What are the quality of these from someone who has used them?
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...ake/oldsmobile

 

The quality of the casting is good, the hardware they supply is crappy. You can buy them bare and have somebody knowledgable set them up, or just buy them set-up from Bernard Mondello, or CutlassEFI who is a member here. I've been running them for 5-6 years and I have put about 30k miles on the engine without any issues.

Here is a thread to my build with dyne sheet. 463 procomp heads

 

Thanks. I would buy the bare ones anyhow. I have a friend locally who can set them up properly.

 

Are these castings compatible with a mechanical fuel pump?

 

Yes but it’ll be tight. Your cylinder head guy will also need to be good with a grinder as well, as the entryway of the bare castings is not great.

 

I've used the speedster BBC one time, junk that requires a full reworking, including the valve guides, inferior material. And on top of that they don't make power, flow is ok, now this a BBC head. I can't speak for the Olds speedster. I will say this, I believe Bernard Mondello takes pride in building this particular head and has the equipment to do the job right, if I couldn't do it myself Bernard is who I would go too. My next Olds build will have Edelbrocks and they will receive a full reworking as well.

 

Why was your oil pressure dropping as RPM went up? I'd have no problem with the low water temp test, most of us do that, Its only a few HP on my dyno, less with aluminum heads.

 

I couldn't tell you. I did google bunch of Olds dyne sheets and it seems that mid 4k rpm drop off is common with Olds engines.
I wonder if it has something to do where it's measured on Olds, above the timing cover. Not the ideal place IMO.

On another note, I do need to talk to you regarding the BBC for my Chevelle. I've been following your builds for few years now, and they are impressive.

 

Thanks for the nice comment. I modify the oil pan so as RPM goes up, oil pressure goes up. I also have total control over all clearances. Example of a Olds 455 we clearanced among other things in my shop, with the correct oil pan.