Return of the Buick 455 Stage 1 - Better Than Stock?

last time i had this 455 stage one on my dyno i wasn't happy so i did some changes and let's see how it goes now [Music] welcome back to nick's garage and nick's dyno room this is where he tests and tunes the engines he builds and rebuilds for his clients and their many different muscle cars today nick is hoping to complete the work on this buick 455 stage one last time we watched him with this beast nick ironed out a couple of serious issues but he still wasn't satisfied with the output he was seeing on the dyno so today nick's going to make it right [Music] welcome back to nick's garage and i'm nick okay so we made a video a few weeks ago on this 455 buick that we had built here in the shop client brought most of the parts in here and we had an issue with the vacuum leak on the intake manifold so we had the intake manifold planed and we cured that vacuum leak of course it ran very lean and another issue i had is the oil pump cover was leaking oil and you know the paper gasket that they supplied me for the oil pump was so thin like paper thin i ordered another gasket which i got from fel pro which was slightly thicker maybe a couple thou that's all it took was to replace that gasket and put it back on it cured the oil leak no more oil leak and also kept the same oil pressure so now it's all good but my other concern was that this engine right from the factory though 370 horsepower 510 torque and the numbers were not there when we did the test after this was built here i'll give an example we did the test and we had like roughly 479 torque at 2700 rpm and we have 360 horsepower at 46 when this engine should be producing 370 horsepower and 510 foot-pounds of torque so we got near nowhere near that so anyways my dilemma i wasn't happy with the results i also gave dave a call i told him the same thing and he agreed with me so what we had to do is bring up the compression cylinder pressure you know the maybe the compression ratio is 9.4 9.6 whatever but it doesn't matter this is what we did we removed the 50 thou head gasket that they supplied me with and then we went with the comedic 36 thou so we removed 14 thou on the head gasket also i also had the heads milled down 35 000 so we're just hoping to get more cylinder pressure so i don't know what the similar pressure is right now i know we had roughly 150 last time so what i'm going to do is i'm just going to warm up the engine we'll take out a plug and we're going to make a similar pressure test and see what we got the difference between then and now and then after that we'll see what our numbers are let's do some testing and see where the results are going to be [Music] so by the way a lot of people were making comments on if this 455 is it a stage one yes it is a stage one 1970 with the big valves and it is a muscle car engine from buick you know bjerg doesn't usually build a lot of muscle cars but this is from uh buick stage one gs skylark which is a great car it is a muscle car to me and from the factory like i said earlier it does 510 foot-pounds of torque at a very low rpm 370 horsepower and it's a pretty good thing so anyways after doing all that and we did some work on it you know playing the heads getting to your gaskets another issue i had is when i started bolting down the intake after the steel heads were playing and it was also the 10th hour so decked on the block and i got thinner head gaskets the china rails when i added these to end seals every time i would tighten it down anything manifold because it came down closer to the block and the block was not planed since it's already assembled we remove these and then we put a permatex right stuff that hopefully does the job so i put it together and letting it dry right now but anyways we're gonna do some further testing i hope it doesn't get blown off which i think should be good because you know i like to let it dry overnight but i did it early this morning but i'm just anxious to get it running to see what i'm gonna get you know i need to deliver this engine because i got some oranges coming on the dyno so i got to get going on it so i hope all goes well and uh let's get it warmed up it's how it does and by the way you know a lot of people i remember when i used to work at the dealer i used the valley pan gasket no paper gasket this type as you know we have to bring the intake much more lower down so i i put a new intake gasket it's a valley pan sheet metal only and i didn't use no paper whatsoever and then i also put sort of like a shellac with a high-tech sealant this is good stuff i've been using it for a while but it's made by permatex it's the only one i know and i use it on a valley pan gasket people ask what are you using on a sheet metal no paper this is what i use you know when you're using a you know back in the day when i used to work at the dealer when i used to do like a small block chevy i had a steel shim head gasket and that time didn't even have that copper spray i used to put shellac something like this a ceiling over the head gasket put it on the block put on the ceiling torque