71 W-30

1970-1972 front fenders are all interchangeable. Obviously, the holes for the trim may be different such as a 442 having diferent holes than a Cutlass Supreme. 1970 had two differences from '71-'72. The front bolt on trim on the fender was chrome as opposed to newer fenders having a painted part on the fron of the fender. Also, under the hood there is a flat area about 1/2 inch wide. The '71 and '72 fenders as well as replacement fenders had a raised bump every few inches. Original 1970 fenders did not have the bumps. As far as finding parts, in the OCA General Forum there is a pinned post about special interests sites. Almost all of the major players are listed there.

As many of the OCA people know, JWO is not allowed to give free advertising to any Olds event that involves racing. Nick Philipedes is attempting to unite the show car people and racing people. With GM support of Oldsmobile pretty much going out the window, unity could be a good thing. Nick has gotten Kooks Headers to make headers that fit for '64-'72 A-bodies and G-body headers are in the works. Nick is also the one that got Bulldog to make an aluminum Olds head for performance. Remember, Olds has a very old racing heritage dating back to when Ransom raced the Pirate on Daytonna Beach in 1903! Anyone interested should check out Nick's post on ROP! http://www.realoldspower.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4466

Not all of them came with big valves. An 88 with a 2bbl would be small valve. A 442 head should be 2.07 intake and 1.68 exhaust large valves. There is no marking to indicate a small or large valve head. Get out the dial calipers and measure the intake to see if it is 2" or 2.07".

I would suggest checking out 442.com. I think instalation of Rallye Packs is in the FAQ section.

The early 307s with 5A heads had a decent intake that is about the same as a standard Performer #3301. The #3317 is more for a modifided engine. I think it may be a little bit taller than the #3301 as well. A lot of people that put big block heads on small blocks use the 3317 as well. I've never looked at the ports on a 260, but they may be small like the later 7A 307 heads. Notice that Ebrock says that the #3317 is not for the newer 307s. That's because they have small ports. It will bolt on the newer 307 heads and will bolt on the 260 heads. There may be some mismatch with the small ports, but I think it would work better than the 2 barrel intake. If you are considering a 403 in the future, the #3317 would be a very good intake for it. You might want to post on RealOldsPower.Com and ask in the General Engine tech what size the ports on a 260 are how well the large port #3317 will work with 260 heads. For performance, ROP is the place to ask questions. That's where the fastest Olds racers hang out.

I hate to say this, but the best thing you could do to increase power is replace the 260 with a 350 or 403 Olds engine since any small block Olds will bolt right in but the exhaust manifolds may be very small on the 260. That may be a hard thing to do considering your location. All 260s built in the US were 2 barrel carbs. An early 307 5A intake or Edelbrock Performer intake with a quadrajet will improve performance. A Holley 4 barrel could be used as well, but a quadrajet will get you better gas mileage overall due to the small front barrels and large back barrels. Also, the way a QJet works off of vacuum makes it an easy swap since it is hard to overcarburate an engine with that type of carb. About any quadrajet can probably be bolted on and adjusted without a lot of jet changes that a Holley would probably need. With the low performance capability of the 260, that could be big advantage. A more open exhaust system is another easy way to gain both performance and probably gas mileage. Hope this helps a little.

Look behind the water pump and in front of the intake. There is a flat area to the left of the oil tube hole. A '68-'72 455 should have "396021 F" in the block and is about an inch tall. The late '72-'76 has "396021 FA" in this area. Standard bore on a 455 is 4.125. These blocks can usualy be bored 60, but have a tendancy to run warm if bored that much. As far as a W-30 engine, if it is '70-'72, the factory aluminum intakes are valuable and would have either "Oldsmobile 455" or "Olds 455" on the top flat area in front of the carb. The W-30 blocks are not much different than any other 455. The heads should have an inch tall letter to the left of the left most spark plug. Small blocks had numbers. 1968 and 1969 W-30s had "D" heads. 1970 W-30s had "F" heads. These are desireably and expensive. 1971 had "H" heads. If this engine has those, I'll give you $1000 for the heads sight unseen as long as they are not ceacked. 1972 W-30s and 442s had "Ga" heads but the only way to tell them from small valve heads is to check the valves. They should be 2.072" intake versus 2.00" for small valve heads. The exhaust valves are 1.685" versus 1.625". 1973 to 1976 455s usually had "J" heads which are the least desireable big block heads. Some H/O W-30s had "KA" heads. I know that was true for '75 and might have been for '74. Not sure about '73. W-30 carbs and distributors are valuable as well, but this is already a long post. If you look at the engines, you can post numbers here or at RealOldsPower.Com to identify the parts. Octania on ROP found a guy that sells CDs with Olds numbers. You can search ROP for information on where to buy the CD. Greg Rollins of Supercars Unlimited sells a book called "442 by the numbers" that lists 1965-1972 casting numbers for most 442 parts. If the blocks and heads are in good shape, they may be worth what you are talking about. If the "W-30" engine has D, F, or H haeds, buy them. Hope this helps.

