[PAUL K]

Looks great!

[mgarblik]

Thanks. I take very little credit for the way it looks. Friend Steve shot it and probably spent 12+ hours prepping it for paint. Honestly, I would have probably shot it with an Ames spray bomb because I wouldn't have known any better and certainly don't have all the equipment to paint professionally. The surface just feels tough. Hope to get the engine buttoned up in a week. Then get the car in the shop for carpet, headliner, some interior plastic refinishing. Then brake booster, wiper motor, engine harness, and install the engine. Hope to have all that done by August, 15.

[sdbob]

Very nice. I touched up my engine years ago. Tried to match color. I didn't use suppliers paint. I forget what I ended up using. Showed the car at Charleston looked good. Your color though seems darker blue.

[sdbob]

Very nice. I touched up my engine years ago. Tried to match color. I didn't use suppliers paint. I forget what I ended up using. Showed the car at Charleston looked good. Your color though seems darker blue. Congratulations on your car.

[mgarblik]

Phone camera makes it look darker than actual. When I looked at SD's at the Trans Am Nationals where there were typically 5-7 of them all in one place, every one of them looked a little different. It seems the factory, and paint suppliers, and people restoring the cars have never really settled 100% on the EXACT color the 73-74 engines were supposed to be. With that in mind, we just matched the paint off an untouched, OE 74 SD valve cover I had available. Obviously, the cover has been heat cycled, but was low mileage, 30K miles. This car is is not going to be an attempt at a 100 point restoration, because it was not a frame removal, rotisserie car. That was just not done in the 1970's. But as an engine guy, I want it to look "correct", and really nice under the hood, and have tire shredding performance on the road.

[SS-TA]

The color used on the SD engines is not specific to the SD Engine. Part way through the 1973 model year the EPA forced Pontiac to change the design of the emission equipment. In changing the design Pontiac changed the color of the engine to a darker blue. This change was initiated on March 15, 1973, all engines manufactured after that date have the revised color. I believe most if not all SD engines were produced after March 15. If you purchased a Pontiac Factory Service manual in the early years after 1973 a Supplement was included describing the changes.
By the way, one of the members on this site had a formula for that color in PPG Acrylic Enamel (I believe it was SD Bob ?). The color is a very close match to the paint on the oil filter housing off my original regular 455.

[sdbob]

Wasnt me maybe another Bob. It's funny how the years change the memory on things. I do not even want to guess the color. I tried when I did mine to look for an area that looked like the original color then bought various spray colors. They were not mixed.

[steve25]

I also think this needs to be looked at as in body work refinishing .

A dark gray or light gray primer will change the shade of any colors but very dark ones like black and dark blue or green.

New bare metal valve covers would have been at least one shade lighter then any new cast iron part, so just these two engine parts would have looked different with there color coat applied if you want to get crazy picky about it.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by SS-TA

The color used on the SD engines is not specific to the SD Engine. Part way through the 1973 model year the EPA forced Pontiac to change the design of the emission equipment. In changing the design Pontiac changed the color of the engine to a darker blue. This change was initiated on March 15, 1973, all engines manufactured after that date have the revised color. I believe most if not all SD engines were produced after March 15. If you purchased a Pontiac Factory Service manual in the early years after 1973 a Supplement was included describing the changes.
By the way, one of the members on this site had a formula for that color in PPG Acrylic Enamel (I believe it was SD Bob ?). The color is a very close match to the paint on the oil filter housing off my original regular 455.

Yes, I have that bulletin which was included in the factory service manual as an addition. So If I said the color was SD specific, that is incorrect. I should have said, specific for 73-74 engines after the mandatory EPA emission required modifications. I think it's kinda pretty. Sort of looks like something you would expect on a marine or industrial engine, all business.

[SS-TA]

I just posted to add the information. The PPG formula link is below:

https://www.angelfire.com/mi/jamos1/sdblueformula.html

[formula kid]

When the EPA flagged the SD engine the paint color was changed. The rest of 73 and all of 74 the color was the same across all Pontiac engines. At the beginning of the 1974 year the engine plant had a open house and they gave away seat cushions that had the 74 engine color on it I was lucky enough to be able to purchase one a few years ago in excellent condition.

[higgenslake]

Could we see a picture?

[formula kid]

I will try to post pictures soon. Very busy time have my son getting married this Friday so it is low on the get done list.

[mgarblik]

Bringing this thread back up after 5 months. I am sorry things are moving much more slowly than I had hoped. I promise it won't be another 40 years however! So what's been accomplished and what's happening in the next couple months? First, the engine is going on the dyno between now and January 12, 2025. That is the window I have available to dyno. As an instructor at the college, I can use equipment only when class is not in session and we have that time open now. This will be a chance to see what a completely stock SD-455 runs like and the power they made with no modifications at all. Exhaust manifolds, no porting, point ignition, stock valve train. The only modifications are, 1. Adjustable rocker arms , 2 piece BOP rear main seal. Engine is .030" over bore with stock replacement pistons and stock SD connecting rods. I will report results when available.

Other work that is in process or completed. 1. Headliner is ready to install. 2. Carpet is ready to install. 3. My friend Steve has beautifully restored 15 pieces of interior plastic. All the parts look like new and they are all OE parts. 4. Front and rear speakers have been replaced with excellent restoration pieces. NOS package shelf ready to be installed. 5. Underside of car has been dry ice blasted. Much of the dealer installed rust proofing has been removed to reveal the factory brown/red factory primer. It looks much better.

So some work has been happening through the summer/fall. Plans call for the engine to be installed this winter, interior put back in and the car running late spring, early summer.

[mgarblik]

Here are some pics of progress over the past several months.

[sdbob]

Looks nice. I bought Rare manifolds for mine as one is leaking.

[mgarblik]

In between rain and snow showers I was able to transport the engine to my school and spent about 1/2 the day getting it mounted up on the dyno. We recently ran a fuel injected LS engine so there was allot of changeover back to a carburetor and no O2 sensors and so forth. Have about 2-3 hours of wiring and plumbing to change and it should be ready to go. Plan is to run the day after Christmas.

[PAUL K]

Looks great..... Good luck!

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Looking forward to the realistically stock Dyno runs .

I'm guessing around 375+ gross hp, maybe closer to 400

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Looking forward to the realistically stock Dyno runs .

I'm guessing around 375+ gross hp, maybe closer to 400

It's not going to make that kind of power. Stock cam, 2 1/4" outlets from the exhaust manifolds. Honestly, I would be thrilled with 330-340 HP. 440 ft. ft. lbs of torque. The factory rating of 290 HP was SAE NET, not rear wheel HP. No way they were underrated 85HP. But in a week, these questions will be answered. Our engine dyno is slightly pessimistic compared to another shop I compare with regularly. We have had a few engines run on both dynos. Ours is 3-5 HP down on a typical 500 HP engine.