[PontiacJim1959]

The 1970 Olds W30 455CI was a good competitor in stock class, and on the street.

How would the W30 cam specs play out in a Pontiac engine, 400/455? Just curious.

Specs:
Intake opens BTDC -----56 degrees
Intake closes ABDC -----92 degrees
Duration -------------------328 degrees
Exhaust opens BBDC ---96 degrees
Exhaust closes ATDC ----52 degrees
Duration -------------------328 degrees
Valve overlap --------------108 degrees

Valve lift Int/Exh ---------.475"
Int. Valve Dia. -------------2.07"
Exh Valve Dia. ------------1.6

Olds 455 - 4.125" bore x 4.25" stroke
HP -------------------365 @ 5,000 RPM
TQ -------------------500 @ 3,200 RPM

[Steve C.]

Intake Duration is 328.00 degrees.
Exhaust Duration is 328.00 degrees.
Installed Intake Centerline is 108.00 degrees ATDC.
Installed Exhaust Centerline is 112.00 degrees BTDC.
LSA is 110.0 degrees
Overlap is 108.00 degrees.

http://www.wallaceracing.com/camcalc.php


244° Intake @ .050, 244° exhaust @ .050




.

[Steve C.]

For a Pontiac application the Comp Magnum hydraulic flat tappet 292 H would be somewhat similar, but probably less seat duration. I don't know at what tappet lift Olds factory cams were rated at, the Comp is at .006".
The Comp lobe has a bit more lobe lift.
Same .050" duration.

292/292
244/244
.3340" / .3340"
.501" / .501"
110 LSA

( Comp lobe 5209 )

Or lobe 5204 listed on page 11 here:
https://www.compcams.com/lobe-catalog

Same 292 & 244 specs but lower valve lift like the W-30 cam


( Information provided in this post does not represent any endorsement and is offered for general interest only )


.

[Steve C.]

OK, here is a explanation why the large 328 duration number listed....

"These duration numbers are all measured at a mythical 0.000" lift, which is almost impossible to measure but lends impressive duration numbers for advertising."

Source:

https://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobi...sfaq/ofcam.htm
Mentioned under factory cams



.

[Half-Inch Stud]

..0.000" lift is vignetting badly, not to a point like 0.003".

In THEORY: I sure do appreciate the original discussions by Ed Iskendarian about standardizing Opening Points for ADV Duration.

In PRACTICE: Seems a Hot engine doing the RPM thing at Highway, 1/4 mile or justa warming up from cold-start is going to have vacuum that recons with Overlap interval.

ZERO to 0.003" lift overlap has some effect at idle, yet no effect at highway and above. The agony over ZERO to 0.003" effects pales in comparison with 0.030" Overlap POINTS.

Really think we could wrangle a Checking Lift for meaningful onset of Vacuum-loss. Perhaps Overlap at 0.010" lift would bin Cams for idle quality.

[mgarblik]

If anyone has the .050", .100" and .200" duration numbers, that would tell a much clearer story. For reasons we can all relate to, the opening ramps were very gentle and slow on even the factory HP cams. The W-30 cam has a nasty snarly idle sound, and good power for the day. I wanted to attach a little video of a real 100% stock W-30 I looked at and got running after sitting 12 years. This was the original W30 Vista Cruiser Wonder Wagon, one of three built by Hurst and owned by Joe Mondello. Sounded great after a long hibernation. If someone is interested enough, and wants to PM me, I will be glad to e-mail you the Quick Time movie I took of the car. Its 150 MB and I have no idea how to post it here directly.

[Steve C.]

Mondello Performance Products
MW-30 Hydraulic Camshaft
W-30 Factory Reproduction Cam, 2200-5500 RPM Range
0.474 Intake lift, 0.474 Exhaust Lift
328° Advertised Intake Duration / 328° Advertised Exhaust Duration
244° Intake @ .050, 244° exhaust @ .050
110° Lobe Separation

Again, Olds rated their ADVERTISED duration at .000 lift.

https://mondelloperformance.com/

H-O also had their 240K single pattern hydraulic cam with the same 292 advertised duration as Comp Cams and 244 at .050 duration but with a different lobe separation. It has been listed with both 109 or 111 depending on the source.

Isky had their 292 Mega Hydraulic single pattern cam, again same 292 advertised duration and with the same 244 degrees at .050 but typical of Isky they put it on a 108 lobe separation.

.

[PontiacJim1959]

Great responses. Always thought the cam specs seemed radical for a factory car and as noted, heard they had a great rumble.

Have read many articles on how a cam is measured and that it is not universal and one of the best way to compare is using the duration number at .050"

Thanks for all the cam choices that equate to a similar Pontiac cam. I don't plan on using such a cam, just was always curious of how W30 Olds spec'd cam might work in a Pontiac. I have a 455 build and going with a Crower solid, #60310 just to see how it'll perform - and because I gotta have a solid cam.

[Jay S]

I remember seeing a blue printed stock 70 455 w30 dyno at 485 HP @ 5200 through the factory exhuast manifolds with the stock cam, stock carb settings. The big cam killed the torque though, IRC it was in the mid 400 ft lbs @ 3600 rpm. IRC, The stock exhaust manifolds on a w30 aren’t bad, similar to a Ram air manifold. Seems to gain about 20 hp.

With the loss in tq from the big cam they seem like they are a little hard to get great ET’s. More than likely it would be even worse with the same cam in a d port 455 pontiac unless it had some head work.

I think the big w 30 cam would be pretty awesome in a round port car. In a d port 455 I think the tq would be really missed. It would take some deep gears to get it moving with the loss of tq.