it down and that was it but nowadays of course now they got the teflon coated felt pro head gaskets or whatever that you don't need any sealer whatsoever but then again you now we also have copper spray which is made by permatex also and it makes your job easier you spray it on a steel shim gasket put on the block put on the head and you're done so times have changed from the days when i used to work at the theater from 1976 from 1980 and here i am again with buicks i worked with bjork stand and here i am now with my own dino with a 455 stage one okay so i'm going to warm it up i like to make a silver pressure which i haven't done yet you know i've gone to a cleaner gasket i planed the heads i'm curious you know i'm not going to pass that 150 psi silver pressure i don't know warm it up take out a spark plug put on full throttle crank it over with the gauge and see where we get [Music] here we go [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] i'm looking at air fuel ratio i'll bring down the rpm a little bit they're not red hot this time okay let's make a pseudo attack and then after that let's proceed with our testing if your ratio is good it's almost at 13 12 8 12 9. ah let's see if i give it guys okay let's make this another test i wanted to see what it compares to from before here we go i got full throttle yes i do okay let's take out the spark plug i'm hoping to get at least i like to get 175 180 psi versus 150 what i had before so you know what i don't know where i'm gonna end up let's hope i get something and i better bet get and i better get some good numbers i remember doing it uh four strokes you got to do it consistent the same way i did before okay let's see what we got now full throttle warmed up engine one spark plug here we go [Applause] jesus 160. come on [Applause] here we go if i go to five to i'll go to five strokes i get 175. okay you know what i think we're up 20 psi that's what i'm going to tell you right now i think we're up 20 psi from what i know so let's do some testing it's how it goes oh okay after all you know we need to put down business on it supposed to get 10.5 compression ratio numbers but i'm not getting that you know i would love to find true blue flat top pitches but everywhere i applied for get these pistons they're all back order [Music] so i had to buy whatever i could find on the market just slightly dished i didn't want that but that's what i came up with that's what i've got so i'm gonna do the best i have with what i have yeah you know somebody get at least 180 psi four to five strokes i got like maybe 170 anyways you know what 20 psi will it help that much i'm not sure you know what let's give it a shot see where we get i'd love to get at least 180 psi with a cast iron head i didn't get it you know i didn't want to plane the heads too much so i planed them down 35 i went with the thinner gasket oh well you know what let's do some testing see if we get some good numbers okay you guys ready let's do it and i haven't even played with the time yet let me uh see if i could start with a very low rpm i'll bring out my uh my bypass valve for the absorber yeah you know this buick motor the torque comes in under 3000 rpm so i'm gonna try to start it as low as i can so i got to open up the bypass valve here on my absorber and see how it goes okay i think we're ready this is good this is good i put the holes on here so we don't have any oil splash so i guess we're ready okay and now i know this carbon needs a tuning because it runs lean at that 2000 rpm so when you're cruising it's not going to work well but anyways on idle full throttle is what i'm concerned right now then after that we're gonna have to see about the uh doing the jets on the carburetor but right now we're just doing a full throttle test let's do it here we go oh two sensor on okay ready georgie put the fan on please and here we go i think we're good water's on charges on okay cool it down all right i'm ready here we are so [Applause] huh what happened there want to make sure it idles viking is good oil pressure is good okay let's see what we got let me just check this out this is there move it down voltage is there okay here we go oh wow our horsepower went up okay let's compare it from last time like i said earlier we pulled out 360 horsepower at 4 500 rpm on the hp and here we got 396 at 4 500 okay that's an improvement and the torque numbers we had 476.9 or 477 at 2700 rpm and over here at 2800 rpm we got 486.1 so we need to start a lot earlier if i can well okay we have a not about improvement from before but look nick is concentrating so hard on the lower rpms that he didn't notice the 500 plus torque he's getting a little higher up the rpm range okay let me just check my uh air fuel ratio full throttle 12 8 12 9 12 7. yeah we're pretty good so you know we're going to back up the timing we're going to do some more testing you know the mechanical uh fixture of what the cylinder pressure is is what it is i'm trying to still get it to that 500 and you know i need to load up this uh rpm to start at maybe 2500 rpm instead of 28. i have a setup at here we