[2blu442]

Hi John
Welcome to the world of Oldsmobiles!!! Everything I've heard is that you need to do major flow work to get power out of J heads. The casting is considered the worst big block head Olds made. It can be done, and I've heard guys that are happy with their ported J heads, but most people will put on a set of older heads. I don't know a lot about the cams that are available, I'm partial to the Performer intake for street use. They make power at lower rpm's which is where these motors make torque. The single plane intakes that I've read about make power in the mid to high rpm for an Olds engine. Stock, I believe both the hp and torque peak somewhere around 3,400-3,600. I've also heard repeatedly that you don't want to run a stock 455 much over 5,000 rpm or it will suck the oil pan dry and you'll lose the bottom end. OK, I'm starting to ramble now, you can look through this site and a couple others to get more ideas of what other guys have tried and been happy with. Read through the tech pages of this site, it's similar material to whats on 442.com Then realoldspower.com is another Olds site you can check out. If you start looking for parts it's really helpful if you put the city and state where you live in your message. Who knows, there may be another Olds nut right across town who has what you need! John