Cutting down valve guides & reusing head bolts??

[HotRodPC]

I agree, nothing wrong with it! I sent those same pictures to my dad and he said the same too, looks fine, run them! Upon first quick glance too the head bolts look nice, I did NOT inspect them much, was just pulling them and looking at them as they went into the bag! I use ziploc & other bags to mark everything! Makes my life so much easier when doing this stuff.

I don't plan to part with the heads at all, I will be using them for this engine. Even on a fresh rebuild I would use them. As for the intake, I will be using that intake for now also and if the intake is ever updated I would like to find a dual quad tunnel ram intake for it. Again, mostly for the looks & cool factor.

The exhaust manifolds on this engine are actually from what I see pretty nice flowing too! They seem a bit big for stock manifolds, but the ports and the inside of them have some pretty dang good room in there unlike other exhaust manifolds I have seen. I still plan to run block hugger style headers though.

Yes, the exhaust manifolds on that engine will flow very well too. These intake and exhaust manifolds are other reasons why BBO makes great sleepers. Put some biggo old Cad mufflers on it and it'll be whisper quiet until the secondaries open up and then it'll roar like a lion. I know you have other plans, but just my analagy and what I wanted to do with my BBO, was make just that. A sleeper. BBO aftermarket parts are not cheap, not near as common either. So I'd upgrade the cam a bit, not a lot cuz I still want to keep the factory Olds bottom end grunt, and leave the rest pretty much stock since there's no huge benefits in going aftermarket anyway.

Then, if I wanted to something to sound mean and have lope to it at idle I'd be building a SBC or maybe a BBC. They're much cheaper to do and aftermarket part options are through the roof.

What people don't realize about Olds, when you look up specs and see something like 375hp on a 60's 455, it's a lie !!! A lie in the other direction where most will make claims it's 350hp and you're lucky if it's even 300-325hp. Olds lies and it's actually more. At testing they detuned the engines for specs, then later they could be properly tuned and get even more. Why? There were laws about max hp to weight ratios. Then what became more important was EPA and emission regulations. They no longer had to worry hp to weight ratio because the manufactures had to denut everything. Just like a 74-76 Olds 455 is gutless compared to a 68-69 455. Compression came way down, the E heads had NOx smog bumps that restricted flow etc. Id still run a 74-76 455 if that's all I could find, but I'd be sourcing a set of C heads or have to likely go aluminum. ORRRR, you can always trick even the Olds Gurus and run those E heads so they think you have a sled, but have those ported where you've ground out the NOx bumps and go with some flat top pistons to compensate for the larger combustion chambers to bring the compression back up and now you can run like a 68-69 and surprise surprise.

 

[Dave M]

OBD how did you end up with an Old's V8 in your truck ?

 

[OldBlueDually]

Yes, the exhaust manifolds on that engine will flow very well too. These intake and exhaust manifolds are other reasons why BBO makes great sleepers. Put some biggo old Cad mufflers on it and it'll be whisper quiet until the secondaries open up and then it'll roar like a lion. I know you have other plans, but just my analagy and what I wanted to do with my BBO, was make just that. A sleeper. BBO aftermarket parts are not cheap, not near as common either. So I'd upgrade the cam a bit, not a lot cuz I still want to keep the factory Olds bottom end grunt, and leave the rest pretty much stock since there's no huge benefits in going aftermarket anyway.

Then, if I wanted to something to sound mean and have lope to it at idle I'd be building a SBC or maybe a BBC. They're much cheaper to do and aftermarket part options are through the roof.

What people don't realize about Olds, when you look up specs and see something like 375hp on a 60's 455, it's a lie !!! A lie in the other direction where most will make claims it's 350hp and you're lucky if it's even 300-325hp. Olds lies and it's actually more. At testing they detuned the engines for specs, then later they could be properly tuned and get even more. Why? There were laws about max hp to weight ratios. Then what became more important was EPA and emission regulations. They no longer had to worry hp to weight ratio because the manufactures had to denut everything. Just like a 74-76 Olds 455 is gutless compared to a 68-69 455. Compression came way down, the E heads had NOx smog bumps that restricted flow etc. Id still run a 74-76 455 if that's all I could find, but I'd be sourcing a set of C heads or have to likely go aluminum. ORRRR, you can always trick even the Olds Gurus and run those E heads so they think you have a sled, but have those ported where you've ground out the NOx bumps and go with some flat top pistons to compensate for the larger combustion chambers to bring the compression back up and now you can run like a 68-69 and surprise surprise.

