70 olds 455 E heads

[Atownsend]

Just got done tearing into one of my 70 455 with E heads. Great shape so far to the visible eye. Very little cylinder wear, thinking a .030 bore and hone will clean it up. One cylinder had some moisture and rust, so the piston won't travel all the way up, but the engine wasn't stuck.
Heads seem in good shape as well, appears to be a lot of carbon build up on both, thinking this old beast had a couple bad exhaust manifold gasket leaks. This engine was a 2 barrell car, not sure how to read the pistons to determine if it is a 9:1 or 10:1 ratio. One of the pistons has a B visible on the top of piston...

I ran a tape measure across the intake, measures 2" across. Appears to be little space between exhaust and intake valves, but being a beginner at building, not sure if this is the correct way to measure the valve size.
Have a 72 455 with Ga heads, been told they came with hardened seats, so depending on the shape, may use them if not cracked, replace the guides, deck it... New springs when I get to that point...

One question i have, is on my E heads, the front spark plug on both of them seems to have a collar in the threads to hold the spark plug out of the combustion chamber, while all the others don't have this. Does this serve a purpose?

Alex

[daverd]

the collar is a stripped out plug hole repair ....
UGH!:confused::eek:

[Atownsend]

What I was figuring, but found it odd that both front spark plugs were plugged with that repair.
I am going to use my Ga heads, assuming they have no cracks...

Copied of some parts pages at my local autoparts store, for 68 - 72 there was an option for forged dura skirt pistons that would bring the compression ratio to 9.75:1. Deck the heads and get to 10:1 easy...

Going to pull some rod caps Sunday see how the journals are, mains are fine on the front two I have looked at so far on the 70 block...

Alex

[Doug Blake]

There is a ton of aftermarket pistons, rods, cranks, heads, and intake's now!

Here is a list of some part's for ya, or an idea:
Ignition: swap out points dist for a HEI unit
Plug Wires: MSD #31369 $76
Spark Plugs: AC #R45-S (gap at .045")
Air Cleaner: Moroso #66310 $34, or Summit version #239431 $36
Carb Spacer: 1/2" Phenolic resin type (Moroso #64941 $22)
Intake: Edelbrock Performer #2151 $230, or Torker #2730 with ported heads
Fuel Pump: Carter #M6108 $32
Exhaust: Hooker Comp Headers
Cam: Mondello JM-36 $150
Timing Chain: Cloyes Billet #9-3613X9 $151
Ring and Pinion: 3.42
Waterpump: Aluminum GMB #130-1360 $60
Thermostat: either 180*, or 160*
Roller Rocker Arms: Harland Sharp #S5001 $248 (use dbl valve cover gaskets)
Heads: mill the "GA" heads 0.030” for the street.
install 2.072 intake/1.68-1.710 exhaust valves. Deburr and smooth intake and exhaust ports, Competition valve job, fill the exhaust port divider on the center exhaust port. Close the heat riser passage in the center exhaust port.
Connecting Rods: Get ARP Rod bolts, have them deburr and polish the casting mark along the sides, and machine a slot 0.50" WIDE and only 0.010" - 0.012" DEEP relief's on outside of rods! On the Cam Valley remove any burs and make sure that the return holes down to the crankshaft area are free of flashing and opened up to their full dimensions. Polish the valley. Also carefully polish and relieve the oiling channel that the oil pump bolts to on the rear main cap.

Crankshaft: Have them cross-drill the main journals at 2 & 4 (1, 3, & 5 usually are). Then chamfer the oil passages, and deburr the crank. Plus add oil restrictors for 2, 3, and 4 main bearings, and modify main bearings. And elongate the lifter valley oil return downward to help oil to the pan faster.

A critical issue in an Olds block, and especially the 455, is ensuring that you don't send too much oil to the cam, at the expense of the oil needed to lubricate the large 3.0 inch main journals and a 2.5 inch rod journal. That's another reason why you need to install the oil restrictors (get them from Olds Performance Products), as well as any improvements to help the oiling. With a stock pan and a huge volume oil pump it'll be sucked dry every time that engine hits 4500 rpm. The stock pan is only recommended where clearance is an issue or you are restoring your car to stock specifications. After all the money you are going to spend on this killer short block, do you want to throw it away by a $54 oil pump? Spend the money and buy the Moroso 7-qt Oil Pan #20482, with Melling M22-FHV Oil Pump, Use Pickup #24461, and also consider Crank Scraper and a windage tray. But if you wish to run your oiling system as such as the factory designed, than by all means feel free to do so.

Afterwards get it on a dyno to break it in, and tune it before installing into the car

There is even a few good companies that are devoted to Oldsmobile's that you might even want to build your engine, or get the parts throu like:
Knowton Thunderheads
Rocket Racing
Olds Performance Products
Dave Smith Engineering
BTR Performance
Dick Miller

Good luck with it, keep us posted!

[442MUCH]

Wow Doug, that's some good information for anyone. Thanks :)

[Doug Blake]

Thanks 442much!

Budget Olds 455 piston/rods were just brought up on another board:

Keith Black (KB) KB forged pistons $440, SRP has some shelf 455 pistons too for a few $$$ more

CAT Connecting Rods (CRS-6735) $425 are about the same as the Eagles (China built) but cost quite a bit less. They are H-beams. Nice USA I-beams for BBO are $2000+ unless you switch to BBC rods.

you can get KB forged and a C.A.T. rod make a nice combination for a budget build of this nature. $440 for KB forged pistons, $425 for C.A.T. rods. Combination buy for $840. at MJProformance (330) 875-8096