Section 03. Building Your Short Block

Transcription

1 Section 03 Building Your Short Block 3.0 Some Decisions The First Decision What Block to Start With As a general rule, it is always best to find a car and then consider the engine combo for your project first. That way you can plan your build "from the ground up" and work on it in steps that give a measurable sense of accomplishment as you go along. Therefore, you should select the chassis first, and then the best block for such ride, based upon what return in performance you will receive for the money you spend. Also remember, small blocks (except the 403) like revs and big blocks don't. But big blocks make tons of torque, and as such make their power at rpms where they are good street engines. They don't need a ton of gear to accelerate and they more easily overcome parasitic losses to A/C, auto transmissions, and power steering. Of course, you may also be constrained by what fits together from a practicality standpoint. But since both the Olds small and big block are so close dimensionally, even if a V6 and 260 sits in the selected chassis, you can likely shoehorn even a 455 in its place. However, since a 260 and 307 are dimensionally the same size as the blocks, and if you are not concerned about replacing the block, we do suggest that you replace these smaller engines with a 350 or 403, especially if you are not restoring but are developing a performance application. If you are interested in retaining the 260 or 307 small block, we still offer suggestions for increasing their performance, but please recognize their limitations of what you can achieve with these motors. Importantly, while both the 260 and the 307 can be made to kick out some HP, those blocks are also limited by their true "thin wall" casting design which is felt in the main bearing web area. Supercharging and NOX should be a no-no because those blocks will just not take it. Most performance parts designed for the will fit the 260/307. Our suggestion, however, is to replace the 260/307 with the early "2" code 350, as you will spend the same amount of cash to increase the performance and you will get a lot more power for your money. On the other hand, if you have a330 or 350, you really have the best design for performance. The bore stroke ratio is excellent, the block is quite sturdy, and the rod and main bearing journal sizes allow good oiling. In stock form, the 330 and 350 will turn 5500 rpm with no problems, and when properly modified can see 7500 rpm. If you are starting with a big block, copious HP can be made with the 455, but you should remember that with that big arm swinging around inside, rpms should be kept under 6500 without some serious work. The 400 short stroke and 425 will rev over 7000, but cylinder head design also limits their rpms to that level. The long stroke 400 should be kept under Thus, your first decision should be: do I stay with my current block? And if not, what block will I start with? Decision Number Two - What Body is Best for a Particular Size Block Of course, the general rule of the lightest body with the engine that makes the most HP will result in the best performance in a straight line, assuming the engine does not overwhelm the chassis (twist, flex, etc.). However, we do live in a real world of turns, braking, and even creature comfort. Therefore, there are better combinations than making one based upon More's Law (if some is good, more is better). The following outlines our idea of what should work best in the real world. Basic Body Considerations - One consideration is can the frame/body accept the engine trans combo Full-Size Chassis: Every size block will fit in these cars. For cars (not including the Toronado), a Gen 2 Big Block is the best choice as nothing should need to be fabricated, though some 1964 cars ran the Jetaway auto transmission. If using a manual transmission, a driveshaft may have to be fabricated, though the Jetstar and 88 did offer this option cars can also run either the Big Block, a Gen or any of the Gen 3 small blocks with no problems, and any late trans such as the TH-350, TH- 375 and TH-400 will all fit. Stock bell housings are in bone yards for the 3 or 4-speed, and are the same for all Olds V-8s from 1964 onward; flywheels are commonplace for the cast crank engines. A driveshaft may have to be fabricated if a manual transmission is fitted Mid-Size: This chassis will take the small block or big block. Remember that the "A" body Turbo- Hydramatics had a shorter tail shaft than the "B" and "C" body units. From , the mid-size chassis used the T-300 or a SMT transmission, regardless of what block was installed. If 1967 components are utilized, the switch pitch TH-400 can be installed. The standard TH-400 fitted for the "A" body can be used. TH- 350s are a drop in with a cross member. The is also at home with the small block and/or the big block and any of the transmissions offered in the "A" body during this period will fit with no modification A Body (Mid-Size): Though most A Body cars were equipped with a 350, the 455 was mounted in the 442 from , so the chassis will accept this engine. Since these years' cars are heavier than the earlier version, the is a logical high performance choice

