I have two coil brackets, according to the 1970 assembly manual it looks like I should use the one with only one bolt hole but have been told the bracket with two bolt holes is correct. I have a 1970 455 W30 engine - the aluminum manifold is exactly the same as the cast iron so I would think it would be the same for all 442s if not all 455s. Thanks

 

The bracket on the right is definitely the correct one for your car (as well as a lot of other Olds cars/yearmodels). Not sure I've ever seen the one on the L. Maybe a mid-60's or earlier bracket?

 

thanks Patton, that is the one that the assembly manual shows but I had someone insist it was the one on the left, Ugh.

 

The one on the left is a early 60's

 

Mine isn't a W30, but it's a '71 455 and, I just checked mine, it's the one on the right, w/ one bolt hole. I know mine is original on that engine. If that's any help.

HEY!!! Have you been in my garage??? That one on the right looks like mine, even the same color!!! I'm going out to check on it right now!!!...

 

I wish I was in your garage right now - a heck of a lot warmer than here right now

 

Anyone know what size bolt I would use to mount the bracket?

 

If someone doesn't come up w/ it tonight, I can check the bolt in the morning, have it in my tool box. I'll check back in the morning. I know the bolt in mine is original.
Does the resto-manual give you bolt sizes f/ everything?

But the weather here has been cold, about 37 f/ the high today and raining. We've had a much cooler winter this year than last. It was in the 100s all summer and then all of a sudden, boom, and 80, and no more 100s. I hope the heat comes back soon.

 

thanks Jim, I appreciate it, no I didn't see anything in the manual for bolt size - looks like a manifold bolt would work but not sure

 

It uses a 3/8 x 3/8 (or 1/2) machine thread bolt....and it has "RBW" as the head marking, Grade 5, no washer.

Find one of the RBW bolts if you are doing a resto....or else we will start telling people

I'm pretty sure it's the same bolt used on the bracket that holds the throttle stop/dashpot over on the D side front corner of the carb.

Pic:

 

Thanks, will do, I'll even do the torch and oil method - these are the little things that I have fun with yet are a pain. The mechanic saw the original coil I had and said get rid of it - get a new one that is reliable - and then told me I needed to get a new transmission line going over the intake because it looked terrible

 

The coil bracket bolt sure does have the RBW on the top like you said, but I'm getting, on the rule, 5/16" dia. and a full 1/2" length (like you noted). It does fit the bracket hole properly, and measuring the hole in the bracket looks like you'd about have to thread a 3/8" dia. bolt through it, you know what I mean, it's an awfully tight 3/8", and the same bolt (dia.) fits the carb mount holes in the manifold also, all the same dia..
I hope I'm not being too picky w/ my call (possibly the specs. call it a 3/8" dia.) and I don't mean to dispute what you're saying, I'm no expert and you're in the business. I'm just calling it what I see.
I do have a question(s); found that the two bolts f/ the thermostat housing have RSC on the top of them, and the distributor ty-down bolt has TR in the center (top) of it. Are these the correct bolts or have they been replaced? The '71 Olds 98 I took the engine out of was a one owner and had 93,000 miles on it (info true and correct as it belonged to my long time neighbor, 15 years) However, these are "easy to get to" bolts and fasten components that are removed and reinstalled f/ maintenance purposes, also easy to drop and then replace w/ others. One more thing, is there a sequence or pattern or reason of some kind f/ the use of these bolts w/ their letter designators and what do the letters stand f/?
I'm not going to go back w/ the specific original bolts f/ the different components. I'm going to go w/ new bolts, hardened and not, but good quality and may look into getting the bolt heads chromed. I don't want to get chromed bolts of crap quality made in China/Mexico etc. I've found that consistency in strength (poor quality control) is a big problem w/ the cheap hardware. Came across this on lifting devices f/ the crane, not worth it. But in any event, no old or cheap bolts f/ me. Not to say that the original bolts were cheap, and/or can't be reused on low stress applications.
Thanks in advance.

Stevengerard, I like the idea of going to extremes to make things look authentic. I've seen lately that people are going f/ the older cars not totally restored, but ie; the interior left original, in good shape, but with the correctly worn/in well kept trim look, again I think authentic is the correct term, no?

 

the letters are the manufactors marks/name the lines are the grade add 2 ,3 lines grade 5 ,6 lines grade 8 ,1 line grade 3, no line crap no manufactors mark crap,

 

I'm aware of the lines (not the question), I mean the different letters, specifically what do they stand f/? ie; R=? W=? etc.

No line crap, no Mfg. mark crap?????

 

note to last, if using stainless steel be very careful not to over tighten they streach and will proberly break when removing.

