cutlassefi

If you have 1.68's then leave them alone. The exhaust will find it's way out.

455man

Cleaned up some wiring under the hood. I have an internal regulated alternator and HEI now.

442rocketdave

455man it just a suggestion but on your rocker arms its really worth the money to go to the roller rockers and as far as the cost I found the skorpion compitition rollers at summit for only 232.00 dollars and that is a good price and they have worked the bugs out on their rockers. They are made not far from where I live and alot of racers are using them. Your 455 build sound really good!!

455man

Thanks. I actually found some roller rockers off craigslist. He ended up giving me the heads cause he didnt want to take off the rockers. Heads were pretty rusty but I got good deal. He also threw in the push rods. Gotta check with machine shop today to see how far along the engine is.

455man

Got the engine put together this weekend. Still have a few things to do then put it in the car.

442rocketdave

Did the rockers and pushrods work out with the right geometry? Engine looks good, you will have to post it when you get it running!! Is that an aluminum water pump? just wondering if it is and where you got it?

455man

Rockers look pretty good. I double checked them after reading your post. Got the Aluminum water pump on amazon. GMB 130-1260AL $41.65 free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/GMB-130-1260AL.../dp/B006D1VPCC

I'll post more after getting it in the car and running.

danthedirtguy

lookin good buddy...where did you get the engine paint?

442rocketdave

Thanks 455man I will check it out!

455man

Engine paint is from fusicks. I wanted to get the color right, or close. I actually ordered another can to touch up a few places. And I had a Chevy friend say it looks like a Pontiac color

442rocketdave

455man , that is the right color for Oldsmobile 455 and it looks great, Fusick has the blue and copper in the right shade, also thanks for the link on the water pump what a deal only 41.00!! and free shipping.

455man

You are welcome Dave. I figured fusicks would have the right color. That's why i went with them.

455man

Finally got the engine in the car and one header on. It's been a slow process. I'm working on it in my spare time.

455man

So I got the exhaust put on. 2 1/2" into turbo mufflers turned down before the rear end. I noticed that one of the new flowtech headers was shorter than the other. When looking at it from the side and using the trans pan as a guide I noticed the passenger side collector was about 3 inches shorter. Anyone ever see this before? I'll try to post a pic tonight. I had to move the pipes and hangers forward some on one side to make it work. Just thought it was odd...

455man

Headers...

455man

Got it running. Working out the bugs still. Had a gas leak at the carb. Fixed it. Had a coolant leak. Tightened hose and that fixed that. Got a random miss on the passenger side. Plug wires are hard to get to behind the distributor and the #8 plug is tight by the A/C. I'll check that out tonight. A/C brackets dont line up to the bolt holes on the performer intake...Gonna have to get creative with that. Its about a 1/4" off. Electric choke needs some adjusting too. I'll try to take some video tonight.

455man

With the 490/230 cam should I expect some rough idle? Hope so or I have more tuning to do.

442rocketdave

It should have a little lope to it and make sure you have the wires on right and that the lead wire to your HEI has 12v all the time. You just have to work those bugs out sometimes but on a new rebuild your engine will be different since you changed alot, ie cam intake, HEI or whatever else. Once you get the timing and carb fine tuned it should run real good. I was wondering about that water pump is it running cool enough?

455man

One of the plug wires was not tight on the back of the distributor like I thought. Fixed that. I ran a new 12v wire to the HEI so I'm good there. My total timing is 36 degrees at 2800RPMs but I'm getting some pinging. The vacuum can is against the intake so it cannot be retarded anymore. Can I be a tooth off on the distributor? With the water pump, it was getting hot quick til I realized that one of my electric fans was not kicking on. Fixed that. Now at a red light the temp will raise to 190 but at cruizing the temp goes back to 180 on a 75 degree day. I must need more air flow.

stormcustoms

there is a book by Bill Trovato called"How to Build Max-Performance Olds V8's". this guy is a machinist and knows what he is talking about. I am a Chrysler guy and I just finished building a 455 for a 442 I found and got a lot of really good info out of this book. I have been a master collision/refinish technician and a certified mechanic as well for the past 28 years and spent 6 of those years in a street rod shop, and one thing I have learned is to be very leary of tech info you get from these type of posts. most of these people are not professionals. if you go with a true 10:1 compression ratio it wont run right on pump gas. what G.M. listed as 10:1 is actually about 9.50:1. also if you're going to upgrade the brakes don't go back with drums AT ALL!you can get a rear disc kit for around $500.00. also you can put your parts info into a build calculator and see about what kind of gains you should expect. I think Competition Cams has one in their website. Travato also mentioned in his book that putting Edelbrock Performer R.P.M heads and a Victor intake is a 50 horse increase on a 455, and all of this is measured on a dyno and this guy has built numerous 455s with the same results. but I think it would be a great asset to you to have this book, especially if you're a hobbiest. if you have any questions for me feel free to hit me up.

442rocketdave

I agree with stormcustoms on Bill Travato, I have been racing and building Oldsmobile for 40 years and Bill is all business and no BS, I have disagreed with other builders over the years and many on this website and the people I learned from were world champions and the people who did the machine work on my motor built many Olds race cars. Bill has tested many theories by other builders which have been disproved and in my mind he is one of the foremost experts in building Oldsmobile today! Good advice!

380 Racer

I have had Bill do a few things for me and he does good work, but he does not walk on water.

cutlassefi

There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here too, you may learn something as well. Keep an open mind.

Thanks

442rocketdave

Mark I agree and I am keeping an open mind, and nobody knows everything and we all have theories, some may be valid and some not I dont think anyone walks on water I do like many of the things Bill does and I like his approach to Oldsmobile performance, I also dont agree with everything he says and I liked some of the ideas Joe Mondello had, I also remember him telling me I could not get into the mid 10 second range with a single 4 bbl but I did back in the mid 70s, I have tried many things and I have found many over the years did not work and some did I also like what John Stolpa has done and I like his heads just cant afford them right now.

stormcustoms

look, I think that some of you have taken what I said out of context. I NEVER implied in any way that Bill walks on water or is some kind of Olds god, just like Coddington and Foose, they were/are good at what they do but if you know much about automotive structure and body/paint proceedures, you will know that they both have a little butcher in them too. but he does have the only decent book I could find on the subject. but what he has to say makes a lot of sense. but yes, take all information and add it together and you will get something useful. I just know I have gotten a lot of good info out of that book that I couldn't find anywhere else. it sure helped a Chrysler guy through an Olds build!