I had thought of doing a bit of a sleeper at first, but then said screw it, I want to make noise! Gotta love that emissions somg crap.....

OBD how did you end up with an Old's V8 in your truck ?

I bought the truck with no engine in it, and I had this 455 sitting in my garage from another vehicle (my 51 Ford truck) so I decided why not have the great looks of a squarebody, with a sweet Olds big engine in it. Considering this truck is already a dully conversion & a 76 GMC which I don't see much of why not make it even more special with a different engine

The 454 engines are cool and I like them, but I am an Olds guy and in my opinion the 455 is not only a cooler engine, but superior to the 454..in my opinion.

 

[HotRodPC]

I had thought of doing a bit of a sleeper at first, but then said screw it, I want to make noise! Gotta love that emissions somg crap.....




I bought the truck with no engine in it, and I had this 455 sitting in my garage from another vehicle (my 51 Ford truck) so I decided why not have the great looks of a squarebody, with a sweet Olds big engine in it. Considering this truck is already a dully conversion & a 76 GMC which I don't see much of why not make it even more special with a different engine

The 454 engines are cool and I like them, but I am an Olds guy and in my opinion the 455 is not only a cooler engine, but superior to the 454..in my opinion.

I'd take an Olds 455 over a 454 any day of the week. A 425 too for that matter so long as it had the good lifters and angle. Especially a C headed BBO. What I really like about the 425 is a bit shorter stroke so it'll spin the rpm up even quicker and ALL 425's are also forged cranks. In fact, I saved a 425 crank for quite awhile with intent to put it in a 455 block. Same blocks really except the older 425's had the strange lifter size and angle. So a 425 crank in a 455 gives you the better of all worlds.

 

[Dave M]

I had thought of doing a bit of a sleeper at first, but then said screw it, I want to make noise! Gotta love that emissions somg crap.....




I bought the truck with no engine in it, and I had this 455 sitting in my garage from another vehicle (my 51 Ford truck) so I decided why not have the great looks of a squarebody, with a sweet Olds big engine in it. Considering this truck is already a dully conversion & a 76 GMC which I don't see much of why not make it even more special with a different engine

The 454 engines are cool and I like them, but I am an Olds guy and in my opinion the 455 is not only a cooler engine, but superior to the 454..in my opinion.

I'm all for it, and if you know the engine and had it there ready to go, why not. My 454 is nothing special, Edelbrock intake, enhanced camshaft. Waiting on a rebuilt Quadrajet to be delivered, will see how that goes. I would have loved to have bought a '68 Oldsmobile coupe back when l was looking for a car, but the prices on those babies were on the increase. I ended up with a '67 Buick GS400. I took that out for a run yesterday, first run in a couple of months, that old girl gets up and goes for a stocker. Next project is a 383 Chrysler into a 35 Plymouth coupe. Want to keep that one Mopar .

 

[OldBlueDually]

I'm all for it, and if you know the engine and had it there ready to go, why not. My 454 is nothing special, Edelbrock intake, enhanced camshaft. Waiting on a rebuilt Quadrajet to be delivered, will see how that goes. I would have loved to have bought a '68 Oldsmobile coupe back when l was looking for a car, but the prices on those babies were on the increase. I ended up with a '67 Buick GS400. I took that out for a run yesterday, first run in a couple of months, that old girl gets up and goes for a stocker. Next project is a 383 Chrysler into a 35 Plymouth coupe. Want to keep that one Mopar .

Yup, had it here just sitting around taking up space, might as well use it! On the previous page I have it running in that video of my 51 Ford.

LOVE the 68 Oldsmobiles!!!! Some year in hopes to get a 68 442. Damned near had one, but before the guy moved he sold it....it ran, drove, some rust. He sold it for $1,000.......yeah. So I started asking him about it and what it had. Turns out it had the red plastic inner fender wells, the 455, 4-speed hurst, 10-bolt posi rearend. They only made like 580 of them or something like that....he had a gold mine on his hands. Anyhow, some year!

Your 35 Coupe sounds awesome, I love those old Street Rods! A local friend did a Plymouth Sedan of the same era, did in lime green, and had the twin 4-bbl setup on it, the criss-cross one....so there a carb hanging out each side of the hood. So cool!

