cmathews76

Hello everyone! I'm happy to be a part of this Classic Oldsmobile group. Unfortunately my father in law passed away a few weeks ago. He bought his 1967 442 new. It was his only new car purchase in his lifetime. He took the original 400 engine out about 10 years ago before he got sick to replace it with a 455. My wife and I are taking the car and are going to rebuild it to memorialize him and to have a sweet American classic. He has a number of 400 and 455 blocks so I'm going to use the best looking 455 that was on a motor dolly next to the car (I'm assuming it was the one he wanted to use). He has several options with the heads. The set that I'm leaning toward are F heads. There are other options but it appears to be the most sought after heads for a 442 from the reading I have done online. Should I use these F heads on the rebuild or something else. I believe we also have C, E, and G heads. Any advice would be appreciated.

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, condolences to you, family, and friends. What happened to the 400 that was removed? Why not rebuild it? If you go with a 455 I would sell the F heads and use the proceeds to partially fund the resto.

Post some pictures of your project.

tru-blue 442

I couldn't agree more. Welcome to CO. Good luck with the project.

Oldsmaniac

The F heads have some real value. If it were me I would sell them and maybe net 2-3 thousand dollars. I would look for the correct E block 400 and put the correct engine in there. It will have plenty of power and the 455 is really not needed for a cruiser. The original heads would be C's but the G's or E's would work. The c's would not be hard to come up with either for correctness. Originality and correctness would tend to bring a better sale when the time comes rather than a car built to the owner's own taste.

joe_padavano

I'll concur with the rest. From a performance standpoint, you won't be able to feel a difference between the C heads (which would have been original on the 67) or the F heads. Sell the F heads to a W-30 restorer who needs them and put the money into the car.

cmathews76

Hey thanks for the kind words guys! Yes I have the original 400 that came in the car originally. We were going to keep it in the garage on an engine stand and hop it up with the 455. I have C heads on the 400 and thought maybe I'd steal those for the 455. I have a family friend suggesting the 400 over the 455 as one of you suggested too. Our goal was to make it a rice racer crusher and as powerful as possible as its apart now.
My father in law also has a 70' 442 W30 that we are about to put on the market. It's a project car for sure. It had been owned by Padres pitcher Mike Corkins in the 70's and was drag raced for several years. I'll probably put those F heads with that car since they came from there. We have the original engine, heads and intake that came out of it. Any ideas on where and how to list that one? The proceeds from these other cars he had will finance the restoration of the 67'.

cmathews76

The current situation with the 67'. The 455 is in front there with the blue strap on it and the 400 is in front of the car.

CRUZN 66

I am with some of the others... From a value and investment standpoint go with the original 400... I would not remove the C Heads from the original 400 to use for the 455... If you absolutely don't intend to use the original 400, at least keep that engine all together as much as possible for the future...

oldcutlass

Does the 67 still have the SP T400 in it?

steverw

If you plan to use it to race the rice burners then i would use a 455 and save the original 400 from possible race damage, but not the W30 455. Any other 455 would be fine with the E or G heads. Some E and G heads may have small valves from what i understand but that can be fixed at the machine shop.
Post detailed pictures of the W30 here and a price, this is a good place to start with the sale.

oldcutlass

I agree with Steve, if your plan is to spank late models build a 455. You need to keep the W30 together to sell, it will net you the most $$$ if it has all the parts.

Magna86

If you have the original engine/heads/intake from the W30 then it should all go with the W30 when sold! You can list the W30 here on the classifieds and other Olds sites. Craigslist will work as well. We all want to see pics of the w30 and your 67 project! If you want to build a motor you plan on beating on just build one of the other 455 blocks and use any of the other BBO heads if you want a stock look otherwise go get some aluminum heads.

cmathews76

If we do use the 455 the 400 will remain with the car in the garage. What is the potential horsepower advantage of the 455 over the 400.

cmathews76

I'm new to the site. Is there a specific place to post the W30 we want to sell or just here in this thread?

oldcutlass

There is no real potential HP advantage of the 455 vs the 400. They both can be made to put out awesome power. The early 400's were much better than the later ones. If your going to beat it like a rented mule, why do it with the valuable original engine.

You can advertise your W30 in the Cars for Sale forum. Click on the forums tab, its towards the bottom of the page. Read the posting rules before posting.