2 X Body: The X body was equipped with the 350 from 1973 through 1976, and when a modified small block is installed, this car becomes downright lively. The Big Block will fit with ease, though headers for this specific install are necessary. All "A" body transmissions will bolt up, and Chevy 12 bolt rears from a big block Nova should be considered for the big block (they are a drop in - and don't forget the driveshaft as well). The X body automatic cars ran a TH-200/250 from 1975 on and this transmission should be avoided for any performance work H body: The H-body will accept the 350 with a little work (the 231 V6 has a similar profile). Some H bodies used a Chevy small block, so parts are available. Be prepared to do a lot of massaging and expect to need a Chevy Monza V-8 transmission, rear and driveshaft B and C body: This chassis will accept the 350, though they originally harbored the either the 350 or 403 Olds; and occasionally the Chevy small block engine. A Gen 2 big block will fit with small fabrication G Body: The G Body will accept any of the small blocks as a bolt in situation, though the supplied TH-200/250 auto transmission may need to be upgraded as it was not designed for over 300 ft. lbs. of torque. If you have one of these cars and it is equipped with any version of the V-6 engine, you can move to a 350 or 403, if the motor mounts are changed to the 260/307 pieces. As a rule, if performance is the major consideration in your build, and you are starting with a clean slate, pick the smallest body size that will accept the largest engine. There are some other things to consider as well: Chassis and Body Availability & Rarity. Availability does not only mean the body, it may mean all the components that make up a legal street or race package, such as: running gear; sheet metal; glass; interior; etc. Rarity can translate into frustration. Component Compatibility: One of the key issues is in choosing a chassis compatibility of the various components that will make up your combo. For example, running a 4-speed in a chassis that never supported a manual transmission is going to result in hand-built parts, never a cheap approach. Modernity: This may sound absurd to nostalgia freaks, but consider that when one adds more powerful components to a chassis that is older, many things may not interchange. For example, adding a modern ignition system to a car with a 6 volt electrical system could require rewiring the entire car. Do you want air conditioning because you big block is going to generate a ton of heat and you live in south Texas so maybe a 1963 F-85 is not the car you should be choosing. Adding power steering to a 50's car can be a bear if the steering box has to be fabricated from a later piece. When you really examine these points - they all come back to cost. Where do you want to spend your money? Only you can answer that, but if you consider these items before you start the headaches and dollars will be reduced. Remember, if you are locked into a certain body style and year, you may be limited to a certain level of performance or convenience that you can achieve. This is OK, just don't fool yourself. For example, it is unlikely that a 1965 Starfire can ever be a 9 second bracket car, but a 1973 Omega can reach that goal. Decision Three How Much to Spend on Modification Obviously the cost of getting to a certain horsepower level factors into any engine build. Cost is related to three items: 1) parts and service availability; 2) parts compatibility; and 3) availability of technical resources. Of all the things driving cost, availability is key. Do not discount technical resources, however. If you have to ship your block 3000 miles to get it properly machined, this will add to cost. And if no one in your area is knowledgeable in how to do something critical in your block, costs could really escalate, or worse damage could be done. For this reason we have ranked the blocks based upon what it costs to extract horsepower not by total horsepower because engine size has a role in this. We are talking about is what effort it takes to get good HP from the block. 1. Generation 1 Small Block: The Gen 1 small block responds well to even minor modification, with a hotter cam and big block valves netting close 50 HP, with no other changes. There is a good amount of commercially available speed parts and shops with experience in building them. Best, the engine is new enough that many of the standard items like bearings, filters, belts, hoses, etc are available at commercial parts retailers like NAPA, Parts Plus and the like. Dick Miller Racing (located in Mississippi) has a plethora of technical expertise and lots of specialty parts available. The 350 is the best bet, as virtually every piece needed to make it a go fast engine is available, with the 330 right behind. The 330/350 can be taken out to over 380 with a stroker crank. 2. Generation 2 Big Block: The Gen 2 big block can be made to make over 550 HP without exotic pieces, and when combined with over 500 ft. lbs. of torque, the engine can be a bear. Like the 350, the engine is new enough that almost all of the standard items like bearings, filters, belts, hoses, etc are available at commercial parts retailers like NAPA, Parts Plus and the like. Again, Dick Miller Racing has a plethora of technical expertise and lots of specialty parts available and specializes in the 455 go. The 455 is the best bet, in big blocks, with virtually every piece needed to make it a go fast engine is available. The 425 is fine, but the forged crank is rare and if purchased from a vendor, expensive. 3. The Diesel V-8: While the diesel does not have a ton of availability when it comes to parts, there are enough around to warrant building one as a gasoline race motor. Also, the similarity of the diesel to the 350 means that there is some cross-fertilization between the two, with gasoline 350 and 403 heads, cams, etc. interchanging. There was a ton of diesels produced, so some junkyard scrounging can turn one up (Look at Olds, Buick and Caddy "B" and "C" body cars from ). The aftermarket does stock cams, intakes, etc. from the NASCAR effort of the mid 80's. Dick Miller and others can build a Diesel, including going "stroker", using a forged 400/425 crank with the counterweights turned down. Overboring the block to will yield 452 cu. in., which is possible, but can get real expensive. See Section 3.7 for complete information on this build

