73 SD-455 TA to be made road worthy again after sitting since 1979
 

A few people on the forums know that I was able to acquire a 73 red SD-455 TA a little over a year ago. A dear friend was the second owner of the car and it was bought and lived here in Ohio it's entire life. Car has 49,000 miles on it. In the 1978-1979 time frame it was completely disassembled for a complete refresh and to put into what would have been considered show condition at that time. Prior to disassembly, it was treated like a used car, not abused in any way, but not a pampered trailer queen. It was street driven and even raced a couple times at the local drag strips. It is a numbers matching car with lots of documentation and receipts. The car has been apart for 44 years and parts and components have been moved in and out of multiple locations in Ohio and Kentucky during that time. The owner also compiled an impressive stash of mostly NOS parts to put it back together. Few reproduction parts were available 44 years ago so the NOS parts are a blessing.

I am extremely grateful to have a chance to put this car back on the road. I have a plan and will carry it out over the next year or so. The body and paint are good enough to not alter at this time. The endura front bumper may need to be refinished later. I will have a few experts look it over before making any decisions. The interior will need considerable work. The headliner has fallen down, carpet was previously replaced poorly, heater core leaking, some faded hard plastics. So the interior will be a priority.

The heart of the car, the SD-455 engine was rebuilt in 1979 and never reinstalled. I have the receipt from A-Hines Racing Engines in Lawrenceberg, IN. They were a very well respected shop and did top notch work in the 70's-90's before closing at some point. I have completely disassembled the engine for inspection and measurement and find the work they did was very impressive, down to the finest details. Example, I measured the bolt stretch on every rod bolt during disassembly and all fell between .006"-.0075" bolt stretch. Right to specs. The engine is bone stock. But now +.030 with a stock crankshaft balanced and it was ground 10-10.

Purpose for this thread is to highlight the features of the SD-455 engine, provide a bunch of pictures and specs. This engine is a very early build as the heads do not have any casting marks on the outer exhaust ports or any casting dates. Only the complete part number. I have 50 years in this hobby and this is the first real SD-455 I have personally been inside. My hope is we can all learn some things before it is buttoned back up.

Overall time frame is to have the engine back together and painted January/February time frame. Car back together and running June/July 2024. We will see how it goes. Here are a couple of pics to get started and I will add many more as time allows. Enjoy.

Nice!

Thanks for posting.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

Nice! Excellent project.... I wish I had one.

Curious did Hines use the SD455 replacement pistons?

Yes, they are the TRW replacements. They have a number stamped in the head but no oversize stamped. I have a bunch of pics on my phone. I will transfer and post some in the coming days.

Awesome project! Looking forward to seeing the master at work.

Very nice. Looks like that car found its way into the right hands. Can't wait to see it progress.

Do you plan on putting on the dyno? Would be cool to see what a bone stock SD can do.

Wow, what a great car! Will be following this thread.

Wow...that's my dream car right there...congratulations

This is going to be a great build!

If I can get the engine back together on schedule, we can break it in on the engine dyno. I would love to do that considering all the potential oil leaks with Pontiac V-8's. It would need to go on the dyno early Feb. the latest. By mid-late February, student engines will be ready. They take priority over all others. I would need to have a couple head pipes made to fit the dyno but that's no big deal. Point ignition, would only take a couple hours to have ready to run. It would be interesting to see what it makes for stock power. My guess would be around 310-315 HP 430-440 ft. lbs. peak torque. I will try to make it happen.

All I can say is...Wow!!!

Now is the best time to replace that heater corr, while apart.

The ‘71-‘72 455 HO engines with a smaller 068 cam and heads that aren’t as refined as the 455 SD heads were rated at 335 and 300 hp respectively, surely they were making around 350.

I would bet the terribly underrated ‘73-‘74 455 SD engines rated at 310 and 290 hp are actually making 350 to 370 hp. The cam they used is the same profile as the 744 cam, and still they were under-cammed but still less so compared to the 455 HO. We shall see.

Such a nice car, finding one in this condition is a once in a lifetime score. :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing your build with the PY community.

Arnold Hines did my SD455 in my 73 F racecar.

Is it a 4spd car ?
Or are the trans cooler lines just not installed yet

1 of 72
or
1 of 180

73 SuperDuty = :faint:

Very cool!

To add a bit of fun history.....before that car was disassembled, (8) of us friends drove (4) cars to the Street Machine Nationals in Indy.

that '73 SD (auto, BTW)
a '74 red SD auto
Mike's '70 T/A, RA3, 4 speed
my '77 T/A 4 speed with a transplanted '72 455-HO

Good times....

Eric

The car is a low option automatic trans model. Standard interior, AM-FM stereo, 8 track, front console, rear defogger. All important SD engine of course. Hood Bird delete. AC would have been nice for cruising, but I love the open engine bay and the 3.42 rear ratio. I know I am a lucky guy. No way I could let this one get away. Here are a few more pics I was able to get off my phone. You can see the engine is the wrong color. This is one of the things that held up it's completion many years ago.

Beautiful car, I also hope your friend is still with you mgarblik.

I should have included congratulations.

PPG formula number for 1973-74 Pontiac engine blue is 14580 .

Congrats and best wishes on a lengthy ownership .
I was the 2nd owner of a 73 SD Auto AC from 1989-2009 , it was like dating a Hollywood sex symbol. :D

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1695846884

Nice.
Does completely disassembled mean repainted? Letters look die-cut instead of one piece.