Just throwing this out there as I do not know much about the earlier F- 85 cars. There is one locally here and I was wondering how extensive it would be to put a 455 in it?

THanks

Jason

 

Hey Jason

I have not done that swap. But i did put a Buick 350 and th350 in a 61 Buick Special. (same setup) And its not easy. Those cars have a small air cooled trans and really have no trans hump. So i had to cut the firewall and floor to make my own trans hump in it. I was lucky and last second before i was about to make custom motor mounts i tried the 215 mounts on the 350 and they fit right on and the motor fit right in. Had to make my own exhaust for it and move the rear crossmember. Then get a shorter driveshaft. Other then the floor it wasnt to bad. But still alot of work. So to put a BB Olds in it you would have to do the same stuff, plus make custom motor mounts.

 

The 455 swap has been done. It's a LOT of work, as noted above. The Tempest versions came with the Pontiac 326 in 1963, which is externally identical to a Pontiac 455.

Having said that, you really need to consider the collateral damage. The 215 weighs all of 320 lbs, complete. The 455 is more than twice that much, not counting the need for a heavier, stronger trans. No one makes aftermarket springs for these cars, and frankly the small four-bolt wheel hubs and go-kart sized drum brakes are marginal for that application, so you will be going to a custom front suspension upgrade. The rear axle is unique to the 61-63 cars and is smaller and weaker than a 7.5". If you think parts for a Type O axle are hard to find, just TRY to find anything for a 61-63 axle. As noted above, the trans tunnel is very small and pretty much anything other than a stock trans requires surgery. Keep in mind that this is a unibody car, not a separate frame, so the floor pan is structural.

You might want to consider a different route. The 61-63 cars only weigh about 2600-2700 lbs. Anything close to 300 HP gets you power-to-weight that's better than a 1970 W-30. The 215 and it's descendants are the SBC of England, so performance parts are available. Rover built versions of that motor in displacements up to 5.0 liters and they are externally identical to the GM 215. The T5 is also a nice trans swap. 300 HP is very doable at no increase in weight. The other thing that people have done is to adapt the supercharger from a Buick 3800SC to the 215, which is also a nice package. Keep in mind that it's not about total HP, it's power-to-weight that matters.

 

I would love to adopt a supercharger on my 61 but I have to swap out that trans for sure. That is a must to swap the trans supercharger or not.

 

Thanks all, good info to know~!

 

here is a link to a guy that is doing this now. I don't think he has the engine in yet but working on it.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...5-cutlass.html

 

And again, that's a gasser-style drag car with a beam front axle. Not exactly streetable (yeah, you CAN drive it on the street, but do you WANT to on a regular basis?). Others have done this with a custom Mustang II front end. Yes, you can do it, but you'll spend WAAAAAY more money (and have a vehicle that's less useful in the real world) than just building a 1964-up car.

 

Very true.

 

thanks for the link jensen

 

i cant believe i missed this, its not a big deal just stuff it in there!!! and theres absolutely no reason to believe a solid axle would make a car unbearable to drive or any less comfortable or anything of the sort. its got coil springs and shocks just like everyone else, gotta just as nice of a ride right?