Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - Olds 455 help

Hey guys. Im currently in the process of building a 69 442 cutlas clone. I just purchased a F block 455 with C heads. I want to build it with the internals that the W30 cutlas' came with. Can anyone help? thanks!

I would put a big block chevy in it, with the olds valve covers. But thats just me olds 455 stuff is expensive

too late...lol. I already have the motor. Actually i have two of them. The one currently in the car has a spun main. So i found this motor fresh from the machine shop with everything....crank, rods, pistons, heads, cam, oil pan all for 250 bucks.

Just thought i would chime in on this since im a olds man. I would just get some flat top pistons for it from SRP-208803 or SRP-206072 depending on the bore and put a w-30 or w-31 cam in it and should be a monster but you will need atleast a 850 carb to feed it with the extra compression should be close to 11.5 to 1 and i would expect it to run low 12's maybe hi 11's . Good luck with the build the money adds up quick.

theres plenty of info out there on w30 motors. the w30 motors had only a few minor parts differences. 1 of them being cold air inducted via the hood or ducts under the front bumper on early models. but the main thing that olds stressed was these motors were "supposedly" balanced and blueprinted from the factory to exacting tolerances. and they had an aluminum intake on the 70 and later models.

try here for more details http://www.442.com

Do it, i like seeing the BOP motors still goig these days. Those were torque monsters!

ok thanks for the info guys. I bet it would be hard to source a W-30 cam, unless one of the vendors makes a similar grind.. Yeah thats one thing i love about the 455's the had unbelievable torque. When i get this thing finished it's gonna give my BB chevelle a run for its money! lol

I have a 455 in my boat, and one thing you will probably want to look at it modifying the oil passages. You can get more info on that from Mondello, but basically Olds had issues with putting too much oil on the top end during high rpm and starving the bottom end. I believe you can also "half hole" the cam bearings and accomplish something similar if you don't want to machine the block to install the Mondello restrictors...

Also Edelbrock has some alum heads for that motor also, so if you got the money you might look at that too. Besides a little more power, you can also get rid of some weight. And for intake, the Crosswind is the go to mani for big olds...but you want to get a new one, as the old ones has some problems with porosity.

I had a 81 regal that I had. I had a built 455 rocket I installed. I was definatly a torque monster!:D

I have a 455 in my boat, and one thing you will probably want to look at it modifying the oil passages. You can get more info on that from Mondello, but basically Olds had issues with putting too much oil on the top end during high rpm and starving the bottom end. I believe you can also "half hole" the cam bearings and accomplish something similar if you don't want to machine the block to install the Mondello restrictors...

Also Edelbrock has some alum heads for that motor also, so if you got the money you might look at that too. Besides a little more power, you can also get rid of some weight. And for intake, the Crosswind is the go to mani for big olds...but you want to get a new one, as the old ones has some problems with porosity.

Yeah, the block i just bought came fresh from the maching shop. Stock bore, new cam bearings and new core plugs. I got a pretty good deal on it.

Good call on the oiling system. Olds overfed the top end while starving the bottom end. On top of that, the 3" mains means you have some insane bearing speed to go with that bottom end oil starvation. Restrict the oil to the top end (IIRC Mondello and Dick Miller Racing both have oil restrictors). Get as big of an oil pan as you can fit. A "blueprinted" high volume pump is a good idea. Open up the oil holes in the main bearings as large as the intersecting oil passage holes behind them. Crossdrill that crank to try and maintain oil to the rods. Go with as light of pistons as you can. I went with BRC forged pistons and tool steel floating wristpins on Eagle rods. IIRC the pistons were nearly 1/2 pound per piston lighter than the stock castings...talk about a huge difference. Reducing the weight like that really helped. Stumbled on a forged crank for it and had it all balanced. It would be nice if you could find main bearings that were grooved a short ways onto the lower bearings.

Given the nature of the stock iron heads, the Edelbrock heads are quite nice.

can someone post a link of where to buy this oil restrictor kit?

can someone post a link of where to buy this oil restrictor kit?

Sent you a PM. To anyone else who is wondering about the "oil restrictors" just search for Mondello on yahoo and they will be the first result, then go to parts, and then oiling system.

And as for the big oil pan, I vote a big +1 on that. My jet boat has a 455 with half holed cam bearings, some blocks mods, and a 14 qt oil pan.......these were critical to my engine being able to turn 4500-5000 rpm (high rpm for a BBO) constantly...

One other thing....some of the factory manifolds are open on the bottom, and if you don't use the intake gasket "plate" (valley pan) they will NOT run correctly. So if you are running a factory manifold use the big pan, and if running aftermarket you can use Fel-Pro or Mondello gaskets w/o the pan. I have a tunnel ram, so no pan for me.

I would put a big block chevy in it, with the olds valve covers. But thats just me olds 455 stuff is expensive


If you figure out how to put Olds valve covers on a BBC let me know...