Takis

I think there is a follow up... due to some incorrect info I placed... basically what happened is the issue with the belts... the belts should be the same length... in above post I thought I fixed the problem by using a slightly longer inner belt and shorter outer belt. Well, that messed with the charging to the alternator and eventually decaying and dying of y larger battery. The voltage on my meter showed 14-15 volts which I thought was fine, but it should be between 13-14 volts, as it is now, after I fixed the belt situation. As of now, I am still very happy with the overall investment with the engine... the next upgrade I will be doing to the car is changing the transmission and rear end to capture all of the true power coming from the engine, The 3 speed and 3:23 rear end is quick, but if I had a 4th speed and a 4:10 rear end, the car would be much quicker... But, I do not have all the details yet, but this will be next year's investment. Hope all are OK with this Craziness currently going on in our country. Take Care. Taki

Now that I have broken in engine.. ~2200 miles into engine... The car is a little quicker from the start... but where it is much quicker is when I am at ~30mph and I floor it... (it is a TH400 3 speed, not 4 speed transmission) To be honest, I am still babying the engine, and with the stall converter being around 2800-3000rpm, I really have stepped on it from stop yet. Overall, knowing the engine is baselined and done right and new, I feel happy about. Yes, it cost 3 times more than I was planning on spending initially (was just going to do the intake and carb)... but now that I have finished driving it for the summer/fall, I feel it is a good investment and overall feel better driving the car... as for feeling the car to be much faster due to the ~100 additional hp (think I am around 500hp - just engine), it is a little faster.. but now she sounds like a muscle car due to the larger pipes, larger cam. Maybe next year, I will add some nitro setup to the rebuilt 455 engine. Now, going to rebuild the numbers matching 400ci engine that came with 68 GS this winter... That will be my next post. Have a Merry Christmas and New Year everyone! Takis

Here are some pictures of the rebuild.... Am at ~1100 miles total so far on the engine and everything is fine. Only thing, no leaking oil, but engine is burning oil (I think) - needed to add a quart of oil at ~500 miles after 500 miles break-in oil change. I do have smoke come out of the top of my header covers where I placed hoses on the breather to take the pushed up oil to the ground while running the engine. Anyway, here are all the pictures.... Here are some pictures of the rebuild.... Am at ~1100 miles total so far on the engine and everything is fine. Only thing, no leaking oil, but engine is burning oil (I think) - needed to add a quart of oil at ~500 miles after 500 miles break-in oil change. I do have smoke come out of the top of my header covers where I placed hoses on the breather to take the pushed up oil to the ground while running the engine. Anyway, here are all the pictures....

Well, Frank was correct... I worked on this with a friend... the auto garage was closed yesterday. As I mentioned, I am running the engine without the air conditioner in it.. thus, I was not using the second set of belts. So, after I added the second belt, no more squeaking. I guess the upgraded engine made a difference, where again before, I was running the previous non-rebuilt engine with just one belt. But, there is a caveat. there is not air conditioner , where there would of been a different sized belt - a few inches lager than the inside belt... this time, the outside belt needs to be ~ 1/8" smaller than the inside belt, even though logically, they should be the same size. I guess something with the pulleys and maybe the depth of the pulley's notch. what I am explaining is this.. then inside belt length is 51" while the outside belt length needed to be 50-7/8"... then both belts when tightened via the alternator slider are bought taught. Thanks for everyone's advice.. I am happy that this was a simple fix... I am happy, that the auto garage guys did not disappoint me and put in a bad water pump too... Now, I can start pushing the engine a little and see if all this extra money and time in upgrading the engine really does make a difference in power and speed.. The current observation is that the engine does sound really good and mush louder than before.. but I do not how much more sound the 3" mufflers are adding when compared to my 2-1/2" pipes from before.... there is a difference in the larger cam that I added too, definitely - again from a sound perspective. Now, it really sounds like a muscle car, or more of a race car. Also, I did put in switch to more expensive mufflers to subdue the overall sound on each side - no H pipe - but pipes go all the way to the back.. because I was afraid of the cops pulling me over due to the load grumble especially when going past 2000 RPM - with these new mufflers, the bark went to a smooth grumble, and was worth the money to limit the volume, especially living in a urban area... No oil leaking (at least yet)... gas mileage almost the same as before - ~8 miles to gallon. Since the engine got bored out, the compression ratio is around 10:1, so i used 93 Octane with the accelerator every fill up... Now, it is just time to drive it and enjoy it... and hopefully, being a rebuild, having no issues the next 1000 miles... I will place some pictrues shortly and keep everyone posted... Takis

