Paul Engle

Hey y'all ! I have a J headed 455 ( 1973 maybe ) in my 1956 Chevy P/U long bed and am in the process of replacing the boat anchor intake with an aluminum hi-rise . Engine has valley gasket and not sure if I should us #2 gasket material on it as well as the end pieces . I have an Edelbrock 750 cfm for it and the rest is stock . Truck has power steering , 3.96 posi , Lakewood traction bars , stock brakes . Std coil and stock wires. I am wondering if upgrading the heads will be worth the trouble . I am 66 yrs , Viet Nam vet with bad heart etc .... but the truck is way fun to " light em up " and its paint job went rat rod many years ago ( old Dupont Imron paint ) . I don't plan on painting , I used to have fotos of when it was first done ( 1984) and the " liquid " black was awesome until the clear started peeling off, but lost them in a storm . Anyway thanks for looking and your opinions!

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, I would use the stock Olds gasket with it. Post some new pics of it when you get a chance.

Paul Engle

I forgot to mention I have a new valley gasket for it but was not sure if gasket sealer is used on this type as I have never done one like this before. I will post fotos when completed ( I hope ) this week .
Truck now has 16 x 10 black Daytona wheels rear and Cooper Cobras 275 x 60 x 16 x10 on the rear and 225-60x16x8 on the front . Slowly getting the different parts sand blasted to get off all the Imron but is a lot of work for me and not to mention $$$ but wife wants to get it finished this year as well . Interior will be black and grey like we did the first time but no crushed velour this time .

oldcutlass

Some toss the front and rear gaskets and use RTV in their place. YOu need to put RTV around the water ports, both sides before installing. Also dry fit the valley pan prior to putting the sealer on and line up the positioning bosses.

joe_padavano

Welcome. There are two things to watch out for when using the stock metal gasket. First, you need to apply an RTV bead around each of the four water ports on both sides of the gasket (head side and intake side). Second, note that there are four raised locating features in the four corners of the gasket. These fit into holes in the corners of the heads. Be sure these fit in properly before dropping the intake into place. Be aware that recently the metal gaskets from some vendors have had these features stamped slightly incorrectly, so it probably pays to dry fit the gasket before applying the RTV. You can file or bend the bosses if needed.

And of course, the metal gasket cannot be reused. The beads around each port deform to make the seal, so once installed they will not seal a second time.

Paul Engle

Near as I can figure , the info I have is 8* BTDC ( with vacuum port blocked ) and 30* of dwell. Does that sound about right ? I have new fotos and will try to figure out how to post them later tonite . Thanks for all the advice !!!

oldcutlass

That sounds right, however its set at 1100 rpm, it may like a few degrees more however. Then once set back your idle speed down to 600 in drive.

Paul Engle

First , thanks to Eric ( btw your album is pretty cool and I like what you did to your Cutlass ) and Joe for their input on this change up . I had one leak on the right rear plug and a quick turn of the wrench cleaned that up. when my grandson got the old manifold of , he used a wet/dry small vac to clean up " stuff " that had fallen into the valley while using a scraper to clean around the head , degreasing the top end before opening helped a lot as well and that worked out quite nicely. The dwell was way off and once we got the compression stroke on #1 , timing went well . Next is grandsons choice of color for the valve covers and a good steam cleaning after fixing trans cooler leak ( it leaked since 1996 , cracked fitting ) and a trip to the transmission shop to rebuild the Buick ( I think ) TH 400 long shaft and the posi diff. Only other question is the saw tooth on the block , which end is TDC ? Thanks again and I hope the fotos show up!

oldcutlass

If your talking about the timing tab? Facing the engine from the front, there are 3^^^marks on it. 10 - 5 - 0. 0 is tdc.

Paul Engle

So all the way to the right is 0 , then I must be set at about 4 BTDC and it starts on the bump but needs to be at 8 BTDC ..

oldcutlass

In the middle of the ^

joe_padavano

FYI, those OLDSMOBILE logo valve covers were only used in 1973-74 and are highly sought after.

Paul Engle

Well makes sense as the casting number on the head indicates late '73 or '74 .So what color should I paint them? The green they are now ( where would one find that color )) or ??? Grandson wants to paint them crinkle black , not sure about that though .

oldcutlass

joe_padavano

The head casting number, located above the center two exhaust ports, should be 411783, which is the same for 1973-76. The VIN derivative stamp on the block below the no. 1 spark plug will tell you the exact year of the block.

Green? The photos look like the factory metallic blue used on big block Olds motors.

Paul Engle

One last question, where can I get the original washer head machine screws that fit these valve covers , no reproductions please . Again thanks for all the assistance on this project . We will be repainting the truck black sometime this year and I will post fotos when done !

don71

Paul, I'd like to give you a late welcome.

Love your project as does Mrs.don71. We want one, just like that.

About your valve cover bolts, a few of us try to keep an extra or two around. Depending on how many you might need.

Why don't you post up a parts wanted ad here. You never know, somebody might have lots of those to share. I know Idaho is a big place, might be someone close. Close enough for the pony express anyhow.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing that project with us.

oldcutlass

You should be able to buy them at a bolt house like fastenall.

Paul Engle

Joe , they so faded and my eyesight is 66 yr old ... they kinda look green to me ! So if someone has a place to get the paint in rattle can or the paint number JIC we pull the whole lot out of the truck this winter and go thru it , I can bring the paint up to spec's . Thanks for the hello don 71 and Mrs don71 ! yea my bride looked really cool driving it when it was first done in '85 when we first go married ( she's a pretty sharp blonde so you know ...) her and the city police got to know the truck as she kept " gettin' on it '' so I had to pull the advance way back .. she comes home the first nite and says " hey the truck is broke . it won't go fast " .....I told her I'd look at it ... 30 yrs later .... sure saved on tires . The kids ( four girls and 1 boy ) use to argue who got to go with her to the store in it . got so I made a rotation board and they took turns unless we were going to the lake then they all piled in back and whoosh we go ! And now my 19 yr old grandson is hinting at owning one someday .. too late I says , I promised it to your mom ( the oldest girl ) once we are gone . So he says , hey how about the Z28 , I told him it goes to his Aunt Jeanette . So some guy the next farm over has one (
GMC '54 ) for sale but is converted to 350/350 4WD ... I told him to keep dreaming or save his money as his new gal pal wants to get married , go to college and have a big house ... we'll see I told him , the Shadow ( from the NBC radio show ) knows all but ain't talked since '52 ... he gives me one of those looks . As for me I drove mostly a '74 K blazer logging and crushing .. one year the blazer broke so I had to use the '56 for the next 3 yrs ... pretty much nearly done it in but it sure climbed the mountains in southern central ID pretty in pretty good style. Once the clear coat started peeling less than a year after being painted , I gave up trying to make it a parade queen / car show / fair weather driver ... and the moisture here in Northern Id is pretty high humidity mostly being undercoated , that probably kept if from rusting away. Sorry for being long winded but when it comes to the Lord and trucks ....