Turbocharged Buick 455 Engine

[1987BuickGrandN]

I have 3 complete buick 455 blocks, freshly rebuilt blocks, i also have one stage 2 455 block, with 7" hemi aluminum rods and other assorted goodies (stage 2 heads, stage 2 headers etc). my best bet would be a 9.0 compression engine with stock (heavily ported and polished) cast iorn heads. heres my question....

how difficult would it be for me to turbocharge a buick 455 bigblock??? i also have a 70mm throddle body, and intake plenum spare from my grand national. i would need some sort of a fuel management system, a custom fabricated intake manifold, custom fabricated exhaust manifold, one huge turbo, intercooler (i have access to a virety of aircraft intercoolers), a downpipe, lots of piping, i just did the rear end on my car and i plan on using a turbo 400 tranny and a 3000 stall converter, what am i missing, what difficulties should i plan on encountering?? should i avoid this all together? how could i properly match the turbo with the 455 bigblock? injectors with the big block?? has anyone done this before?? give me some thoughts, haha i think im crazy

bryan

 

[turbo buicks]

wow i always dreamed of doing that. id go twin turbo cuz you would have to get a huge turbo for it and run more piping. two moderate turbos would work well and the headers could be kept short and less heat would get lost.

 

[BuickMike]

I think if you went with twin stock GN Turbos you would have a nice, but inexpensive baseline to work with. You could use a Kenne Bell intake because I believe that they already have bosses for injectors. You would just need to build an upper plenum with a big throttle body. Don't forget to get an ignition system with boost retard.

If you don't want to risk grenading one of your motors, you could always get a 455 out of a '76 Electra as a test motor. They run 7.9:1 compression and wouldn't be a huge loss if the setup didn't work right.

 

[azgn]

you can check with the experts on this (Mike at TA) but I think 455's tend to come apart in the vicinity of 700 hp......doubt they would stand up to any serious turbo effort.

you'll get more bang for the buck with a Stage V6

 

[1987BuickGrandN]

i have a set of TA performance stage 2 heads, TA performance stage 2 headers, and a TA performance dominator intake manifold, i dont think it would be a bad idea to hack the headers and throw two stock turbos turbos on there. lets say i do that, i have the exhaust manifolds and turbos taken care of, intercooler is not a problem,

what direction should i go for fuel injection, and ignition, without spending an arm and a leg? 700hp would be satisfactory , oh BTW im going to swap out the 3.8l in my buick grand national for one of these 455s i think i might have a clearance issue on the drivers side with the header/turbo

 

[1987BuickGrandN]

would i need TWO electronic boost controllers if i decided to control my boost with one?? one for each wastegate silenoid on each turbo, or could i use one to control the both of em??

 

[azgn]

in other words, you don't need a turbo on a 455 unless you are going for 1000+ HP...........way costly and it'll just blow up....just build your 455 the old fashioned way and enjoy

 

[1987BuickGrandN]

ill shoot for 1100+ hp then

 

[slow 86 gn]

Do you have a big WALLET? I'm building a Chevy El Camino 454 with a 88MM turbo. Just for header material (321 Stainless) its about $ 1500 Gen 7 DFI $1700 injectors $650 Waste gates $450 each need two intercooler $1200. There's almost $6000 Still need Dart block $2000 Edelbrock heads $3000 Crank $1300 Rods $800 It aint cheap going fast. Check out my web page. http://home.earthlink.net/~johnwdumas/ I should make around 800hp on pump gas and 11-1200 on race gas and lots of boost. A lot of things to think about trying to make it all fit, and not look like crap and still do its job properly. Have fun with it whatever you decide.

 

[8587GN]

If your serious about this I would wait for the PAE block to be released later this year[or TA is doing an aluminum block also].Try www.v8buick.com there is a guy who has a turbo`d 455 on there

 

[buickman69]

Actually the BUICK 455 "WILL" hold-up fine. Your biggest problem will be tuning. Alan on the WWW.V8BUICK.COM board has already done it. His biggest problem is getting it tuned in. Sound like a good idea. That 455 wil make some hp, not to mention TORQUE!!

You'll do fine with the 455 just consult with the "Buick V8 experts" !

 

[buickman69]

Check out Alans web-site and twin-turbo'd 455

http://www.thedinosaurgang.com/greencar.htm

 

[86brick]

Please do me a favor and sell the GN and use another car because I would hate to see another TR ruined with a V8 motor being put in!!!!! These cars came from the factory with a buick turbo V6 that has plenty of potential and IMO it just destroys the whole idea of what these cars are meant to be

 

[BuickMike]

On 86Brick's note, you should look look for a Diesel Regal to drop this motor in. The suspension is already setup to carry a 455 very nicely and depending on what state you're in, it's probably going to be smog exempt.

 

[Pronto]

In this issue of HPP there is a guy that put a turbo on a Pontiac 455 relatively inexpensively. You might want to take a look at the pics. He's on the Classical Pontiac site too if you want to talk with him.

 

[1987BuickGrandN]

thanks for the info, other ideas and thoughts are apriciated as well. i dont have a bottomless pocketbook, but i do have money to spend. right now im just getting some opinions, i havent done any real research about the project. you have a point about the hacking of a grand national!

 

[buickman69]

Originally posted by 1987BuickGrandN
thanks for the info, other ideas and thoughts are apriciated as well. i dont have a bottomless pocketbook, but i do have money to spend. right now im just getting some opinions, i havent done any real research about the project. you have a point about the hacking of a grand national!

Your on the right track with the "BUICK" 455. As for the GN body, it'll just reinforce to people that "Buick" had other awesome engines besides the 231.

I'd really research everything though, 1 turbo is bad enough, 2 would be a night-mare for me as far as tuning.

 

[Red Regal T]

Originally posted by 1987BuickGrandN
thanks for the info, other ideas and thoughts are apriciated as well. i dont have a bottomless pocketbook, but i do have money to spend. right now im just getting some opinions

FORGET ABOUT IT !!!!

 

[1987BuickGrandN]

im gunna call up ATI Procharger about a carburated supercharger kit, that might be an easier way to to then a custom fuel injected turbo kit

 

[Silver 6]

Car/Turbo/Intercooled

Check out the May issue of Super Rod magazine. They did a small bock Ford build with a turbo blowing through an intercooler and then into a Paxton carb box with a Demon carb inside. They about doubled the power and the carb used the same tuning as when they set it up NA.

No special fuel management. They used a boost referenced fuel regulator and it keeps the fuel levels in the carb bowls constant.