Thanks.. but I do know that they place two new belts (not using air conditioner)... but this brings a point, that I may need that second belt for more sturdiness around the water pump - but I did not have it before the build, but maybe because of the more power, the additional belt is needed. I guess, I will find out tomorrow.. Once fixed, I will let post the resolution. Thanks

Hello Everyone.. After a couple of months, I am at the point where I have broken in the 500 mile milestone, changed oil to normal oil, and now surpassing the 3000RPM point of the engine by taking the car on the freeway. Before the 500 mile, I was babying and not taking it past 3000RPM. As I was driving the car over the weekend, where I got it back from the engine re-builder on Friday, when I go to ~3200RPM, I hear a squealing... Now, to me it sounds like the water pump... I am taking it in tomorrow in the morning to the shop, because I am on vacation this week and want to get it fixed as soon as I can to enjoy it... Now, I did check power steering fluid.. it was a little low, but tapped it off. I do not believe it is it, but you never know. It could be one of the pulleys too.. I do not know... I realize this is a little late to ask for advice before I take it in tomorrow morning... but there may be a consensus among you folks.. I know, because this forum has allot of good and smart people on it. oh, another thing... when I rev it up to 3200 and then push more to 4000, the squeak still stays there... as for getting louder, I do not know, because the rev of the engine kind of overtakes the squeaky sound... I did try to push it 8-10 times over the weekend, just in case it was a anomaly because the pulleys were sitting for a few weeks... This did not happen to my previous engine when I would go past 3000 or 4000RPM.. so this is something new... Likewise, I do not know who to blame.. just the parts are old, or the engine re-builder did not check these things before putting the engine together... Also, I did check belts and them seem tight - only the power steering seems a little loose... but I am not the expert.. also, I do buy that belt spray and placed it on 5-6 times already... that did not work. OK.. I think I have given you guys the whole story.. any suggestions are appreciated, and of course, after tomorrow, I will know better after I take it in... but, it would be nice to know what you folks may think. Hopefully, everyone is having a nice summer. Takis

sorry.. 575-600HP.. the other range was for another engine I was speaking with the tech... I will know exactly after the dyno is done on it next week...

OK everyone... I did not give up on this oil burning issue... I could not see any stains on my garage floor from oil... I was still burning a quart of oil every 200-400 mikes of driving... I understand it's a big block and all of them burn oil - which I agree with my answer in a few.... So, I saw some oil leaking around the manifold, but not a quart or so to burn for 200 miles... I also wanted to tweak the stok rochester 4 barrel carb... well. over the winter from reading and stuff.. I was going to replace the gasket of the intake manifold and replace the carb... while investigating, I also went o a couple of engine restore places... make a long story short, I am in the process in getting the entire engine rebuilt.... After they defraged, cleaned, bored out the engine block, we found out the main issue of the oil burning (where I suspected too) - of course it was rings, seals, ect. the pistons were carbon black as you can get from burning oil. Even though this project is costing me money - could never do a rebuild on my own - I am glad I did it.. the professional engineer mechanic told me how the pistons were not all weighted appropriately, and more work was done on correctly balancing things and making sure all tolerances make sense due to larger cam and boring of piston holes... btw I am not a mechanic, still learning, so please forgive my terminology if not correct. I have attached a picture of the block and the new carbon treated pistons along with the new head that I will be putting on.. the carb is a pro racing 4barell carb 880 CFM with new alum intak manifold. new lifters.. rods.. ect. new electrical system.. new converter (3000-3200 RPM I believe).. upgrading exhaust to 3" .. heavy duty timing chain.. the good news is that the tranny TH400 3 speed 3:23 is all working fine and tight - posi with a shift kit in the TH400 We estimate from the previous ~410 stick HP 455 we will now have anywhere from 650-700HP.. And the reason why I am doing this is because I have a 68 GS where this rebuilt 455 is going in to... but I still have the original matching numbers 400 motor, if I ever sell. I realize To much information - but this forum has 'helped' (I appreciate the advice, but it led me to spend more money - but having a muscle car always leads you that way) me, out and I wanted to contribute and close out with this issue. Thanks, Takis