My family has 2 70 tornados and my 71 Chevelle has a 1970 tornado w34 Tornado engine in it, same as an auto 455 w30 car. We have the interior from a 442 in our Chevelle to match the engine. Makes a normal Chevelle pretty plain looking. Dad has 2 68 M6gt McClaren replicas with 455 olds. They are a blast.

Olds 455s had a decent intake flow, better than a Pontiac, comparable to a round port. But the exhuast do no flow good at all stock. They have a very shaper exit of the exhaust. A stock 1970 W30 flowed 250 cfm @ .5 and the exhuast is 150 cfm. My 455 in the chevelle started out in the upper 230s cfm and I ported the to mid 260s. I did not have much luck porting the exhaust, it needed the floor raised, IRC the flowed around 160-170 on the exhaust. It has just over 430 hp at 4700 with headers and a mild cam.

Mike I would love the hear a w30 cam, been a long time since I heard one.
Jaystukenholtz@hotmail.com

[mgarblik]

I will be happy to send you the little movie. It would be great if you could resize it and post it somehow. Way beyond my capability and the file size allowed on the forum is tiny.

[Steve C.]

Isky 2004/2005 catalog description of their version of the cam, the 292-MEGA hydraulic for Pontiac application....

High Performance use / bracket racing. Rough idle. 2800 stall
10-11:1 compression / 4.11-4:56 axle ratio. Up to 780 cfm carb
RPM range 2800-7000

But again they ground it with a 108 lobe separation not the 110


.

[Jay S]

I recalled wrong, the headers were a 30 hp gain on the w30. Here is the dyno run, headers vs manifolds.

[Jay S]

It worked Mike. Thanks! Cool car!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZ1...3GFmkh4mr/view

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by Jay S

... my 71 Chevelle has a 1970 tornado w34 Tornado engine in it, same as an auto 455 w30 car.

Is the W34-455 the same engine that would have been in a 70 Toronado GT ?

Friend of mine has one from a 70 GT , with E heads (Olds E heads - Not Edelbrock).
Its a W-something
Plans to build it for a 69 Hurst/Olds clone

He said W30 used an F head.
So he's going to massage the raised E marking on them - into an F

[Jay S]

Yes the W34 was the tornado GT engine. They had the bigger valves, air induction and dual exhuast with and the same cam as the W-30 442 automatic cars. Pretty restrictive manifolds though to clear the 425 transaxle. Both our 70 tornados are the over rated 375 hp 455s.

I have heard of guys grinding the E and making it into an F for 442’s. Buyer be ware sometimes. The heads on my chevelle are E’s. Olds has been in the car longer than the Original sbc now, it was my first car.

Watching Mikes W-30 video makes me want to put a W-30 cam in my Chevelle and put the 4000 stall back in. Lol

Both the McClarens have Olds 455s and 425 transaxle. This is Dads Black one, it only weight 2500 lbs.

[PontiacJim1959]

Nice sound from the video and who doesn't like a Vista Cruiser? One of the nicest wagons in my opinion.

I checked the AMA specs again on the W30 455 and I am in error on the HP/TQ which I gave for the non-W30 442 455.

The W30 455 was rated at 370HP @ 5,200 RPM's and 500TQ @ 3,600 RPM's, so the cam does move the power band higher. Available transmissions were the close ratio 4-speed and TH-400. Factory rear gearing was 3.42 or 3.91 with mandatory limited slip, and 3.23 only for the TH-400 with A/C. Dealer installed gear ratios included 4.33, 4.66, and 5.00.

[Jay S]

IRC the small cam auto trans W-30 and the big cam manual trans W-30 both had the same 370 HP rating. They under rated the stick cars. I little insurance trick I suppose. Not sure what the .050 cam specs were for the 294/296 113.5 lsa cam are the automatic cars had. They had a slight lope to the idle. Needless to say it was pretty mild compared to the mammoth cam in the 4 speed cars. The w31 350s had the 308/308 (zero seat) 232/232 ..050”, 474/474 113.5 cam. Olds had some ran some good sized cams in their engines.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Helped another Oldsmobile friend restore a 73 442 V-code 455 4speed in 1990.
It had K-coded heads

Nobody knew much of anything about those cars in late 80's / early 90's.
No internet of course
All i could find said the K-heads were 1972 W30 Service Replacement heads, and/or for Marine Use.
The car was a complete virgin all original
And it was never owned by a Marine.
We didn't know if it was a W30 or if they even had a W30 in 1973

About 10 years ago on a 73-77 Olds Colonade forum, i joined and asked ,
and some guys said the V-code cars got the K heads factory issue.
But that was all i could find out about them

Were they good heads ?

[Jay S]

If I am remembering it right the W-30 code was actually the code for fresh air induction cars. If the 73 car had fresh air induction and was a 455 my guess is it was probably a W-30. The K heads flowed about the same as the lower performance Olds E head with the small valves. Installing the 2.07/1.72 valves makes them flow close to an E with big valves. IRC the F head had slightly shallower combustion’s chambers, a gentler short turn on the intake and flowed more than the others. The K heads were pretty good. Some may have had the bigger valves. But I think the only reason they were listed as a replacement for a W-30 was that the K was the only head Olds was making at the time. The later heads like the GA were more restrictive. I think what may have hurt the 455 Olds was the tall deck on the 455s with the 39 degree cylinder angles made the exhaust port short side really sharp. I raised the ports on the exhaust on the 455 in my Chevelle, they are all brazed on the roof, I hit daylight on every exhaust port trying to find flow working with the sharp short turns. I know what you mean, learned my lessons on Olds 455 the hard way also.

Funny thing is know one ever noticed the chevelle has a Olds in it. They would walk by the pits with the hood open and say SBC??? Lol

[Jay S]

I remembered wrong. In 73 the W-30 became a trim package. V code k heads probably had the big valves though.