buick 455 big block in a 1980 gmc 1500 rwd pickup

finally got around to this. runs nice. wants to burn the tires but ive been babying it. buick 455 powered 1980 gmc pickup

spun a bearing on my original so popped in my second buick. the one thing i dont like about these is the oiling system. but they sure are torque monsters

Sweet!

"spun a bearing on my original so popped in my second buick. the one thing i dont like about these is the oiling system. but they sure are torque monsters"


The Buick oiling system left a lot to be desired, it was even worse with the harmonics and roughness when made into a 90 degree V6 back in '61. This was finally corrected in the late 80s when the Buick V6s were officially called the '3800' and '3300', both distributorless. I don't know if anyone has made any effort to retrofit the gerotor pump and drive collar on the crank to a V8, but it is an awesome system.





The drive 'collar' for the oil pump / crankshaft gear is just slid over the end of the crank. Here it is removed;



Oil filter and pressure regulator still in the same place with filter hanging off the cover, but turned downward so they won't empty and cause dry starts.



The rope seal finally went away sometime in the 80s too! I ran across one putting a timing chain in an '80 Cutlass and didn't have a clue what I was looking at!

i'm digging it, but what did you do as far as mounts?

it was actually rather easy using the stock buick mounts. the truck mounts were very easy and cheap to weld up

i.c.

Vid - e - o

Doo eetttt

"Video or it's an engine on a stand" lmao.

My dad has a 81 GMC originally equipped with the 350 Olds diesel. It’s now 455 Olds powered. The truck was originally my grandfathers truck, he died in 1991. It was several years before my grandmother was ready to do anything with some of his things. Dad asked me to go get it running, when I got it started it had the typical head gasket issue. Dad asked me to get it going as cheap as possible, all I had sitting around were 455 engines. I kinda wish it was a later model engine, the high compression doesn’t do well with today’s gas. I have to back off the timing a little more than I would prefer to keep it from rattling. It’s degin a torque monster. Isles smooth as glass, has that big engine, lotsa torque feel when driving.

Thinking about doing this myself to my '79 any tips or warnings about problems you ran into?