Thanks for the great info NTX and carbking.... Actually, I gave the go ahead over the weekend to the custom garage that will be doing the upgrade... One determination was the carb - currently, the stock (I believe) rochester carb is on it.. do not know cfm... but I will be getting an 820 cfm pro series... the mechanic/engineer has used these in the past and feels comfortable - I know they are expensive... $650-800 I am getting a new alum manifold to better match the larger carb. Getting all new electrical.... MSD Distributer/Coil/Ignition Firecore Spark Plug wiring With that, with the point that was made with RPM, placing a converter in to get the engine to better rev to where the HP and torque is at quicker and smoother... hopefully, there will not be any hesitation in the gas flow how I have now.. meaning, when I floor the gas, there is that initial 1/2 second stall hesitation and then things kick in Finally, since I was getting so much into the upgrade - I decided to go ahead and change the larger alum heads and cam for the 455... do not know that ,info yet. but I know I will be pushing the compression to 10:1 or so... btw, I think I have 2.5" exhaust already. I need to double check... because the headers where not in the price of the upgrade. So, that is the new upgrades... My existing 455 was upgraded about 7K ago too with mainly stock stuff - still runs great, just got used to the zoom.. and want more of a zoom... Likewise, all this started because I was leaking a little oil from my manifold that I needed to fix... Again, any thoughts are welcome... I will keep everyone posted... Likewise, I will place before and after pics along with during the build pics... Takis

I am thinking about adding more horsepower to the 455 by upgrading Cam and heads. Then will alter carb to a more robust cfm to 820 with ne intake manifold... also add converter for gas to get quicker to the rpm where hp RPM range is at... i realize this is a very large upgrade, but any facts to do it or not too.. or what heads and carb should be used since I do not want to alter the hood... btw, this is going into a 68 GS, not a 72 with the hood scoop already there. Thanks much. Taki

Hello everyone.. I realize this is a loaded question... I live in a cold climate and refuse to drive my 68 GS with rain, snow, and salt on the road... I have a 72 rebuilt Stage 1 in the 68 with ~6K miles on it. I start the car up once every 2 weeks on average for ~ 3 months out of the year while in a non-heated garage. When I start up it really sounds rough running at ~600RPM.. i let the engine by itslef (with no revving) warm up where the temp goes to ~195F. Takes about 20 minutes in 30F degree temperature. Then I manually rev the car in park at ~2000RPM for 1 minute at a time with a say 20 second rest inbetween for about 10 minutes... then I rev it up to 3000-3500rpm for 30 seconds once or twice. This is about 30 minutes of the car being turned on from start... My questions are: Should I rev my engine that high in park? in other words, is is better to rev with a load (meaning transmission hooked up and turning tires), or without? I intuitively feel that reving it that high without a load may push a rod through the engine... Any advice on this warming up the car and revving approach is appreciated. Thanks, Takis

Thanks everyone for the advice.. At this time, I will try the zip ties approach.. I will fill you in and place pictures after the weather gets warmer.

Thanks for input... First, the long pin you are referring to, does not protrude through the wire harness - again, this is an after market wire harness I bought. All 9 pins go into the wire harness... out of the 9, the one is the positive, while the other two make connections to the up and down of each window. I may need to just concentrate on the positive wire making a good connection. The dielectric grease I bought is similar to the below link... So, do not put this type of grease on it??? I understand the main issue is to make sure the connectors lock in. Should I wrap each node with aluminum foil? and push in??? When it gets warmer in the future, I will go and work on this again... https://www.autozone.com/greases-and-gear-oil/lubricant-grease/ags-single-use-pouch-connector-protect/868167_0_0

Would a dielectric type of grease like this do the trick?? in other word place the grease on the pin connectors that go into the harness.. then the slight movement with the connections will be assisted with the grease to always make the connection? Lubricant, Grease, Nyogel - 50g Tube A silica thickened, heavy viscosity, synthetic hydrocarbon grease intended for mechanical and electromechanical components that require a heavy level of damping. Used to reduce free motion and to quiet operating noise of loosely-fitting components.

Hello Everyone Again! This is a great forum, and I appreciate everyone's input. I hope you can assist me with this.. This is an electrical issue with the driver's side 4 window power up and down switching. I bought both after market window switch 4 windows and also the interior housing that has all the wires.. From taking apart the previous stuff, the one housing plugs into the other... The issue now is that when I plug in the outside switch housing, the switch, say to the front driver side window, intermittently works. I have to hold the back portion og both housings tight where the RED wire is on the housing tight together to get things to work. I am pretty confident it is not the splicing and connectivity of the wires. At this time, I have not connected ALL wires.. just the power wire and the 2 wires the make the driver's side window go up and down. My question is: Is there some way to lock the two housings together? At the time the one housing simply has 'steel' leads that plug into the other... I have not placed anything around them, for now to get better connectivity. So, my question is.. is there any special trick to connecting the two housing.? I have placed a picture below... It is a little hard to see where the two housing connect to each other. I also place the wire harness housing by itself.. and a smaller picture of the outside window switch. There are 8 prongs that go into the switch, but not all the way through...