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I am assembling/rebuilding an engine for my crazy Nascar/Roadkill/Mad Max vibe 1972 Cutlass Supreme that I call The Holley Green Giant. I have been lurking for a bit, but thought I would try and document the process and get some insight as I go along.
I originally did a refresh on the engine last year. However, I believe the tolerances were too tight and it spun the #7 rod bearing under heavy acceleration. This time around I am doing a bunch more homework and plan to upgrade a bunch of stuff as I go.
The use of the car is to be a long lasting daily driver. In fact I also intend to hitch a 4x8 uhaul trailer to it and use it to move from PA to AZ in October. Yes, this is a bit crazy. No I am not changing my mind.
The basic plan and parts for the build are as follows:
Goal: 9.25 to 9.75-1 compression
Iron "E" heads modified for 7'16 studs and roller rockers
Edelbrock performer intake (came with the engine)
30 over
forged pistons (CP? speed pro?)
H beam rods from Rocket Racing
Roller cam (though I am not completely decided on that)
I already picked up a road racing oil pan from Canton Racing
I am deep into Bill Travato's book, but I also welcome any other insight
Cheers!
Last edited by HolleyGreenGiant; March 16th, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
The short block is the heart of a 455, Travato’s book is a good start, and ask questions, every component needs checking for size and fit. Are you sending the block out, or?
Good Luck
The block and heads are at my machine shop. They are going through everything and are going to let me know what survived the spun bearing. It looks like the crank is probably toast - but that is at a separate crank place getting checked.
Thanks! I actually stripped all the paint off and was going to paint it green like this. I put plastidip from home depot on it to keep it from rusting and liked it so much that I changed my mind on the green. I am also hoping this build goes a lot better!
The block and heads are at my machine shop. They are going through everything and are going to let me know what survived the spun bearing. It looks like the crank is probably toast - but that is at a separate crank place getting checked.
Originally Posted by HolleyGreenGiant
Hey there Classic Olds folks!
I am assembling/rebuilding an engine for my crazy Nascar/Roadkill/Mad Max vibe 1972 Cutlass Supreme that I call The Holley Green Giant. I have been lurking for a bit, but thought I would try and document the process and get some insight as I go along.
I originally did a refresh on the engine last year. However, I believe the tolerances were too tight and it spun the #7 rod bearing under heavy acceleration. This time around I am doing a bunch more homework and plan to upgrade a bunch of stuff as I go.
The use of the car is to be a long lasting daily driver. In fact I also intend to hitch a 4x8 uhaul trailer to it and use it to move from PA to AZ in October. Yes, this is a bit crazy. No I am not changing my mind.
The basic plan and parts for the build are as follows:
Goal: 9.25 to 9.75-1 compression
Iron "E" heads modified for 7'16 studs and roller rockers
Edelbrock performer intake (came with the engine)
30 over
forged pistons (CP? speed pro?)
H beam rods from Rocket Racing
Roller cam (though I am not completely decided on that)
I already picked up a road racing oil pan from Canton Racing
I am deep into Bill Travato's book, but I also welcome any other insight
Cheers!
Do you have a HP goal?
Scratch the Speed pro pistons, better stuff out there, CP, Wiseco, Racetec etc.
I can help on the cam as well.
Make sure machine is done properly, clearances are only part of the equation.
Best of luck in your project!!
OK, so a bit of an update. I was searching for some forged pistons that would get me to about 9.5-1. I nearly bought some Wisecos from a vendor here, but then the internet provided some magic. I was looking at CP's Bullet pistons. They are made of 2618 forged aluminum and best I can tell they are based on a custom configuration that Bill Trovato would commonly order.
Summit didn't have them in stock. But then I copied the part number and started searching. Low and behold I found a listing on Amazon in Spanish for more than 150 less than the list price. I looked up the seller and it seemed legit so I snapped them up! Almost immediately after, Amazon raised the price. I think I got away with one.
Compression will be closer to 9.75-1, but I think that should still be fine. What do you all think?
I run 10:1, my block was decked, and heads were cut, I don’t have my build sheet in front of me, Planning is important, a 9.75 advertised compression number is just a #.
Last edited by dc2x4drvr; March 17th, 2021 at 08:11 AM.
oh for sure. 9.75-1 is the number I get after entering the specs for everything into a compression ratio calculator. The heads are 82 cc, bore is 30 over, The pistons are +12.00cc. Add in deck height, head gasket thickness, etc. and I ended up at 9.75-1.
So pistons are on the way. My block and crank are in machine shop purgatory. Tomorrow will be two weeks since I dropped it off. That is not the end of the world I guess because the rods I am getting from Rocket Racing are on back-order for an unknown amount of time. I was going with them because the are not press fit and supposedly you don't need to clearance the block like you do with eagle rods.
Has anyone run the eagle rods in the 455? Is the clearancing issue that big of a deal? If it is, are there any other options?
Having the pistons before boring is not only a "good point", its the only way to do it. Depending on the journal size, it might need polishing or ground undersize. .
The engine only had 800 miles on it when it spun the #7 rod bearing. I couldn't detect any damage to the cylinder walls. When I dropped it off I was just going to reuse the pistons and rods (minus #7 of course) that were in it. However, since I dropped it off I decided to upgrade the rods and pistons. The machine shop does have the rods and pistons that were in it of course. The new pistons come in Friday and I will take them to the machine shop. The machine shop outsourced the crank to a different shop and they haven't looked at it yet, though based on the damage to the journal it is likely scrap. We'll see.
March 16th, 2021, 09:29 AM
