opinions on block wanted

[68scott385]

maybe you can put some temporary patch panels in there til ya get time to do it right?

That's what I had in mind along with some spray foam to close in the gaps and a carpet remnant to cover the hack job.

[redneckjoe69]

glad to hear the block checked out OK.

maybe you can put some temporary patch panels in there til ya get time to do it right?

[68scott385]

Got the block back today. Took them a little over three weeks to clean & pressure test the block. It got a good bill of health.

Seems like it took them about the same amount of time to do the work on the last block I took them, in 1999. Just took that one out for a quick romp tonight too. Desperately need to get that car road worthy for next summer. Just call me Fred; Yaba Daba Dooooooo

[68scott385]

I took this to the machine shop this weekend. Right now the goal is to determine its usefulness. I did all the measuring I could do and have an idea, now I want a professional opinion.

[68scott385]

Yea I'm trying to save my pennies for a set of Edelbrocks myself right now, not cheap when it comes to BOP. Probably will end up going with a set of bare castings.

I feel your pain. I know cheapie Chinesium heads are available for a fraction of the price of Edelbrocks but I'd rather save more to know that I'm getting a quality product. Most people peddling those Chinesium parts will say they are Edelbbrock knock-offs but my concern is in the flow rate/volume and casting quality. I've heard that some cheap heads, if bought as bare castings, can be cleaned up by a good machinist and with quality valvetrain parts will perform well but that's not a wager I'm willing to make, jmo.

[68scott385]

WIN!

Does a W-30 constitute a win? It was advertised as coming out of a Vista Cruiser but all the casting numbers from the heads, intake, exhaust manifolds, even the carb come back as W-30 parts.

The casting number reference information comes from Joe Mondello's "Oldsmobile V-8 Engine Technical Reference Manual Volume 3".

For those unfamiliar with Oldsmobile parts, W-30 is Olds speak for Super Sport or Cobra.

I have only taken the valve covers off so far. I got home late last night and it had to sit covered up outside for one night. A little rearranging today and the "new" motor is on an engine stand. After looking up all the casting numbers, pulling the oil pan to see if it has a nodular crank and which style pan, is on tomorrow's to-do list.

[Casper]

Yea I'm trying to save my pennies for a set of Edelbrocks myself right now, not cheap when it comes to BOP. Probably will end up going with a set of bare castings.

[Scott Liggett]

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.





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

Looking at the picture of the piston with broken ring land, says they detonated that motor to snot. From the looks of bearings looks like fired it with the bearings dry.

[68scott385]

Most likely a waste of time posting this but there's an Olds motor on my local craigslist http://mohave.craigslist.org/pts/4587667971.html

That's the direction I have in mind for my build, Edelbrock heads, intake, etc. I've been collecting parts when I find deals. That would probably be a package bargain but the shipping costs would kill that and that size road trip is not exactly feasible for me. There's too much to see between here & there to make any time, it would have to be an extended vacation trip.

[Casper]

Most likely a waste of time posting this but there's an Olds motor on my local craigslist http://mohave.craigslist.org/pts/4587667971.html

[68scott385]

WIN!

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

[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]

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?

[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

[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