[DeWayne]

Hello everyone, I have been on this forum for years but have only posted one time, I feel like I know you guys as friends "Reading you post over the years" .

Car purchased in 1995
1973 TA no A/C
455 -- 30 over
stock intake
4x heads
stock exhaust
Turbo 400
3.08 10 bolt

I live in between OKC and Tulsa one hour either way.
I have take the car to Tulsa Internal speedway and Thunder Valley in Noble
when I first got the car best time was a 14.01

I was driving it like a chevy and tying to shift at 6000 rpm, now I know I should have been shifting at 5200 rpm.

Then I had a friend that had some Pontiac heads that he gave me and there was a set in there that was #12 they had the large valves so I put them on and changed the cam to the 041 grind and changed the gears to 3.42, The car ran good and my friend had a 81 Z28 that was running low 13's and it would beat his car on the street, I never did get to the track ,you can guess what happened, If I'm correct those heads should have put my compression around 11 to 1 on cast pistons. It completely shattered a piston and knocked a whole in the cylinder, I have had the cylinder resleeved.

Now I'm ready to put the it back on the road, the car is going to be a weekend driver only. I seen a article I think in Car Craft where they got 501 HP from a Pontiac 455 with the Comp XE 274H cam, I was thinking about going that route.

1. With the todays oils not being flat tappet friendly and HR lifter cost, I was think about Solid Roller cam but I have never had a solid cam so I need help picking one out, should I get the XE274 or go with a solid ?

2. should I use the #12 heads with dish piston or sell them and get the 87cc E-heads. what is a set of #12 worth?

I have learned so much from you guys, and I want to build the motor correctly the first time I would like to get 500 -550 HP.

1973 TA
455 30 over
RPM intake
Cam - Need help
Heads - Need help
Piston - need help
Turbo 400
Converter - will match to combo
Gears - 3.42

[b-man]

Originally Posted by DeWayne

Hello everyone, I have been on this forum for years but have only posted one time, I feel like I know you guys as friends "Reading you post over the years" .

Car purchased in 1995
1973 TA no A/C
455 -- 30 over
stock intake
4x heads
stock exhaust
Turbo 400
3.08 10 bolt

I live in between OKC and Tulsa one hour either way.
I have take the car to Tulsa Internal speedway and Thunder Valley in Noble
when I first got the car best time was a 14.01

I was driving it like a chevy and tying to shift at 6000 rpm, now I know I should have been shifting at 5200 rpm.

Then I had a friend that had some Pontiac heads that he gave me and there was a set in there that was #12 they had the large valves so I put them on and changed the cam to the 041 grind and changed the gears to 3.42, The car ran good and my friend had a 81 Z28 that was running low 13's and it would beat his car on the street, I never did get to the track ,you can guess what happened, If I'm correct those heads should have put my compression around 11 to 1 on cast pistons. It completely shattered a piston and knocked a whole in the cylinder, I have had the cylinder resleeved.

Now I'm ready to put the it back on the road, the car is going to be a weekend driver only. I seen a article I think in Car Craft where they got 501 HP from a Pontiac 455 with the Comp XE 274H cam, I was thinking about going that route.

1. With the todays oils not being flat tappet friendly and HR lifter cost, I was think about Solid Roller cam but I have never had a solid cam so I need help picking one out, should I get the XE274 or go with a solid ?

2. should I use the #12 heads with dish piston or sell them and get the 87cc E-heads. what is a set of #12 worth?

I have learned so much from you guys, and I want to build the motor correctly the first time I would like to get 500 -550 HP.

1973 TA
455 30 over
RPM intake
Cam - Need help
Heads - Need help
Piston - need help
Turbo 400
Converter - will match to combo
Gears - 3.42

The #12 heads are sought after by restorers of 1970 GTOs and T/As, a good set of crack-free head cores should go for around $500. Sell them and buy some aluminum heads instead if you want 500+ HP, some 87cc E-heads (round-port exhaust) or 85cc KRE heads (D-port exhaust) would both be good choices depending on what type of headers you have or want.

Honestly, I would call one of the better head porters or engine builders in the business for a cam recommendation and how to pick your engine parts combo. Ken Brewer at PPR http://www.pacificperformanceracing.com/ and Dave Bisschop at SD Performance http://sdperformance.com/ are two that come to mind.

Be ready to spend around 8K to build that engine. Good luck and to the PY forums

[Will]

Agree with B-man. Put those heads on Ebay and use the proceeds to buy some aftermarket heads.

If you get the E-heads then you can basically duplicate what Car Craft did. The only thing is, with the airflow and compression you'll have, you can make more average power with a cam on a wider lobe separation angle. The XE274 is a good cam, but I think something like the Crower 60919 with some 1.65 rockers on it would make more overall power.

[DeWayne]

Thanks guys for your help, I want to get everything done right this time.