3 Decision Four - Primary Use Considerations This is the toughest decision, mostly because we all want the most powerful engine we can afford. But with naturally aspirated engines, we always have to compromise, because the biggest horsepower numbers always come at the expense of drivability. A few simple rules will help: 1. If the engine will see the street more than the rack, work on torque production. This may also dictate the size of the engine. The 425 and 455 big block make huge torque without huge dollars. 2. If the engine is a track motor, then consider not only the engine, but also body weight, gears and transmission. A 300 with some steep gears and cam can become a real track car in the right body, especially in the smaller early A body cars from and in the H-body front engine, rear drive cars. If you are looking for consistency (bracket drag racer) consider a big block 455 designed to operate in the lower rpm ranges, again where "torque talks" - use a A-body or X body. Decision Five The Major Components to Use Below is listed the most significant issue in each choice. Remember, the decision you make here, will be reflected across all your rebuilding, modification and the ancillary parts you purchase. The Block Consider the implications of the block you choose. Since you will likely be spending a considerable sum if you are rebuilding or you will be locking yourself into what that block's capabilities are, decide carefully. If you are restoring, you will have less of an issue, here, but even in that there are some options so be prudent here. 260 Engine: Do you have an early "2A"casting with solid mains? Solid main engines will tolerate power adders, which would benefit the 260 greatly. This engine does not have a forged piston available from the aftermarket and would require a custom piece. As a caution, the windowed main engine will not tolerate power adders or rpms beyond 6250 because it is susceptible to "crankshaft walk". 260s have been known to split along the valley axis when subjected to high rpms or power adders. 260s run a cast iron (not nodular iron) crankshaft which has been known to scatter above 5500 rpm. The Gen crank will fit with no alteration except balancing, however. 307 Engine: The first key here is what year cylinder heads you car has. Early s have heads similar to the other small block engines and will flow reasonably well. The second key is whether you have a roller lifter or standard lifter engine. Standard lifter engines can use the camshafts available to the older blocks, the roller lifter engines cannot. The aftermarket does supply camshafts for the roller lifer engines. Remember, like the 260, it has windowed mains and will not tolerate power adders or rpms beyond 6250 because it is also susceptible to "crankshaft walk". 307s also run a cast iron (not nodular iron) crankshaft which has been known to scatter above 5500 rpm. The Gen crank will fit with no alteration except balancing, however. 330 Engine: Do you have the early Code "1" or "1A" block? If you do, remember that this block has a 45 lifter angle of attack on the cam and cannot use the more popular later cams. If you are restoring the car and desire this block, you will be constrained in cam selection. If you are merely seeking a 330 block, find a Code "2" block with casting number which will be a 39 lifter angle piece. 350 Engine: Is it a Gen 1 (Code "2" through "5") or Gen 2 block (Code "3B"). If it is a Gen 2 block, it also has the weakness in the main web area and shouldn't be considered for any real performance work. It also uses a cast crank. It should be replaced with the nodular iron piece used in the earlier 350 or a forged 330 unit. Do you want to use a forged 330 crank? If so, your rods will have to be machined to match the 330 crank fillets or make sure you have a set of matching 330 rods. If you are using the Gen 2 block, remember there are HP limitations in this combo AND it will not tolerate power adders. 350 Diesel Engine: Do you have a big wallet? Are you willing to work within the tight parameters of existing parts availability? The block has on major advantage in that it is heavily reinforced in the bores, deck and main web area. It does, however, use main journal sizes that are the same as the big block. This block does have the advantage in that it can run a 400/425 forged crank, and with machining, it can be bored and stroked to anywhere between 412 and 452 cu. in. Diesel 350s should be treated like a 455 when it comes to oiling. 