olds 455 value
 

My lemans came with this olds motor in it. It's decent and I've got no real complaints with it other than I'd like to finish building my Pontiac one that's been sitting in my shop for ever. I just have no idea what a general value for this things are. I ran that number like way back when I bought it and if memory serves me right it's a 73ish 455. I don't remember anything standing out too much about it. It's got an edelbrock intake and the cam isn't stock but I couldn't even begin to give you the specs of it. Does anyone have a general ballpark idea what these things go for? That's always been my big sticking point for trying to get rid of it. I just don't know what to ask.
Thanks guys

Try looking here

http://oldsmobileforums.com/forums/index.php

P.S. What area of WV are you at? I know a guy in WV that is an Olds guru type.

Which head casting ? at the left side of heads #1/#8 exh port area. The least valuable heads are J smog heads 73-76 , the blocks are pretty much all same castings and worth maybe $400-500 core good cond short block. J heads maybe $100 at best , earlier heads vary $200 and up a pair intake $100 so as a good runner as is anywhere from $500-800 bucks unless rare

I'm in southern WV, about an hour south of Charleston. Little town called Williamson.

"neighbors"
 

Should have known by the Varney name. You from VARNEY? I'm originally from Logan. Been in VA last 20 years.

The OLDS guru I know is Ben Donevant in Princeton, WV. His dad was sales manager at the Chevy/Olds dealership (Minton Chevrolet) in Logan back in the day. Ben has a 4-speed 67 442 with an added-on tri-power setup. (Ben tells a tale that, although the 67's didn't offer tri-power, there were some 200 1966 tri-power setups dealer installed on some 1967 442's)
The 1965 442's supposedly didn't offer a tri-power engine but some research will show that some tri-power 1965's were racing in 1965.

Do you know Dennis Maroudas (DME, LLC -- transmission stuff business) in Forest Hills, KY.? He was into Pontiacs many years ago but got into Muncie transmissions several years ago. Good guy!

Some of the 73 Olds 455 engines were high compression (quite higher than any Pontiac that year). So if you have one of those I would say that it would be worth comparable to a performance version Pontiac 455. A local Pontiac guy built an Olds 455 for a guy on an open checkbook basis (Mondello parts, etc). I rode that car and it was a wickedly monster engine.

I looked back on some of your posts and see that you have a 67 Lemans. I do too. It has a
mild build 1977 400, 200R4 tranny, Vintage air. Nice cruiser car but no tire shredder.

Drop me a PM and we'll compare notes. GO WILDCATS! GO WOLFPACK!

E head (by #1 cyl) and 403 680 at the 3&5 respectively if it matters. I'll research it a touch more when I get home.

E is a decent head, 68-70 year models standard 455 head, full size cars included.

It goes like this: A-'65, B-'66, C-'68, '69, D-'68,69 W30, Hurst Olds only, E-'70, F-'70 W30 only, G-'71, Ga-'72, H-'71 W30 only, J-'73, 74, 75, 76. Undesirable. Restricted exhaust port. K-Marine and replacement. They all breathe the same except the J. They all have the same combustion chamber cc. Olds have a tendency to suck the oil pan dry and leave it all in the valve covers which causes the rod bearings to go from starvation; if run at high rpm for extended periods. The drain back holes are small. He should be able to get $400-$500 for a complete core.

My 1974 H/O has Ka heads on it. Not Marine heads, just specific for that year W-30.

$400-500 for a complete running engine is normal for them. They made a zillion of them and unless you have a rare cylinder head (D F H), there's not all that much difference between them, except the drop from 10.5:1 to 8.5:1 for all years 1971 and newer. Also induction hardened valve seats at the same time. The ultra-rare 455 steel cranks were made at the beginning of the 1968 model year and ended up primarily in two barrel Delta 88s. Best one ever - a 455 built in 1976 at the end of the run. They must have been cleaning the bins out. I was there when this original engine was torn down: Four-speed crank in an auto trans application, 3 different manufacturer's head bolts, it literally had to be from the very very tail end of the production run. It was a bastard.

Old 455
 

Hi ...I saw your post ...I'm looking to replace the 307 Olds in my 89 Pontiac Safari....I'm interested in buying your 455 if you want to sell it. I live near Richmond, VA ....easy drive to come get it.

Thanks, Bruce