Fixing up a 455 in a '78 Cutlass Supreme

[Dan Mumford]

If you've read my earlier post, I told you about my '78 Cutlass. Somewhere along the line the original 260 was replaced by a '72-'76 Olds 455. (According to the block number.) It has a loud knocking in the lower front I believe to be a main bearing. It's gotta come out and be replaced. While I'm at it, I want to replace: crank, rod bearings, mains, and seals. I'll check the rest for wear and go from there. (Hey, I'm a poet!) All kidding aside, I want the engine to run the best it can on today's regular gas. I don't need to pull the front end into the air, but I want to make the kid in the pony 5.0 scratch his head when I leave him in the rearview. Any suggestions on low-cost mods? Cam? Carb?

The car looks good, solid body, no major rust, but nothing fancy either. We used to call them sleepers "back in the day."

Thanks,

Dan

[Sgt Art]

I did a similiar swap awhile back. I was running stock pistons that were probably about 8.5:1 CR they allowed me to use pump gas. I got a Crane cam from Jegs (it's the only one they had for a BB Olds) and it gave a little more low end torque and decent idle. I used and Edelbrock performer intake and carb. The carb was a 650 cfm square bore. I was hesitant at first, but decided to go with it. It does require a $5.00 adapter as the manifold is set up for a spread bore type carb, no biggie all worked fine. If nothing else, the aluminum manifold knocks a heap of weight off the engine. The heads are where the HP is made and the later Olds heads aren't very good. See if you can find an earlier set I think the ones I ended up with were "C" castings. I had hardened inserts added and had a machinist go through them completely. I played with the ignition timing until I found where it ran best. Somewhere in 12 to 15 degrees BTC if I recall. This formula yielded a pretty streetable engine with good acceleration and could run on 87 octane gas. I had a TH350 behind it. This was okay for daily use and cheap to repair, however if you really do a lot of hard running, a Th400 is a better choice.

All this was in a 1985, Buick LeSabre two door that unfortunately met it's demise at an intersection when a young lady decided to blow off a stop sign. I really liked that old car.

[Dan Mumford]

Thanks for the reply. Certainly enough to get me going. I'd rather have an older car or truck than a new one any day. Sorry to hear about your Buick. I lost one of my best cars to a slow dog, high speed, and a big tree. It was a 1969 Dodge Coronet 440 with a 383. Swerved to miss a soft dog and hit a hard tree.

Thanks again for the help. Starting a new job in a couple of weeks and after I get a back-up car, I'll tear her down and do a rebuild.

Dan

[Sgt Art]

[Sgt Art]