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Completely hand built 1957 371 J2 Olds..... Not one piece of this engine came from GM other than the valve covers in first shot..... They have since been changed to a CNC'd replica in billet alum
How to do 12 seconds on the cheap. Car is a 1974 Pontiac Ventura Sprint that weighs 3850lbs ready to race with me in it. Car cost me $500.00 and the motor & tranny cost me $300.00.
1970 455 short block with mix'n'match parts: -standard bore -Stock 46 year old "N" crank, rods, pistons (small dish hi-comp), and main bolts. The engine had 110K miles on it and the piston thrust sides were pretty much worn smooth so I took a sharp steak knife and recut the oil retention grooves. -original damper with timing tape and small pulleys -stock 4 quart (Imp)oil pan & pickup -stock water pump(with very large pulley) -chamfered journal oil holes for better oiling -hot tanked block, crank, & heads, cleaned galleries and replugged.
**In fact everything is 46 years old except the following: -ARP rod bolts -added Mondello aluminum cam supply oil restrictors in the mains (2, 3, and 4) -new Hastings rings. -deglazed the cylinders -Melling HV-HP oil pump (cold 50-80 PSI, 80@3500 RPM), (hot 40-80 PSI) 20W50 or Mobile 1 Racing oil -Mondello chrome-moly oil pump drive -crank polished but not cut -new main and rod bearings set at 0.003.75"-0.004" (Main) and 0.003"-0.003.5"(Rod). Yes, I always run loose bearings on race or street/strip engines, Because of rapid unequal heat expansion. -line bore checked, no work needed. -new cam bearing -Mondello cam bumper button. -Engle hydraulic cam Part#2728H, Grind#EP-28/29 HYD, lift: in/ex .555" Cam Lift: in/ex 0.347", Advertised Duration: int-292 ext-300 Duration@.050 int-248 ext-256 Lobe Center108. Cam is actually a bit too big. -Anti-pump-up lifters, I can't remember brand. -Dyna Gear 3 position double roller pre-stretched with offset dowel inserts for fine-tuning. -Mondello aluminum valley oil catcher/deflector.
COST: $650.00 (1995 CAD DOLLARS)
Heads: -Stock untouched "G" heads, 2.0" intake with probably 1.75" throats, 1.62" exhaust valves also choked throats, I did lap the valves though. -Heads flow: int 232@0.600" & ext 165@0.500", SF 600 bench @ 28 inches. -Both spring pads are deep pads, so that was nice. -Swapped out the rotators for non-rotator retainers (stock) -Stock rockers and bridges -Push rods from older AMC 6 cylinder, can't remember which one, provides 0.060" lifter preload, leaves 0.040"for lash.
New: -Springs changed to match cam, can't remember what they are but, they work. -PC valve seals. -NGK racing plugs
Carb, Intake, Distributor, & Headers: -Used Holley 800 double pumper with choke horn cut off, 94 jets front 98 rear & no power valves, 50cc front pump & 30cc rear, and with my special tweaking &smoothing. -Holley Blue pump & regulator, pressure set at 8PSI. -Used Torker intake untouched but heat cross-overs are blocked with stainless steel sheet metal. -Adapter plate. -GM HEI distributor with Mr. Gasket re-curve kit, 18 deg. idle, 36 deg. total, all in by 3500 rpm. No vacuum hook-up. -1.75"Blackjack headers that we bent, dented, and mutilated to make fit.
Misc: -TH400 with B&M Shift kit and about 130,000 miles on it. -3400 rpm stall convertor done by local machine shop specializing in convertors. -Corporate 10 bolt with posi. -upgraded mono-leaf to 7 leaf rear springs, stock front springs with stock shocks on all 4 corners. Now I wish I had the mono-leafs back, oh well. -Made my own Assassin traction bars, work friggin excellent, a hell of a lot better than the old slapper bars. -30x12.5x15Goodyear slicks. -Hurst Quarter-Stick & Line-lock, foot launched. -2 electric cooling fans. -Tranny cooler is from an old window air conditioner, tranny temp never goes above 140 deg.F even when it's 98 deg.F (air) at the track. -91 octane on the rare street ride, 50/50 mix of 91 pump & C12 for the track.
So what can you do with 46 year old Iron? Best ¼ mile E.T. – 12.79 and still going down, needs more tweaking, carb, and heads. Best ¼ mile speed –110 mph Best 60 foot – 1.63
Ray
Ugh I need new quarter panels and rims. Hay is that sunlight under the tire.
Location: Colorado Springs Colorado/Thousand Oaks Ca
Posts: 1,719
Back in the early 80s was my first experience with a Olds, later ended up racing D/SA with a 1970 W30. Back to my first Olds build, the car was a 70 Cutlass 350. I found a virgin 70 Toronado and rerung that engine, installed oil restrictors, valve job and cut the heads, filled the heat cross over, weld up the divider, ran a Lunati stocker cam with the factory valve train, the intake was a older Edelbrock dual plane with a 850 Holley. I had 4.10 gears with a cheap 10 inch converter and this was holding the car back, it did run high 11s @ 113 almost 114 @ 1100 feet, never did weigh the car, but probably 3500 pounds. I think with todays tires and a 8 inch converter 11.4 would been easy. I think I pd 300.00 for the car, probably didn't have more than 2000.00 in the whole thing........the good ole days.
My new 355. Heads ported by 67cutlassfreak along with intake. I built the short block , has a solid flat tappet lunati cam. 10.25 to 1 compression. Should be good on pump gas. Last combo went 12.2's and was no where near what this is. Im shooting for 11.70's. This will be my last small block. Next build will be a mild BBO bread a butter build like my last 355. IM curious to see what adding 100 cubes to the same combo will yield.
May 1st, 2016, 11:46 AM
