Hi, new to this site. Bought a scruffy '67 Cutlass Supreme a couple of days ago. The engine is an F code---39621 with A heads. Has an HEI distributor and a Quadrajet on an Olds manifold with an EGR valve. Any way to tell if this engine is big dish or smaller dish pistons. I looked on the oil filler tube and don't see any stamping-----somebody gouged it up w/big channel lock pliers. I don't see any VIN numbers on the heads-------are all "A" heads small valve? There's a white plastic doo-dad on the throttle linkage near the firewall with electrical connectors and one wire plugged into it---wonder what it is? Looks pretty sad under the hood----wood blocks under the A/C compressor 'cause the lower bracket is missing and no power steering belt 'cause the engine's pulleys don't line up with the pump pulley. I got no history on the car, who did the eng. swap or when----it starts, runs, drives, shifts. The engine seems real steady and smooth but lazy. Haven't had much time to mess w/it and it's soooo hot outside it's hard to get motivated. Thanks in advance for info and advice-----Howard, Mim, Fl.

 

Block is a 68-72 455. Check out here http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...es/Head_ID.jpg (you may have to remove the power steering pump) and see what the VIN of the motor is. That'll tell ya what the original year/compression was.

A heads? That's 65 400/425 heads. Same size valves as most all 455 heads. 80cc chamber.

C.J.

 

Thank's for the picture C.J., I'm probably gonna have to take the steering pump off to try and make it line up w/ the engine pulleys. It's a mystery why the A heads---maybe somebody on this site remembers a silver '67 Cutlass with a sloppy installed 455 from the Ft. Lauderdale Fl. area. Looks like it's had a pretty rough life lately. I rode 4hrs. down there last Tues. Looked at it for about 15 minutes, bought it, drove it in the trailer and towed it 4hrs. home. No NASCAR tomorrow, so I'll probably have some more questions after spending some quality time with it...............

 

The VIN derivative will tell you the year, but not the compression. Of course, if it's a 71-72 motor, it WILL be low compression. Older motors could have been high or low.

 

True. My bad.

C.J.

 

Well... congrats on it Rusty. I wish you luck. Get a giant block of ice in a tub and some fans. You can fill the radiator with the end result too

 

apparently the guy that was stamping the blocks at Olds was tired or had a hangover the day he stamped this engine----marked so lightly I can't read it. The heads are #383821casting A's. I ran the engine quite a bit and drove the car around the neighborhood some----not scary fast, but pretty responsive. Looks like it's got some pan pressure/blow-by out of the breather. Guess maybe first I'm looking for a lower A/C bracket and maybe a dash panel---badly busted around the ignition switch. I also need to chase down and identify some of the wires hanging under the dash.