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Re: [GMCnet] 455 Expected Engine Life [message #360426 is a reply to message #360418] Mon, 30 November 2020 23:16 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Mike Kelley is currently offline  Mike Kelley   United States
Messages: 467
Registered: February 2017
Karma:
Senior Member
Like Jim Hupy said:
A well treated reliable engine is the best. I have a GMC Classics friend who got 300,000 miles out of his first engine. Top quality maintenance is the key!
Mike/the Corvair a holic
Not a mechanic but I know enough to treat my Coaches and my Corvairs rite!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 30, 2020, at 6:10 PM, James Hupy via Gmclist wrote:
>
> If you are religious about your oil changes and the rest of your
> preventative maintenance, keep checking your compression regularly and if
> everything measures within 10/15% of each other, my advice would be to keep
> doing what you have been doing. New engines can and do blow up fairly
> regularly. A well broken in engine with high mileage is a proven product.
> If the oil consumption starts to go up, mileage drops, or idle gets rough,
> stay on top of it. Those are warning signs.
> Jim Hupy
> Salem, Oregon
>
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 4:00 PM Douglas Smith via Gmclist gmclist@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
>
>> "You guys that live in flat country have not a clue to the GMC's
>> requirements for climbing grades. You can cover 6 states in a day and not
>> break a sweat.
>> Try running the Tehachapi grade out of either California or
>> Arizona/Nevada, or the Grapevine coming North out of Los Angeles on
>> Interstate 5, or the Siskiyou summit a bit farther North. You will run out
>> of gears pretty darn quickly. I have a heavy 78 Royale with a 403 and 3:70
>> final drive, and it works really well. And I run it at 70 mph + most of the
>> time. 3400 rpm and that 403 is a happy camper. Over 130,000 miles on an
>> unmolested engine. Works for me.
>> Jim Hupy"
>>
>>
>> A question for you Mr. Hupy, et.al.
>> I bought my '73 in 1995 with 140K indicated miles. The PO had oversize
>> tires on it so I think that's probably an underestimate. The engine, to my
>> knowledge, has never been opened up. I have given it regular oil changes
>> with Mobile 1, new water pump and timing chain, Thorley headers, new
>> quadrajet from Paterson, new Pertronix, fuel and vacuum hoses, and a 4.70
>> final. I tend to drive her easy, cruising at 65 mostly, up to 80 only when I
>> have to. Oil pressure settles a bit with warmup but the stock sender/guage
>> are still quite lively, even at hot idle. I have not done a compression
>> test. I'm guessing I've put around 2K miles annually on it since '95 which
>> puts its current mileage around 200K. That's a guess for a lot of reasons,
>> but probably about right.
>> I have not done a search to find out if this topic has been answered, but
>> I think engine longevity may be somewhat a moving target with old
>> hardware/modern fluids and newer opinions valuable. Is "drive it till it
>> dies" a good idea? I was incredibly fortunate to be close to Larry Weidner
>> for a transmission failure, I can't expect such luck going forward. Any
>> wisdom?
>> Doug Smith
>>
>> --
>> Douglas & Virginia Smith
>> dsmithy18 at gmail
>> Lincoln Nebraska
>> ’73 “Canyonlands” since ‘95: "Wanabizo";
>> Quadrabag/6 wheel disks/3:70 final/Paterson QuadraJet/Thorley’s/Alloy
>> wheels(finally!)/Sundry other
>>
>>
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