buick 455 big block in a 1980 gmc 1500 rwd pickup

anyone else do this swap?


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JohnMaryWayne

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Title says it. pulled the old tired diesel. have 3 455's and heard about someone doing this before so i gave it a try and success. buick powered chevy pickup. the difference between how the truck drives with the different setups is unreal. from slugish and average to shove you deep in your seat on take off. more people should be doing this. the big block buick barely weighs more than a chevy 350 but packs over 510 ft lbs of torque on this almost stock engine. installed 2 different types of block girdles for strength allowing it to run a high rise cam so instead of smooth soft pancake notes, shes thumping hard and sounding awesome. this was a fun one.

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Honky Kong jr

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Title says it. pulled the old tired diesel. have 3 455's and heard about someone doing this before so i gave it a try and success. buick powered chevy pickup. the difference between how the truck drives with the different setups is unreal. from slugish and average to shove you deep in your seat on take off. more people should be doing this. the big block buick barely weighs more than a chevy 350 but packs over 510 ft lbs of torque on this almost stock engine. installed 2 different types of block girdles for strength allowing it to run a high rise cam so instead of smooth soft pancake notes, shes thumping hard and sounding awesome. this was a fun one.

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Video or it’s an engine on a stand.... lol sounds badass many years ago my brother put a built Olds 350 in his 74 C10 BOP engines are torque monsters for sure not the Olds 260 tho total turd. Lol
 

86Peter454

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my 86 has a chevy 454 in it. guys at work think it may have an rv cam in it. not sure i havnt found the casting number on the block yet.

but yea your making a bit more power then me. stock 454 is like 250hp and 300lbft lol.

you know the old saying. no replacement for displacement.
 

Honky Kong jr

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my 86 has a chevy 454 in it. guys at work think it may have an rv cam in it. not sure i havnt found the casting number on the block yet.

but yea your making a bit more power then me. stock 454 is like 250hp and 300lbft lol.

you know the old saying. no replacement for displacement.
He isn’t disclosing the year of that 455 the older ones were definitely over achievers compared to advertised it’s also the BOP design that makes them torquey as hell. Even the small blocks.
 

86Peter454

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He isn’t disclosing the year of that 455 the older ones were definitely over achievers compared to advertised it’s also the BOP design that makes them torquey as hell. Even the small blocks.

thats ture.

the problem 454s is just terribly choked ports. hell pretty sure mine is oval ports that are just known to suck. simple head swap or even just good port job and intake manifold and youve doubled the power.

the way many put it is "making 500hp out of a big block is like falling out of a tree"
 

Honky Kong jr

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thats ture.

the problem 454s is just terribly choked ports. hell pretty sure mine is oval ports that are just known to suck. simple head swap or even just good port job and intake manifold and youve doubled the power.

the way many put it is "making 500hp out of a big block is like falling out of a tree"
More like peanut ports and no room to port a peanut port head and the dished pistons kill them too.
 

JohnMaryWayne

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its a 70 block and heads. larger valves. not many options for pistons on these. either stock or too extreme for road use mostly. hard to find anything in the middle so im just running a stock set but it makes good power.
 

fussfeld

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He isn’t disclosing the year of that 455 the older ones were definitely over achievers compared to advertised it’s also the BOP design that makes them torquey as hell. Even the small blocks.


Why do BOP engines tend to be more torquey? Longer stroke?
 

350runner

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How about that video of that torquey BBB. Fyi they run even better with FI. It aught to get side ways quick with that Buick!

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75Monza

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Love the 455's, I've done a buick and pontiac and 2 olds. Always wanted to try and build a copy of the famed stage 2 buick 455 and build a tribute '70 GSX, had a GS that I ran both a buick and olds 455 in when I was just out of high school, car was full blown beater with rust and plexiglass back window, but man the torque was awesome! Even with 295/60's under the back, all it would do was grenade the tires, had to be very conservative off the line or you just could not launch.
 

Jrgunn5150

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Why do BOP engines tend to be more torquey? Longer stroke?


Correct, oversquare engines, long stroke, smaller bore.

My dad and I did this to a 79 back in the early 90's, simply because we had an Electra with a 455 and a truck with a poop diesel. Definitely a worthwhile swap, if you already have the engine.
 

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