442blue

i found a 69 h/o 455 motor .i want to buy and put it in my 442.do yous think i should or leave the stock one in there.

joe_padavano

1) How do you know it's a "69 H/O 455"? After all, every 327 Chevy is a "fuelie" motor.

2) If it's real (with D heads) you should sell it to me to put in my 69 H/O

3) Whether or not you should swap kinda depends on what year you have and what's in it now.

442blue

72 442 350.the guy tells me its a 69 ho 455.i took pics of it because im getting old .i though it had e or c heads not sure .the guy bob anderson has a warehouse of all olds.he has every part you can think of.hes in tampa fl 813-267-5107.trying to find the pics think they were on my windows phone but crashed when me and the wife were in the bahamas.

pogo69

if it has the orig intake and d heads only...its worth big bucks

Allan R

Wondering if I'm reading this right. Do you mean a motor that came from a 69 Hurst Olds, or are you referring to one of the High Compression 455s that was available in 69? Lots of times I see folks state h/o to mean 'High Output' without realizing the Hurst implication.

442blue

he told me hurst olds.he has a warehouse full over 200/250 cars all olds.i gave him a 500 dollar deposit. it had the factory chrome valve covers on it .i hope its a real one.he seems real honest.his names bob anderson.

Jamesbo

Ok, The intake, heads, distributer, top hat and a few other parts are worth big bucks. but I don't see how a non matching # H/O 455 block as being so special. What would you put it in?

Just my 2 cents

pogo69

the intake alone is worth about 10 thousand dollars...

Jamesbo

Really? I had no idea

pogo69

well I suppose its only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. It's no surprise to anyone here the outrageous cost of some of these parts...

Allan R

Agreed. If the seller knew it was a real HO 455 though I'm wondering how much the ticket price is for this thing? Is the motor complete or is it just the block?

joe_padavano

Let's back up. Bob Anderson (and his cars) has been around forever. You'll get a very wide range of opinions of him from folks who have dealt with him. The intake is unique to the 69 H/O. It's not worth 10K but it IS worth a significant fraction of that. Bob knows this, so don't expect to steal it if it's real. D heads were only used on 68-69 W-30s and H/Os. Again, worth about $4K and up a pair. Bob also knows this. If this is a real, correct 69 H/O motor, it's worth about $6K in parts alone. If you're paying less than this, it's not real.

Jamesbo

Thanks Joe, I was searching for a way to say that so eloquently [and tactfully ]

pogo69

I will agree to an extent... 4k heads, 1k dist, i still think the manifold is worth more than the heads... so put the manifold at 4k anyway... we are up to about 9k without anything else

Jamesbo

I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet a dime to a doughnut this motor doesn't have 1] D heads 2] H/O intake 3] H/O distributor.

Like Joe said, Bob didn't just fall off a turnip truck.

joe_padavano

While there were many more D heads produced than 405233 intakes, there's also a much larger market for the heads. Value requires both rarity and demand. The intake is only of interest to people restoring a 69 H/O.

In any case, quibbling over a couple of thousand bucks is irrelevant here. If this is a real, complete 69 H/O motor, it will be priced accordingly and you'll know it without even looking at it.

pogo69

Yes.. I will have to agree with all of what you said. I have not seen a manifold show up in a long time and it would be interesting to see what an auction price would bring

Danny Boy

If you have the motivation, time and the money, go for it. Just keep all the old parts with the original motor if you plan on selling the car.

Do you have another toy to drive while your 442 is getting a heart transplant?

442blue

Yah I have a hemi pick up .to drive and he selling it to me for a thousand .so it can't be real it's complete.carb still on it .im going to take another look and pics.ill post the engine number.if its real or not I wanted it for the hp.

oldcutlass

I think they are calling it a "H"igh "O"utput not H/O, like Allan suggested earlier.

joe_padavano

And answered back in Post #6 by the O.P.:

442blue

should i be worried about dealing with bob.i know price varies on day and mood.and i would save the old motor .one more piece the wife can bitch about .lol

Octania

Sounds like you got a killer deal

Plied him with liquor?

Worst case, even a plain old '69 455 in good shape is worth about $1k

Best case, it has all the rare pcs mentioned above.

And, if it's not a Hurst/Olds engine, but you were told it was, then you get your deposit back and the deal's off if you so desire, right?