403 Engine: Do you have the rare "544990" or "553990" casting with solid main webs? If so, this engine can be treated just like a Gen If not, remember that this engine will not tolerate power adders or rpms beyond 6250 because it is susceptible to "crankshaft walk". Also, the 403 will not tolerate overbores beyond 0.030", but it can use all camshafts available to the and especially likes the 308 degree W-31 cam. Early Big Block Engine: If you go this route, remember that blocks with "A", "B" and some "D" codes use the 45 lifter angle of attack. The best option, if not restoring, is to use a 455 "F" code block and take the reciprocating pieces from an early 425 and use them in the 455 piece. Also recognize that you will need either an aftermarket or junkyard 425 flywheel or flexplate to bolt to the crankshaft properly. (It is much rarer than the 455 pieces). Late Big Block Engine: For performance and durability, this block should have the oiling upgrades made during rebuild. It is popular, plentiful and easy to work on. It makes huge torque and will reward you with great performance. The Cylinder Heads: 260 Engine: The 260 head is undesirable as a performance piece. For the street, engines should utilize the 307 "5A" heads, though the intake side of the block will have to be notched for valve clearance. 307 Engine: If you are running on the engine computer, the first and easy choice is to run the early "5A" heads, as the carb will not be confused by the flow. You can run all Gen 1 small block heads, but if the 2.00" W-31 intake valves are fitted, the intake side of the block may have to be notched. All standard 350 heads will work w/o interference, but the engine computer may have to be recalibrated

4 330 Engine: If you have the early Code "1" cylinder heads, they should be upgraded to 1966 or later configuration (Codes "3" through "6"), as most of the valve train components are no longer available for them. All 330 heads do not have stainless steel seats, though these castings have very high nickel content and rarely need the inserts in street applications. If you desire stainless steel seats, consider Code "7" heads. See the chart in Section 2 for a listing of the heads and the combustion chamber volume, and match the head to the piston style for the appropriate compression ratio. 350 Engine: All early (Code "3" through "6") heads do not have stainless steel seats, though the castings have very high nickel content and rarely need the inserts in street applications. If you desire stainless steel seats, use the Code "7" heads. Later engines (Code "8") used 455 sized chambers and 1.625" exhausts, Gen 2 (Code "3A") heads used large chambers and a smaller 260 sized (1.50") exhaust. See the chart in Section 2 for a listing of the heads and the combustion chamber volume, and match the head to the piston style for the appropriate compression ratio. 350 Diesel Engine: The diesel will have to utilize gasoline heads, so discard the heads if you purchased a junkyard piece. See the notes on the 350 engine above, for cylinder head usage. 403 Engine: The 403 uses the 455s large combustion chamber, a 1.995" intake, but either a 1.562" or 1.500" exhaust and 350 sized ports. If running stock compression (8.5:1) pistons, switching to a 350 Code "5" through "7" head and then installing W-31 valves will wake up the motor. Code "8" heads can also be used, but the larger chamber will reduce the compression back near the original number. Early Big Block Engine: The early engine with "A" heads will need to have the Chevy-style pieces replaced with standard 455 rockers and pushrods. If roller rockers are used, these heads can be used as is. Late Big Block Engine: All "A" series heads use a different rocker setup similar to Chevy and run All late engine heads will interchange, though the "C" and "E" are best for rebuilding. Obviously, the rare "D", "F", "H" and "K" W-30 pieces are the best. The "G" and "G A " heads are good stainless steel valve heads. Avoid the "J" series Head. Piston Type and CR - Consider availability and compression ratio. All things considered, choose a forged slug where possible; 330s in stock bore are a custom unit, but most can be bored to accept 350 pieces. 9.5:1 or less compression is best for the street. 10:5:1 or higher for the strip. Even if you decide to make the car into a strip only car later, you can add a half point or better to the CR milling the head/block; or in some cases the fitment of a different series head, as all will interchange. See the Chart at the end of this Section for the potential compression ratios. Connecting Rods - 330, early 350 or big block factory forged rods should be good except for an all out race engine. There are aftermarket forged/billet rods available for all the blocks, but those for the 350 Diesel must be custom cut. 260s and 307s can run 350 rods. Cam Type - Mechanical cams or mechanical roller cams may require modification to the lifter oiling system that must be done when prepping the short block. Stay with a hydraulic cam unless you are going after maximum horsepower. Since cams are interchangeable, all blocks have readily available roller grinds. Rocker Arm Type Since all heads are similar in design except for the early 330s and 400/425, roller rockers are available for all the engines, albeit from different suppliers. Roller rockers are especially useful in reducing frictional loss, especially when higher valve spring rates are used. Roller rockers can be added later. Cam Lift - High lift cams and different rocker ratios could require notched pistons. Check before you build however. It s a lot easier to notch pistons before you install them than afterwards, though it can be done. Don't Overbuild - Spend as much as you can reasonably afford on the short block. For example, don't buy forged aluminum rods for a street motor. Remember, it should be more about QUALITY TESTED ITEMS than EXOTIC PIECES. 