 

it the name of the company that made the bolt

 

Jim----GOOD CATCH!!!....and my bad!!

As is usual, I was running around looking for bolts, grabbing the camera and getting my hands on a bolt guage last night. Slipped the threads into the plastic guage and read the measurement printed to the L side of the bolt guage hole...INSTEAD OF THE CORRECT measurement which appears on the R side of the hole. Should have paid closer attention but I didn't need to as you guys would COVER FOR ME!!

So, yes, as Jim noted...it's a 5/16 bolt. I'll never screw that one up again....maybe some other bolt but never again on the coil bracket bolt.

In my experience the bolts you mention on the thermo housing and the dist holddown are correct and original. TR bolts are very common on various engine components and I've seen the RSC on a large number of thermo housings that appeared to be very original/not-heavily-tampered-with cars.

Again...thanks for the correction. I wonder if he's still out in his garage trying to jam that 3/8 bolt into that 5/16" hole....I swear I heard some loud yelling and cussing later last night coming from somewhere up north

The markings on the bolt heads aren't always letters...there are a few that just have odd looking shapes, etc so don't assume they are junk just because they don't have letters. As greenslade mentions above...those markings are the manufacturers ID/name.

For example....the now-infamous 5/16" coil bracket bolt with RBW markings....Russell, Burdsall & Ward Bolt and Nut Company. (I heard that you can get a magnifying glass and look closely down in the threaded area and you will find their address, phone number and maybe even some basic company advertising info in there

 

Thanks guys, one thing I have learned is we all try to do our best to help each other but we aren't always correct - thus the reason I have two coil brackets in the first place. I had HEI since I bought the car and was fine with it since it was very reliable, well the slippery slope lead me to finding out the original distributor I still had laying around was very valuable so why not put it back in. Well if I do that why not convert it to Petronix - ooh that was more money then I thought, then I relaized I needed the coil, oops and the bracket too, oh yeah and the capacitor. And no way, really? I needed new ignition wires too? Well those are cheap at least - well now that I'm looking into it the slippery slope restoration voice made me get the correct date coded wires. And now I am looking for the correct bolt. I found inline tube sells the reproduction bracket on their site, I don't have the assembly manual in front of me but on their ebay site you can see that the bolt is labeled 5/16 - 18 x .50 so the 5/16 is correct. And no I'm not screeming about that I'm screeming that the car is still in the shop.

 

Yes, that can be fun and I really appreciate it more and more as I get closer to finishing this car - makes me realize there is always something to work on. That's why I am in no hurry to detail the engine compartment, I can add all that stuff little by little and about time I'm done with that I can start all over on the suspension which is the first thing I worked on when I bought the car 15 years ago. The big issue is that the car looks so good painted that some of the trim pieces will now look like I cheaped out on them - which I did. Though some itmes like my firewall I purposely left alone as I still have the original assembly line stampings on it so I think that looks cool. But like I said it drives me nuts, I have an original coil and the mechanic says get rid of it, but then tells me to put the Petronix in because that looks stock and then tells me to get rid of the electric choke because that's stupid (true, especially since I don't drive it in winter) so it goes on and on and on where do you stop?

 

it doesn't stop....get used to it

 

......and I'd use the coil bracket you have in the pic if it's as clean as it appears. No need for a repro there.

 

yep and I have a new gas tank filler neck that I need to put on in the next year or two and guess what, when I do that it will be time to put on your gas tank pad cause I don't have one of those anymore either. Thanks for your help! I'll have to start looking for that bolt tomorrow - don't hink I have it though so for now I may have to use a new one - just don't tell anyone.

 

Yes, I understood that "Greenslade" was telling me the right thing, what I figured, the mfg.s name. But I was wanting the MFGs. name (s), like you said, Russell, Burdsall and Ward. I was looking f/ the name of the MFGs. I see now that I wasn't stating the question correctly and it looked like I was asking the same question over and over after it was already answered. LOL! Sorry, Greenslade. My bad.

That's interesting about the address and phone# on the threaded area. I really have to hand it to you guys f/ getting so involved in the originality of these cars.
I measured the bolt w/ a steel rule and was trying like hell to make that bolt 3/8", LOL. I'm guessing that all the bolts in that engine are original, or pretty close. I'd be glad to give the bolts up after I measure them f/ replacements. I don't mind saving someone some money on something like that.
I don't think that these projects ever stop as long as you own the ride. There's always more and different things to do, until you sell it.
70Post, You're in Austin, Texas? I thought you said Austin, just wanted to know if you meant Texas.
I posted the thread about the availability of the 455s as I'm thinking that in 20 years or so that they'll be as hard to find as the old Buick "nailhead" engines are now. I'm going to look into what I can find around here. This is my first 455 and I really like alot of different things about it.
I'll get all the bolts together that I have off the engine so far and do the measuring and if you want them, Stevengerard, they're yours. They are from my '71 though, not the exact year that your's is. My 455 is going into my '62 Ford pick-up, you may know that by now. I've had the truck f/, it'll be 24 years this October. I got the Olds 455 because I wanted something different.
Thanks f/ the conversation, enjoyed it.

