Back, with a unique older 455-swapped Wagon!

These are the old heads.

I see your problem...Someone left a screwdriver in your block!!!!

That's a great looking boxie! Hope you get her sorted out well and get her to the strip!

Glad to see another boxy with the 455 transplant. Funds provided, that'll be happening to my own. Lucky your car is an early one. Don't have to worry about the CCC or O/D lockup torque converter.

It really isnt hard to imagine an Olds in a boxy wagon, since the standard engine in them was a 5 litre olds in the last years of their production.....I can't imagine choosing a 455 Olds when Chevy engines are so much cheaper and easier to deal with..... If I was going to "dare to be different" and willingly spend the extra coin, I'd probably choose a 455 Buick or a big Caddy....I had a 455 Olds and t-400 in a flatbottom..... Some things I did not like about it:
1) non adjustable valve-train
2)pumps way more oil to the top end faster than it can return it to the pan
3)The accessory drive, with the AC belt high on the right side throws belt.... so badly that they put a lower radiator hose clamp with a stainless cuff to keep the vibrating belt from sawing through the hose (83 cutlass and 86 olds 88)
4) Olds engines um, not beautiful!
5) The best performance stuff for an olds is rare and hard to spot and expensive

The boat had a performer RPM manifold and Holley 750 DP and was scary fast!

I use holley double-pumpers almost exclusively because I love the ease of maintenance and troubleshooting and infinite adjustability.....
My current project 69 van is getting the TBI with the 305 out of the donor wagon, but if I can't make it work, it will get a holley DP also....
With all the money you are going to have in this engine, you should find a pre-73 Vista Cruiser wagon to put it in... ....

Okay, so, here's another update:

The engine has been built, the carb has been delivered, the car is back in the shop, the engine bay is being tidied up now, the headers have been removed and painted, the transmission has been serviced and a new pan gasket has been installed, the transmission cooler has been installed, and the wiring is being tidied up in preparation for engine reinstallation this afternoon.

It should be going in as I type, but I am stuck at work and thus cannot document it personally. Hopefully the shop remembers to take pictures.

Massive pic dump ahead......

Block wrapped up after machine work:




Speedpro pistons on rods:



Closeup of piston:





Crank installed. The stock 455 crank seal made the rotating assembly barely able to move, so a rear main seal out of a Ford 460 was installed. A common and well documented swap.



Crank spinning over:
https://youtu.be/3BMQDXwPUuM



Engine painted a close match to the color of the car:


Heads going on:

And now, some more, all pictures I took in the last two days:








Old tank is out:





Wiring was more kludged than we had hoped:


Head had to be modified a bit for the fuel pump to clear:

I wonder who will be on the street first,VinylDavid or Fred? Ready for a challenge Fred?

Andebe wrote:

I wonder who will be on the street first,VinylDavid or Fred? Ready for a challenge Fred?

I say they'll be neck and neck in the end!

TheRoadmasterKing wrote:

Andebe wrote:

I wonder who will be on the street first,VinylDavid or Fred? Ready for a challenge Fred?

I say they'll be neck and neck in the end!

If fred uses honey oil he'll win,....

Okay, engine is in. We may have some issues with the AC brackets, due to the Edelbrock/Mondello heads being actually longer than the originals. Apparently someone makes a kit to do that, but I have yet to find it. We'll see what happens when reassembly is attempted.

Wiring begins Monday. Mechanic needs to make a bracket to mount the MSD box.

It's lookin' good. I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

More progress....it's getting close now! Got the carb on, new gas tank delivered, MSD stuff mounted, wiring trimmed and mostly traced, fuel lines in, and got a new 140 amp chrome (because pretty engine bay) alternator to replace the ancient, ugly unit that probably wouldn't have had the juice to power any aftermarket stereo or electric fans I would put in.

Also, the wiring is being traced out and trimmed up. The remaining Diesel diagnostic port was removed and the inner fender hammered flat enough to mount the MSD Digital 6AL. Now, we're waiting on a solution for the AC bracket incompatibility with the new Mondello heads.

Wouldn't the solution be to simply run a spacer behind the other pulleys the same thickness as the difference in the head length?

pull the head and mill it,.

so tell us about the carb,..

