[steve25]

Those 4X head castings look like there pressed in rocker studs in which case you do not want to run a Cam of over .450" lift and do not buzz the motor over 5200 rpm if the valve springs will allow you to go that high.

[JLuger]

Originally Posted by steve25

Those 4X head castings look like there pressed in rocker studs in which case you do not want to run a Cam of over .450" lift and do not buzz the motor over 5200 rpm if the valve springs will allow you to go that high.

Thank Steve the heads are 4X -H 1 with pressed in studs. I was debating about changing the cam but then should I also do the heads? Where does it stop. It seems like a low milage motor that had a stock rebuilt or was resealed not to long ago the camshaft looks good not sure if it's been changed before the only marking I see are CWC and 524 009. I've had a couple of 389 4 speed Goats never a 455 kinda curious what kinda power it will have. Right now waiting on timing chain parts and exhaust manifolds
Also getting it prepped for paint the gold/orange gotta go.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Some info that I've read here, even fairly clean 455's of this era will have a flat lobe or two. Pontiac's are real easy to see lobes, from top.

The very front lobe in your picture, which would be cyl #2 exh lobe, looks shiny all the way across lobe, if so that lobe is going flat...

[JLuger]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Some info that I've read here, even fairly clean 455's of this era will have a flat lobe or two. Pontiac's are real easy to see lobes, from top.

The very front lobe in your picture, which would be cyl #2 exh lobe, looks shiny all the way across lobe, if so that lobe is going flat...

I that had that happen on my last 389 Picture may be deceiving I'm going to take a better look. Do the markings on the cam date it?

[77 TRASHCAN]

A factory Pontiac cam has a letter on the gear end that tells what the cam is. I’ve seen a couple factory cams that had no such letter. You have to take the cam gear off the see the letter. The cam that is supposedly in your 455 is the 067 grind.

[JLuger]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

A factory Pontiac cam has a letter on the gear end that tells what the cam is. I’ve seen a couple factory cams that had no such letter. You have to take the cam gear off the see the letter. The cam that is supposedly in your 455 is the 067 grind.

Ok thanks, that what I figured.

[JLuger]

I'm going to pull the cam to inspect if it nds replacing what would I want to replace it with? I not going to do heads now. But I am going to look around for a taller gear maybe a 2,93 or 3,08 for interstate cruising should that be taking into consideration on choice.

[JLuger]

Originally Posted by JLuger

I'm going to pull the cam to inspect if it nds replacing what would I want to replace it with? I not going to do heads now. But I am going to look around for a taller gear maybe a 2,93 or 3,08 for interstate cruising should that be taking into consideration on choice.

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

A factory Pontiac cam has a letter on the gear end that tells what the cam is. I’ve seen a couple factory cams that had no such letter. You have to take the cam gear off the see the letter. The cam that is supposedly in your 455 is the 067 grind.

It has a B on the gear end?

[phil400]

Originally Posted by JLuger

I'm going to pull the cam to inspect if it nds replacing what would I want to replace it with? I not going to do heads now. But I am going to look around for a taller gear maybe a 2,93 or 3,08 for interstate cruising should that be taking into consideration on choice.

068, works with all fhe stock stuff and your rear gear.