Well, apparently, HERE'S one way- on pump gas, at that:
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0907phr-building-a-721hp-buick-engine/
Regards,
Gordon.
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Something a little different....a `68 Buick Riviera Pro-Touring
- Thread starter MaxxVolume
- Start date
Well, apparently, HERE'S one way- on pump gas, at that:
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0907phr-building-a-721hp-buick-engine/
Regards,
Gordon.
grillebilly
Empty Head
Yeah, those heads have to flow 100 CFM more than a ported set of GM castings to make that much power. Which is about 40% more. Still quite a feat.
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MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Agreed....similar to those "ideal top-speed runs"....a case of "In a perfect world, with all the stars in alignment, and a 200 mph tailwind"
Under those conditions, I believe my car would hit it`s theoretical top speed of 196 mph (6800 RPM in 6th)
On a "normal" day, high 150s is more like it (that`s electronically limited, with the limiter disabled, add maybe another 10 onto that).
Well, they did start off with the Stage II head design, THEN they raised the ports.
That takes care of the biggest issue with Buick heads- the sharp turn from the runner to the bowl...
Regards,
Gordon.
Nail head parts are harder to find but the 430-455 parts are not that hard......
I had a 1970 Buick Estate Wagon that I bought from the original owner in 1991. It was fully loaded (the window sticker was 12K!) In the owners manual it was rated 370hp and 510lbsft. That was gross of course and with a single exhaust and breaker points. It went like crazy like that but I put duel Walker Super turbos on it and HE ignition with a flex fan and that beast was a Camaro killer. The 70s were the last of the hi compression units and they were all rated the same......of course it was bs but they were incredible engines.......BUT no way does a NA Buick big block make the HP he is claiming........well maybe close but for how many pulls on the dyno? Especially 718 net HP.
Yes... those things were fast and well mannered on the highway. Look at the rear axle ratio of 3.07, and all that torque. That thing would run 100 mph all day long and get up and go from there... top speed was quite high. The things we used to do... Las Vegas highway comes to mind.
Goodwill_HiFi
Super Member
TA Performance makes all kinds of stuff. More expensive than Chevy parts, Though.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
My `65 Riv Gran Sport had lots of muscle on the top end....from a 60 roll, it would show it`s taillights to many cars. With all 8 barrels WFO it made a killer "Booo-WOPPP" sound also. Most other cars backed off once we got up into triple digits, but the Riv was willing to get up and go....
noogies
My Favorite Woofers.
How fast did you get it going?
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Not all THAT fast....probably around 125-130-ish, but I think that most other drivers didn`t feel comfortable above 100 for more than a few seconds at a time, so they would back out of the throttle before long....
True that... over 100 is another world, especially when the speedo just keeps climbing... passing the 120 mark and still climbing, not just drifting upward, gets kind of surreal, strangely quiet and smooth... this of course assuming everything is balanced and in good working order. Thoughts of anything going wrong start to enter one's mind... certainly is exhilarating though. Putting the anxiety aside and cruising above 120 for a while makes 100 seem rather unrealistically slow.... curious affect on the senses, one to 'record' and take notice of... normalization is, or can be a killer.
Marine0811
I love it loud!
My friend had a 1973 Tornado (Oldsmobile version of a Riviera) with a 455. It was quite a car. I can still picture him doing front wheel drive burnouts. Not quite as cool as a rear wheel burnout, but something to see that great big car spinning it’s front tires.
A friend of mine drove his Dad's Tornado in high school. His dad had put studded snow tires on the front. When Robert would leave the Shoney's Restaurant he would leave in a cloud of sparks! We thought it was great!
Marine0811
I love it loud!
It’s funny you say that. I’ve seen that before. It is quite funny to see
Those that didn't know thought he had blown his car up. 
When I was a teenager- there was this older guy around here, who had a '65 Riviera with, I think the Wildcat 465 (twin 4bbl. 401).
He'd go out on weekends, and inevitably- some teenager with a 327 Nova, a Mustang, or a GTO or such, would want to race him.
The thing is- he'd always say- "I'm not racing that quarter mile s***- we're going between two mile markers, or nothing!".
The stupid kids would almost always agree to that- and the race would go like this- for the first quarter mile or so, they'd just go run away from the Riviera. However- somewhere around the half-mile mark, when their hot-rod car (usually with drag race rear gearing- 4.11:1 or shorter, in many cases) had absolutely revved out (max RPM in high gear- points bouncing, valves floating, etc) they'd hear a very distinctive roar- and here he'd come, blasting around them like they were backing up.
The rumor was, that some cop actually once clocked him on radar at 161MPH in that thing, on a long stretch of straight road. Of course, most of the cop cars of the late 70s couldn't catch him... and without managing to get his tag number, they were really only guessing that it was him...
I do know for sure, that a guy with a '73 Super Duty Trans Am, managed to stretch 6 out of 8 connecting rods in his 455, while racing the old guy in the Riv... my Dad had to swap out the engine in the TA, at the BOP-GMC dealer he worked for...
I also saw that Riv, most likely after one of those high-speed sessions- it was pretty obvious, due to the fact that in the darkness, you could see the exhaust manuals and the downpipes GLOWING DULL RED underneath the car as it sat at a gas station. That's called pouring on the coal!
Regards,
Gordon.
Friend of mine's dad had a 68 and it would go... fast, smooth, powerful. It was neat to see tire smoke coming front the front wheel wells... had a roll speedometer, like a spool with numbers on it, went to 130... I'd seen it past that and into the low numbers again. Crazy kids... his father must have just as crazy to let his 17 year old son out with it. This was in 1969.
I owned a 68 Toro with a modified 455, I can attest to the claims that you're making. I miss that old buggy... problem was the gas gauge was faster than the car was and the car was no slouch!
