Joe- wish I could. Son has basketball game tomorrow and I also promised him we go see a holiday model train display already. Next time !

 

Well no chicken for you! ha with any luck that 455 will roar to life tomorrow!!

 

That is a good looking 455 Good luck with everything going right Saturday! Be sure to wear your Anti-Maw helmet so we can hear it come alive in the Cutlass when you post the video on Youtube

 

Connecting the exhaust to the collectors took some time. Fitting a proper blade size fan within the shroud took time (350 had a flex fan). Mounting brackets took time. Carb was mounted along with hoses and belts. We made another trip to the farm market for some tasty chicken and before long daylight was gone. Only things left are starter install and bleeding the brakes and installing HeI dist cap and wires.

 

almost there, pending hot starter relocation and brakes

 

it looks, sounds and runs great!

 

Awesome! True motor head.....working under an overpass....what ever it takes and wherever there is shelter!

 

Awesome! Congrats on fine looking Olds

 

theres a very good story to be told about the underpass, I'll share another time lol...

 

thanks, cant wait to start driving it.

 

Well it should be soon but of course there are always setbacks.... After bleeding brakes they were still weak. Upon re-bleeding all of a sudden no fluid would come out of the front bleaders and yes the reservoir was full so we replaced the master. Got a hard pedal and now the vacuum booster is doing nothing at all so the 40 year old unit needs replacement. And yes there is a hard start condition when the engine gets to temp. Starter is not a high torque and cables need some attention and we are going to do the remote solenoid thing as the headers are cooking the solenoid. And then there was the slight mishap when the rear universal popped during a downshift manuver.... (the over pass adventure) guess ya cant trust the old stuff so we put a new one in there as well...after we towed the car back to the workshop!

 

Yes, the over pass adventure....I was saving this pic but what the hell, That is Joe walking to get some help.

 

Well, at least you guys can laugh now! I kind of figured something happened, but didn't want to risk possibly embarrassing you... Looks like it was a long walk! Car looks good though!

 

Haha. Good story guys, it's good to get the bugs out early...car looks good and I bet it goes better too

 

embarrassed, that would be me only !

 

The walk was less than a mile and the U joint was questionable, hey $#!T happens! What would life be without excitement!

 

Hi guys great swap I been watching this thread for awhile !


And would like to comment with out the challenges where would the fun be ? Yes it sucks at the time ,but wrenching on your time is what we enjoy or we would have picked a different hobbie

Love the car it's one of many favorite Oldsmobiles of mine

 

Ok, the new brake power booster went in just fine and it even works! Now with a good hard brake pedal we swapped the starter with a Jegs High Torque unit. It made an improvement but not a total cure so I bumped the timing down to about 10 BTDC and it seems fine. I was hoping to run it around 13 but it just wont let the starter turn it when hot. Maybe a remote solenoid will be necessary if the engine is not performing as good as it could.... Now for the rear U joint trouble. Maybe its my error but we had the thing come off again. I am familiar with the mid 60's U bolt mounting system but this one has individual bolts with a strap. When tightening, the strap holds the U joint cups into the U shaped bevel but I see it does not really pull it into place as the earlier ones do. On both occasions ( when the driveshaft came off) I omitted the small C type clips and now am thinking this may be why the end caps are coming out? WE installed the end caps again this time with the clips. It seems they would keep the caps from moving outwards as they must be doing. Both times the bolts and straps were still securely mounted to the rear but the caps were gone. We ran out of time to roadtest...to be continued.

 

Joe,
Yes, the clips are needed for the caps for the type of yoke on that differential. Some of the yokes will have a little tab on the outer edge and when the ujoint cap is seated in the yoke, the little tab will extend onto the outer edge of the cap to prevent the cap from moving outward. When a yoke does not have those tabs, as is the case from what happened to you, the C clips are required.

Brian

 

Thanks much Brian, have no experience with these but the more I think about it the more I was thinking leaving those C type off the back side of the u joint caps was the problem. Will roqd test next week and report!

