The_Jeremiah

So I am chiming in once again with my current project, I am in the process of building a big block Omega, recently picked up the omega from nonhog thats another CL transaction gone right. Its nice to know not everyone plans to murder you when you show up. But back to what I was saying, I wanted to make this as detailed as possible, because I looked around, I couldnt find anything on building a big block omega. I think im off to a great start! Tore the 455 and TH400 out of the cutlass thismorning, and set to work...

The_Jeremiah

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The_Jeremiah

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so here we have my big discovery, If you pull a manual box out of a gm a body, and change the pitman arm, it will fit into an x body. learn something new every day. so now we have an omega with manual brakes and manual steering haha

The_Jeremiah

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here we have the difference between A body motor mounts (right side) and x body (left side) really glad i mentioned needing these before i brought the car home.

The_Jeremiah

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this is as far as i made it today ( i think i made good progress, stripping the 4 door, and started assembling the omega ) just barely got the 455 dropped in by about 8ish

svnt442

Rock on man!! Don't forget about frame ties. You're gonna need em!

72 cutlass455

Very nice

The_Jeremiah

oh yea sub frame connectors are in the works for sure. ill get them once i get the car rollin, I just need to get it movin under its own power before monday morning to get it out of the shop haha. eventually i think im gonna do a toploader 4 speed from a ford, i know thats kinda like putting a chevy engine in an oldsmobile, which drives me nuts, but from my research im seeing the toploader as a stronger, more inexpensive trans than the m22. Im excited to see how the omega handles the 455, its an 11.1 toronado engine, with big valve C heads, ported, with an edelbrock performer intake, harland sharp full rollers, and HEI with MSD wires, E3 plugs, not to mention the 523 lift cam.

J-(Chicago)

What happened to that 4 door 68 or 69 you had?

rocketraider

Not a problem, young'un. Oldsmobile itself (and Buick, and Pontiac ) put top-loader Ford 3-speeds behind their big-inch engines from 1965-69 because the GM units couldn't handle them. So there is no argument from here about using a top-loader 4-speed.

Besides- with the current cost of an M22, they are now suitable only for high-dollar restorations that originally came with them.

DennisG.

Nice Omega. I look forward to seeing more updates on this.

The_Jeremiah

J, I still have the 4 door, but not for long, im stripping the drivetrain, putting it into the omega. The 4 door just isnt in very good shape. Its time to build a very unique respectable olds haha. Hey I didnt know toploaders came in oldsmobiles, thats awesome! learn something new everyday!

The_Jeremiah

speaking of learning something new, today i found out the x-body uses different crossmember's for each transmission, the dirty one is the TH350 crossmember, the new looking one is a TH400 crossmember my buddy had, however im waiting for mine to show up, his is out of a camaro, and isnt quite right.

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A body headers for a 69 cutlass in an x body, driver side, fits with some persuasion from a ball peen hammer...

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The passenger side fits no problem,

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The_Jeremiah

Thats all the progress i made today, too many things just didnt work out haha. Got the trans in, installed the headers, ordered my crossmember and a new shift linkage setup that uses a threaded rod instead of a friction clamp style thing. Im gonna have some A Body stuff for sale here in a bit if anyone is interested haha. I love this little car. A buddy of mine stopped by, and all he could say when I dropped the engine in is, "this thing is gonna haul ***!" haha!

nonhog

Oh here is that update!
Dang! I have to wait till I get home to see the pics. (work filter)
Looking forward to it!

The_Jeremiah

Heck yes! check it out and tell me what you think, also as far as the shift linkage goes, when the new stuff gets here, if it doesnt work, ill have to bug you about getting that piece that got left behind, but it should, im also waiting for my crossmember, and im debating what to do for the cooling system, anyone have any thoughts, im thinking about just ordering up a universal griffin or speedway aluminum radiator, as big as what i can fit in the front of the car, then putting 2 17" or so fans on it, one on the front, and one on the back, to maximize the cooling. I have had problems when its 100 here in the staging lanes at the track lol

The_Jeremiah

still have it for a few more days, needed something off it J? most of it is going into the omega

nonhog

Your making good time! Looking good!

Slomega

Nicely done .... keep us up to date on your project.

I like the clean/sleeper look the car has : )

oldcutlass

Swwweeet!

The_Jeremiah

So im looking around at options for cooling this thing while its parked outside during the work week, looks like i might go with a universal chevy radiator, all aluminum, 31x19, with a derale twin fan setup, 4000 cfm. I think that would keep this thing cool, I hope, in the cutlass i had an aluminum radiator with subaru fans, it worked... for the most part. anyone want a year old Northern aluminum radiator for a GM a body? its for sale, cause it sure doesnt fit the omega haha.

List of things to get done:
Crossmember
Shift linkage
Driveline
Cooling System
Exhaust
Rear End
Relocate battery to trunk
-drag racing starts in april, lets do this-

The_Jeremiah

Also I called mondello, stainless headers for a big block omega exist, 600 plus shipping. they dont have painted ones unfortinately.

nonhog

Are yours "dinged" more than you'd like?
Plan on tying into the current pipes? custom made for Jose. Per the weld on the pipe. Notice that yet?

