A buffalo’s first bowtie

It wasn't a gold mine or a bust...somewhere in between. I basically paid $500 for the block, 2 spare heads(if mine aren't cracked), and about half of the hang on parts. It did come with an 8 quart oil pan. The seller owns an import repair shop and I'm sure has an idea of parts value.

You guys have seen us in the news, and that's what happened to this motor. He ran it shallow, sucked up a bunch of mud, overheated, cracked the exaust manifold, and the #1 rod spun its bearing. That pretty scat crank from the ad is probably shot.

The block is the same casting # as the old one, and the machinist looked it over carefully and finished with a nod and a smile. He thinks I have a good one. He said "this'll make a good 30", so it's going to be a 4.28 Except for where merc had their engine tag, it's just like what originally came with the boat.

He's going to pressure test it...that's the final word on cracks, right? The only cylinder that had any galling was #1, and that's the one he measured. He checked the others too, but my take was he didn't want it on his floor if he couldn't do something with it(man did he have some cool looking stuff in there, saw a cummins diesel head that's almost dinner table sized).

The cam is where we left it. I need the conversion kit to go roller. Looks like the lifters are about $500 and the cam about $700. There may be a question about my drive gear fitting on the roller cam; more research.

FWIW, my neighbor is a chevy guy. I asked him about a brass bi-metal spring mounted to the intake...it's the choke spring, but not like any I've seen. He thinks it's a pretty old engine(almost said motor?!!?)

87BFN owner wrote: Head wize on that 454 you want the ovals, the rectangle/square port heads will actually rob you of torque when running under 5K rpms.

Thanks 87, and I liked your pic in the other post. I hope I look like that when all of this is done!
That's great info 'cause I was wondering...and I don't know any pro builders. Starting with a book as I am, all I read about are the rectangular ones. How cool is it to have the right ones and not even know it?!!? LOL As things are, I have 2 pair just alike; same casting numbers, but his were burning much cleaner than mine. I'll take all 4 to the machine shop and let him pick 2 after I know the block is good.

nuttyskier2002 wrote: I can also guide you to a good online static compression calculator.

Now that I know what the bore will be(4.28), it's time to start looking at this. I did a search and found some, but which do you like?
Thanks

Eric,

I am in between meeting right now at work. I dont' think I will get a chance to call you today. I will give you a call tomorrow, any chance you called the guy to see if he still had the engine and specifics?

Got ya, still waiting on the boss before we can start the meeting. If I knew I had this much time I would have called you. Oh wait just got his page over the radio, got to go.

Thanks for the info Eric, I am doing some looking right now. That engine is a LH rotation correct. I am going to have to look at a parts list for it. If I decide to pick it up it will not go in the boat until a year from now. I would want to add some goodies to it before I installed a 502. I figure if I am going to switch to a 502 might as well make it worth my while.

If it turns out that I have 2 extra heads, roughly what would they be worth?
Thanks

If your not going to hang on to them check ebay for a price and put them up for sale.

nuttyskier2002 wrote: Like Chris said you won't get a lot for them unless they are re-worked. However, they aren't near as common as the SBC heads. If it were me I'd hang on to them just in case you crack one in the future.

I did do some searching...I didn't find many compared to other parts I saw, and they weren't worth more than $100/pr unconditioned. I think I'll heed given advice and keep them, but not because of the possibility of a cracked one in the future. That won't happen on my watch. Besides that, it fits with what I've found out about the block I tripped over. I haven't seen many of them either and feel blessed that I have the one I found!

the last pair i had, i sold them for 200.00, the thing about selling parts is finding the right guy, i sold an input shaft for 850.00 half of new, because i know the value of it and i knew the guy had no other avenue. If a friend or one of you guys needed it i would just have you cover the shipping...probably not even the shipping. the heads i sold were 390 hp heads and if i found the right guy i could have gotten at least 500.00.
BTW greg thank you for the care package, i have them well hidden for my use only...damnt, know i have to sign the checks, my had no pen excuse ran out

I got all the info back yesterday. The Crane cam 13HR00034(same specs as 139001) is the roller cam for my engine. That's not the # for the conversion kit, but they matched lifters, springs, and retainers. It looks like push rods and rockers will be extra. He also priced a rebuild kit with hypereutectic pistons, a melling pump, clevite bearings, and fel-pro gaskets for $668. All total to this point with machining and parts; ~3K

I still have a carb, circulating pump, and fuel pump to add and probably a few other small things.

I'll come out cheaper than a repower(especially if someone else was doing the install) but not by much. I'm hoping the 'much' comes in when I hear it fire up!

Thanks for the help to this point!

8122pbrainard wrote: Greg, I love the woodworkers analogy to black and white! You do need to look hard for the ebony these days that doesn't have lots of white streaks in it!

That's only clever on your part! I was referring to something I sent to Eric.
My material supplier is AWPC(atlanta wood products center). They aren't the cheapest around, but they get nice stuff and don't mind me hand picking. And what does ebony grow in...a tar pit? That's what it smells like anyway.

BuffaloBFN wrote: I got all the info back yesterday. The Crane cam 13HR00034(same specs as 139001) is the roller cam for my engine

So what pieces are supplied with this part number here, just the cam or what. Please be specific. I am keeping track of this stuff for when the time comes for me to do this job. I trying to decide wether the rebuild or the repower will be the way to go for me.

Buffalo, does that mean youve decided to build a LH engine?