I recently restored my Olds 455 that I put into my 69 Cutlass. I put a .472 Cam and lifter set in, a performer intake, double gear and chain timing set and a 750 CFM carb. Im looking to increase my horse power or tourqe. What can I do? I plan on increasing my exhaust Size in the spring as well as eventually adding posi. Any suggestions?
Here are pics of my car and engine.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/385541...mobile-cutlass

 

Very nice!!! I would make sure the secondaries are opening up on your carb, bump the timing as far as you can (34-36 deg all in at 3000 rpm), get your total somewhere around 45 deg with vacuum advance!

What trans and gears are in it now?

 

I see you got that engine from a '73 Delta. If it's original then you might only have about 8:1 compression. Also i'm wondering about the gearing. A stock '69 'S' typically came with something less than say a 3.08 (2.56 or 2.78 maybe? i'm not a '69 guy so not sure).

 

Yeah Its from a 73 Delta 88 and Ive got a 400 autotrans with a shift kit. At this time im not sure of the gears. Whats a good way to deal with the compression?
Its not even november yet and I cant wait to put it back on the road!

 

Olds changes CR with the pistons, so that means major teardown. If I changed them I wouldn't go much past 9.5 so as to still be able to run pump gas.

Does this engine still have J heads? If it does they need a good port/polish to get anything remotely resembling high-performance out of them. Bigger valves while you're at it.

You might also look into that timing set. Even good brand names are notorious for coming retarded out of the box. Degreeing that cam might unleash power you didn't know was there.

I'm thinking along Joe's line. Gearing is tall on most Oldsmobiles and even a 455's torque often has trouble overcoming that limitation. Do you have a stall converter? It may not be matched to your cam/intake powerband.

 

Apparently the Cloyes True Roller timing set runs really nicely out of the Box.

This is not from personal experience, but out of reading many articles.

Anyone on here try out the cloyes?? I want to change my timing set soon-ish. So any input would be great.

-Tony

 

When you do that exhaust put an X pipe in it. A gear with the posi and slight stall would help.

 

As mentioned, 73's a low compression engine with not very good flowing heads. Lot's of things you can do, but costs money. I built the 455 in my car from scratch. .030 over 455, TRW pistons and custom ported W-30 heads for 10.25 CR. Adjustable valve train with .560 cam. 700R4 od tranny and 3.73 posi. Thing really moves, but still cruises nicely with the 0.70 od 4th. Generally, lower gearings what you're gonna feel on the street, so important finding this out.

 

I have had excellent luck with Cloyes/ Comp Cams timing sets.

 

Awesome, do they come with good instructions? I'm probably going to end up degreeing the cam and checking everything anyway.

 

Captjim put tpgether an excellent video a while back on degreeing in a cam. Contact him .

 

Might try advancing the cam 4 degrees with the cloyes gears, increases low-end torque - really helped on a 396 some years back!

 

While "Rickmans" correct for street use, you may want to check the cam card first, as some grinds already have several degrees advance built in from the factory.