1972 Cutlass S 455 F block
Goal is to have a beast street car no reving past 5500. Lots of burnouts and figure 8's every now and then.
Olds 455 bored .030 with torque plates. Stock crank .010 .010. Stock rods ARP bolts.
ICON IC886 pistons.
Piston to deck will be around .015 - .020 just doing a cleanup.
Not sure if machinist is doing a align hone but says he will check to see if it needs one.
Motor will be balanced. Not sure if internal or external but machinist wanted crank + flywheel (no balancer) and pistons, rings, rods and bearings.
ARP main studs.
Out the box edelbrock heads + out the box Edelbrock RPM Airgap. Will port match the intake.
Mellings HV oil pump. Stock pan no oil modifications to block other than open up front drain hole and open up head to block oil passeges.

Here's the last few parts I need help with. Once I order these parts The motor can be assembled and installed.

Parts needed.

Pushrods - Edelbrock recomends 9.800 hardened pushrods. Is there a part number or any rods 9.800 will work?

Timing set- Do I just choose any Cloyes true roller from summit? Part number will help. Any additional parts needed for the chain and gear set or just reuse the parts from the stock equipment bolts and any other hardware?

Need part number(s) for rocker arms. I hear harland sharp's are the best but give me your feedback.

Carb choice- Still not sure. let me know what you think. Looking for lots of power and good street driveabaility.

Headers - Short or long - do i need a mini starter as I've heard?

I have a stock 72 HEI distributor. Should this do the job?

Balancer - Stock or do I need aftermarket?

Part # for rear main seal.

Cooling system - stock water pump stock radiator

Cam choice - most torque i can squeeze at low rpm'S so I won't have to rev above 5500. Car must sound loud and powerfull. Good idle. Don't think I can afford a roller. But refcomend whatever you think.
It's hard for me to get part recomendations from my machinist because I'm not buying the parts from them. This year I only have enough money to complete the motor and want to drive the car. Next year I can upgrade rear axle and torque converter. To complete the setup.

This is my first build and I'm doing it by myself, friendly advice from the olds commuunity, BTR & Mondello book and lots of online research. Thank you to all who looked!!!!

 

You're welcome. Jmo.

 

CutlassEFI - at what lift should you consider machining the valve guides for clearance with production heads and stock seals??

 

thanks for the reply everyone I sent cutlass EFI A PM.

 

I'd say anything over about .510 typically.

 

Thats way too big for his combo.

 

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with Mark here... I think you could get away with a bigger cam that what he suggested. I have almost your identical setup and made 492 HP at 5500 rpm and 544 TQ with an Engle cam Lift: .557"/.574" Duration: 244/253 @ .050" on 110 lobe centers.

I also think you could get away with an 800 CFM carburetor...I run a DaVinci tuned Holley HP 950 that flows 830 CFM.

And port matching the intake is cheap horsepower...I did mine...and I think it paid off.

Steve

 

I have to agree with ah64pilot. I would not go with a smaller cam. I would say a cam with duration in the 240ish range with a 110 lobe sep. Lunati and compcams have some nice grinds

 

Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion Steve but I recommended what I did because he mentioned, "low rpm" and "good idle". That Lunati won't give him a good idle.
Plus you can't compare your solid lift to that Lunati. Your solid lift cam is about equal to about a 234/242 or so hyd.
And why put an 800 on it when he said he won't be spinning it that high? A 750 will drive better and be plenty for his combo.

Plus your heads are fairly heavily ported by your own admission. That changes the need/benefit on other mods.

Jmo.

 

I thought my heads were ported but it turns out that it was just the factory CNC work that Edelbrock did in production. I had never seen a set of out of the box Edelbrock heads and thought that the CNC work done to the intake runners was custom...it was not. So really, with out of the box Edelbrocks I think we made some decent power considering.

Also, I only spun 5500 on the dyno and made 492 Hp with a 830 CFM carburetor...I just think a 750 is a little small for an Edelbrock head 455 with a decent cam.

I'm not trying to start any argument, I just wanted to give the OP another perspective. I also read the OP comment about a "beast street car" and took "good idle" as something that would sound "loud and powerful" not smooth.

 

No problem. But you can have some noise without going too crazy on a cam. There are things you can do to achieve that while retaining a decent idle.
An 830 will support 600+hp easy. An "830" Nascar carb, that really flows over 900 but less than 950, will handle 850+hp at 9000rpm so imo a 750 is more than enough for his combo.

Thanks.

 

I have someone here locally that wants to buy the cam I bought from you earlier this year the Erson cam and lifters. Will this cam work with his 67 stock 455 engine or does he need some upgrades. He is rebuilding his motor. I was going to contact you early next year to discuss the options of going with a roller cam. My budget for the motor ran out earlier this year so I'm on hold till January. And by any chance do you still have my cam card on file I can not find it. I advertised the cam as 228/236 at .050 on a 110 .568/.568 lift. hopefully that info is accurate.

 

I have been racing Oldsmobile since 1972 and built so many I cannot count them, I have tried Mondello's cams and many things that he suggest and I learned alot from Buddy Ingersoll and Jim Waibel who at one time had 67 oldsmobiles that he did machine work on racing in NHRA and IHRA, Go with the larger cam I agree with a cam with around 560 lift and a 110 lobe center, BBOs respond well with that lobe center, on the pushrod get the ones without ***** on the end as they break off alot. Measure for the right length that is critical. On Headers long means more low end torque, and at least 800cfm carb. You should have a beast then.

 

AL2011 There is one thing I can say and that is Lunati has been building cams for World record holding Oldsmobile longer than anyone else and their profiles work really good on BBO and SBO They have some super hydraulic cams for the street and strip and with the Edelbrock heads and headers you will hit 5500 rpm quick and the car should really pull hard. You can use a 750cfm holley or if you can find one a old 780 cfm tricked out works really well especially if you remove the air horn then you will flow 830cfm. You have to have gears 3.55 3.73 3.90 or 4.11 preferably 3.73 for street so you can at least travel on the highway. Good luck with the motor. I am building mine right now.

 

Stay with the stock balancer dont waste your money on a TCI balancer you wont need it and scorpion roller rockers are made right in my back yard in Ocala fla, they have a lifetime warranty and they had a few glitches when they started but the bugs are worked out now and they have a 1.73 ratio rocker which if you get a cam with 520 lift will give you 565 lift approx. and it will increase the rate of your valve opening and your response on the throttle. Cloyes is the only way to go for timing chain part # 9-3113 is fine for the street. HEI is perfect you can always modify it later. The aluminum water pump from mondello works well and saves some weight.

 

I have stage 2 ported edelbrocks and around close to 12 to comp and i usually with a proper cam for this combo can use pump gas fairly regualary. I use the good gas at the track and for nitrous with a seperate tank. my cam is close to your idea but properly degreed etc.

 

I have to get a set of aluminum head because you can run 93 octane on them and you cant get away with that with iron heads, I know there is many benefits to the aluminum heads first being weight, second dissipation of heat and with the runners changed way better flow from the start. I used to port heads for other people racing and I still love Olds C heads tricked out right. But I am in the air about which aluminum heads to run, Rocket Racing or Edelbrock, right now I am leaning towards Rocket Racing heads for my all out motor. I have several sets of C heads and a couple of E heads which dont flow as well but work good for everyday street cars.