[ponyakr]

i posted some of this on a thread comparing 60 & 80lb oil pumps. but i'll include it here as part of my engine building specs. in the old days, nunzi & H-O were the only pontiac guys i knew about. read where H-O said 60# was needed 2 overcome the centrifical force of the oil already in the large mains of the 455 at 6000 rpm(obviously not an exact quote) so i assumed this info 2 be accurate & ordered an 80# spring & cup kit for my melling pump. later on i decided 2 just shim the 60# spring & save $. worked just as good. some recommend .060 shim--thicker shim=more press. many now talk ugly about 80# press--infering that many parts will suffer premature failure with more than 60#. many say 60# is plenty if every brg clearance is exactly correct & if the oil viscosity is exactly correct for the clearances used. maybe thats why some shops get 12 grand for a mild 455 crate motor--gettin all those clearances exactly correct--you think? if you've got the $--buy it! for the rest of us--i'll tell you what i did. if the brg & crank looked good, i just put new brgs in it, along with a 500 caddy rear seal(for big journals) & bolted it in. if the journals looked bad, i bought a reground crank/brg kit & bolted it in. either way--who knows what the clearances were? so for a little ins, i ran 80# press, 50wt racin oil & a can of stp (the thick, slick, gooey stuff). & lo & behold it worked--never lost a 455 drag motor. either just lucky or blessed i reckin!

[ponyakr]

as promised , TJ's 1st year '68 bird. notice front of goat up--because its motor was in bird. notice the channel iron motor puller between 2 trees in my outdoor shop. hey, you gotta start somewhere. this was her 1st attempt at race car lettering. she gets her 1st racin ink in the local paper.

[ponyakr]

once i saw H-O's oil galley plug set, i made it standard equip for all 455's. 1 had a small hole in it 2 squirt extra oil onto the cam & dist gears. i never lost 1 455 bracket racing--1000's of passes. didn't keep records of each motor, but i estimate i built 8-10 455's like this. raced em all, then either sold em or gave em away. the only 1 that failed was our last drag motor from '87. after retiring the bracket car, i let a dirt racer put the motor in his 2nd gen dirt car. if i remember correctly, he had a flat in his heat race, so had 2 start the feature from the rear. he passed everybody but the leader before the brgs got tired of runnin without oil & gave up. i was so dumb about dirt racin, i ran the stock oil pan--that won't work--will suck the pan dry. must have extra capacity & kickouts at the bottom 2 keep the pick-up submerged in oil at all times. i wasted a good 455 thru ignorance! i also ran H-O's oil filter bypass plug in all my motors. many think you should keep the bypass. another 1 of those back & forth debate topics. after 1 ballooned filter, i always used napa 1258 filter. i've read that a wix 51258 is the same filter & it is cheaper than the napa from many sources. i also used pipe cleaners in the pushrods 2 slighty restrict flow 2 the top end. i know this gags some of you guys--so if you got the $--buy restricted pushrods any way you want em. when i 1st read about the pipe cleaner trick, it made sense 2 me. it imediately reminded me of the metering rods in a q-jet. the bigger the tip--the smaller the passage--thus less flow. it worked great for me in lots of motors--never melted a spring or anything terrible like that. another word about oil--everybody has their favorite. most of the good stuff is 10-$15 a quart now--if you got the $, buy it. if not, you can use the diesel oil-- 15w-40--rotella t is higher--delo is cheaper--both have zinc. otherwise you'll have 2 buy a good oil additive with the zinc & stuff needed 2 keep flat tappets alive. ps: i am well aware that a motor will make more power using thin oil ,with the proper clearances & lower press. having said that, i'll remind all readers that what i am presenting here is what i did because i didn't have the big buck 2 do everything precisely correct.

[ponyakr]

the last 455 i built was the only 1 that had forged rods. i found out they were runnin off another batch of 455 sd rods. it may have been the last batch ever--don't know for sure. some of you guys may know those production dates. seems like i remember buyin a set & keepin em for several years before using em--sorta fuzzy on that. anyhow, all the other 455's i built had stock, cast rods--& i don't ever remember having 1 rebuilt. i do remember always takin several extra rods 2 the machine shop when it was time 2 press on the new pistons. & i remember buying new rod bolts, but can't remember the brand. again, just replaced the stock ones--never had 1 resized--yes, i know that ain't rite, but thats what i did, & got by with it. i tried 2 make 5000 rpm the red line on stock rod 455's, & set the rev limiter at 5500. i guess it worked--never lost a cast rod 455. could have gone quicker with more gear & higher rpms--but that would have been just a waste of $--same class--same purse. "oogene"(a friend i've memtioned) put 4.56 gears in his 68 bird(the 1 i have now) & said he crossed at 6000 rpm with his cast rod 455. i told him he'd better hold his breath when he crossed--but it never blew. i think he got into the hi 11's--i'll ask next time i talk 2 him. i've wondered how the stock class cars are going so fast now with 40 year old cast rods--then found out nhra started allowing aftermarket forged rods some years back. just wonderin--what is the upper limits you guys have heard of--whats the highest rpm you've heard of anybody turning a stock rod 455 & having it thrive & survive? now, we don't have 2 worry about stock rods anymore--there's plenty of cheap chineese rods now. but, again, if you've got the $, buy the best american made stuff money can buy!