3.1 Camshaft Selection Considerations You have an image of a sweet block sitting on the engine stand and you want to reach out and get a mean old bumpstick and shove it in the waiting engine, bolt on some heads and go, baby go. Not so fast; you have a few decisions to make first. There are some important considerations about how the engine will be used and what weight the engine will have to propel. An then there is the question of where to get your cam. Fortunately for Olds owners many of the original cam profiles are available from NROS suppliers, and the aftermarket has a good selection that has constantly been upgraded to meet technology advances., Understand that except for the late 307 roller lifter cam, there are no factory cams for the V-8 engines still stocked. If you are doing a restoration of a factory engine or want similar performance to what was available in the 60s and 70s for cruising around, the NROS grinds are fine. If you are considering any sort of serious performance work, you should go to the aftermarket. We included the camshaft specifications for the factory cams and our recommendations for performance work. See Section 3.7, Short Block Assembly for all steps in installing, checking and degreeing the camshaft. Suggested Cams It is highly suggested that you opt for under-camming rather than over-camming your engine. The more duration and lift, the higher you will have to rev the engine to achieve

5 maximum horsepower. The cam should match the rpm band in which your engine will spend the majority of its life. For example, a cam that makes most of its HP at 7500 rpm is not the ticket for a street driven 455 with 3.42 gears. Stock or Resto. Those of you restoring your Olds in the era will find that Super Cars Unlimited has most replacement cams even for the old 45 lifter angle. Visit them at and you may order on line. This highly reputable NROS company has been in business for 20 years. Those of you running the 1979 Hurst or anyone with an engine that used the cam can run the Super Cars Unlimited replacement for the cam # Anyone running the cam can run the # which is the replacement for the cam. W-Series Stock or Factory Modified. Nobody wants a stocker, right? Wrong. Have you run up against a NHRA specked W-30 or 31 on the street? These cars ran in the high 11 s and low 12 s back in the day. Old W-Cars were awesome and ran hard. If you want a Cutlass/442 running as they were back then, build one of these W-engines. The W-cams are available from Super Cars Unlimited Super Cars Unlimited also stocks the famous NHRA cheater cam for the W-30 (#14-248). This is a nasty cam and almost unstreetable. We have witnessed a 67 W-30 stick car running this cam (in a 425 block) and this is one mean street machine. Street Mild to Super Modified. Our suggestions for these performance levels are the absolutely toughest cam you should run. Please don t over cam your car by looking at our specs and saying Let me go one cam higher. You will not be happy, especially if you car weighs more than 3400 lbs. Street/Strip cams are marginal on the street and Super Modified cars will not run on the street. Don t fool yourself; if you intend to drive in traffic or take grandma to the mall, stay away from the cams recommended for Street/Strip and Super Modified. Cam and Cylinder Head Thoughts See Section 4, Building Your Cylinder Heads for more detail on this process. There is a great relationship between the cam you choose and the type of heads you should be running. Many people come to the wrong conclusion when they consider this relationship. The assumption is that the better the head, the more camshaft duration and lift they should run. Wrong! This is only true for a drag only, super modified car. Actually, the better the head, the less camshaft duration and lift is needed. Why? Because if the head is more efficient, it needs a less aggressive cam to fill the cylinder. If you are running aftermarket or highly modified stock heads in Street Mild or Street Wild, run our suggested cams for the automatic trans regardless of what transmission you may be using. If you are running aftermarket or highly modified stock heads in Street/Strip, run the Street Wild cams; but go up one gear set (e.g.; if 3.90s were recommended in Street Wild, run 4:11s or 4:33s). Cam and Intake Manifold Thoughts See Section 5, Fuel Delivery, Induction and Exhaust for more information on this issue. Do not overcame your engine. For example, if you are running a with a factory intake even the factory 328 cam will be overkill. Cams and Vehicle Weight Vehicle weight is a critical factor when selecting a cam, as a principal rule, as weight goes up duration should go down and lift should increase. Gears can overcome some of this; consider for a given engine, gears should go down (higher numerically) one available gear set for each 500 lbs in vehicle weight starting from 2800 lbs. So as an example, if you are running a 1968 W-31 in a convertible body, to take full advantage of the cam, you would need a minimum 4.33:1 gears top get the same performance as a stripped out Sports Coupe (post coupe) with 3.42:1 gears. The Cutlass/442 is quite heavy. Be sure to run the gears suggested. (Factory