[hgerhardt]

Less cam and tighter converter. On my 434, I used a 248/254 @ .050, 114 sep solid roller, and while the performance is great, it's really too much for a mostly-street car.

On the converter, 2400 stall would have been fine. I had a "tight" 10" Continental and had them rework it to make slightly looser, which in hindsight was a mistake.

And, yeah, poly bushings in the lower A-arms was a (squeaky) mistake. Even with moly grease.

[Tom Vaught]

Air Shocks on the car. It was better with the Air Bags I had before that.

Tom V.

[73LeMans]

High Ports instead of D ports so I could get a true 2" header. The Dport exhaust header, no matter how good, is limiting my potential. Too much $ in the d's to switch at the time. (still)

[JLMounce]

I'd have spent a bit extra for a higher quality hyd roller lifter. Sitting at idle at a light with the lifters clattering away drives me mad. Fortunately, they've been reliable and the combination has a surprising amount of performance in an otherwise fairly tame combination.

I was low on funds and the Lunati lifters were about 200 cheaper and still came recommended.

[dataway]

Floating pin pistons !!

About 1 in 10 shops have the equipment to properly press on pistons (at least in my experience)

People here told me to do it, I didn't, I regret it.

If I have longevity issues with my engine I have zero doubt it will come down to Bubba at the machine shop using a torch and press to the install the pistons. One of which was so tight in the piston I had to take it back and yell at him, and then chase down a single .040 TRW piston that 99.9% of the time are sold in sets. I'm sure it distorted the pistons at least .001" on every one of them.

[i82much]

would have gone 4032 instead of 2618.

[Jack Gifford]

Doin' it over...
I'd put a milder cam into the Tri-Power engine of my '59 GMC. Sure, it makes power, but it would be nice to idle in gear at stoplights without shaking the truck! And I care less about the hairy-sounding idle now that I use the truck mostly to tow the ragged-idle lakester with zoomies.

[Torquewar]

Pretty happy with my Engine maybe run higher compression. But from a redo stand point should have went to a aftermarket block and had options later..

[67Fbird]

oh boy....I THOUGHT i did it right the first two times!!! Bored, decked, line honed, alot of work on the #62 heads, good valves 10* locks, Sharp 1.65 rollers....ran like a MONSTER. till it didn't! Upon tear down discovered MANY MANY failures!! Valve guides (k-liners) were SHOT, Thrust bearing was TOAST and it took me sooooo long to make any advancements (i added EFI back in '08 which took me 1 yr as they didn't have injected manifolds back then) by the time a got things where I thought I was making progress....BOOM. Complete 500 steps backward.

I am in the middle of this project as i type!! And am currently doing things that I KNOW are less than ideal but this damn thing is going to run and drive....by Chirstmas PERIOD. So my list of things I wished I could/would do ...extends BEYOND my typing capability and probably more than 1 website could handle.!!

[lfdsteve]

First runner up Engine wise (ish) was the standard Griffin radiator. Should have popped for the more expensive one as I run just under 200.
Second runner up is mufflers. Chose the VT from Dynomax and they have that awful clank at idol that you read about.
The winner is…
Choosing the “high end” road race suspension” option because it cost more, must be better right? Handles like it’s on rails! Sticks like glue to everything, every curve, chicane and bank all the way to the 7-11 and back! This of course also means every bump, curb, manhole cover ect. Chip Foose may like em low but screw that from a practical standpoint!!
Have a great day.
(Oh and probably should have gone aftermarket ac vs resurrecting original.

[78w72]

should've had SD port the stock 72cc O-port E-heads on my OF cam 467 stroker. now i gotta pull them if i want ported or send the new set i have sitting in boxes in for porting, then swap them. shoulda done it first. & clearanced for 1.65s.

i debated on the scraper & windage tray, but decided a good baffled pan was good enough for mostly street use, i use the milodon 7 qt pan & it does great so far even on hard corners.

[Formula8]

Flame away but LS swap. If I could not stomach that, just go back to a garden variety 455, RA4 cam motor with out of the box aluminum heads.

[RocktimusPryme]

Originally Posted by Formula8

Flame away but LS swap. If I could not stomach that, just go back to a garden variety 455, RA4 cam motor with out of the box aluminum heads.

Im not going to lie, when I calculated the tab for my motor, I had a moment where I remembered a GM performance ad from a recent Hot Rod and thought to myself "I could have just bought an LS7 and had money left over for a TKo600"

[gtobob67]

Shouldn't have let SD fill the crossover with aluminum when they ported my 6X heads.

[67drake]

When I got my GTO in ‘07 the engine needed to be pulled as it had bad lifter ticking. I ended up doing a rebuild of the original 400 and In my mind spared no expense on internal parts. I wanted it to look as factory original as I could. I’m happy with it as it’s over 2 seconds faster in the 1/4 mile compared to when I first bought it, but if I were to do it again I would have just stroked it!

[64speed]

Originally Posted by Steve C.

A fwiw, regarding the 15-450 Pontiac Shallow Road Race Pan.

From Canton site:

" It has a 7" deep, 10-1/2" long sump for a 6 quart system capacity "

https://www.cantonracingproducts.com...ct-description

With that statement Canton figures 5 quarts in the pan sump itself then they factor in 1 quart for the oil filter for a total of 6 quart "system" capacity. This was what I was told by Canton Tech when I called. That said, others report different.


.

I have the braided steel dipstick that you have to adjust to read the full level. With two remote big purolator boss filters and lines I am almost 8 quarts.

[GPC]

Rods. Current build has Crower forged .

[67Fbird]

Originally Posted by gtobob67

Shouldn't have let SD fill the crossover with aluminum when they ported my 6X heads.

might i ask WHY?

[GPC]

Years ago I broke a stock rod in my original 66 GTO engine. Revving it too high!

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Formula8

Flame away but LS swap. If I could not stomach that, just go back to a garden variety 455, RA4 cam motor with out of the box aluminum heads.

I wont flame that at all. I have both Pontiac power and LS power in old Pontiacs, and dollar for dollar it's extremely hard to beat the LS.