[ponyakr]

as best i can recall at this moment--when i bought my goat in the spring of '69, i had never seen a pontiac piston. after racin that car thru the '73-'74 seasons, i had still never seen a pontiac piston--the heads & intake had never been off. when i decided 2 rig that car & a 68 bird up 2 run nhra stock elim competitively, i didn't have a second 400 2 build for the bird. so i decided 2 kill 2 birds with 1 stone. so i borrowed my dads truck & me & a local chevy racer(ys) went 2 big d & checked out some big area junkyards. found & bought a complete 400 with the chrome vc & q-jet still on it. also bought a good muncie 4-speed. that second bird that was killed on this trip was 2 stop in terrel & pick up 35 cases of coors on the way back home. we stashed them in ys's shop. the nhra rule book said factory gm pistons only--but as i've mentioned, gm was out at the time. now, at this point, my total ignorance & lack of experience surfaced again. if i could go back & do it now, i'd just order trw forged replacement pistons--since they were never checked. but i knew the stock pistons were cast-- so the closest thing(in my mind) was napa cast replacements--which were not up 2 the task of drag racin. so i suppose the napas were the 1st pistons i ever saw that would fit a pontiac. after i got the bird on the track, gm got their new batch of pistons--so i bought a set & took em 2 the machine shop. that was the 1st gm pontiac piston i ever saw. after that, trw forged were the best pistons i ever bought. never bought any ross, venolia, etc. hi dollar stuff. i did have a machine shop cut a set of trw's for locks for the roller motor in 76. they either did it wrong or used bad snap ring locks, cause 1 came out imediately & messed up a cylinder wall. they had 2 install a sleeve, which they botched--well i won't go there again rite now. from that time on, i used nothing but press on, forged, trw flat tops. plenty good for hi 11-12 sec bracket motors. but with the current price of trw's(or whatever they are called now) crowding $400, there are probably better values out there. maybe KB or? never used 1 of the hyper-whatever type pistons so i can't comment on those. if you got plenty of $--don't give it another thought--buy ross like you want em & lite pins--why not?

[ponyakr]

i have a tech ? for ya'll--concerning rods/pistons. while dirt racin, i began rounding up parts 2 build a 350p. a quick check revealed that no cheap forged pistons are still avail for the 350. i eventually found a set of nos trw's. but, before that, i discussed the situation with my engine builder. he checked a few specs & determined that some trw's to fit other makes with about the same bore size just mite work & would be cheaper than other currently available forged 350 pistons, even with the extra machine work that mite be involved. this concept was totaly out there 2 me--i'd never heard of such. i assumed that the pin height & offset had 2 be rite or they wouldn't work. i've since read where some run pistons backwards in order 2 gain a slite advantage of some sort-- so there went my pin offset theory. & by using big block chevy rods, many lenghhs are avail.--so that makes the necessaary pin height variable. all this means that there may be several rod/piston combinations that will work on pontiac motors without the rod or the piston having been originally designed 2 fit a pontiac. but all the math & measurements required 2 figure out these combos are way out beyond my knowhow. but i feel sure that there are several who post on this site who can easily make these calculations & some who may even enjoy the exercise. if you already know the part #'s & exact specs for these combos--please share. i'd like 2 know the best combos for the 350 up 2 as much as .070" oversize(i'm told most 350's are safe that big--some a little more) keep in mind--the idea is a cheap combo, for those who must do things on a tite budget or not at all(& i can tell from the posts that many on this site fall into this catagory). this may be helpful--a couple of sites have chineese bbc 6.535" h-beams for $250 delivered--ohio crank has same length i-beams even cheaper. & of course there are the 5140 rods for $240. & as for the pistons--they need 2 be cheap enough 2 make the rod/piston combo at least $100 cheaper than whats already for sale 2 fit the 350. since ppr is closed, i don't know what the best price is for stock stroke 350 pistons. if all this sounds rediculous 2 you--don't feel alone--it sounded far out 2 me when i 1st heard it! its just 1 more in a long line of subjects i know nothing about. but there are lots of 350 blocks out there that nobody seems 2 want. its e-z 2 make 350+ hp out of a stock stroke 350. so, if we can come up with a cheap rod/piston combo, they mite be just the ticket for a low budget street or bracket build. they'll easily run low 13's on the street & hi 12's in a decent bracket car--without breaking everything behind it, like the long stroke motors are prone 2 do. i just sold a 69 tempest that ran 12.60's with a stock rod/trw 350. so, how about it guys--can some of ya'll help figure this out--it mite help some of the new guys get started cheap. most just say--forget it--go with more cubes. that won't help any here! & quite frankly, i'm tired of hearin it. me & everybody else on this site know that a 455 makes more torque & hp than a 350--SO WHAT?

[ponyakr]

i'll say another word here about balancing. as i've said, i put trw flat tops in all my 455's. sd rods in 1, stock cast in the rest--all with pressed pins. i read that the trw's were exact replacements for the factory cast pistons, even avail in singles, for less than full set replacement. so, i figured they must be close enuff 2 the same weight 2 not require balancing--especially for the low rpm's i'd be turning. i'd also seen the sbc guys use trw's, even domes--never balancing anything--then turn em 7000 & they lived! so i took a chance that i'd be ok 2. never had a problem or noticed any bad vibrations or anything negative from not balancing. & again, thats thru 100's of races--1000's of passes. so, i have 2 say from my experience that if you use stock rods or replacements of = weight & trw flat tops--you'll be safe, unbalanced 2 at least 5000 rpm. but, if you've got the extra $--balance it. better safe than sorry--rite?