Modified and Street Mild cars should run at least a 3:42 gear with the 455 and 3.90s with a 350). Auto trans cars should up the stall speed in their torque converter by 500 RPM over the suggestions in the Transmission Section when running the 350 V and 307 cars should run as much stall as you can tolerate unless you are running 3.73:1 gears or better. Cam Selection Using the Chart See the Cam Selection Charts in this Section for advice on cams. However: If you select a cam from another manufacturer other than those recommended, stay as close as possible to the specs in the chart suggested for your vehicle. We recommend Mondello's aftermarket race cam specs because they work as advertised. Both Engle and others will grind cams to these specs. Don t use cheap cams sold by discount stores. Many of these cams were crudely copied from various grinds and many times made off-shore, where quality could be an issue. You may get lucky with one of these cams, but if you don t you will basically have to tear down your engine to fix it. You may purchase another manufacturer's cam if the specs are close to what is shown for the cams listed. We recommend that you stay with reputable manufacturers such as Isky, Crower, Comp Cams, Lunati, etc. If you are unsure of the cam to use and are considering running an aftermarket cam, contact the vendor and give them as much information on the primary intended usage, engine, vehicle weight and transmission, etc, so they can accurately recommend a cam that will give you the performance you want. If you are considering running a factory cam and are unsure of the application, send our Oldsmobile Subject Matter Advisor an to the following address: oldscamadvisor@wildaboutcars.com. Give the advisor your build specs and usage intentions. Additional Cam Information

6 Consider the following if you are running cams with more duration than the standard factory supplied specifications, exclusive of the 308 and 328 W cams. Factory Modified cars running 3.23:1 or less rear gear (lower numerical) should consider an aftermarket converter with a higher stall speed - see Transmission Section. On auto transmission cars from Street Mild up should use an aftermarket converter - see The Chassis Running Gear Modification and Tuning Guide (published separately) for more stall speed suggestions. You will "hear" most aftermarket cams below 2500 RPM as the ramps can be fast - causing the lifters to clatter at low rpms. If you are running Mondello 555-H and 555- HCR lifters, this may be even more pronounced. Follow the suggestions of the cam manufacturer regarding springs, lifters, retainers, and other cam related components, if such are not recommended in the enclosed chart. For Roller Cams - buy a complete kit, including rockers, pushrods, lifters, etc. or match the components based upon the manufacturer s suggestions. Lifter Recommendations Use a reputable brand of lifters if the cam manufacturer does not specify one. The following lifters are recommended; all will reduce pump up at high RPM. Big Diameter Lifters. 400 and 425 Blocks running lifters and all diesels and 307s w/o roller cams. Use HL or Isky Hydraulic Lifters. Milder Cams. Small lifter blocks running cams with specifications less than or equal to the Mondello JM and stock cams. Use Mondello HL-232 or Isky Hydraulic Lifters. Heftier Cams. Small lifter blocks running cams with specifications greater than or equal to the Mondello JM Use Mondello HL-230 or Isky Hydraulic Lifters. Drag Race. Small lifter blocks running cams with specifications greater than or equal to the Mondello JM- 30. Use Mondello HL-555 or HL-555 CR or Isky Hydraulic Lifters. Lifter Preload See Section 4, Building Your Cylinder Heads for a technique to set lifter preload and/or valve lash). A stock Olds cam has a large base circle (large cam lobes). As such the cam and push rod are set to preload the lifters when the stock 5/16 bolts in the rocker cradles are torqued to 25 ft. lbs. While this might get you by on a restored stocker, it will not do if you are running the 402 series ("W") factory cams or aftermarket high performance cams. The following items affect preload and will be addressed in Section 4. Check installed valve height on all valves BEFORE installing the heads on the block if possible. Ensure there is no valve spring bind. Check that you have the proper pushrod (length and thickness); install adjustable pushrods if possible for better pre-load adjustment when running factory nonadjustment rockers. Make sure that the rocker arm geometry is correct make sure that the rocker is not resting on the valve tip properly and not adding too much - or too little - preload to the lifters. Valve Spring Selection Valve spring specifications/selection is covered in detail in Section 4, Building Your Cylinder Heads. Consider matching the springs to the cam by manufacturer it is not suggested to mix and match unless the manufacturer suggests it or they do not offer the proper spring. Stock and Resto Stock cars can use the springs recommended by Supercars Unlimited, Sealed Power, Clevite and Melling, however W-cars should use the springs from Supercars Unlimited, Engle or Isky. Where possible use the springs recommended by the cam manufacturer. See the spring recommendations in our Camshaft Selection Chart(s). A Note on Valve Span and Potential Valve Shrouding Like most mass-produced machinery, certain design parameters are "locked in" so as to keep costs from escalating. In