just bought a 72 skylark.  i'm on budget but still want 5 bills under the hood and don't care 'bout brand loyalty.  what's easiest for 500 hp a 455 .30 over or a 400 sb chevy?  the reason i'm asking is that aftermarket buick heads are damned pricey.  

easiest is the chevy...anyone will tell you that.  But the Buick will produce an insane amount of torque...and the Buick is something different.  It gets boring seeing small chevy after small chevy in my opinion.  But its your car...do as you want.  

I agree.  My dream car is a Pontiac Firebird with a huge big block aluminum Poncho engine block from All Pontiac and a pair of nice aluminum heads.

400 Chevies require a little bit of knowledge...there are some steam hole issues and I recall some bore cooling issues.

Buick parts will be more expensive if they're anything like off-mainstream parts.  

There's always the 550HP LQ4 (Vortec 6000) build for $4995 as featured the May Issue.  

Just remember torque is what pins your spine in the back of the seat and torque is indeed king of the streets.

The Buick 455 was rated at a smoke and mirrors 350 and 360 hp and in king form 510 lbft of tor-"Q". Do you really need aftermarket alum heads for a 455 Buick to make 500hp? Eh I doubt it, remember many people have been racing these engines for many years, long before the aftermarket had caught up to making alum heads for them. I am sure some even have been stock record holders in drag racing so dont drop all your acorns in a hasty manner on the aftermarket head thought or direction.

People who claim its so easy to get power out of a chibby are not telling you that many of the same things that have to be done to a Buick or any other brand engine has to be done to the chibby as well. A chibby just does not wake up one morning and say Im gona pump out 500hp. Some where along the line something is going to be massaged to get to that point.

Stick with the Buick in my opinion, it weighs much less than a bb chevy and if you chose the alum. head route can come real close to weighing the same as a sb chibby. If the front cover scares you with its oil pump then adapt a dry sump pump to the darn thing and tell all the nay sayers to go to h$((.

Dont forget, a solid 400hp and a properly set up drive train is enough to get you crossed up good enough to put you in the ditch in a heartbeat. Have fun.  

I'd go buick, just because I hate seeing chevies in BOP cars.  It might be a little more expensive, but i'd rather see a poncho or olds in there than another chevy.  Besides, then you get that cool big block sound when you stomp on the gas.  On a more technical note, a 400 will make the same amount of power as a 455 but at a higher rpm.  Cubes=Power.  You may have to sink a little more money into the buick, but your engine should last longer largely becuase you won't have to rev it as high.  

What about a newer engine?  Is there anything beefy in the buick lineup that you can grab from a newer junk yard?  

I'm a chevy guy, I've owned near a dozen now, but I'd go for the 455. Yes it's more expensive to build, but a 500 HP sbc 400 would be pretty hairy for day to day driving and would require expensive parts.

A 455 will build as much torque as a 500 HP sbc at a much lower rpm. Torque is what makes your car move, not horsepower. The engine wouldn't even be taxed or need to rev past 5500 rpm to get the same performance or ET's.

You could build the 455 with stock block and heads. Get a good cam, intake, carb, and ignition. Then as money comes along, buy some aftermarket aluminum heads like Edelbrocks.  

A big block Buick is not easy to build or cheap. Bear in mind that the aftermarket for those engines was left to nitch companies until the recent intro of Edelbrock aluminum heads for the Buick BB.

I had a 400 I was going to build and really couldn't find anyone in my area who knew their way around the oiling problems those engines have.  

That said, I believe that me and probably a dozen other people have asked CC to highlight a BB Buick build and show the modifications that are needed to make those engines last at high RPM.

Now, I agree that you probably don't need a lot of revs to make torque with a Buick BB, but revs aren't necessarily the biggest enemy that the Buick BB faces.  The oiling system is inherantly weak, and you got to know what you are doing to get around one.

Olds and Pontiac are more conventional, and more parts are available.  I would drift over to Olds cause I'm an Olds man. But I have become increasingly interested in Ponchos having found 4 bolt main versions of the 455, 428, and 400.  Parts are plentiful too.

Just my opinion, but some stuff to think on anyways.

Bowser    

Could you clarify what the oiling problems are and at what HP and or rpm level do the oiling problems come into play? This really should be cleared up. Many Buicks must have survived passed the 100,000 mile mark. I cant imagine they would have used that desingn all the way up into the 80's.  

Outside of the pain of packing the oil pump with petroleum jelly to initially prime the pump after disassembly and making sure the oil pump gaskets are lined up right (plural if using a Booster plate or HV pump) it really isn't much different from other engines. Quality assembly practices is all that is needed short of a full race engine or surviving regular trips above 6,000 rpm.  I've got 30,000mi on my 455, still has great oil pressure (50psi@2500 on a stock oiling system, 60@3000) and I run it up past 5 grind fairly regularly because I like the sound. The only problem I see with a 455 is traction.  

O-KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, now we see why wives tails get started and stay for so long about different engines. The farm tractor spur gear pump on the chibby isnt exactly anything to balk about. So we see now that each engine has its own particulars and should not be discounted unless the main bulkheads fall thru the pan upon start up.

Buicks have their place, if you want reliable torque BOP is the way to go. If you want a cheap cookie cutter, chibby is the way to go. For how many miles though?  

Oldsmobiles have oiling problems where it'll suck the pan dry if you rev it too high (5000+ RPM) for too long (race situations) (unless proper modifications are made).  This is because they wanted a quiet valvetrain and pushed a bunch of oil to the lifters and rockers to keep them quiet.  They also have problems draining that oil back down once it gets up there...creating a major problem.  Not sure if Buick is the same...or Pontiac for that matter.  Its really not a very complicated fix...just something that needs to be noted and taken care of.  

I'd assume since SilverBuick hasn't had any problems that that may not be a problem with Buicks.  

I've never heard of any Buick's having too much oil up top, and I've never kept mine above 5000rpm for more than a few seconds at a time. When I had a Firebird I read several accounts of Pontiac engines putting all their oil into their valve covers.  The fix I read about was to enlarge the drain back passages. I never had that problem because the engine was tired and the valves floated at a measily 5000rpm  

My understanding of the Olds (far less than CSIROC's or Bowser's) is the Olds have the same problem and is usually corrected with oil restrictors, but I've heard of enlarging the drain back passages as well.  

The problem that I was told about the Buick BB oiling system was (first off) with wear on the oil pump housing and losing pressure as a result.  I also understand that the pressure regulating valve can be finicky causing swings in oil pressure probably when you really don't want it.

Second problem is getting oil to the last two cam bearings.  Under high heat and use conditions the last two sometimes actually spin - or so the wives tail says. The correction is supposed to be in drilling larger holes in the crank and champhering them to improve oil flow.  What I don't know is if you do it to the last two, or all of them, or what. It isn't clear if the holes in the block need to be drilled either.  It's not clear with the research I did, but the answers are there because these engines can be awsome. To that end there is no arguement.

But - the public asked for specifics. Would the engine do OK for an occasional run at the track and everyday fun? Sure, no doubt in my mind. But if you are going to use one in a flat racing application, then they need to have the modifications performed plus low end reinforcements.  

I have been in this for 40 some years and have seen the results of beating the snot out of an unimproved Buick engine.

Just something to think about.  Still think CC should do a build.

Bowser