Ol' Fart's Firebird Fantasy

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Todd Hoven

A Lemans or Grand Prix is the way to go with the 7M5 455. No need to run a GTO. A wagon would be fine, just need a bit of gear for it. Maybe a shorter cam duration wise

Yeah, I'd like a 2-door Lemans. But since they are lighter, they'll have to go a little quicker. The base models will run F or G. Higher models will run G or H. I like the idea of adding some weight to the rear. So, of these, I'd like to run the H/SA combo. That index is 12.15. So you'd need to run a 12.00 flat in hot weather. That sounds doable, without a high dollar engine.

The weight would be 11.5 x 315 = 3622.5 lbs.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2068

http://www.classracerinfo.com/NHRA_Classes.aspx

Another engine that I think might work is the '70 360hp 455 with #64 heads. According to the classracerinfo site, it was just refactored to 345hp. I reckin it is the highest compression 455 you could run. You can shave the heads down to 75cc, and wind up with 12.44 CR., according to the info sheet.

We ran one of these motors out of a street GTO, in 3 different bracket cars, way back yonder. It ran 12.40's and 50's with a TH400, a stock 13" converter and 3.55 gears. We ran it for 3 seasons. It won lots of races and probably logged between 600 & 800 passes total.(we went to 49 races in '78) And I think it had well over 50,000 street miles when I got it. It was my 1st 455. It made a believer out of me.

And it taught me a lot. It broke every part of the drive train, at one time or another--a Glide, a TH350 out of an 11 sec nova, several TH400 int sprags, a Buick 10 bolt, an 8.5 ten bolt(I tried to get by one race before tacking the axle tubes to the center section), and of course a couple of driveshafts. That thang was a torque monster. I had only raced 400's prior to that. I had no idea about the torque of a 455 and what it could break.

This engine should haul a '70 A-body Pontiac Stocker down the track pretty quick.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2050