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Hey, happy New Years to 2020
Well guys, it's been awhile since I have participated in any discussion, which was mostly just following the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. I got a good chuckle when Tedd mentioned carrying his guns to safety in the back seat of his convertible while escaping the inferno.
Just prior to the Carr Fire in Redding, California, was when I purchased a nice 455 marine short block. Then the next month, I drove 190-miles south to Stockton, and picked up a '71 Olds 455 marine long block for the "C" heads. hahahaha, yeah, go figure - the ad said sat in rain one season. That told me it could have sat in rain for 3-decades right.
So I had Bookmarked the following Thread by Deadeyejedi titled "building a 455" because it had some good infor and forum guru's to contact with questions. yep. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...-455-a-122658/
The purpose of purchasing this engine was to clean up all pieces, and do a Refurb and stuff it into a '71 Jeep Gladiator pickup for my oldest daughter, 33y0.
This all occurred early 2018, and later in 2018, my attention got diverted while doing a Bellhousing modification of an early ****** to accept a Ford transmission. https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/t...opic44407.html
The bellhousing is completed ( this allowed me to play with several electrodes to successfully weld Cast iron-to-Cast iron. By the way, after spending hours V-grooving and welding with different electrodes, it was the Harris NL99 nickel rod that worked with No-Preheat.
I must purchase 4 new intake valves which are the 2.072 head diameter (if memory serves me right).
The Jeep Gladiator currently has the '71 Buick 350 engine with standard 3-spd floor shift transmission.
My idea was to install the Olds 455 in place of the 350 Buick. (I just figured the Olds 455 would bolt-in in place of the Buick 350, and I may be wrong).
It never dawned on me to consider a Buick 455 so the distributor is up front. oh well, I'm hoping the Olds 455 will be fine after I do a refurb myself.
My questions to you guru's is:
1. What is the recommendation for a vendor for the Intake Valves ?
I had found online some "rebuilder's" valves, but cannot rembmer the vendor.
2. Which 455 exhaust manifold casing numbers should I be looking for, and/or could I use Olds 350 exh man's ?
3. Are the cheapie engine gasket sets from RockAuto worth considering, or should I pay for Fel-Pro ?
4. For a stock marine-long block build, is there a specific Quadra-jet Number I should be looking for to run in the Gladiator pickup for general street use ?
5. Both the 350 Buick, and 455 Olds are 1971 blocks, will the 350 Buick std flywheel interchange with the 455 Olds ?
(the 455 long block does have a flywheel) - tooth count not known yet, nor clutch diameter or has holes for pressure plate.
Here we are looking ahead to 2020, and I am hoping to maybe divert some time to this 455 refurb. The short block I purchased looks very nice, But, I have not pulled the pan to remove rod caps and main brg caps to see what I really wound up with. (it could have a spun main brg, who knows).
This will be my first Olds engine build, but I have refurbed a dozen V-8's and V-6's over the years, and some 4-bangers too.
Ha, my last complete engine refurb was 8 years ago for an Isuzu 3.2L V-6 engine in a '95 Honda passport. The fuel rails have Rochester embossed into them.
I did find: enginetech.com _ _ but I think I have to be a jobber to 'see' the individual parts in the Catalogue. (927)-245-0110 phone # in Texas.
I do like the valves show in the link below from Jegs - Speedmaster intake valves in a set of 8: https://www.jegs.com/i/Speedmaster/7....1063/10002/-1
So, if any of you guys would be grateful enough to give me some suggestions I would be tickled-pink.
Thanks, and bear with me if I am slow to respond, due to life's interruptions.
Len (Greaser007)
Last edited by Greaser007; January 4th, 2020 at 09:55 AM.
(I just figured the Olds 455 would bolt-in in place of the Buick 350, and I may be wrong).
Unfortunately, you are wrong. While the Olds motor has the same bellhousing bolt pattern, that's all that's the same. Motor mount locations are different. Even the starter is on the opposite side of the block. Depending on which bellhousing is in your Jeep, it may or may not have a driver side notch for the starter. Yeah, the Buford 455 would have been a bolt-in.
Just a thought, but early Jeeps used a Buick V6 and a Buick standard bell housing with a adapter between the rear and front of the Jeep trans, so you might get lucky and be able to use a stock Olds bell housing
Just so we're clear, the common BOP bellhousings have starter notches on both sides. There ARE Buick-only bellhousings that have a notch only on the passenger side. We don't know which is in the OP's Jeep.
Hey, thanks Joe and Jmos4 for your input.
Interesting about the engine to bellhousing bolt pattern, but possible starter issues. Hmm
I will have to crawl under the Jeep Gladiator to see what bellhousing it may have and starter location.
There has been a 71 Buick 455 for sale up in the mountains about 150-miles from me, and I have been reluctant to drive that far to looksie. Nor, do I know what the condition is other than assuming it would need a complete refurb once torn down to see how internals look.
I probably won't do any actual rebuilding of the Olds 455 until I get things sorted out for fitment conflicts.
I was just always planning on having to fab-up motor mounts if the Olds 455 was compatible to mate to the Buick 350 standard transmission bellhousing in the pickup.
It may be better if I just overhaul the 350 Buick that is in the pickup, which I think is a high compression engine. (9:1 maybe for '71 with 2bbl carb).
If you guys have anything else to share about a suggestion for a specific Quadrajet number to look for I am open to suggestions because I will have plenty of time to search.
Thank you again for responding, _ _ _ and I was kind of hoping to hear from you Joe.
January 4th, 2020, 09:49 AM
