opinions on block wanted

[SpiderGearsMan]

those windowed olds motors are frightening

[Mater]

RPM is still RPM, even in metric. lol.

My weird band director had a 305 / 4speed 1979 Monte Carlo. I had a 231 / 3 on the tree 79 El Camino for a while. How'd we get on manual transmissions? Is there a man pedal and 4 speed going behind the BBO? That'd RULE!

if it was a tach i would pf kept it. it was only a clock being a diesel they never had tachs even with the rally gauges

here are the silver face gauges

[68scott385]

RPM is still RPM, even in metric. lol.
How'd we get on manual transmissions? Is there a man pedal and 4 speed going behind the BBO? That'd RULE!

I think SPG did it and sorry, while that would be cool as shit to have a 5-6 speed, the knee won't handle that action.

those windowed olds motors are frightening

That's why I went to a windowless 455. Looking at the 3ow7 I was wondering how the thing stayed together anyway, there jusrt isn't a whole lot there holding things in place.


On the subject of engines and builds, I talked to Bill Trovato (the modern day east coast Mondello) on Sunday of LS Fest while he was packing up a Camaro, I think it was. Super nice guy, took time to talk to me (I guess it helped that I told him I had read his book) about my plans for my low-budget 455. I walked away from that comfortable that what I wanted to do would live and the next weekend the 455 was in the Turd(le).

[68scott385]

if it was a tach i would pf kept it. it was only a clock being a diesel they never had tachs even with the rally gauges

here are the silver face gauges

The diesels I've seen that did have tachs redlined at like 3500rpm and 4000rpm was the maximum reading on the tach, not good for conversion even if you didn't pay attention to the colored area(s).

[Mater]

you think a 307 is bad the 403 will give you nightmares

[68scott385]

you think a 307 is bad the 403 will give you nightmares

Maybe that's why there are at least two sources for lower girdles that attach to the pan rails, the center three mains, and cost $2500.

[Mater]

yup there are also cheaper ones that just tie the main caps. not as pricey but also not as strong but they are mainly for the older blocks to help prevent cap walk at high RPM

[SpiderGearsMan]

My buddy Al's wife had a nice 1979 98 coupe with a 403 ...intended application -old lady

[68scott385]

yup there are also cheaper ones that just tie the main caps. not as pricey but also not as strong but they are mainly for the older blocks to help prevent cap walk at high RPM

I talked to a guy at Drag Week running a 455 in a '68-'72 Cutlass, he said he just had a halo girdle and shifted at 5800rpm without any problems. I plan on using a halo girdle when I go through my 455 but I don't plan on racing it but that doesn't mean it won't get run hard once or twice on the street, just not racing. If it gets raced it'll be on a track.

[68scott385]

My buddy Al's wife had a nice 1979 98 coupe with a 403 ...intended application -old lady

But they put 403s in the Trans Am from between '77 & '79.

[Mater]

the 403 was the replacement for the 400 bbo in both giant car cruiser and performance. it was designed to reduce weight sadly how they did that was to basically gut the block and severely weakening it

[SpiderGearsMan]

before my 455 swap , I beat on the 301 pretty hard and it ran good , but it popped a head gasket after some hard use for 5 years

[68scott385]

before my 455 swap , I beat on the 301 pretty hard and it ran good , but it popped a head gasket after some hard use for 5 years

How much boost did that head gasket take before it let go? I mean five years, the warranty is up, waste gate tension is bound to get um, re-adjusted, right?

[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.

I'm going to dig up this thread as the quest for a decent rebuildable 455 continues. Originally I wanted opinions on the 403 in the first post. I was desperate but patience prevailed and the first 455 purchased is in the car and has never been done past the valve covers as best as I can tell. I don't want to tear down a good running motor and have a car that size sitting for the time I project it to take for this build. Yes I could throw a sbc together in a month or less and any reasonably rational person would likely have done that to begin with and saved all the cost of three bbo's plus travel expenses. Maybe I've finally crossed that threshold where rational thinking will be a distant memory, maybe it was never a reality for me. But this is the rabbit hole I'm exploring now.

WIN!

We'll see how much win in the coming days as the inspection begins.

[68scott385]

WIN!

We'll see how much win in the coming days as the inspection begins.