The_Jeremiah

My driver side header is pretty ball peened haha, but its laying right next to the steering box, so what im gonna do is wait until we get our 110 wire feed here at work, (hopefully pretty soon) and im gonna modify the header primaries for cylinder 3 and 5. I noticed the weld "M for Jose" thought that was pretty funny, however im not gonna use this exhaust, im gonna try and build a 3" setup for it with moroso spiral flows. but again, need to get a welder to use haha. On another note, I really might have to put up an add in the for sale section, but I have a rear suspension set up for sale now too, A body adjustable upper control arms, boxed lowers (home made) lakewood no hop bars, and moroso drag coil springs. any takers? i can throw it all in one box and ship it im sure.

78 omega 468

I know it would be more work, but my 78 Omega has the steering box in front of the crossmember, it sure clears it up for headers, I am starting my swap this weekend. Would be ok to share it here instead of starting a whole new thread? Not much interest in the Omega maybe this would get more interested in this thread, but if you like I will start a new one.

The_Jeremiah

Join me buddy! haha. Id love to see your build, putting it on this thread would make it easier to keep on it. Maybe other guys will see this thread and chime in with there big block omega builds haha.

The_Jeremiah

im gonna modify the header to fit around the steering box, we got a 110 wire feed at work yesterday. very very excited.

I have an update (it is saturday again)

heres my new shift linkage, and crossmember from classic industries, the crossmember was 69.00. The shift linkage uses threaded rod instead of the friction seat setup, and it had the trans bracket, so you can keep the old one Nonhog

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Here we have the difference between a TH350 and TH400 Nova crossmember

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Installed:

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The_Jeremiah

Also I should add for those who are planning on doing this, I had to drill 2 holes to make the crossmember fit, the furthest back holes in the sub frame worked then I had to re drill the 2 forward holes in the sub frame. This crossmember also gives you lots of room for dual exhaust. For some reason, the driveline fit perfectly too. I have right about an inch of pull out on the yoke. this is of course with the suspension unloaded, so its a little on the tight side, but it will work until i swap the rear end.

The_Jeremiah

Lower radiator hose for a 74 Omega with a 350 didnt work. so i had my local napa guy spend 20 minutes finding a hose that would. Napa part number 8634 is gonna be your bottom radiator hose, still have to have an adapter for the radiator side to go to the next size smaller. Had one of those on the shelf. Also my temporary cooling system consists of the stock radiator with a 19" electric fan from a Jeep I got years ago. Decided im gonna modify the driver side header, ill get before and after pics once I do it

The_Jeremiah

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The_Jeremiah

heres my idea on modifying the header to fit, obviously, im not an artist, haha. but essentially, the middle two primaries get moved out of the way of the box. 0225121558a.jpg

The_Jeremiah

coil springs, upper arms, lower arms, and not pictured, lakewood no hop bars for sale all together, any takers?
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The_Jeremiah

finished my trans cooler system, my ignition wiring, and started hooking up my gauges today. tore out all the old exhaust, throttle linkage ( holley ball stud kit) haha, and a bunch of little things, got it running enough to back it out of the shop, sounds bad running with only one header. Decided im gonna go with modifying the header to make it fit without ball peening. so thats the next step. This car is so awesome, you could practically fit it into an A body. I cant wait to see how fast this is

The_Jeremiah

I think the gauges look good where the radio used to be
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The_Jeremiah

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heavy duty trans cooler, the hose line connects to aluminum trans cooler lines underneath the hood.

nonhog

linkage bracket on the desk waiting for UPS!
Wish I had your energy

The_Jeremiah

Thanks alot nonhog, I really appreciate it. If I had more energy, id be fabricating everything just a tad bit better, but that will have to wait until winter. I decided to order the mondello headers, trying to modify this one is just too much work. I have a buddy with a chevelle who might buy all my suspension pieces.

I got the car to the point where I can back it in and out of the shop under its own power.

Gauges and Tach mounted, didnt drill a single hole in the car. this makes me happy
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The_Jeremiah

Someone came into the shop today while I was tinkering on my lunch break and said "cool, you gonna put a nice race shifter in that?" i was like, "NO" hahaha

nonhog

Not sure if you already ordered your headers or not? Just a thought here.
A guy who also has a 455 Omega put in a steering rack and that gave all sorts of header clearance. I don't see him on CO but he is on ROP and
Oldspower goes by "analogkid455"

some info on his car...... http://www.cardomain.com/ride/829130...dsmobile-omega

Either way you go your going to be having lots of fun!

The_Jeremiah

I havent ordered them yet, but since I want this car to look and function nice, im gonna start with the mondello headers, they are stainless and are supposed to fit without any issues (talked to lynn at mondello) then later on down the road, (when i have more money) i will get myself a manual rack and pinion. I just have a really nice condition manual box, and a brand new pitman arm that I would quite enjoy utilizing.

Nonhog, Tracking number says the package arrived yesterday, havent gone out to my parent's place to get it yet. Thankyou so much for all your trouble. At this point, I think I need to link this thread to the one on the truck website you gave me, retyping all this into another forum would be quite a lot of work. haha