The Blue Turd(le)

[68scott385]

Since the 455 I bought in 2012 ran so good and the 3ow7 died so quick, I thought it would be a good idea to tap into my inner Randal and buy another 455 that I could build while the other one is in the car. The General stopped make the big block Olds motors for car applications in 1976 and other applications in 1978 so they are starting get hard to find at a good price. I've seen locked up rust blobs with an asking price of $300+, bare block with $600+ price tags, and they are all a 3 to 6 hour drive from me. If I was near Chicago or Cleveland, with the widespread use of these motors in boat applications, I'd have no problem picking one up at very reasonable prices, but I'm not and $200 in gas to go get one isn't something I want to do...yet. Anyway, I found a 455 at the same Indiana Core that I bought the GenVI bbc two years ago. For the same price as one of those lake city motors I got a long block with a sought after crank, another sought after crank, and another set of rods/pistons. One of the spare pistons is melted and the #3 rod bearing in the motor spun/overlapped opposite half and bit into the #4 rod bearing set too. Between the 16 rods, surely 8 are serviceable. I measured all the vital parts of this motor and while it is advertised at 8.5:1 cr from the factory, what I measured and figured on three different calculators and pencil/paper came out to 7.4:1 - 7.6:1 on every one.

[Beagle]

a good mic costs a lot.

Where's the BBC headed?

[68scott385]

Here's a video of it running it anyone's interested. The sound quality is crappy, IMO. Some how my camera makes motors sound like they are missing when they are not.

[68scott385]

I've had other things on my plate since the wragon was at the trans shop. I bought this bbc in 2012 about four months before finding the bbo. I was searching for a 455 for the Caprice but was wiling to go bbc. I happened upon this at Indiana Core, about 30 minutes from the house. I figured this would need a full rebuild but after the building the running stand and the results of the 455, I figured I could see if this would run. What did I have to lose? Worst case scenario it needs a complete rebuild and I've wasted some time and an oil change.


The motor came complete intake to oil pan with oil cooler line included, mechanical fan to flywheel. Since I have no man-pedal vehicles I bargained with the guy and he kept the flywheel, clutch disc, and pressure plate. I took it down to a short block for inspection, measured (with a cc burette) piston deck height at TDC, chambers, head gaskets, and figured the true compression ratio. It's advertised at 9:1 and figures it mathematically too. Then it sat for two years while the wragon, 3ow7, and 455 got my attention.


Now that the 455 & Level 3 200-4r are in the wragon, I can turn my attention to other things to play with, no to imply I'll ignore the Caprice, that's what the Monte Carlo is for.


It's a GenVI Vortec 7.4 block with 100cc closed chamber oval port heads with 2.06/1.72 valves. I got a deal on a new Edelbrock 7561 air gap, the distributor is a good serviceable unit from the parts cabinet, the carb is another eBay deal, and a Hayes flexplate. I used the water pump that came with it, again I figured worst case scenario I'd have to change it, well, it needs to be replaced BAD. And so does the serpentine belt that came with it.

[tarafied1]

it's real cool. When I met my wife her dad had a Pontiac station wagon version of that body style. It was brown. Didn't think much of it way back then but would love to have it now! My wife said he had a blue one before that but she wrapped it around a telephone pole!

[68scott385]

well I took a couple sittings to read thru 14 pages but it was very interesting! I love these kind of projects, real cars by real people!
any news on the trans?

Thanks. I'm just trying to get something together that's fun to haul the kids around in.

[68scott385]

So the shop that installed it is not the one who built it? .... Kinda get the impression they didn't do it 100% correctly? Just to get it done and out with your money in their pocket? .. I have a hard time trusting shops as stuff needs to go back... My Mantis tiller needed carb workd on... Didn't feel like messing with it so took it to the shop.. Worked for 5 minutes then put it away because of rain.. Now it don't start... Siiigh! Lol

The full story on the trans as I know it:

The guy that owns the trans shop, Wayne Bilbrey, built the trans for a guy to run in his drag car. The guy had an Olds motor thus the 200-4r for the BOP bell-housing. The guy made a couple passes (I assumed less than 10) and blew up his motor. As I understand it, he hadn't completely paid for the trans and Wayne got it back instead of the cash the guy owed him. That left Wayne holding a "Stage 3" transmission that he needed to unload. Knowing what I was looking to do with the "wragon" he offered the trans to me for what he was owed and believe me it was a deal. He gave me a warranty from the time it was installed, NOT the time of purchase which was about this time last year. The only way to realize the warranty was to let Wayne's shop install the transmission.

I know I'm a little fish in a big pond of racers and line work customers, I'm just getting tired of waiting. The shop does good work, it's the only other place I'll let touch my fleet. If it wasn't for the question of installation error in a warranty problem, I'd have put the trans in myself.

[tarafied1]

well I took a couple sittings to read thru 14 pages but it was very interesting! I love these kind of projects, real cars by real people!
any news on the trans?

[Deaf Bob]

So the shop that installed it is not the one who built it? .... Kinda get the impression they didn't do it 100% correctly? Just to get it done and out with your money in their pocket? .. I have a hard time trusting shops as stuff needs to go back... My Mantis tiller needed carb workd on... Didn't feel like messing with it so took it to the shop.. Worked for 5 minutes then put it away because of rain.. Now it don't start... Siiigh! Lol

[68scott385]

Looking good! Now if that trans is what it is supposed to be.....

