Greeting from Tennessee

[nate24tenn]

Hi guys my name is Nathan. I bought my '86 Cutlass a few months back. Stock 307 but it came with a disassembled 455. Supposed to be a '69 model. It does have the C heads which i'm told is a big plus. It also came with a '76 455 assembled and 8k miles on a rebuild. My eventual plan is to mildy build one of the engine, build the 4 speed to handle to torque, rear end etc etc. I'm wanting a mean street car basically. I'm sure i'll have tons of questions seeing as this is my first domestic build. I come from a deep background in turbo Supras, MR2's, and Datsun Z cars. I look forward to getting to know you guys. I'll add some pictures in a few.

Edit:

The '76 engine.

First question, the '76 model is super clean. It has dished pistons though (was lied to and told flat tops). Can I mill the C heads to achieve decent compression or am I better starting from scratch? I'd really like to not do a full rebuild from the get go but plan on doing it right.

 

[oldtinsmith]

nate24tenn,
Nate, welcome to a great site! It sounds like you,ve got great plans for your Cutty.

Doug

 

[papabearxl]

Welcome..........do you come to Newport, often? I believe i talked to you at the car wash neaar 411 one day, and told you about gbodyforum?

If not, welcome anyways!

 

[nate24tenn]

Welcome..........do you come to Newport, often? I believe i talked to you at the car wash neaar 411 one day, and told you about gbodyforum?

If not, welcome anyways!

Wasn't me. My dad lives near there but I haven't driven this car other than to my house where it's sat. Glad to know theres local people though.

 

[Doug213xrj]

Welcome aboard, Nathan.



Doug

 

[383S10]

Well come to the site......my wife loves to go shop around your way and I like the pancakes........might hit the Smokies next week.....

 

[87ttop]

welcome to the site from chattanooga. I usually get up arpund newport 4-5 times a year I got buddies up there who deal in CHEAP g body parts, let me know if u need anything or have any parts for sale

 

[dogsht]

Welcome Nathan. Big fan of the relatively cheap fun reliable power of the gbody big block, Q-jet, 200-4R, pump gas muscle car. The gbody is a great platform cost to options assuming moderate street goals ie not a 1,000 HP supercar. Here is some links you may be interested in.

http://www.robertpowersmotorsports.com
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/1381227
http://www.realoldspower.com
http://www.btrperformance.com
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/calc.php

I am a big fan of proper quench for pump gas power and detonation resistance. It would benefit you to measure/know your piston cc & how far down the hole as well as your heads cc etc and if the C heads are in need of rebuild with proper performance valves & competition valve job etc you may want to compare it to the Edelbrock heads as to costs milling for quench etc. If you don't want to go into the short block they may give you better options than going into your existing heads without the head aches & risks. C heads are usually easy to sell. Not recommending anything just saying its one thing you will want to consider. The best answer depends on what you have what you want and money etc. As with anything naturally aspirated the power is in the heads.

The key issues.
To handle a well built big blocks torque the 200-4R should have a billet forward drum not all builders offer this.
The rear end. Hard to find 8.5, custom ford 9, or 28 spline aftermarket axels for your 7.5 with 28 spline posi & support cover.
Headers or WZ manifolds. Here is a link http://www.oldspower.com/vb/showthread. ... ght=dwight
Have fun making this thing fast reliable and yours.