go let's check it out i have a set at 26. i'd love to see it start as early as possible 25 okay we're gonna try it again back to back here we go put my o2 sensor on and let's go i'm sure we could do that 400 horsepower i know it's factory 370 i'm at the 396 396 okay i'm gonna make one more test here we go okay let's see if we can get it started 2500 here we go [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so okay all right let's go back to our previous score all right so now we're at uh 2700 we got a 496 torx or not bad it's climbing up it's climbing up horsepower's at 398.1 at 4 600 rpm so look at that we're almost reaching the goal of 500 torque and 400 horsepower so we're getting close we're getting close okay we'll make another test maybe i should back up the timing a little bit you know what let me just pack it up a couple degrees here we go maybe bjorks don't want too much timing but let me mark it or maybe we should just make another test back to back come on if we could do that 400 horsepower cool down the room bring the water temperature down everything's there everything's good don't forget you guys we're running a cast iron intake manifold the original one that came with the stage one we're running a rochester no spacers no holley carburetors no double pumpers no race cars this is a factory setup you guys you gotta understand this is not aluminum heads aluminum intake look it's the way it came from the factory stamped steel lockers you know hydraulic flat tap at cam you know we got no spacers it's a carburetor directly on the intake you know i'm just trying to beat the factory horsepower factory torque if i can and of course you know this engine came with exhaust manifolds not with these humongous headers so we're going to test it as we have it i'm just going to back up the timing a couple degrees just to see and see how it goes let me print this out before i forget okay here we go if you will just check the airfuel ratio one more time air fuel ratio is good i'll print it i want to make sure here we go nick still hasn't realized that his torque numbers are actually much higher than he noticed but he's about to george i made a big mistake george what happened look look at our torque numbers on the previous test it's 499.9 at 3 800. not 4.95 i made a mistake it came in later why i'm trying to get it started under 3000 rpm but actually the second test we just did right now i held it trying to get it at 2700 pm to start but our maximum torque foot pounds of torque came in at 3 800 rpm at 499.9 wow horsepower was at 3 398 at 4 600 rpm but the torque the torque i thought would be under 3 000 it's not i made a mistake it's 3800 rpm it had 499.9 foot pounds of torque you know you're putting on headers different cam the rpm range of torque or horsepower changes in some engines like in this particular reason from what i see the torque came in at mid to mid 3000's but you know i got a 499.9 at 38 3800 rpms i'm just gonna make another test back to back i'm not finalizing anything yet make another test i'm not gonna touch the timing yet just look at it one more time let it break in the rings and everything you know let's make another test back to back and see how it goes here we go i just want to take a look over one more time no oil leaks whatsoever that's good headers didn't turn red hot we have idle we're all good so let's get that big numbers let's go you guys here we go here we go oh by the way you guys a lot of you a lot of you guys are watching but already subscribe so come on guys subscribe to my channel please hit the like button and subscribe here we go so i didn't like that test i should take it over again you know i know i had a little hesitation there but i hit the 500 torque numbers pretty stable right here if you look at it we got over 500 foot pounds of torque starting at the 34 3500 and ended up at the 4 000 but we maxed it out at 503.3 at 3800 rpm so we got our torque numbers up let's get the horsepower so let me make another run back to back and rinse the city in so we're good so just give me a few more minutes we're going to run it again here we go there's our 500 plus foot pounds of torque [Music] okay you know what i want to make another test before i play any timing whatsoever leo you want to check if we have enough fuel please let's go i want to make another run yeah okay let's go now this is on let's get it started and here we go [Applause] so [Applause] you know every time i work with horsepower and i'm looking for a certain goal i'm looking for 400 horsepower look what my numbers are listen to what it is 399.6 yeah 0.4 and this is my 0.4 i want to see a 400 there i want to see a 400 so here we have we have 399.6 horsepower at 4 600 rpm and our torque numbers are pretty good we're at 506.7 at 3500 rpm it's so we know that the mid 3000 rpm we got our maximum torque with this engine and i'm aiming for the 400 horsepower so we're at 399.6 at 4 600 rpm come on i could do better than that you know what i didn't play with the timing yet so i'm just going to back up the timing a little bit uh our torque now is always over 500 that's good