[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by charles bledsoe

I have a 72 455 HO Formula and found out that the block is not original to the car. The block is actualy a 73 2 bolt main and was put in by the dealer under warranty work. The dealer even sprayed the engine the darker blue paint i guess showing it was brought up to emmision standards. Parts of the engine still have the lighter blue paint, these areas i guess were hard to reach when the engine was repainted. Everything else but the distributor is numbers matching. I'm guessing that the distributor was changed out during the early 80's due to convenience? The car has a Pontiac 301 distributor on it.

I contacted Butler and asked if they had a 72 replacement block or could the one I have be machined to accept the 4 bolt caps. I was told to leave it alone, that it wouldn't make that much of a difference, and that the cost outweighs the benefit. I don't ever plan on racing the car, but one day someone will want to sell it and would be looking at re-sale value. Just looking for advice from the experts!
Thanks.

If you check your build sheet OR PHS you will likely find that it came with K65 Unitized Ignition.........(I believe it was standard equipment in ALL LS5 72 Formula's)

This was the forerunner to HEI & there were NEVER any aftermarket parts available for it,wires included.

They were commonly swapped out (for an HEI or standard points style distributor) when ANY replacement parts were required,as GM replacement parts were quite expensive,back in the day....