an Olds motor, a key design element that ran across the entire production life of the Gen 1 and 2 small blocks and the Gen 2 big block was the reliance on all engines having the same bore spacing (4.625") and the center to center distance between the intake and exhaust valve. These two measurements allowed common tooling and machining. Here, in our discussion of cylinder heads, one should know that all Olds engines used a valve centerto-center distance (the distance between the intake and exhaust valve centerlines) of 1.91". The impact of this distance is that there is a maximum total valve size that can be achieved without the valves touching, and there is a maximum valve size that can be achieved before the outside edge of the valve will touch the cylinder bore when open. Even before this touching occurs, the valve will become "shrouded", in that there will not be enough space for the incoming or outgoing gasses to pass by efficiently if the valve is too close. So merely moving the valve stem outward (which can be accomplished to a certain degree without effecting valve geometry) may be counter productive. The charts on the following pages show: 1) the stock relationship of the valves and the cylinder bores, including how far away they are from each other, AND how far away they are from the outside of the cylinder bore; and 2) the maximum valve size that can be accommodated BEFORE the valve will shroud or strike the outside bore or each other. Moving either valve inward to allow for greater circumference can be done, but this is something that a highly knowledgeable and competent shop should do. Our suggestion is that you consult with Dick Miller Racing prior to considering this option. Certain aftermarket cylinder heads have repositioned the valves, and their computations are the result of hours of computation and experimentation. We recommend that if you desire larger valve sizing, that you consider these heads

7 At Left is an engineering drawing of a standard Olds cylinder head. The center-to-center distance for the pushrod hole is the same as the valve stem. The outer edge of the combustion chamber IS NOT the outer edge of the engine bore, and in most cases, will be LARGER than the bore. The Olds bore spacing is 4.625", but this is not the maximum bore size (usually 4.185"). Therefore the max span from the bore center to the bore edge is ". Assuming that the valve stems are centered in the cylinder bore, ½ (0.955") plus ½ the valve face is the valve edge distance to the bore edge. (See Charts below)

8 Valve Span and Potential Shrouding Standard Valve Span

9 Valve Span and Potential Shrouding Maximum Valve Span Recommended Valve Sizes All Oldsmobile heads manufactured between 1964 and 1976 will accept 2.072" intake and 1.710" exhaust valves. However, if the valve is shrouded it may not flow as well as a smaller valve that is not shrouded by the cylinder wall. Thus, the above sizes are recommended for each engine as the best possible approach

10 Recommended Aftermarket Camshafts by Application

11 Recommended Aftermarket Camshafts by Application Continued

12 3.2 The Build General Rules Basic Engine Block Machining and Blueprinting Issues It should be stated right from the outset that our recommendations are for building the best engine possible. Some of what we recommend may seem like overkill for an engine that is going to see limited duty in a completely stock passenger car that will merely be driven less than 5 thousand miles a year, to and from car shows. But we are determined to build not only as bullet-proof a block as possible, but also to make sure that block versus block the one we recommend will make more HP than any other block prepped any other way, be cause our block will seal better, have less rotational friction and will have clearances that allow better RPM than one built any other way. Only you can judge whether this type of build is necessary; just know that what we recommend will result in the most efficient, powerful and longest lasting (abuse aside) engine. The following are things to keep in mind when prepping your motor, regardless of usage: 1. Check and clean everything that will be reused first. As part of that rebuild, make sure all the components are magnafluxed and checked for surface cracks - and where water has touched it, corrosion. The following are our recommendations. Your rebuilder should do all of this to ensure a top quality build. Don t be afraid to ask if this will be done as part of the job you are about to lay down some big bucks for. Most engine builders will be proud to show you what they will do in this regard. If they aren t find another rebuilder. 13 The entire block should be disassembled and washed in a heavy solution of detergent (like Simple Green or Tide) or a basic engine cleaner or solvent. All oil lines should be cleaned with a rifle bore brush. If an oil line can t be reached with a bore brush, it should be blown out with compressed air. All freeze-out plugs should be removed and the water passages should be blown out with compressed air. Where possible, a rifle bore brush should be used as well. The block should be cleaned again as in step 1 after the water and oil lines are cleaned and it should be dried with compressed air. The crank, its main journal saddles, rods, rod journals, and any other part of the motor that will be returned to the engine should be cleaned in the same way (including the heads). 