I just want to know how stock Oldsmobiles with the 455 perform floored from a stop. Any wheel spin, etc? I don't mean doing a brake stand, just mash the gas go on your typical asphalt street.

I've read many posts on here with different outcomes when going from idle to WOT. Many of them talk about burnouts doing a brake stand, and almost just as many say they can do burnouts at will with ease.

I know alot of these cars (especially the land yachts) have high rear gears and very low stall converters, I just want to hear what you all have to say. This should finally satisfy my curiosity and give me an idea of what to except from my own car... Thanks for reading.

 

Well, I can tell you that I had two '68 fullsizes, an 88 and a 98, both with stock 10.25:1 455s, in good tune, but original, both with either 2"73 or 2:56 rears (I can't remember) back when these cars weren't "collectible," and neither one of them could spin a wheel.
They'd take off fast, and pass anything on the highway, but they were not hot rods off the line.

- Eric

 

Thanks Eric, I was hoping I'd hear from ya on this..

That pretty much describes my Delta's behavior, especially since the carb rebuild.

Just getting a feel since this is my first Olds. It is definitely fast, more so once its rolling. It should be running pretty damn good now with the fresh carb, new points, plugs, cap, rotor, dwell and timing set. I think I may start giving it the 91 octane it asks for though. I have been getting away with 87, but not able to play with timing much.

 

My 70 Toronado would burn the tires at will from a dead stop with plenty of tire smoke, (3.08) gear. Same can be said about my 70 Cutlass. You're talking about 510 lb/ft of torque here!

 

Not sure about the 455.

But from a dead stop. I bury the gas on my 350 Rocket (2.73 open differential) and I leave about 20 yards (metres??) of rubber! But i still find it impressive!

 

Impressive to me! I know the object is to go forward, but burnouts (occasionally) are still cool..

I have a 2.73 open diff also.

 

Agreed!

Honestly i see nothing wrong with my 2.73 diff. It gets great mileage, but since we've got Olds engines, there's always some power behind those wheels.

This is my first olds too. and since you have a 455 block strapped down into yours. I will suspect you have quite a bit more power than i do.

 

That may be, but also a lot more weight for it to push around. It wont do burnouts as it sits right now, but it sure gets up and goes!

 

i am anxiously awaiting shipping on my 455 in the 41 coupe that should be light and hope it will perform somewhat
i had a 303 olds in a 1953 chev and that was no Rocket for speed or power
so what kinds of mileage can a 455 pull?? got a lot of cubes but not turning too fast i usually like to lean things down and give them big plug gaps
and i doubt that i will be useing a Q-jet, proabbly a edelbrock
but if i build up a engine may try a holley double pumper
i ordered a Olds perf book and am anxiously awaiting reading it and seeing what size carb is recommended for the 455
got a holley 750 DP
couple edelbrocks 600
bought a edelbrock 500 thinking that is going to go on a 350 chev with a 200R4

 

My 72 cutlass with the 455 and one wheel drive it is hard not to do a burn out. Have done them by accident many times.

 

Strange, some of the comments about dead dig runs, as my dad had a 71' 455 98 when I was a kid, and this thing was tire spin city. As for carb set ups on the street, really nothing like a well set up Q-Jet. While difficult to do, well worth the trouble. My current 455 set up with 3.73 posi, isn't about the ability to spin the 255 rubber, but more about figuring how not to, and get the power to the ground.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS9dDiaQoP0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umjTikwBxjk



This may not be a fair comparison, but a 455 will get up and go!

 

Ha ha that youtube video car had the police package, I believe it was the 390 HP 455, and had to be at least 3.08s. I remember that car because I was following it on ebay at the time. It was for sale first in non-running condition, and he apparently couldn't get what he wanted out of it, so it was then repaired and offered again running. Wish I had the money at the time...

Anyway, even a run-of-the-mill stock 455 should have enough power to light the tire(s) up pretty good. You say that you've got the timing set pretty conservatively in order to run 87 octane, what do you have it set at? It's possible by recurving the distributor to lower total mechanical advance and to add much more initial, up to 16 degrees (potentially even more if you're still at 8.5:1 CR) which could help your off-the-line situation out.