 

Joe, the thing that the designers had to guard against when designing retainers for U-joints was centrifugal force - the driveshaft spins, and wants to fling the caps off into outer space.

Leaving the C-clips in the grooves in the cups allows the clamps that hold the cups to engage the edges of the C-clips and prevent the cups from flying off.

- Eric

 

Got it, have hopes now the problem is solved.

 

Ok the 72 left the workshop and made the 50 mile trip back to N Jersey without incident! Am relieved for sure and I am hoping Ed is satisfied with 105 extra cubes! Now I know how important those clips are on the U joint. Now my 66 88 can get cosy again inside.

 

Nice work Joe! Hopefully, Ed posts an update!

 

Nice, Joe!

Sounds like it was the usual little job that turned into a big job.

I'd love to hear how it's running now.

- Eric

 

The 72 has a rich history and with time the story is developing even further. I bought the car close to 2 years now from a widow in LI, her husband owned the car but had a tragic accident and she wanted to start a new life by selling the car. The 455 engine is from a guy whose friend and him had a great friendship, they use to go riding with the toro in LI again but then the 66 425 toro engine was replaced with a 68 455 maybe because they were having too much fun. After the new upgrade the guy said the owner did not drive the toro much and started a resto project that never ended and he left this world as well. The guys friend gave him the car but then it was too much work considering the car's body would require great amount of time and money. So now thanks to Joe , the 455 is installed and running like a clock in the 72, the engine sounds great, TH400 shifts well and all the other upgrades such as a high torque starter, brake MC/booster, 4 core radiator, headers, alu intake, etc. too many to list are a game changer. The 72 had chevy components such as long tail Th 375 and matching driveshaft which are gone and one day I like to get rid of the open rear that is a chevy with probably 2.83 gears. I definitely want to upgrade the rear to a 3.23 or 3.42 because the engine is begging me for it.

Since I drove the car back on a salty day and we've muddied up the car by ruining Joe's lawn, I am waiting to take pictures after a car wash. Will also provide a sound clip because it now sounds like a true American muscle car. As the title states, I was looking for a mechanic but along the way became friends with Joe who I cant describe with words his genuine personality and expertise, guys like Joe are becoming hard to find and I was very fortunate to get to know him. Joe made some personal touches such as restoring the air breather to my 350's valve cover, moving the brake junction due to aftermarket header, fitting all my 350's components onto the 455, so many to list. We started this as a 2 weekend job and it ended up taking 2 months to complete which I appreciated regardless of me traveling 1 hr each way. I learned alot although I may not be able to apply the skills so easily but then it's a start for me. The compensation is nowhere near what I would have paid at a repair shop as a I realized Joe's contribution was not about that but to see another olds restored and surviving to live better days. I gotta oil change lined up for today, nagging wife, ... to be continued.

 

Ed you were smart in feeding us that Amish made chicken, thats why the project went so long, we just couldnt get enough of that tasty food!

 

Joe, changed the oil and its so black that it looks as we havent done it few weeks ago. Also went for a drive, got some 93 octane gas and it runs like a champ.

Oh man I told more relatives about that tasty chicken, I may have to charter a bus at this point.

 

Here are few pics from this weekends project

 

...

 

... Joe at work, manufacturing boxed in rear control arms!

 

Out with the 2.78 open rear and in with 3.42 posi

 

Now that's a upgrade you will notice

 

Now that's a rear end rear sway goes on next but I missed that part and new shoes..

 

Oh man, you guys make me wanna tear my engine out and paint it...

and install a nice dual exhaust

and maybe a rear sway bar

and
and
and
and

 

I drove the car back to my place late night so I took it easy but you can tell the difference immediately! The cutlass sorta woke up

 

You should change the speedo gears in the trans now....unless you like guessing.

 

The car got new metal lines at rear, new wheel cylinders and shoes, new shocks and springs. The rear that was swapped out (278) was a Chevy rear and now the driveshaft was a little too short so the correct one was installed. The speedo is most likely off but the trans is not original to that rear ratio either so who knows what is in there...

 

I was hoping go out for a spin after work but no luck hopefully will do a joy ride tomorrow.