 

[xlr8r235t]

It's generally pretty easy to tell standard fasteners from torque to yield fasteners. Just take a look at your torque specs, standard bolts will just have a single spec (such as 58 ft/lb) where as a torque to yield fastener will have a 2 step or more convoluted torqueing procedure and/or angle callouts.

It is important to understand what "torque to yield" actually means to help you make a decision on whether to reuse your bolts. When a piece of material is stretched, a stress/strain curve is created, the stress is the force being applied and the strain in the size change. So, as you pull on any bolt it stretches just a little, as long as you remain below the "yield point" the bolt will return to it's original length every time. Once you pull hard enough the metal will reach its yield point, at which point the material will be permanently deformed, it will never return to its original size and the metal is now fatigued.

If your engine has a single spec torque procedure feel free to reuse the head bolts after a careful inspection. If your engine has a torque to yield type torque procedure I strongly recommend replacing them, there is just to much time and money to go back and do it over again....

This actually applies any bolt with a multi step torque process, but the clamping pressure required to keep a head sealed is critical. I also cannot recommend enough that you have the heads resurfaced too, even if you cannot find any low spots with a straight edge and feeler gage, I'll bet money they're there!

 

[MikeB]

...if its a stock or close to stock motor not a ton of compression or ton of money into the motor then stock head bolts is fine

I agree, but I'd use new ones. Cheap insurance.

 

[Blue Ox]

Not to derail anything, but this whole letter head thing is confusing me.

This is from a '70:

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This from a '69:

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Sorry it's hard to see, but have I got some gold here?

Maybe I shouldn't be in such a hurry to get rid of my project.

But anyway, if the "E" head was on a '70, did they change them later for emissions and keep the letter? Or is it possible, (but I'd have to say very unlikely) that a newer engine had been swapped into the '70?

And what about "D" heads. I heard a rumor that they were some kind of special magic heads? Do they even exist, or are they only the stuff of legend?

Anyway, that's all I have in my bag of 455 Olds tricks.

 

[OldBlueDually]

@HotRodPC would have to answer that one, or another Olds expert!

My dad has another 455 Olds in his shed, I should see what heads are on that one.....maybe it's the unicorn/legend one doubt it though.

 

[OldBlueDually]

Well guys, check this out! This cutter and arbor worked amazing! Took me about 15 minutes to do all 16 of them, I took my time and ran the cutter slow as recommended by comp cams. What I did not know is this cutter also had another small cutter on it to do a chamfer on the top of the guides.

I was a little nervous because I have never done this before, but after I cut the first one I pressed on a new oil seal to verify and it worked great. In all I ended up taking off .044" as it was an original O.D. of .575 and I cut them down to .531. The valve springs will now work! I was very hesitant to do this myself, but dang glad I did, it was easy.

The next step now is I will lap the valves in the seats, then take the heads through the parts washer to be sure they are all cleaned up & free of contaminates.

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[OldBlueDually]

Ok, I got some information off of my big block. It is a C style head, and the casting numbers are below.

@Blue Ox These casting numbers found just above the center two exhaust ports.....on the left side mine was "394" and above the right port was "548" I also think you are right, the "D" heads are the rare W-30 heads, but according to the chart they are also big valve like the 67-69...so maybe it is the rare casting numbers?? Not sure what the actual difference is between what I have (C heads) and what the D heads have that would be different. Maybe @HotRodPC or @Matt69olds could answer that?

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Here is the block identification, mine is an F. Mine has the "stick font" letter F. The "serif font" letter F is the other. Found on what would be the passengers side top next to the oil fill tube.

Stick F

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Serif F

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I gotta look up serial numbers, mine has a fricken "X" in it and it has me curious.

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[OldBlueDually]

I found the engine ID information! Mine starts with 39X......so its Olds Division, 1969, made in Kansas. Last 6 digits should match the cars vin which the car is long gone....

Here is the site I found this information, great stuff!!
https://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobile.com/oldsfaq/ofhed.htm

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[Blue Ox]

Lots of good info there @OldBlueDually.

Thanks.

 

[HotRodPC]

The D and Fs are the W-30 heads. The F are like Unicorn heads. BIG BIG Money. The early E's are not so bad, the later E's not so much. You have the best of the somewhat common found heads.