Anybody good with Big Block Oldsmobiles?
 

I have a crappy smog era 455 olds someone swapped into my 62 Catalina.

Ive long said I would probably LS swap it, since the pontiac mounts were hacked out. But much to my chagrin, while the olds is a dog, once I rebuilt the carb it actually runs pretty solid. Leaks pretty good, but doesnt burn oil or smoke.

A while ago I did a compression check out of curiosity, and every cylinder was about 130. Which I think is pretty normal for a stock mid 70s low compression deal.

So Ive told myself I want to do a cam swap, maybe intake and headers. Pull it out, clean it up and replace some gaskets. Fun on the cheap. Ive got nothing invested monetarily or emotionally in this thing so if it dies it dies.

So two major questions.

1. The oldsmobile community does not seem to have nearly the love for their factory Qjet intakes that Pontiac does. The olds intakes do seem way flatter. How do we feel about those stock olds 455 intakes? Or is a move to aftermarket mandatory?

I saw some dyno testing that showed the old Torker was actually pretty solid and didnt give up much low end. On a big CI engine that makes some sense, single plane, but small high velocity runner. I want to keep my Qjet, so Im limited to spreadbore capable manifolds.

2. Camsahft, there is lots of stuff on 455s here that says dont skimp on duration. I assume the same applies to Olds. Plan on using Rhodes lifters to try and crutch the low compression and lack of gearing some at low RPM.

Here is my proposed list in the order I like them. They are all pretty close.

1. Erson E541021 214/226 @.050 292/310 advertised. 478/493 on a 114 LSA

2. Melling 25211 214/224 @.050 289/300 advertised. 474/498 on a 112 LSA
This is the same as the Crower 56903, but is actually available and not on backorder.

3. Erson 226/226 @.050 310/310 advertised. 493/493 on a 111 LSA

4. W-31 Copy, 232/232 @.050 308/308 advertised. 474/474 on a 114 LSA

*Tons of Olds sources say the factory heads/springs will handle .500 lift. So thats my limiting factor. yes I know you should always change springs, but again, this is just me goofing off on the cheap. Maybe do a before and after track run. If nothing else maybe I break it in on the lazy stock springs then replace them.

Club member here," Mr Anonymous" Dave, is a walking encyclopedia for all things oldsmobile, hopefully he chimes in and offers up his knowledge on this subject.

If not you might IM him.

Dave was the clutch setup man when Eric and Mike were campaigning the Boss Bird tribute funny car. He knows oldsmobiles inside and out.

Almost all the jet boats in the 70s had 455 Olds in them. Edelbrock makes some heads for them. Not sure if Mondello's group are still around they were the Olds gurus. I know the older Mondello passed a few years ago. I even remember some Hot Rod magazine articles on Olds builds.

If you’re not re-ringing it and having the heads-valves worked, stay smaller in the cam world. It lose more low end torque and really not be fun.