68_455

Hello all, I’m new to the Oldsmobile car community and looking for some help. I’m purchasing a 68 cutlass from my grandfather who has owned the car 25 years and never fooled with it. It had a 990 ish horsepower to the flywheel 455 before he bought it that was blown by previous owners. They used an entire tube of silicone to seal the oil filter and burnt the crank up. It’s already.060 over and cylinders were fine, but it’s sat, not being oiled or anything, for 25 years. The cylinders will more than likely need sleeves. Can these blocks have the entire thing sleeved or no? I’ve never personally dealt with sleeves in an engine so this is new to me and any advice is appreciated. Price isn’t really a huge factor to me, I have a machine shop that is very good close friends to my family that would be taking the block to him.

don71

Welcome to Classic Olds. You can sure sleeve an Oldsmobile engine just like any other. Many old and new engines have sleeves as part of their design like diesel and agriculture engines.

Your machinists should have the final word on this engine. At this point I'd be worried about a cracked block and other issues, as mentioned.

You could still source an Olds block, if this one turns out to be beyond repair. Check out the classified section here for an idea of whats being sold and bought and perhaps at what price.

68_455

Thanks for the reply and info. Much appreciated!

cutlassefi

I can tell you that most shops won’t want to sleeve an entire block unless it was something very rare. AND you’d be looking at a very expensive process as well.

droldsmorland

Some friendly advice:
What's your end goal?
Are you planning to use just the drive train or the whole car? Sentimental attachment? Number matching restoration? Driver?

STEP ONE:
Inspect all of it....Yank it out of the weeds and see how far gone the frame, firewall/dash, trunk structure, and body are before investing money into what could easily be a large waste of time & money.

If it's lucky enough to be solid after 1/4 century of less-than-desirable storage, why not put your money into an engine that wasn't smoked and just needs a standard rebuild?

68_455

So far only rust is not even thru and thru on front fender and rear quarter down low. I ran into this exact same reply on a chevelle forum on a 71 chevelle. It’s grandfather’s old car, and it deserves to be saved. It’s straight as an arrow and complete, interior and all. I would have a good amount of money in this 455, I know. Which I’m not afraid to do and am very willing to do so. I just wanted to know if the block could be sleeved

68_455

This car, along with the 1990 S10 he gave me (i just put a 355 Chevy in) will be daily driven

OLDSter Ralph

You do realize that if its a 455, its not the original engine ?

68_455

Yes I do. It was the engine he bought with the car tho so I’m rebuilding it.

68post

I would have the machinist inspect the block to insure it's sound and sonic check the bores, then have him hone the block to the next available ring size that eliminates the rust and leaves enough cylinder wall thickness. Then buy custom pistons.
It's not like thin cylinders are all that common in 455 blocks but it's prudent to insure its wellbeing by sonic checking said cyl walls. + .070 to +.125 may very well be possible !

BillK

Exactly. I just finished putting 8 sleeves in a Mercedes V-8 and the bill was just about $2800 If the existing engine is not any good you will be way ahead of the game buying a complete used 455 and starting from there. They are still pretty easily available.

If this was the original engine for the car then it might be a different story.

Andy

I have a 74 455 bare block, 0.30 over, no ridge, beautiful bores, super clean sitting bagged up in my garage in Florida. I advertised at 400.00, make an offer and come get it. Its not doing me any good

droldsmorland

Agreed. Have it inspected and build it. Cool knowing the legacy.
Keep us posted on your progress.
We are well-versed with a lot of experienced body & drivetrain guys so ask away.
Send some pics of the undercarriage and the rest of it once you yank it out of the weeds and clean it up.