I think there is an article about Rallye pacs on 442.com. Probably in the FAQ section. It could take a while to find since Bryceman has a lot of information on his site.

'69 442 AT 7029251 '69 442 MT 7029253 '69 W-30 7029254 '69 W-32 7029253 Those numbers are from Greg Rollin's book "442 By The Numbers". He runs Supercars Unlimited. I would recommend his book to any Olds person. His parts and service are good as well.

I saw a post this morning on ROP that Bob Lamons passed away last week at age 74. Bob was a member of the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky chapter. Since I'm about an hour north of Cincinnati in Dayton, I went to a lot of the Ohio and Kentucky shows he did. He had a '69 H/O that in my opinion was the nicest Hurst in the country. He did a lot of the work on his son's '68 H/O including the paint. Best silver paint job I've ever seen! His son-in-law got the car from his son when he went in the military. Bob sold the '69 a couple of years ago and it was at the Cincinati OCA Nationals. I don't remember the guy's name that owns it, but he is from Canada. Bob sold it to do a '57 ragtop and I understand he just finished it. It's a shame he didn't get to show it this year, I'm sure it is amazing. Bob was a quiet guy with a great sense of humor and I made it a point to talk to him every chance I got. I asked him about the '57 in Cinci and he was really excited about doing the car. He talked about it more than I had ever heard him talk at a show. He will be missed very much in the Great Lakes area and in the OCA. I just hope I get to see the '57. The '69 H/O usually didn't get a trophy at local shows, it got several. If a chapter had a best paint, engine, interier or other special trophies, he usualy got one of those to go with his class trophy. He was humble and knwledgeable and always ready to give good advice to others. Very few people do as much of the work themselves on a restoration as Bob did on his cars. The Olds community has lost a valuable asset of talent, knowledge, and just a really great person. He will be missed by many people. Terry

Fusick has gold engine paint. Supercars Unlimited should have it as well. Supercars' bronze 400 paint is closer to the correct color than Fusick, but the gold is probably about the same. Great people at both places!

My daily driver is a '71 350 Cutlass that came from the factory with a 2bbl and single exhaust. Adding a mandrall bend H pipe dual exhaust, Pertronix kit in the distributor, and changing to a stock cast intake and quadrajet did wonders for power and the gas milaege went up. Headers will help more, but don't go with big tubes. There are some 2" SBO headers out there, but a smaller tube will work better with the changes you are talking about. I would recommend an H pipe or an X pipe between the headers and mufflers. Kooks makes the nicest headers, but they are not cheap. 1971 was when all Olds V8s went to low compression and they changed from gross to net horsepower. The 2bbl was rated at 160 and the 4 was 180. After putting on the stock cast iron intake and quadrajet, I beleive the 20HP difference. A Performer should work even better with the mods you are making. If nothing else, it'll lighten the car 40 pounds or so. Get the regular Performer if possible. The Performer RPM has larger ports that are mainly designed for big block heads. I kept the cast intake to keep the stock look. I'd say that a 600 carb is about right, but I'd go with a vacuum secondary. The cam for most '68-'72 a-body 350s is a mild .400 lift cam. The manual trans 4bbls got the .474 lift, 285/287 duration 442 auto cam. The W-31 got the early W-30 .474 lift, 308 degree cam, but they had a lot more compression. I've thought seriously about changing cams when I replace my timing chain this summer. Something like the .448 lift '83-'84 H/O cam would work well in my car. You will still benefit from the modifications you are talking about with the factory cam. You can get more power from the mods with a bigger cam, but your gas mileage will suffer. You wouldn't want to go that much bigger with the cam with the stock converter, gears and low compression. The changes you are talking should wake the car up quite a bit. Terry

It will fit. That's a 403 Toronado carb. The 403 qjets were 800CFM compared to the 780 rating that would have been on a 455. I think EGR started with catalytic converters in '75 but I could be wrong. The EGR bit isn't anything to worry about. You will need to plug a few hoses on the '79 carb for the assorted polution stuff. The choke is the most hassle putting that carb on. As far as whether or not it is setup right for your car, I don't know. I'm not a carb guru and I'm not sure what your engine is. A '68 Cutlass did not come with a 455, so I don't know what you're running. If it's stock or close, it will probably work fine on the car. The way quadrajets work from vacuum, you can have one that doesn't pump enough gas, but it's very hard to over carb with a qjet. Terry OCA#13616

The '70 TM and TO codes are 3.42/3.91 anti-spin rear ends. The W-27 carrier had a SV code 3.23, a SZ code 3.42, and a SZ code 3.91 - all anti-spin. In '71 the 3.23 was an open rear end. The TM/TO codes stayed on W-30s in '71 and '72 even though they were 10 bolt cover rear ends. Terry