The guy that sold it to me (see link above) has built another trans for me and gone through two rear-ends, I'm confident it is what he says it is. I'm having trouble keeping my patience though, I WANT TO DRIVE IT ALREADY.

Truth is, not being able to drive it is holding me up on other projects.

edit: Maybe I didn't put a link above... http://www.bilbreyracing.com/

[Deaf Bob]

Looking good! Now if that trans is what it is supposed to be.....

[68scott385]

Before


After



Sometime this Spring the tach was installed and the steering wheel got changed because the 11.5" unit was just a little uncomfortable. The new wheel is 12.5"-13" and feels more natural especially with the quick ratio steering box.


The factory steering box was worn and had a LOT of paly in it. Everything else in the system had been changed so it could only be one thing. After some research and crafting searching I bought a 2.5 turn lock-to-lock steering box to replace the factory 3 turn lock-to-lock box. It has a nice firm feel. All this was done before the trans R&R.

[68scott385]

It's been a while and not much has happened... I got the shift linkage squared away. It needed a bend or two to keep it off the headers but it still binds up trying to manually go from 2nd into 1st. I've driven the car a couple of times this year and got the TV cable adjustment where I liked it and the trans was happy too. Then I took it to the trans shop to install the new 200-4r.

During the search for an intake I came across a screaming deal on a Grand National 200-4r transmission rebuilt to hold 600hp. It cam with 2700+/- stall torque converter and a warranty that starts when the transmission is installed.



The car has a 200-4r in it now and I decided to keep it that way because with the dual-pattern bell housing I can use the 455 Olds motor or convert to a Chevy engine.

It spent five weeks at the trans shop waiting for the trans R&R. Apparently it waited a week before they got started, then they couldn't find the converter that goes with the new trans and lost my phone numbers. The converter was in the foot-well of the third seat and since the seat was close they didn't open it to look. At the three week mark is when I returned to check on the progress and showed them where the converter was hiding. The car waited another two weeks for the new transmission to be installed. I get the call to come get it, YEA!! I drive it home and the shifts are soggy & stacked. I assume part of that is because the new converter stalls at 2600ish behind my motor. On the way home the tach wire falls off. I wait until I get home to put it back on, nothing like working on a car on the side of the road, or in this case in the road because there isn't a side to pull off to. I find the TV cable adjuster has pulled out of the adjustment lock ring, GREAT. SO I call the trans shop and they say they'll get the right cable in and call me. That was a week ago, still waiting and still cannot drive the car.

[68scott385]

Just a quick update. I wish I could share photos and a sound bite but I didn't get either, yet. I did however get the exhaust system completed. YEA!! The reason I don't have documentation is that it was a nice toasty 45ish* yesterday afternoon when I started the project. There are times that once I start making progress momentum takes over and I don't/won't stop until the job is done. By the time I realized it was midnight and my fingertips were numb I was too close to being done to stop. I had to use my halogen work light to melt the frost off the windshield of the Monte so I could see to put it back in the garage. Before anybody's panties get knotted, the Monte's heater core is disconnected, its wiper assembly is laying on a shelf waiting for repair, the hood is hanging from the garage rafters for storage and access to engine reasons, the left door glass is also stored in the garage rafters while the window track gets repaired along with the area of the door where the track mounts....so the car lives in the garage.

I have one other task to take care of while it's elevated and then I'll let it down for some cruising. The shift linkage is hitting the header. In my last junkyard crawl I pulled the link out of the wagon that gave up its transmission cross member. I have already made some preemptive bends, hopefully it'll be a pull one, drop the other in routine but we all know that's rarely the case. Anyway, I'll get photos and a sound bite while I'm installing the modified shift linkage.

[68scott385]

Later B-Body wagons had heat shields on the tank I know, the filler neck I'm not so sure about.

The factory exhaust ran right down the right side of the tank so I can only assume that it is safe to do the same thing with the replacement exhaust on that side. There is no visible heat shielding on the outside of the filler neck. I have some scrap sheet metal that can be used for that purpose.

If the weather forecast doesn't change again, I will be able to get out tomorrow and Saturday* to get something accomplished. Earlier this week it was warm enough to get out and do something but then it started raining. Once the rain stopped it got cold, below freezing cold. I'll do 40*, below that I won't do unless the money is real good and since this is a hobby project, the pay is in pride of accomplishment and I have an abundance of that. I spent 20+ years in commercial & industrial concrete construction in all types of weather conditions, right now I can be in or out of the weather when I chose, and I do.

Late last week I was doing good, making progress and it started to drizzle, or so I thought. I was under the wagon and could see wet spot forming on the driveway around the car. I figured I could keep going for a while, it wasn't supposed to rain hard until later that night. Well, 20 minutes later I had a stream running under my back and I figured it might be raining just a little harder than I had thought. When it's raining under the car, it's raining.

*Saturday is my son's birthday, he'll be 9. He wants to enjoy the celebration we have planned but he also wants to take a trip in the wagon, probably as much as I do.