While we’re all waiting for “episode 3” of Nicks old weaky escapade to air………here’s more underachiever “filla”.
Maybe not so much of an”underachiever” as much as the builder really under-delivering the goods on what the customer asked for.
This one’s a 455 Pontiac.
A shop in town has a business that works on muscle cars.
All types of mechanical work, and disassembly/reassembly of whole cars.
Customer brings in a 74 T/A that’s has a 455 in it.
Supposedly a real SD car, but the SD engine is long gone.
He’s going to have the body done and wants a hot rod type motor done for it.
Owner makes arrangements with the engine shop for the build and is very clear about wanting “500hp”.
Everyone is theoretically on the same page, 500hp.
Some time goes by, the builder contacts the muscle car shop about the heads being cracked.
The shop says, just get new heads, he wants 500hp.
The builder says, no no, I have some cores here we can use.
More time goes by, one of the owners of the shop is up at the builders place to buy some race gas, and the 455 happens to be on the dyno.
They have already made some pulls, and there is a sheet sitting on the desk.
The shop owner says something like, “I hope you’re not anywhere near done yet…..cuz the car owner wants way more that that”.
He is assured all is good, and after they get done with it, it’ll be great.
A little more time goes by, and the engine is delivered to the shop…….with one dyno sheet.
I don’t recall the TQ, but the hp was in the 340’s.
At this point I get a call.
“Hey, we got that motor back and it’s nowhere near 500hp”.
I told them to bring over the build specs, parts list, and dyno sheet.
Basically………what they got is what was built.
A rather stock, low CR 455, with unported late model heads(the number on them were noted in a Pontiac engine build book as “don’t use these”), a small cam, a std Performer, and a 670 Street avenger carb.
They wanted an estimate to upgrade it to 500hp.
My response was…..it needs everything changed.
The rework estimate was about what the original build cost…..maybe it was even a bit more.
One stipulation on me taking it on was that I would dyno it as-is before I did anything else.
The paperwork that came with the engine only included one sheet.
Part of why I ran it first was so that there couldn’t be some mystery sheet produced down the road that happened to be better than the sheet that came with the motor.
I’ll test it, then I’ll know.
On the dyno I used it was like 315hp.
But not only that……..it didn’t run well.
The thing surged during the pulls and had the A/F ratio at wot in the 15’s-16’s.
I put my dyno mule 850dp on it, which ran 100% better but only picked up like 8hp.
That was my starting point.
