blykins

Universal camshafts are not really optimal. I've found that custom cams work best for specific engine families. With that being said, what's your total timing and how quickly does the curve come in?

The 70's affected all cars.... A 455 surely has the foundation to make some power, you just have to coerce it out. A cylinder head swap and a modern camshaft would help tremendously. A compression ratio bump will also help. I do agree with Bear though, the difference in horsepower between a 9:1 engine and a 10:1 engine is negligible and if you live in an area that has poor quality gasoline or only low octane gas available, it's best to err on the side of safety. Flat tappet cams are more difficult to mess with these days and I generally try to talk my customers into hydraulic or solid rollers. However, when the need arises, I will do them with a nitrided core, EDM lifters, and break in the camshaft with Brad Penn oil and reduced spring pressures. I'm building a 400 for myself right now and I'm using a custom Comp solid flat tappet...with some Crower EDM lifters. It will get beehive valve springs but will be broken in with some low pressure outer springs from a dual spring package. To the OP, an aluminum cylinder head swap can get pricey, but when you look at it in relation to R&R'ing your factory heads (and some port work), then it's very cost effective. With any engine, the heads and camshaft make the power and there's no reason why you can't make 1 hp/ci with a little bit of work.

No sir, not yet. Block should be honed and square decked in the next week or so. Heads are done, Edelbrocks with Manley Raceflo valves, moving about 325 cfm at this point. Intake has not been ported yet. Using a factory crankshaft, coupled with some Scat 7.100" H-beam rods and a set of Racetec forged pistons, using a 1.5/1.5/3mm ring pack. We were not set up to do Poncho work....had to buy a BHJ torque plate along with some dyno headers.

Just joined my first Pontiac forum. I'm Brent Lykins, I own Lykins Motorsports, near Louisville, KY. I've been professionally building Ford engines for a long time and just felt the need to see what it's like on the other side of the fence....hahaha I've never been a fan of "cookie cutter" cars and builds and generally like to go the road less traveled. My first car was an '86 Pontiac Fiero GT and one of my dream cars is a '73 Trans Am. I'm in the machine work stage of a 400 build that will also include ported Edelbrock heads, a Victor intake, a custom solid flat tappet camshaft. I will probably start an engine build thread after I get familiar with how things work here. Looking forward to being assimilated and will try to help with the engine side of things as much as I can here. Brent Lykins, Lykins Motorsports [email protected]