Thread: Olds 455 question

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where do you find the casting date for the heads and the block, as far as the day and year. Ive got a 396021 F Block with E heads on it. A guy in florida told me that this combo and the 1970 manufacture date is the best 455 year they made. I dont know alot yet about these motors but am looking for a calabaration of this or some other comments. Trying to build a streetable engine..

Go to the Oldsmobile club of america. They have a tech forum. 1968 was the first year of the 455, Toronado engines where all equiped with a forged crank.

OK, the Oldsfaq is probably the best source of open forum info out there. However, in my experiance, there are few differences in the 455's in those days. A few key points might be 1) avoid the w-31 cam.Its a good cam for the 70's but we have come a long way. Too much duration, not enough lift. 2) What tranny are you running? some 455s did not have the correct mount for the earlier manual trannys. However, you should not have a problem if your engine is a 70. 3) DONT run a platnium plug. with a 455, the compression and high timing on these causes the platnium tips to fall out. Royal pain in th @ss. 4) Be sure to keep this sucker cool. Mine had a tendancy to get rather warm in summer. Be sure to run a large double core or preferably a triple. The triple core fixed mine. Finally 5) Oldsmobile engines are very unforgiving of water in the Gas. I dont know why, but they just are. Run a bottle of dry gas about once every three months. It seems petty, but it counts. Oh, as a sidenote, if you do manage to cross the 600HP line, dont race it uphill. Trust me, bad move. Wrecks rods/blocks/heads.

Im useing the turbo 400 tranny, which is what was with it when it was in the car. Going with a comp. cam , not the W-31. I dont think Im gonna be doing a lot of racing with it but I do want it to move when , as you say ricers pull up, or just when Im called out in the parking lots or wherever. Do you recommend a certian type of radiators and as I asked before where are the cast dates if anyone knows. Thanks

OK, look on the front of the engine block under the right head, front if memory serves me right. Any decent triple core radiator will work. A shift kit for the t-400 is an option, but not really nessicary. the 455 is a great ricer killer. Thats what I used mine for, and it used to scare them on the bottle. I had about 5K into mine, not counting the cost of the motor. But, when your done and you leave a NOS powered civic standing still, you'll know why I suggested that particualr setup

Thanks for the info!