November 17, 2001 - A New Toy
Never being one to turn down a good opportunity when it arises, so when I found myself with an oil logged engine I was entertaining offers on engines\cars to remedy the situation. I went over to Monty's one afternoon to ask about engine building I was more than surprised to hear him ask if I wanted a 455 for my car. I rushed over to look at it and 2 hours later I was the proud owner of a 1973 Pontiac Grandville with running engine.
The car is a boat by any means. It runs, but the transmission gear shifter is stuck and wouldn't go into gear (naturally). I got it towed home and set about to getting the scoop. Was it a 455 car? The VIN said so but 28 years can make a big difference. So I opened the hood and set out to find out the block numbers.
Hmm. An XA block. Classical Pontiac said that it was a 1969 400 block. Not promising. Since I knew that the displacement is cast into the drivers side near the freeze plugs I got under the car and began scrubbing. I found what I had been looking for.
The letters '455' cast into the block. WOOHOO! An actual 455! And for only $800 too. Not bad. With 4X heads too.
Next task, to pull the engine from the Grandville and place it in the Trans Am...
Last updated November 13th, 2001 at 6:00PM