I ran into an former Olds guy today at my local parts store and he offered me up an engine he has had in his garage for some time. He had built it with his dad "back in the day" and put about 3000 miles on it before going with a full 455 build. The engine was removed and put in a cradle where it has set under cover in his garage for the last 20 years. He has since gone to the dark side and is a Chebby guy.

According to him:

• - Holley Dominator Intake
• - Complete rebuild top to bottom.
• - Flat top pistons, stock rods and crank
• - Unknown brand/grind mild performance cam. Smooth idle.
• - #8 Heads cleaned up, rebuilt with mild pro hand porting
• - Ran mid - upper 14's in a 72 442. Ran great on the street with 93 octane, 1 step above stock converter and 3.42 gears.
• - New never run Mallory distributor, unknown model.

The outside of the engine was kind of ratty looking, but when we popped off a valve cover off and we took a peek it was clean as a brand new engine. He pulled the plugs and turned the engine over by hand. (no wrench needed) The tops of the pistons looked like they were a little on the dark side (A little carbon? He said he always ran it a little on the rich side for safety's sake) but no signs of rust.

It just gets better! I asked him what he was asking and he said he would let me have it for 200$! That seems like a steal. Almost too good to be true. He said he had no use for it and would rather see it go to a good home than continue to collect dust in his garage. He even offered to drop it off at a local machine shop for inspection (at my expense) before I pay him.

See pictures below, pardon the poor quality. My Cell phone is a cheepie....



I am really unable to find a reason not to buy this engine, heck the distributor and intake have to be worth the 200$ he’s asking. This would make a great backup engine and a great future engine to install when I am ready for an upgrade.

Thoughts?

 

You didn't post any pictures, but buy it... before I do.

- Eric

 

Steal it. Steal it now.
Don't let him sleep on it.

 

lol, probably because I'm am giddy with excitement.... check it now.

 

That's exactly what I was looking for over the last two months.

I picked up a similar piece for $250 that had been sitting almost as long. Starting to go through it now before I stuff into my 260,000 mile winter beater. Will freshen up the gaskets, oil pump, fuel pump, timing chain, water pump and rebuild the dist.

I'll also mention that I'll be putting this Olds motor in an A Body Pontiac.

Good Luck with yours... since you REALLY need to go get it.

 

It sounds like a good deal.
Holley SD Intake +
Flat top pistons +
#8 heads -
porting + (if he knew what he was doing)
low miles +
turns over by hand +
price ++

The positives outnumber any negatives. Go after it. Do a compression check to get an idea of what compression the engine has. If the #8 heads are not milled I think they CC out to 80cc. I would do some research to estimate the compression ratio and assume "0" decked pistons and a .040 head gasket just to get an idea. Sounds like a good deal.

 

IMO, the #8 heads are not a "negative", they work perfectly with flat top pistons to get a very streetable 9 to 1.

 

Did you drag it home yet?

 

For $200 what do you have to lose. From the looks of the engine on the out side I wouldn't expect to much on the inside. Could be one of those good old days rebuild when they put in a new set of rings, oil pump, hand lapped the valves with a stick and compound and called it good. Then again you never know.

 

I had to work today so I did not, I did call him and lay claim to it. He will be delivering it to my house next Sunday...

As of now, my plans are to take it to my local machinist and have him give it the once over and make recommendations. Hopefully the rest of the inside of the engine will look as good as the cylinder heads.

The Mallory distributor is a mechanical advance model. From what I have been reading, it’s probably not the best for street action. Is there a way to convert it over to vacuum advance? I have searched my azz off with no results. If not, I'll plan on selling/trading it for a vacuum advance model. Similar situation with the Holley single plan intake, I’ll probably sell it or trade it for a dual plane intake.

Ah, looks like I am getting ahead of myself, let me get possession of the engine before I get too carried away.

 

It depends on which Mallory it is. The PN is usually on the side of the body.

 

.......buy it.....