crholds442

Erson roller cam #4373; grind: RH276/340; RH292/355
valve lift: intake .544 exhaust .568
duration: intake 276 exhaust 292.
I'm using Scorpion rockers ratio 1.6
I completely rebuilt the 12 bolt diff. with Richmond 3.42 to 1 gears and a
Eaton Positrac.

The Edelbrock head hits my Carter fuel pump. I tried to find a Mr. Gasket mechanical pump and the company no longer makes one. I'm hoping a AC/Delco fuel pump might clear the head... anyone have any suggestions? I really don't want to notch the head or get an electric fuel pump.

matt69olds

The Airtex 40736 pump will clear the Edelbrock heads, but it is a tight fit. My friends 66 Cutlass ran 12.20s with that pump so it will feed a fairly stout engine.

Keep in mind, this was on a 455. I'm pretty sure any small block Olds using Edelbrock heads will be screwed in the mechanical fuel pump department.

crholds442

Thanks for the info on the Airtex fuel pump. I just now installed the Carter brand mechanical fuel pump with the head fully torqued down to specs. I found that the fuel pump top touches the bottom forward edge of the head for sure, but there is such a slight impingement that the top of the pump hardly appears to be dented at all. I think I will go with the Carter for now. I had ordered a AC Delco fuel pump and it is actually a little taller than the Carter. I will make a note of the Airtex fuel pump for the future. I appreciate the info. I think I will contact Edelbrock and see if they will fix the problem with a slight milling or notching of that area of the head for olds applications... and still warranty their product. I'm more curious to see if they even give a flip about our situation with 455s for sure.

J-(Chicago)

The turkey tray is great in my opinion. Just cut the middle of it out, and use it as 2 separate pieces. It's just like the aftermarket sets, but not as thick. I find it much easier to get my ports lined up with the stock gasket.

crholds442

Yes, I thought about slicing up the turkey tray!! I went with Edelbrock intake gaskets, which are noticeably thick, since I'm matching up a performer intake with the Edelbrock heads( they say they match up perfectly!)

On another note, when I pulled the engine I took note of the steel headers and the lack of clearance around them in the engine bay. (I had already removed the front clip for frame repairs). In fact, the previous installer had actually hammered and flattened some of the pipes to get clearance! I ain't going that route again! I figure I'll just order factory style cast iron exhaust manifolds from Fusick parts and adapt them to my 3 inch pipes that hooked up to the headers. Does anyone have any advice on this matter? The rusty, hammered in headers look like Summitt brand pipes. It appears the 455 was properly mounted in the engine bay.

crholds442

Here's a FYI note for everyone out there. I have Edelbrock Performer heads on my 455. The recommended 3/8" push rods will not clear the PBM roller lifters when the valves are full open. I bought Comp brand pushrods from Summitt. The 9.2" length is perfect fit for this engine. I ordered 5/16" restricted flow push rods from Mondello. Wall thickness is .080. I installed the expensive 5/16" guide plates from Mondello. I was beginning to adjust the valve lash on this set up when I noticed the roller rockers were not centering on top of the exhaust valve stems. I double checked the positioning on all guide plates (numbers face up like Edelbrock's, I assume), and no 1 cylinder is on the driver's side and no 2 is on the passenger's side.
None of Mondello's packaging has any sort of reference numbers. I am assuming it is possible they sent guide plates designed for Olds heads instead of Edelbrock heads (or some other v-8) . I will call them tomorrow and try to make sense out of all this. They also claim their expensive stainless steel headers will fit in the 442 engine bay without alterations. Does anyone out there have any experience with these issues?

67 Cutlass Freak

Did you call Mark (CutlassEFI) about your valve train issues? I have not heard anything good about the Scorpion roller rockers concerning valve to roller alignment. I use the Harland Sharp rockers and like them a lot. Others have had good luck with Comp Cam's rockers. Scorpions look nice but are a very cheap alternative to a decent roller rocker for the Olds. You may want to contact Smitty and ask him about headers and any other Oldsmobile needs-
http://www.mjproformance.com/

crholds442

The Scorpion rockers aligned perfectly with the Standard Edelbrock 3/8" guide plates. The problem was the y( 3/8" push rods) didn't clear the lifters so I went with 5'16" thick wall push rods from Mondello. Mark suggested the Comp # 4851 guide plates and for 23 bucks it's worth a try.
I'm curious about your issues with the Scorpion rockers? US made, lifetime warranty, all needle bearings.... sit low on the studs ... I'd like to know more specifically what the problem is with them. Yes, Harland's are a good choice for about the same price... Summitt racing matched me up Scorpions for my set up. If they are a bad choice I want to get my money back if I can!! Thanks for the comments!!

cutlassefi

For everyone's benefit;
Before Rob Stepanio the owner of scorpion was so tragically killed, I had a chance to speak with him at length about rockers. I knew Rob in 1982 when he was our delivery boy.
Anyway, scorpion makes rockers for the following companies;
Comp
Jegs
Some summit stuff and a few others. He also informed me that the rocker geometry on AMC, Ford, Olds and Pontiac is essentially the same. Randy jr at HS confirmed this as well.
Rob uses 2 different part numbers in his book for olds and ford rockers. He said because he can get more money for the Olds stuff. Yet if you look in the Comp book they list the same number for both.
And the HS 5016/5017 are nearly the same as the 5003 except they are .050 longer on the valve side for the taller stem heights in the Edelbrock heads.

Hope this helps.

crholds442

I've got the engine all buttoned up and just about ready to bolt on the TH-400 trans. and put it back in the rolling frame (this is a frame off project). All I need now is the right waterpump for my pulleys (ac setup).
I wound up using the Mondello 5/16" guide plates on these Edelbrock heads.
Turns out if I carefully centered the guide plates (enough slack in the stud holes) the Scorpion rockers centered ok in my opinion. The Comp guide plates probably would have worked for a lot less, but they were thin metal stampings and I had already used the Mondello guide plates.
I will soon find out how the stainless headers from Mondello fit into the frame. They are a work of art .... they cost plenty!! and they darn well better fit in. We'll see. I'll post picts of the rolling frame hopefully soon. Guys... thanks a bunch for all your input concerning this 455!!