Can't Decide 76 Toro with a 455
- Thread starter 307 Gutless
- Start date
- Status
Look, that 455 was designed to effortlessly hurl a land yacht Olds 98 down the road at 70+ miles an hour with a TH400. A car large enough to build a small school on the hood and put your G-body car in the trunk. With a 2.73 gear and a TH350 it will probably knock back 17-18 MPG if you don't still have 195-14 tires.
Stop thinking horsepower, torque is your friend, torque moves mountains. Torque pulls wheel stands. Torque is what you feel when you take off. Even in full smog form, I bet it still made 450+ lb/ft of torque.
They used the Toro 455 and 425 FWD to power countless RV and motorhomes lIke the one in the movie Stripes.
The most you need to do is add a fresh timing set, as OEM was Teflon lined to reduce noise. I would add new timing cover, pan, valve cover gaskets and a front and rear mains. Spring for an aftermarket intake if you can find one, of not, the Q-jet is just fine.
Start saving money, the rearend will suffer the penalty as an offering to the god of torque.
Stop thinking horsepower, torque is your friend, torque moves mountains. Torque pulls wheel stands. Torque is what you feel when you take off. Even in full smog form, I bet it still made 450+ lb/ft of torque.
They used the Toro 455 and 425 FWD to power countless RV and motorhomes lIke the one in the movie Stripes.
The most you need to do is add a fresh timing set, as OEM was Teflon lined to reduce noise. I would add new timing cover, pan, valve cover gaskets and a front and rear mains. Spring for an aftermarket intake if you can find one, of not, the Q-jet is just fine.
Start saving money, the rearend will suffer the penalty as an offering to the god of torque.
X2 on timing set, although the mid 70's variety seem to flake apart less often than the early ones. When they do flake apart, your oil pump pick up tends to plug up with the pieces.
i agree. these are torque motors, they can pull a house all day long without breaking a sweat. but the stock smog motors don't like to rev, the feel heavy and run out of breath by 4000-4500 rpm. think of it as the gasoline version of a diesel eng. their sweet spot is just off idle, 1200rpms to about 3000. this motor will have almost twice the torque of anything olds put in a gbody.
i know a lot of people are recommending a higher than stock stall converter, and some people will not like what I'm about to say, but those are meant for engines where the power band is higher in the rpm range. for example, a 2500 stall converter is relative to the torque being applied. a converter rated at 2500 may stall early at 2000-2200 behind a 307 and may stall later at 2800-3000 behind a 455. by using a high stall converter in a stock 455 application, you end up only using half your torque band. thats like leaving meat on the table.
your eng power band should determine the drivetrain package. if you get it wrong, you can live with it but not like it, get it right and it will feel fantastic.
my recommendation is to drop the 455 in your cutlass, get it running and upgrade as you break parts. and if you enjoy the low rpm power, then i would recommend a tight diesel style torque converter to help stay in the torque band.
A stock replacement converter might be better, as said it may flash much higher. I had my D9 low stall converter flash at 1900 rpm behind my 350 and 403. The D5 high stall supposedly stalled a hair over 2000 rpm behind the mighty 307 HO, rated at 2400 stall. The stock smog 455 cam is nearly identical to the Vin 9 307 cam, small for a 455. That 455 has huge dish pistons and awful J heads as well. The Performer intake and mild cam would help but don't go overboard, thanks to those pistons it is around 8 to 1 compression.
Alright, Torque. More torque than anything I've ever had. It sounds like it's going to be a good time no matter what is behind it. it would suck to get something expensive that I don't like.
I do want to put big wide rear tires and little front ones but I've 6 good stock sized Tires that I'll have to turn into smoke first. It's all of these hot rod shows putting 3.73 gears on a Pedestal that have gotten to me. My Local Dragstrip has test and tune in april. Seems like there will be just enough weekends to be ready.
I do also have this Orange Thingey I got on a Trade for some Firebird rims.
It came with something called a 07001 kit. A couple of hoses and switches and a Strange Square plate and stuff.
I'm not sure what it's for but I've been told that it could come in Handy.
I've been having Dirty thoughts about this.
a 100 Shot ought to be fine right?
New timing set, Intake, Exhaust, Nitrous. all of the basic Maintenance an engine needs.
I do want to put big wide rear tires and little front ones but I've 6 good stock sized Tires that I'll have to turn into smoke first. It's all of these hot rod shows putting 3.73 gears on a Pedestal that have gotten to me. My Local Dragstrip has test and tune in april. Seems like there will be just enough weekends to be ready.
I do also have this Orange Thingey I got on a Trade for some Firebird rims.
It came with something called a 07001 kit. A couple of hoses and switches and a Strange Square plate and stuff.
I'm not sure what it's for but I've been told that it could come in Handy.
I've been having Dirty thoughts about this.
a 100 Shot ought to be fine right?
New timing set, Intake, Exhaust, Nitrous. all of the basic Maintenance an engine needs.
Last edited:
Leave it alone and build one of these...
Be careful with nitrous. I would do the timing set and most of the gaskets and run it as is. Do a compression test and a put a oil gauge on before nitrous. If you run any aftermarket intake, you will have hood clearance issues. The Performer should clear but you will need a 2" tall filter.
I would just add that, if the 455 is strong as is, just put it in and drive it. Without head work, adding an aftermarket intake and cam won't buy you much with flow limiting heads and ultra low compression AND could actually toast what were otherwise perfectly functional heads. I've seen that happen. And, just adding a high performance top end [like the garage squad idiots on TV] to a high mileage motor that's been sitting a long time may well just toast the low end. I've seen that happen too. I don't remember the exact smog 455 specs but I suspect it will add 50HP and 100lb.ft. over the Y 307 with just a smooth running smog motor. And, I would agree that, if you just drop it in and drive it, a lower stall converter is in order and even a smog 455 will roast a 200 transmission and a 2.14 7.5 rear if you have a heavy foot? Sadly, there never is a cheap way to do anything like this properly.
But, I hope that Toro is already in your driveway . . . It's a good starting point for a number of options.
But, I hope that Toro is already in your driveway . . . It's a good starting point for a number of options.
- Status
