[john5670]

Everyone,

I wanted to take a quick poll on how many miles you had on your 550+ horse power Pontiacs with out major issues. Also what block do you have.

I'll start:

585 horsepower @ 6000 Rpms
565 Torque
Miles on Car - 1
Block - Stock 1967 400 stroked to 462 with 4 bolt mains and lifter bore braces.

Took it for its first test drive yesterday.

[steve]

estimated =525HP @ 5500
torque =???
miles =50
block =1977
CAST eagle stroker crank. 1/2 block fill. 462.

[stickboy]

435 rear wheel dyno, manual trans....maybe 510-520 hp
500lb/ft at the wheels....maybe 560-580 lb/ft at the crank
small solid roller, 200lb seat pressure
1975 455 bolck, 1/2 fill, 474ci
Iron heads choking out the engine from 5-6K

Probably got at least 5K street/hwy miles on it and counting.

Going racing tonite, probably 30-40 passes a year.

[PunchT37]

Iv`e got a 470` ish hp 455 that the shortblock has been together since 1988 or so.
`73 block. Upgraded heads in 1996 to 260`ish SD heads, and has a mid 240/250 split cam. Motor still runs good today. Very little smoke from breathers even with pcv disconnected.

No telling how many miles and a few trips down the 1320.

[HWYSTR455]

Almost all my engines lasted over 100k miles, and all were more than 'moderate' builds. Here's a couple:

70 455 4-bolt block, factory crank, Crower custom rods, 1970 #64 heads, solid roller, @525 fwhp = 224k (with 1 head/top end rebuild, springs, guides, valves cut & chain)

69 400 2-bolt block, aftermarket 4-bolt caps, factory crank, factory rods, TRWs, #16 heads, HYD cam, @440 fwhp + 175-225 N2O shot, hundred + bottles = 136k (removed before it let go, could have went more, rebuilt at .060 over, that went @ 150k)

77 400 557 2-bolt block, aftermarket 4-bolt caps, factory crank, factory rods, Speed Pros, #62 heads, HYD cam, @400 fwhp + 175-225 N2O shot, hundred + of bottles = 124k (removed before it let go, also could have went more, now running in another car after re-ring)

67 428 4-bolt block, factory caps, factory crank, factory rods, forget piston make, #670 heads, solid cam, @450 fwhp + 225 N2O shot, many, many bottles, = 175k with one valve job and springs (engine tossed a rod)

(Current driver engine) 70/71 2-bolt block, 4-bolt aftermarket caps, filled to freeze plugs, billet 4.25 crank, H-beam rods, floating SRPs, Butler E-heads, solid roller, est 550+ fwhp = @35k miles, would have to do the math!


Built right, tuned well, and cared for, traditional Pontiac engines will last great at levels under say 600HP or so. You start eating into that over 600. If you can't get like 100k out of an engine, then in my opinion, something went wrong or was done wrong.

Quality machine work, quality parts, attention to detail on assembly, oil changes, carb tune, no overheating, no detonation, things like that make them last, or go away fast when ignored.

.

[Mr. P-Body]

I can "vouvh" for two.

Dan Stewards '69 Firebird. 461 CID. E-heads. 400 block. POS* Eagle cast crank, Eagle rods,Comp roller. 11.teens , including one 11.17 @ 124 on 87 octane. He DID burn a piston once due to the 87. replaced it and he's right back where he was. About 18K miles and 250 passes to date.

Rick Holladay's '65 GTO ragtop. 440 CID, 10.80s (on pump gas, went 10.70s on 100 w/some more timing). About 20K street miles and over 350 passes. Refreshed his old 434 last year with more compressino and a non-"street" cam, no longer used for street. 10.60s, headed for the .50s... The 440 is still in pretty good shape, he just wanted MORE...

FWIW

Jim

* Not MY opinion, but one that has been forwarded on this site.

[Steve Barcak]

Not sure what my HP is but '72 round port 455HO- modified heads, headers, no heat crossover on intake, modified dist and q jet, forged pistons, prepped rods, hi lift cam, 1.65 roller rockers= 180,000 so far. Been using some oil but, still plenty strong. Drove it on a 11,000 mile road trip all over the US in 2007.

[Cliff R]

My last engine ran for years with zero issues until the Rollmaster timing chain decided to go away. It had about 5 seasons of racing on it at that point, and started to slow down. I figured it was just getting tired, as I drove it nearly every day on the street back then. Turns out the Rollmaster chain had stretched so much I could almost touch the rollers together between the sprockets!

I went ahead and replaced the chain, rolled in some rod bearings, and new gaskets. That engine was sold soon after. It made 514hp/587tq and had pushed my car to 11.50's at the track.

The new engine doesn't have a lot of time on it, and I didn't dyno it. Probably around 550-580hp and 600ft lbs torque. It easily pushes my car to low 11's in full street trim, and runs like stock 400 2bbl engine for "normal" driving.

I doubt if I put 500 street miles a year on it these days, and no more than 100 track runs. At that rate it will last just about forever. More than likely I'll build a replacement engine and sell it WAY before it's worn out!.....Cliff

[HWYSTR455]

Funny you mention the Rollmaster Cliff, know some of the Mopar guys have moved away from them.

My one friend who's an aircraft mech for years, did a bunch of rolls engines and other race engines for pylon racing, swears by the old link-type sets. The one solid roller engine I did I decided to try using one, which he picked because of the large pins, and that was the 224k mile engine I had. When I did the top end rebuild, I replaced it with a double roller, which was at about 170k mile or so, but the link setup was still like new. When I tore it down after the failure at 224k miles, the roller was showing stretch, enough to warrant a replacement.

.

[Cliff R]

"My one friend who's an aircraft mech for years, did a bunch of rolls engines and other race engines for pylon racing, swears by the old link-type sets."

I got away from them for a few years, now back to using them again. The Rollmaster and similiar offerings only advantage are the ease of cam movements.

Back to using offset cam/crank keys again, but you just can't beat the constant tooth contact, and strength of the wide linkplate stock type timing sets.

Besides, with roller cammed engines, a lot less work load for the timing set right to start with, they should last just about forever!.....Cliff