As for mileage, a lot depends on gearing, cam and how you drive it. My 2.41 geared G-body Cutlass with a mildly built '70 455 gets 15 mpg easily around town with some highway and fun. This is with the unfortunate Edelbrock 600 that's currently on it. A double pumper is NOT going to help the mileage situation, a Q-Jet is a great option and is what I plan to go with.

 

Yep! That was me behind the wheel of that beast!

 

Man, that thing sure can accelerate!

Intragration: I am running around 10 degrees with the 87 octane. I started at the stock 8, and have had it upto 12. Once I run the tank of 87 down and get some 91 I'll mess around with it some more.

The other problem is I don't have a dialback timing light at the moment so I have just been setting the initial (1100rpm) and don't want to go too far without knowing where the total is ending up. Guess I will be investing in a new light soon. Oh, and the engine is still 8.5:1 CR.

 

Just so you have something to look forward to...I have a '70 Cutlass convertible with a rebuilt to stock specs '69 400 with a performer intake & headers with a rebuilt Turbo 400 with a shift kit. I went from a 2.56 open rear to a 3.23 posi and it was hands down the biggest performance improvement I got out of anything I've done to the car other than getting the carb rebuilt which was pretty well shot. It made a night & day difference and the fun went up considerably.

 

Great car, KJR!

AZ, one thing you can do is put additional markings on the balancer. My timing tab goes up to 15*, so turning the motor over by hand, I lined up the timing mark on the balancer with the 15* mark on the timing tab. I then put a big mark on the balancer at 0*, and small marks at 5* and 10*. Then I turned it by hand again and put my new big mark that was originally at 0* at 15* on the timing tab, and repeated this until I had marks on the balancer going up to 45*. Now when I check the timing, I don't watch to see where the original line goes to, I watch to see which of my new marks is next to 0* on the timing tab. This would allow me theoretically to see up to 60* advance, if I allowed my new 45* mark on the balancer to go up to the 15* mark on the tab. It's the same concept as a timing tape, except it's free.

When I set the timing up on mine, I tried to get it as close to 35* total as possible, and as much initial as possible. I was only able to go as high as about 15* initial, more than this and it's hard to start when hot. So based on this, I recurved the distributor to give as close to 20* mechanical as possible, as quickly as possible without having it start at idle. I also made a limiter for the vacuum advance canister, which brought it down from 18* to 13*.

Looks like the distributors that were available in '74 from the factory ranged between 9* and 19* mechanical advance, and 12* to 24* of vacuum advance. If you can get the other aspects set up properly, I would think you could go beyond even 15* initial, as the 8.5:1 would be a little more forgiving with hot starts.

 

Burnouts are in the timing.
14 initial, 35 total, all in before 3000 rpm and even a 307 will roast tires.

 

Ha ha really J? THAT'S saying something. The two 307s that I owned probably would have needed 35 initial...

 

I have a 455 with an Open Slip pushing probably 4xx hp, if you punch it at all one of the wheels WILL slip, and gives very bad traction to the street.

In summary, you will need an LSD or else you're just wasting 510 lb-ft on 1 freely spinning wheel.

and don't expect to be able to handle as well with an LSD. Both wheels will be forced to spin together at all times. So if you're taking a curb hard your body roll = flip

Best of luck!

 

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one just for this.

Those of you who suggested higher initial timing, do you run your vacuum advance off of ported or manifold vac? I have done both on and off, and decided to leave it on manifold vac for the nice smooth idle without needing to open the throttle much.

My setup is 8 deg initial + vacuum advance @ idle. Still haven't checked total timing yet. When I do finally set total timing (and possibly recurve dist.) I'm sure the initial will come up some, so I was thinking about putting vac advance back on ported when finished. At least to prevent the possibility of dieseling, and I don't like how the timing retards when the throttle plates open when running off manifold vacuum.

 

One more question!

With stock points distributor, what should the total timing be?

34 deg @ 3000 rpm with vac advance disconnected?

Edit:
My service manual shows for my engine 18-22 deg mechanical advance @ 3600rpm.
So I should set total timing at 3600rpm I assume if that's where my mechanical advance levels off.
I just need to know what total initial+mechanical should be @ 3600rpm. I see 34 deg on the forum alot, sound right? I don't want it too extreme, just a nice responsive car.