engine is good oil pressure is good air fuel ratio is good we got the idle we got no reliefs so far so good i'm pretty i'm pretty happy with it with that cam with those headers yeah okay so maybe i'll back up the timing make another test back to back what do you say we do it let's go for it come on i'm trying to hit that 400 number i got stuck at 3.99 twice you know what all i know is there's no leaks so i'm happy that's good like i said you guys were using a factory stuff it is what it is you know the headers maybe i would have loved to try a set of exhaust manifolds i don't have them they'll probably uh maybe just give me some good torque but anyways doesn't matter i i just want to hit that 400 number we got a 3.99 i want to keep 400 on the paper ain't good enough maybe i should just back up the timing a little bit but then again you know some people say i read some comments i've been reading the comments on the first video should go to the maximum timing i'm at 36 right now they told me go to 34. but then again depends on the cylinder pressure you know maybe i'll do something else maybe advance it a little bit yeah i'll advance it okay let's try something i don't need a timing light i've got it marked here so i'm not going to worry about it the only thing is when a client picks up an engine from here and installs it in his car he has to recheck the timing because it's running on points you guys don't forget that i always like to check the tummy when you install it in the car after you guys pick up your engine okay here we go i'm gonna advance just a couple degrees you know sometimes you read all your comments on the your channel or should i say on the video some are good some are not not bad you know so i'm really uh out of the world but it doesn't matter you know what i i try to take the best advice and take it from there okay i'm ready to make another test we advancing another two degrees i think i'm almost at 38 37 38 so let's give it a shot [Music] come on i can't break that 400 horsepower 399.6 gamoto come on nico you could do it [Music] come on you go let's hit that 400 horsepower finally yeah finally i did it okay here we go we're here we'll hit it i'm good now i'm good uh let me just bring down the rpm give me a second [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] okay here's our results here we go i advanced the timing a couple degrees okay our torque numbers went up to a 507.7 at 3800 rpm good stuff that's the foot pounds of torque i got so we're at 508 horsepower yes 402.2 at 48 100 rpm voila check it out i finally got my 500 plus foot pounds of torque and 400 plus horsepower you know okay so we advance the timing a couple degrees you know we have like a 170 cylinder pressure which is pretty good you can run a 91 octane on this one that's for sure and i'm going to leave the timing where it hits 36 37 degrees i'm going to leave it like i said earlier running a cast iron intake i got no oil leaks everything's good the only thing is i gotta now work on the carburetor because it seems to be running lean while you're cruising or should i say part throttle on idle i got the perfect air fuel ratio full throttle i got the perfect airfue ratio but at mid range part throttle it seems to be running late so i'm going to look into that later on but right now today i just wanted to do full throttle test to max out the engine what i've got and it is what it is i want to see if it's holding in place which it did did pretty good we got 500 plus foot pounds of torque plus 400 horsepower and uh i'm happy with it better than i had the results the last time there you guys there it is i'm finalize it i finished it ready for delivery i just got to call my client see what he thinks of the results and for me it's all good stuff so there we have it you guys 500 foot pounds of torque and just over 400 horsepower on a buick stage one there you have it and you guys thanks for watching us here on nick's garage and don't forget hit the like button and subscribe to my channel thanks for spending your time with me here in the dining room [Music] so [Music] uh [Applause] [Music] and you guys if you look down below the video we have a whole bunch of merchandise that you guys can buy so whatever you like buy it love it wear it and enjoy it and help spread the word of nick's garage and if you have some time check out our patreon page we have extra content and you guys can watch it and take it from there and we'll see you next time [Music] foreign

Channel: Nick's Garage

Views: 98,003

Keywords: Nick Panaritis, Nick's Garage, Indy Auto, Engine Builder, Dynamometer, 440, six pack, mopar, Chrysler, plymouth, dodge, classic car, muscle car, challenger, charger, Carburetor, Dyno room, Engine Room, 241, hemi, MOPAR, 454, Chevrolet, Big Block, Road Runner, 1969, b body, Drag Racing, quarter mile, 427, BBC, BIG BLOCK, Merlin heads, dominator, Chevy, Bow tie, Edelbrock, Thumper carbs, Classic, Antique, Big three, Father, Son, Project, Buick, 455, 1970, Stage 1, Stage one, Skylark

Id: WYGPEHoOT5Q

Length: 36min 26sec (2186 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 20 2021