Hot Rods What do you think about a 455 olds?

I wonder if that's my old car I sold in Va. back in 86 or 87 ? You will love the torque of that 455 !

 

I'm on my second 455 in my olds(think the first one lost a rod bearing going down the freeway). Current motor came from a 71 jet boat. Great sounding motor, both motors have had issues with heat however.

When you lay into it, you can feel and see it lift the front of the olds. It is also a very thirsty motor, gets about 6 to maybe 8 mpg and will only run on supreme.

 

I have one in my cutlass 455 rocket great motor lots of things you can do to them,you cant go wrong!!

 

Not to steal the thread or anything, but I just found one of these local... What do you guys think about putting this motor in a '54 chevy truck that will otherwise appear to be a 50's style kustom?

I'm not asking will it fit in the truck... I can take care of that.

 

Well, that's what I'm putting in my 52 Chevy truck.

 

i have a set of J heads non smog n big ports. they are rare .
the 455 is a good motor to go with. they aren't cheap to build

 

Great motors, I run one in my 57 Olds and am building one for my 48 Olds. Very fast buckets of torque. I am running Edelbrock heads flat to keith black pistons roller cam. Good oil pressure.

 

tire fryer

 

We have one in our 55 Chevy Panel truck. Load it up with all of our inventory & gear and you can still set your head back when stomping on the go pedal. Fun!

 

Alright Guys I got it!!!!! now what.............ideas on cam choice??

 

After three sets of rear tires I really don't do too many burnouts anymore

 

Stick with a hyd flat-tappet. Look for intake duration around 222-227 deg @.050" lift, with 110 to 112 lobe sep. Keep the max valve lift around .500" so you can use the stock rockers. This would be a good all-around cam. Engle, Lunati, & Comp all make similar grinds.

 

Great engines but in stock form keep it under about 4800 rpm, they won't wind like a chevy and don't need to. Shortcomings are the valve train and lower end oiling. For any serious use you should put restictors to keep the oil on the crank. I'm not sure if how the 455 and 425 do side by side but the short stroke engines are monsters. Short stroke 400 will trounce a long stroke 400.
Plus side is they get pretty decent fuel economy for a big block. I remember years ago a guy was putting them in chevy pickups, pull like a 454 (or better) and get way better mileage.

 

I've got a '68 C-head 455 in my '66 Toronado. Old Crane "Fireball" cam, stock rockers and pushrods, 8.5:1 compression (dished) forged pistons, unmodified HEI and a typical Q-jet. The Toro is not what you'd call quick off the line (5K lb curb weight and 3.08 gears) but it'll cruise right up the side of a mountain and not even know it's there. Torque peak is about 1800 rpm- it'll cruise there all day long getting 17 mpg at about 65 mph and pulling 20" of vacuum.

They wouldn't be my first choice for a drag racer, but for my luxo-barge that seats eight comfortably, it's perfect.

Doc.

 

If by "rare" you mean "installed on every single 455 built between 1973 and 1976," then I agree with you. "J" heads are the worst-flowing big block Olds heads ever cast. There are no "big port" versions. They were only used on smogger motors. All came with small 2.000" intake valves.

 

Denise, I know that motor well, I missed it by seconds, before my pal steve got it from my ins man, she would have been in the PROPACK, like I said before I miss ole steve, and he would be proud to see how well you have taken care of the ole , olds oh by the way my ins guy chasnged it in favor of a small block go figure

 

In my mis-spent youth I had a '71 Cutlass, fondly known as the Gutless...350 Olds 2bbl. Eventually I threw together a 455, and the TH350 in the Gutless was slipping, so we decided it would be fun to blow up the 350. Make that mis-spent and stupid.

1st gear only...foot to the floor...country road...straight stretch. The Auto Meter tach was pegged at 6000 (I was amazed it would rev that high, and in mature retrospect I'm betting it actually didn't).

After 30 minutes of repeated passes we still hadn't killed it and gave up. I sold the 350 as a core to a local old guy...instead of trading it in for a core, he installed it against my strong advice. He was right, too, because it still was a daily driver 3 years later.

The 455 turned out to be a classic 16 year old's build...too much cam, not enough converter, not enough rear gear, an Offy single plane intake....and the car was never as fun as it was with the 350. Scary top speeds, though. I wish I still had it, with 28 years more experience.

 

What is intended purose ? just cruising or some track time weekend warrior stuff ? Are you willing to spend a feww $$ on adjustable rocker setup or take time to hand fit stock rockers ( it can be done ) .The Comp bolt on rocker kit is good bang for buck deal . 1442 is # I think

Engle and the lunati voodoo series I think are some of best choices, have not personally tried the Comp XE series but some are happy w them .
an idea for budget just toss it and go is 224/234 @.050 496/520 , lil over $100 from competition products. You can get away w stock springs on this one if your just crusiing .
want good power without being radical and spend a few on nice stuff . lunati voodoo ( Ultradyne ) 517/541 lift cam .
Intake, almost any , Holley Street Dominator if you can find it , Edelbrock O4B or Offy 360 for old look but HEI will not fit

 

Also worth mentioning for the stick shift crowd, most of the engines that came with automatic trannys did not have the crankshaft drilled for a pilot bushing.

 

I know exactly who you're talking about. He came up to me at a show, I think it was BTTF quite a few years ago, and introduced himself to me stating that the motor in Big Olds came outta his streetrod. I think he said it was in his '38?? Boy am I glad he decided to make that change.


I miss Steve too.