StangMahn

Do you guys think it would be possible to shoehorn a larger engine in the engine bay of a S197, say around 455? I inherited a 72 Buick Electra deuce and a quarter, and I'm going to take the engine and trans out, and see what i ca do with it. Im not sure what ll body's I could fit that size engine in though?

DarkFireGT

Not sure why you would want to. It would really not be worth it. The 455 in the deuce came with 315 horsepower, only 15 more than the 4.6L you already have. While you may be able to get more out of it, it won't be that much more, and the cost of custom fabrication and all the work involved, not to mention the extra weight of the engine would not be worth it. With the money it would cost to put that in, you could make a lot of upgrades to your stock engine, and have better results at the track.

StangMahn

Wel, let me clarify...this particular model was ordered for the Darlington County Sheriff's department, as a police cruiser. We estimate that the engine, when we get it cleaned back up and running again will put out somewhere in the neighborhood of 400hp, and we'll change some things to get it around 500. I was just wondering if I could shove the engine in a car that had a blown engine or something, sitting in a junkyard.

official_style

hell yea u could. buy like any old cheap chevy or vic, slap that ***** in and ull have a nice sleeper! or even a pinto lol! if it was me i would buy an 80s chevy box, slap that in, paint it flat black and air shock up the back.

tom281

Possible- probably yes. Worth it- no. Even mentioning installing a GM motor into a Mustang- ridiculous.

StangMahn

I know, I just wanna find something cool, but sorta underestimated at times to put this in. It's going to be so awesome, and Im going to split the pipes, so, it will normally run out the back, and pass state whatevers, but at the flip of the switch, a valve opens, and side pipes, without cats!

travelers

Are you nuts????? you have a great motor in there now. just sell the parts or car and take that money and put it into the car with new mods.

HiRoller

your best be would be to find a 70-81 camaro/firebird. That engine would drop right in. There was a option on I think the 72 or 73 firebird for a HD 455CI engine....had a shaker hood..

uberPony

Ya good luck with that.
I raced Buicks in the 70s and that motor is not gonna give you 400 HP.
Kenne Bell is THE expert on Buicks and I dont think they make parts for the old Buick 455 any more.
You will have a hard time finding things like headers or aluminum 4 barrel manifolds.
Buick has notoriously weak cast connecting rods. Only the Stage 1 motors had any forged internals. Those heads/pistons on that car are low compression since Buick dropped compression in 1972.
Big fat heavy low compression motor with few parts available.
What Police Department used Buicks... very strange choice.

AWmustang

don't forget the red stripe and wing.

rhumb

Yeah, trying to shoehord that ancient lump of pig iron into an S197 with a perfectly good motor is either masochistic or perverse.

I can't imagine the results would be good, much less better than the 4.6 I presume is in there now, never mind the cost and time nightmare of trying to adopt a quarter-century+ old Buick lump into the Stang.

Far better to beef up the Stang's current motor and chassis to get a car that'll be a much better and well rounded ride in the end.

JonW

400 hp? I don't think so. Not in 1972. And you'd spend a boatload of money getting it to 500 hp. I've had many 455 Oldsmobiles over the years, I know my 455s. They DO have a bunch of torque, which makes them a lot of fun. But no matter what you end up doing, it's going to cost a lot more than it's worth. You just have to decide if the fun factor is worth it.

StangMahn

well, i wasnt going to buy a new S197, and do this, I meant, if I could find one in a junkyard or something with a blown motor, It'll be a year or two before I actually getto that part I assume. I was also thinking about maybe a 88 Camaro or something like that. I'll let my uncle decide what to do with the motor, he knows more about that kind of thing that anyone I've ever met in my life. He's spent 7k on his racecar, put in a new motor and all, around 700hp, with tubbed tires and everything. Bang for the buck, that's one of the best cars Ive ever seen. I'm thinking the Buick was going to be used as a undercover sheriff's car. I wish I had some pictures of it, so you guys could see. We're definately going to go through the entire engine, and rebuild it from bottom up, strengthening the weaknesses, and adding some power. We'll see, its definately something that I'm excited to start working on. This will be really the first car I've completely worked on, I've done a few simple things here and there, but nothing to this nature.

official_style

did u see the episode of pinks where they had a fox with a gm motor? 350 i think?

classj

what you need is an all aluminum ford 427 or 428. Or a gm LS7.

JonW

If your uncle is that sharp with engines, he'll know to build the Buford for torque, not horsepower. Those 455s don't like high revs, so just make a tire smokin' torque monster out of it. 500 ft/lbs of torque? No problem!

kckmustang

Why not just put it in a good '68 - '72 Skylark body (they aren't that expensive) and build yourself a GS clone? Won't be more than 100 lbs heavier than an S197 would be with that engine, and it will be worth about 3 times as much....

StangMahn

I did see that episode of Pinks...
I'd like to have the Ford 427, then I'd go get a Shelby Cobra body...
And it will be a torque monster, I think we're gonna go for the street/drag type car, with big fat tubs on the back, and cutout pipes. Other than a new paint job, I kinda want this car to look normal, from the outside (minus the tubs of course), so that it will be underestimated. Maybe a late model sports car body, if I can find one.

rhumb

Why not just leave it in the car that it's in now and create sort of a sneaky-fast Blues Brothers sort of ride? Sounds like it might be a sort of unique car to start with, so why not work with it rather than trying to jam it in some Mustang?

uberPony

Young man,
The 1972 Buick 455 motor is a low compression motor.
It is not going to be any power making monster engine.
The effort you will put in to making that engine work in another car is not worth it.
If you are hell bent on swapping a GM engine I would at least find one that is worth putting money in to.