[s-cars] NAC; most cubic inch muscle car

[Calvin & Diana Craig]

Actually the 455 Pontiac was a much better tire smoker because of the
mammoth 4.21 inch stroke.  This was actually an "undersquare engine" as the
bore was "only" 4.15 inches.  This made it into many musclecars during it's
brief history from 1970 to 1976 including Firebirds and GTOs.  Also my
personal favorite as this is what is in my '72 Firebird.  When I rebuilt my
1st one about 10 years ago and we found out that the seat in my buddy's '79
Trans Am had some rusted bolts the hard way (the seat broke when we hit the
gas) I was hooked.

Buick made a 455 that would rev like hell for an engine that big with
aftermarket heads and only weighed about 70 lbs more than a small block
Chevy.  This engine made it into the Buick GS in the eraly 70's, basically
the same chassis as the Chevelle and GTO.

Chevy had the 454 which made it into the Chevelle and Corvette but never the
Camaro.

Ford had the 460, although I don't recall it making it into any musclecars,
they used this mostly for "Land Yachts."  The 427, 428, and 429 although 3
distinclty different blocks and engine designs were used in a variety of
combos in many musclecars.

I believe AMCs biggest offering was a 402 in the AMC Javelin.

Mopar's biggest offering was the 440.  Although the 426 Hemi had more
potential than the 440 and was by far a better all out race engine there
were a number of stock street Hemis that were squeeked out at the end of 1/4
mile by 440's.  Although no 440 could rev to 6500 rpm like the stock Hemi
could....just imagine 6500 rpms with 426 cubic inches off the showroom
floor.  Hell, that's the redline for the new 400k Saleen S7 with a 427 in
it.  The 6000 horsepower Top Fuel dragsters of today still trace their roots
to the 426 Hemi.

The Cadillac 500 was the biggest engine of this era but of course they
weren't musclecars per se.

Swap meets yield lots of Chevy 454s and all sorts of Ford and Mopar stuff.
Junkyards have tons of cores available for the Oldsmobile and Buick 455s as
well as the Cadillac 500s.  The Caddys are very popular Airboat motors in
Florida.  Hemis are expensive but readily available since Mopar started
manufacturing all the parts again a few years ago and you can buy them at
your local Dodge dealer, just expect about 8-10k by the time you are done
for an engine.  The Pontiac 455's are pretty hard to find anymore.  They are
about 8-10 times as scarce as the Chevy's and the Ford 460's are ludicrously
easy to get thanks to all the LTDs, etc. that Ford built in the 70's.

A bit of historical trivia, Pierce Arrow produced what I believe is the
largest engine ever in a production passenger car in 1905, it was a 13 liter
6 cylinder engine!

--Calvin


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Mthdealer at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:05 AM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] NAC; most cubic inch muscle car


The 1969 Hurst Olds with the 455 cubic inch. 365 HP and 500 lb of torque. I
had a 1970 Olds 442 with the same motor.  Had to be about the best tire
smoker
ever.
Dave
_______________________________________________
S-CAR-List mailing list
S-CAR-List at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list