NEW 455 buick blocks being cast

[bob k. mando]

Bulldog Performance is casting new reinforced iron blocks in conjunction with Performance Automotive Engines. The first block came out of the foundry on Nov 9, 2004 and is currently being machined at PAE.

http://www.paeenterprises.com/buick.htm
pics of the casting molds and block. oooooohhhh, purty. [img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img]

http://www.paeenterprises.com/coming_soon.html
some of the major improvements include reinforced bearing saddles (look, i say just look at them things son, pay attention when i'm talkin to you), extra head bolt bosses, priority oiling to the mains and siamesed cylinders so it can be overbored to 4.5 inches. with a stroker kit jim burek (of PAE) is estimating a 573 cu in displacement! so much for the 572 cu in the chevy factory motor, eh? [img]graemlins/smash.gif[/img] they are also powdercoating the blocks although you can probably request that they not do that if you prefer not to have paint on the inside of your engine.

Block options will include a smaller main bearing diameter (to reduce bearing speed, the block can take the weaker crank now that it has thicker webbing), larger diameter cam bearings and oversize lifter bores.

http://www.paeenterprises.com/buildsheet.htm
here's the order sheet for the block. the price for a stock spec block is $3550 and fully optioned out it comes to $4565.


hope to see you at the race track next year. [img]graemlins/hurray.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/finishflag.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hurray.gif[/img]

too bad i can't afford one of the damn things.

[Bob]

Great stuff!!! [img]graemlins/shield.gif[/img]


Thanks for keeping us up to date!!!

Afraid my pocket book is the same size as yours...

[bob k. mando]

powder coat will be a deletable option.

after machining and thorough inspection burek says that they could be bored to 4.6 and still have .125" minimum wall thickness. that's 598 cubes that is.

pistons and rods might be a bit expensive at the 4.5" stroke though. even a 7.35" rod would only get you a 1.633 rod / stroke ratio.

which must be why Earick Racing ( http://wsx.net/ere/ ) is talking about 4.6" bore x 3.75" stroke ( DE-stroked ) and 9000 RPM.

i tell you what, nobody knows just how durable these things are yet but one way or another it sounds like next season at the drag strip is going to be REALLY exciting. [img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img]

[theoldguy]

They had a sampls at the Michigan Christmas party last Saturday, and it is AWESOME!! For the guys that are stretching the envelope, here is your answer.It can suppossedly hold 1200HP

[bob k. mando]

in this corner, wearing black powder coat with sharp final machine trim, weighing in at 231 lbs we have the next gen buick big block



in the other corner ... we have dog meat.

[img]graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

oh yes, burek is also starting on crate engines already ( from 455 to 573 cid )

[Jared]

Arg... if only I hadnt poured so much money into my 340, I'd be thinking about getting one right now.

[region rat]

Wasn't that Bulldog guy kind of a flim flam man? I saw one of the blocks years ago but they only made 4 or 5. Butch

[bob k. mando]

yeah, this wound up crashing and burning in a really bad way.

Bulldog left a lot of people who placed deposits hanging and it looks like he's probably taken PAE down with him.

[Dr. Frankenbuick]

The sad thing is the ones that were made seem to be everything they were advertised to be, but almost nobody got one.

[region rat]

The sad thing is the ones that were made seem to be everything they were advertised to be, but almost nobody got one.

I wonder how many guys would still buy one if a decent guy took them over.