Allan R

How much are a good set of C heads (off a 68 455) worth? Local guy wants around 800.00 OBO Is this a reasonable price? He also has a set of exhaust manifolds, but hasn't listed a price.

I'm going to be building a 455 this year. Have the engine in the garage. It's a 73 block and heads. Is it worth changing to C heads? Thx

stevengerard

didn't some of these just come up for sale here or at ROP for $200 for the pair. 800 sounds expensive unless they are redone and complete - but I may be way off.

RAMBOW

for $800 i'd want to see recent(as in very recent) machine shop recipts showing a full workover & new valves.

Anything less than that and its just another "unkown" to me set of heads and i would not pay a premium for them. Would sure suck to pay $800 and find out they need guides, seats, valves or all three.

if they don't have recipts, at least they better be prepared to remove some valves and show the seats and feel guide wear.

What are your '73 heads? Unless they are "J"s You are likely in a better position to have yours rebuilt as needed than buying another set. Yours may not be that bad.

Wayne Hamlin

I just paid $185 for a set of C's. Nothing has been done to them, supposed to be original. We'll see when I get them to a machine shop.

Wayne

J-(Chicago)

We should move this thread out of the major builds section.

2blu442

Thread moved to General Discussion for now.

Allen, I agree with the others that unless he did a lot of work to them that price is way high. Let us know what your plans are for the motor and get advice from other members of what would get you there. Once you decide what you want create a parts wanted thread. I've got lots of extra heads of various castings but shipping likely would add quite a bit to the price. Shop around to see what you can find, or if someone could carry a set over the border and then ship them from an address in Canada to your address that might save a bundle. John

Allan R

Thx John
I got the complete 455 engine for 200.00 including the engine stand it's sitting on right now. It has J heads that I can always have machined and rebuilt. That's why I was asking about the C heads. The J's have a very small exhaust. I looked at Mondello and Edelbrock, but they want over a grand for heads. Still have to put a snipe on the crank to see if it will turn. Not trying to build a drag car, just a 455 with around 300 hp. If memory serves, most of the accessory brackets and pulleys are a straight across from the 350 aren't they? I got a complete 73 4bbl quadrajet carb on ebay last year for 30.00 so I'll rebuild it too. Got lots of air cleaners, and distributors. This will be a drop in for my 72 while I rebuild the 350.

2blu442

Hi Allen
300 hp is easy and you could do that with the J heads. But if it were me I'd get something earlier, 1967-72 vintage. Maybe even a set of Ga heads which would have been correct for 1972. Unless you were going to do significant flow work on the heads I don't think you'd see the difference between the C's and 1970-72 castings. When you rebuild it put in pistons that would give you about 9.5 to 1 compression. A little better than stock cam and I think you'd have a fun car! John

Allan R

Thx for the tips John. I'm not looking to build a race car; like you said it's just going to be for fun. Still have to remember that I"m only allowed limited mileage on this car each year as a registered antique vehicle.

Nice to hear the J heads will do the trick. The 455 I have is a fully complete 73, so I'll probably leave it that way. If something shows up at a local boneyard, that would be a bonus. I know the 73 455 was only rated as 225 new. As far as flow goes, the only thing I had in mind was dual exhaust and maybe headers. Lots of guys I talk to recommend changing the intake manifold to something like an Edelbrock performer. I'm not going for anything fancy or expensive. This is basically an economy build. Also I might add it's my first engine build so it will be a learning experience, and maybe a little on the slow side as I don't want to screw it up.

Had a 73 Custom Cruiser with a 455/400 combo and I always thought it could have used a bit more ponies for a 3 ton monster. Heck, I might take a drive down to Oregon this summer just to see what you've got. Road trips are waaay more fun than waiting for a parcel to arrive. Also depends on gas prices; here they are talking about $1.50 /L which is about 5.67 a gallon US. Hope they're wrong. Right now we're paying 4.12 /gal which is considered cheap in Canada Tell bigfoot I said Hi!

citcapp

Consider E heads or Ga heads with large valves these flow just about as well as the C heads and for mild street build would work fine for you 455. The C head thing is overrated.

Allan R

Hi Pat,
I'll keep an eye out. I just was searching the web and there's a guy about an hour away who has a 425/455 disassembled that he's selling parts or whole. The block is a 425 - 389344D. The heads casting is #383821B. Do you know what these are? The rest of the engine looks like it is made up of different year parts - the intake is 74 for sure but I don't think the basic design changed much on those right? The crank is a 425 forged .010 rods,.010 mains casting#384722 He wants 250 OBO for the works.

442much

Allan, $800 is too much. There were some E heads for sale on Kijiji for $100. If the C heads have just come from a machine shop and are ready to bolt on and go, try to get him to $600, that would seem fair in my opinion.

What John says is also true. For 300 hp, J heads will work just fine. There is a guy who has built about 5 455's for club members and they say he is good. He does them in his garage and farms out the machining. I think I'll get him to do mine.

$200 for the 455 AND the stand. Sounds like a great deal, where'd you find that? The seller must have been sleeping or you are a great negotiator.

Allan R

That's the general consensus of everyone who chimed in. I don't think I'll bother since he sounds like the kind of guy who is stuck on these being the best heads ever built by Olds, and it doesn't sound like they're machined or redone.

I really don't think I'll need more than 300 hp. With 3:42 rear end that's more than enough fun. You would know....
Anyway, we'll discuss this more over a cold can of coke. Maybe we can get a package deal on 2 sets of heads being done at the same time? Let's set up a meet with him for sometime in April/May? after the snow's gone

YES, it was a heckuva deal I just couldn't pass up. Bought it from this amazing dude out in Sh Pk who just happens to have a 442 like yours. Also has a dog that will like you hello till you escape... He was also going to redo his motor and decided that he'd had enough fun with this engine after he dumped all the oil out the bottom all over his nice man cave.

Great negotiator? I'll say. He almost paid ME to take it. Richard and I had a bee atch of a time loading the whole thing in the trailer. Got lots of looks driving home - the fan was freewheeling and it looked like the engine was running

You should get in touch with him some day; he's really into Oldsmobiles , has the same wierd sense of humor we do, likes to help others out, and is so easy to get along with . BTW I'm on vacation right now till June, but with this -30° weather, if I don't have to go out I don't. Sorry bout dat. I guess you're at work huh?