Here's the replica intake I make. Evidently there is some good demand outside of real H/O's for several have been made.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150772154268...84.m1555.l2649

Allan R

Octania - nice looking intake. Where did you get the molds?

tru-blue 442

Pretty cool Chris.

pogo69

Taking a part and grinding off parts of a casting is counterfeit or forgery...not a replica thats my opinion

mike's88

If you've ever seen Chris' ads, he specifically states that they are not original, and that he does his own changes, so I see no misrepresentation at all. BTW, can you take the block #s and see if it matches any known H/Os in the registry?

pogo69

no, the block # has nothing to with the manifold casting... you put some thought into what the ramifications are by changing numbers and codes on one part to make it look like another... your obviously trying to fool someone!

69HO43

I guess I ought to go get my genuine H/O intake and pick it up off the shop floor laying in the corner against the wall gathering dust.

joe_padavano

And this is different from building a 442 clone how, exactly? Chris indelibly marks his "clone" parts to prove they are not original.

pogo69

you got that right...I take it off my engine every nite and put it under my pillow... then reinstall it in the morning

mike's88

I meant the block # from the op's engine, the H/O engine.

pogo69

good point...that possibly could help

69HO43

Chris makes a decent repro. The interesting thing though, is that if you've seen an actual H/O intake, the PCV tube cast iron base is mounded a bit different than a straight up tube shape. I'll try and post a pic later. If you knew what to look for, you could spot that right away. And you could see this with the air cleaner on, but not the part number. So I'm wondering why bother with the p/n change since it's not as visible. But I guess it completes the illusion. After all, the performance end of it would be exactly the same.

Edit- this isn't to knock Chris' intake mod, because if you need one and don't have one, it's a far cheaper alternative than spending a lot of time and $$ trying to locate.

pogo69

I am not going to 'knock' Chris witt either in a way I admire his skill level however, my point is that taking one part and grinding off numbers...casting clock...dates etc, at somepoint it will be a challenge to someone to attempt to completely replicate the doner part with forgery...making it near impossible to tell i'm sure 70 w-30 original owners would appreciate seeing every 442 running around with F heads forged to perfection for a few hundred dollars

Octania

"every 442 running around with F heads forged to perfection "

*blush*

you flatter me, sir

My handiwork is not that good... will pass cursory inspection by a Ford person or non-car passer-by at a local car show, but not anyone familiar with the parts.

So, as I understand it, then, it is only the ALTERING of casting ID's that chaps your hide? So, the new Thornton reproduction exhaust manifolds are OK, because they are all-new castings? [That would be tough to make a Z into a W exhaust manifold.]

Me wonders what then you would think of the 1965 tricarb intake as seen on the interwebs, the 1967 tricarb factory "H" casting intake that Dr. Oldmobile has, or the super rare last time seen never "X" and "W" xst manifolds I am selling this week, with NO FACTORY LETTER CODE AT ALL, though the 389268, wheel, D1, date code, etc. stuff is all present and precisely like any other factory casting. Brand new, and NOT modified by me or any other person. Just a factory oddity. Lansing has weird stuff tucked away, even to this day. But, I digress...

Is an all-new casting OK with you, or only factory parts made Way Back When should "be allowed"?

pogo69

some of the parts you mention I am not very familiar with. Yes it is the altering of numbers and dates of existing parts that concerns me to the point of not being able to distinguish the difference. I think all new castings would be different from originals

joe_padavano

Why? What if they're not. Frankly, why would I buy a repro part if it didn't LOOK correct? Yes, the experienced eye can tell that the repro 70 W-30 intakes on the market today are not quite perfect, but I'll bet that with a little work, they can be made pretty darn close. Is that a problem for you?

The first batch of repro red inner fenderwells were crap and obviously incorrect. The latest ones, however, look good. What's your position on this? If someone uses these parts to build a fake W-30, should sale of the parts be banned?

I keep coming back to where do you draw the line?

pogo69

I guess we can throw what Judy Badgley say's right out the window then...while we are at it we can throw a modified Hyundai motor in it,put some GM numbers on it and call it a rare prototype

Allan R

I have reproduced parts on my car. Some are so hard to tell from OEM it's not funny. But that's a good thing. I don't see anything wrong with them being there even though some features are technically not correct. IMO I'd draw the line at calling a car restored with repro parts 'all original'. Anyone who claims a "highly detailed and period correct restoration' may be close to the line, but as long as they don't claim everything is OEM I'm good with that. There just aren't that many OEM NOS parts available or affordable compared to 30 years ago. Ha, 30 years ago they wouldn't be NOS, just OEM.

FWIW, I was impressed that Octania went the distance to produce the intakes that he did. That takes a lot of work and commitment. Plus, he's not claiming them to be NOS, nor OEM. But he is filling a void that hobbyists are looking to fill in this market.