The msd is a nice touch,.

Camshaft break in will be critical ,....and that old technology cam will sure have a lump to it at idle,.
your torque converter needs to be loose enough for it,.

looks nice sitting in there,. brings back some good memories for me,.

You have a great dad for bankrolling this much,..you better be a great son to him,.

It's up the shop to deal with the AC bracket-that's one of the reasons we're paying the shop to figure it out. The heads have Mondello milled into the ends, so I'm inclined to leave it as-is, and try to use spacers on the pulleys. Full MSD ignition should ensure reliability, and easy tach installation in the future.

The carb is a Mondello manifold flow-benched Demon carb specifically set up for Olds 455's. It's a 750cfm, rejetted to 800cfm. When I talked to the mechanic building the car initially, he wanted to put a Quadrajet on there, but he's having an extended recovery from surgery, and another guy took over the project. His idea was a Speed Demon. Mondello said they offered a Demon carb tuned specifically for BBO's, so after conferencing with the mechanic, we bought it. It wasn't what he was expecting, and we didn't know that there was a Demon carb AND a Speed Demon carb.

Oh well-the engine is topped with the full Mondello power package now!

Fortunately, the Hydroboost brakes were retained from the original Diesel powerplant, and so I don't have to draw any vacuum at idle! The people building the car are old school mechanics, and know their sh*t. I/we trust them implicitly to set the car straight.

We put in a factory 1800 stall converter, so we'll see how that goes. I have no idea what was in there before. Eventually, I would like to go to a built 2004R for factory OD and up the gears to 3.08's for moar fast. Another member privately suggested a T56 swap, but that's cost-prohibitive and this will be more a cruiser than a race car. Right now, we believe there to be 2.56 gears in the back.

Frankly, I can't figure out precisely WHY my father is bankrolling this, but I am eternally grateful that he is. If it were my money, we'd be doing a junkyard SBC swap in a friend's backyard. I could never afford to do such a project myself, and most/all of my fun money goes to audio gear, anyway. I try to be the best son I can, and make him proud.

I smiled as soon as I saw the "quadrajet." Love seeing the progress,hope youre on the road soon.

Rejetting a carb doesn't increase CFM. No doubt about their qualifications, or that the CFM is up, but it wasn't the jets.

1800 stall is going to be way too low for that engine combo.

Is it me,or does hood clearance with the air intake on,looks to be an issue?

Hopefully it's on the road next week...

Why would a 1800 stall converter be too low?

I know little to nothing about carburetors, so this is 4th hand information.  But, yeah, they perform all their tweaks.

The hood clearance might be an issue, we don't know yet.  I'm going to try and find out today to see what the story is.  I was worried about the clearance when the intake was delivered, but we'll see.  I'm not opposed to a hood scoop if we have to (though it sort of negates the sleeper aspect).

Regarding air flow in a carb. Think about what goes through the jets. Hint: it's not air.

1800 is too low because of the power band of the engine. That big engine/head/cam is going to make power much higher than 1800. Call Mondello and ask them what stall they suggest for your engine mods/car weight/driving. I don't think it will be 1800.

this looks suspiciously like a speed demon,. (gotta love the name rebranding)




Us old guys that actually raced and built these old motors know this carb as a thermoquad,
and the 9801's had  bigger throttle plates giving them 1000 cfm flow capability
being spread bore carbs with small primaries you had great economy and throttle response, and then that famous seagull sucking howl as they opened up,.


the edelbrock carbs like you had on there first were called carter afb,.and avs,.

It is a Demon carb, but the Speed Demon carb the mechanic was thinking about looked more like this:



Today will probably be the day when it lights up for the first time. Hopefully they call me, so I can go with my camera.

Well, the first start wad anticlimactic-the water pump started leaking and oil filter housing was dumping oil all over.  I didn't get to stay and watch it roar for the first time after those issues were addressed.  I have heard it since, and it sounds absolutely amazing.

The car is finished, and here's what the engine bay looks like now:



I can't say enough amazing things about Sellenriek, and Chuck in particular.  He cut NO corners and went the extra mile to make this car look as nice as possible.

I'll be picking it up next week, after a few touch-ups from the bodyshop next door.

Looks great,you will have to post a video of how she sounds.