In ref. to the "heater hose" thread: I have some kind of diaphram screwed into the manifold that this particular hose clamps to and the diaphram's male hose coupling runs out of the manifold @ 90 degrees, makes the hose run straight from firewall. Didn't want to get into answering the question, as my engine is from a Olds 98 and it may have some other "whatever" that his car doesn't. Have any ideas as to what it is? It has a sending unit of somekind, w/ a plug ofcourse.

 

Jim---That would be the "heater control valve"...only used on AC cars I think. I assume it cuts off any water circulation to the heater core when it's not in use. Otherwise, hot water in there while trying to cool the car with AC wouldn't work too well because there's only one BLOWER MOTOR and the blower motor air passes over the heater core when the blower motor is on during the AC cycle as well as when the heater is on.

Yes, I'm in Austin....saw you mentioned that in another thread and didn't get the chance to respond so I'll do it here.

It's apparent from your posting on that thread you might think I have an actual shop you could come visit.....I WISH!!! (maybe someday). I'm like most everyone else here...no shop. I was kidding on the bit about all the info being printed in the threads of the bolts (thus the smiley at the end of that sentence).....I tend to throw in some "tales" with my threads sometimes. Anyone that has read a lot my postings probably realizes that (especially over on ROP.com) but I'm relatively "new" to this site compared to others I frequent.

I do need to get up to the Harker Heights area soon as I have to deliver some grille pieces I restored for another Olds nut up there. Maybe we could coordinate times and you could also get a look at a couple cool '70 cars up there.

 

I did find your humor to be dry different times in the posts you've written, but you took it to the limit w/ the "thread area inscriptions." LOL. Good one, you had me going. It sounded like the "jewel of the nile" f/ fasteners, but who knows, not being into authenticity, could easily catch me in the dark. Good thing I had no mag. glass handy. LOL! My brother has a friend on his street, in Croton, N.Y., who has a number of old Harleys, and that guy is into getting the correct hardware, etc. also. He shells out "the money" f/ original items. (And he's a mis-fit on the street, of 3/4 mil. dollar houses, not that he has a mess or anything. I learned alot from my brother, as he had alot of hot cars and bikes in the '60s and very early '70s. He's been in the IBM research lab f/ about 26 years now, a good place f/ him.) I really like that idea, but I seem to be/end up into the performance end of everything. It's hard f/ me to leave things original if they don't perform. And these days, you have to be thinking about even the 4 cyl. Japanese cars w/ super-mods that may blow your V8 away. I left my 'Vette alone f/ years, until I just couldn't take it and made afew changes that let it atleast get out of it's own way. Damn those smog-smothered dogs.
I'd like to meet up w/ you when you go to Harker Heights and meet someone around here who's into Olds products. Those guys are few and far inbetween in this area, as compared to Chevy, Ford and Chrysler. Just give me a call: 254-291-3406. This is my cell #. I usually always answer and never listen to the messages. But please make sure you call me even if you only have afew minutes. I'm always on time and would like to touch base w/ you. Since we've (wife and kids) been back from Puerto Rico, lived there f/ 3 years, I lost touch w/ most of my motor-head friends. Some have gone elsewhere, over-seas, businesses in other areas, etc., and alot of it is me simply losing touch. Since my single years around here, I stopped alot of the always having a project or two going on.`My wife isn't f/ a big garage w/ a small house attached, but just the opposite. I do still know some of the, I guess you could say, Old-timers here, from 20 and almost 30 years ago. I got here in '81, stationed here from Germany. And I'm sure that your humor will be easier to read in person. LOL.
I figured that piece on the manifold was N/A f/ that guys application. That's a "never seen" place to have the heater control valve on a Chevy or Ford, in-line yes, just not on the manifold. Even though the Olds is a GM, it's so very different from the Chevys, almost to the point of not making good sense sometimes after looking at Chevys f/ ever. But like I said, there's so much I found that I like about the 455. W/after internal mods, it's a good strong/capable engine.
Anyway, give me that call, I'll be looking f/ it. Thanks f/ the time.