72455

Reason I ask is because at the car show this weekend, someone brought a '72 442 'vert. The guy said he's had it for 12 years and he never takes it to shows. I guess a friend of his talked him into bringing it out...but I digress.

it was in "ok" shape, but needed some work. All the goodies were there, including the hood and OAI components. It was a U code car with GA heads, but when I asked him if it was a W30, he said he didn't know. So my question is, what designates a W30 car? Is it an "X" in the VIN, because if that's the case, with it being a U code, then is it not the same engine in my '72 U code Supreme?

rocketraider

1972 W30 carries "X" engine code. No exceptions.

vCode442

In 1972 Oldsmobile designated what engine was placed in each cutlii with a letter as the fifth digit in each VIN. The magic BBO letters are U, V or X - mainly due to emissions, or insurance regulations, or both.

And yes in 1972 Oldsmobile delivered his U Code 442 with the same engine as your U code. I think

U code in 1972 designated 455ci with automatic. V code was 455ci with 4 speed. V had hotter cam and same or almost same HP as auto ‘72 W-30. And yes as previously mentioned every 1972 W-30 should have an X in the fifth digit of the VIN.

I’m sure someone will check my work. Joe?

Koda

The above is correct. What dude probably had was a 442 convertible that he had added the hood to. Or, it was factory W-25 car, meaning the hood.

It is the same engine as your car.

X code in a hardtop S body means 442 W-30. In a hardtop Supreme, it means H/O with a W-30 engine. In a convertible, it means 442 W-30 convertible, or one of like two H/O convertibles W-30 engine cars.

no1oldsfan

Thanks for the facts. I love that about this site.

72455

So lessee here...U codes were automatics, V codes were 4 spds, and X codes were W30s. Were all W30s 4 spds? And if not, was there a designator for an W30 auto vice a W30 4 spd?

joe_padavano

For the 1972 model year only, the "X" code in the fifth position of the VIN indicated the RPO L77 (aka W-30) engine. That code was used for both AT and MT versions, despite the fact that they had different cams.

Fun fact: note that the example VIN that Olds used in this VIN decoder page is a W-30 convertible.

Koda

Not to horribly muddy the waters here, but the X Vin AT engine had a different cam than the MT like Joe says, and I think it was the U Vin AT's cam. Was the X vin AT engine functionally equivalent to the U vin engine?

joe_padavano

I've made that point time and again for the 1970 cars. The only differences between the 1970 W-30 AT motor and every other 1970 442 AT motor is the F vs E head castings, the aluminum intake (which is geometrically identical to the cast iron one), minor differences in carb jetting, and the distributor timing curve. This applies to the 1971 and 72 cars also. How the AT W-30 motors made the same HP as the MT ones is a mystery of the Olds marketing department. Ironically, it's the fully loaded 1970 W-30 convertibles with AT, PB, A/C, and every power option in the book that bring the stupid money at auction - the porkiest, slowest W-30s made are the most valuable. Go figure.

VC455

These are the 1972 W-30 AT and ST cams:

The numbers following are
part number, ° overlap, ° intake, ° exhaust, lift intake, lift exhaust, application

409691 61 286 287 0.474 0.474 455 L75 ST, L77 AT, marine high compression
409759 68 294 296 0.472 0.472 455 F-85, 455 ST OAI (W-30)

The 759 cam is the same profile as the 1970 4-4-2 ST (non W-30) cam, except ground 2° advanced.

joe_padavano

Yeah, good point. The 70 AT W-30 motors used the same cam as the 70 AT 442 motors. The 1971-72 AT W-30 motors used the same cam as the 71-72 MT 442 motors. Thanks for catching that. The 70 AT cam was 285/287 with 57 deg overlap. The 72 W-30 AT cam was 286/287 with 61 deg overlap.

72455

In '72, the L75 was the U code, correct? What were the cam specs for that?

BangScreech4-4-2

Were the U-code and the V-code definitely transmission-specific? I don't recall that, but then I don't recall a lot of things these days.

joe_padavano

The L75 with AT was designated with a "U" in the VIN. The L75 with MT was designated with a "V". The AT 455s got 258/272 with 44 deg of overlap.

Koda

Well boo, so the 72 AT U code was the least radical.

joe_padavano

See post #7

BangScreech4-4-2

I may be a little dense, but I'm not seeing any reference to U and V-code transmission availability in there, although there is mention of the fact that the X-code was available with either AT or MT, camshaft variations notwithstanding.

joe_padavano

vCode442

In Joe’s post 7, chart indicates the marriage of the 455 with a particular transmission leads to U or V.

BangScreech4-4-2

Thanks. Old eyes.