2. Check and clean cylinder heads in the same manner as the block. 3. Inspect and check all heads and valve train. Cylinder heads and valves (if reused) should be checked and where appropriate magnafluxed. We suggest that new valves and springs be used. At 2500 rpm the valve & spring open and close 1500 times in one minute or 90,000 times in an hour. Standard mild steel exhaust valves can become brittle over time and can shatter when exposed to higher lift and heavier springs. 4. Grind away casting flash. When prepping the block, grind away all remaining casting flash that is visible, with special attention to the lifter galley area where the castings tend to be messy. Any sharp corners should be removed with a file or grinder to reduce heat buildup and to reduce the possibility of stress cracks. 5. Have your engine rebuilt by a reputable professional. Do the same for the cylinder heads. Visit a few shops and don t merely go on word of mouth. Always ask if the shop has done Olds engines and what type and ask for references. Call those references and talk with them. Most guys will be glad to tell you about their experiences and the results. 6. Have the short block and the heads reassembled by that professional. If they are a pro, part of their assembly will be to recheck (and rebalance where appropriate) the component parts. It is unlikely you can do this. All plugs and seals should not be reused. Once the short block and heads are assembled, you can save money by assembling the components. 7. Be sure of a clean final assembly. You can do the final assembly if you need to save money or just like to do this, but please remember CLEAN, CLEAN, AND MORE CLEAN. Dirt is the enemy. 8. Pay attention to detail. Stay as close to the specifications shown and the assembly procedures detailed in this Manual. Follow the procedures and use the specs from the Proper Factory Service Manual if it is not included or superseded by this book Don t neglect the little things. Don t reassemble the engine with reused things like the head and rod bolts, the old oil pump and shaft, timing chain and gears, rocker arms and push rods - no matter how good they look. Buy new quality NOS or NROS parts or parts supplied by performance vendors. (Studs are a good way to go, wherever possible). Discard the old crankshaft harmonic balancer (attached to the front of the crank) and buy a new one. These old parts either have wear or stress on them and this may cause failure or erratic engine behavior. Good looking rocker arms tend to have wear that cannot be seen by the naked eye. This will affect valve timing. Worn rockers may be brittle and crack or shatter under load. 13 Most machine shops offer "hot tanking" as part of their services. This involves immersing the block in a solution designed to remove scale in the water passages, oil sludge and varnish. This should be done regardless of whether the block was cleaned prior to delivery. 14 If a hard copy is not available, all Chassis/Service manuals are available on CD from

13 Other Assembly and Machining Issues Machining, Finishing and Clearances - The clearances shown on the enclosed Assembly Worksheet(s) are the recommendations for the engines listed. Your rebuilder may have other recommendations, but unless they have built successful OLSMOBILE engines, you should ask them to follow the specs and recommendations in the Worksheet that is specific for your engine. Follow the procedures in this manual and the Worksheet(s) and when there is no reference, refer to those in the Proper Factory Service Manual for your engine unless it is included or superseded by this book 15 Suggestions for Stock and Mildly Modified Engines - Stock and Street Mild engines can get by with replacement cast pistons, BUT unless you are building an engine that for some reason, and you cannot find or are not allowed to run a forged piston (racing rule or such), it is suggested that you replace the piston with a forged unit. You will find that the price of a set of forged slugs is not that much more than a set of cast, so go forged if you can. Overboring and Honing - Most blocks need no more than a overbore to get the cylinders into round and to ensure that everything is OK is the maximum for safe cylinder wall retention in everything except some early 330 blocks. Late blocks will not tolerate anything beyond 0.040", and even that is questionable. See the Assembly Worksheet for the best overbore for your engine. Since most Olds blocks used early thin-wall casting procedures, our advice is that any overbore beyond 0.040" should be preceded by a block sonic test. Use a Torque Plate - Make sure that the block is bored and honed using a cylinder head torque plate bolted down on both sides of the block when doing these operations. The torque plate replicates the distortion the block will see when the heads are torqued down. During these processes, torque the main bearing journals in place as well. Re-freshening Rebuilds - This organization does not believe in what many call a "short block refresher", which consists of merely re-honing the block, and installing new bearings, rings and gaskets. Some shops will tell you that if your engine was running OK, this will be sufficient they are wrong. In many cases, this can shorten the life of an engine by altering clearances and tolerances in a negative fashion. When a proper rebuild is worth 10-15% in the HP arena, why not do it right and capture that extra HP? We have seen 330s with the factory 308 cam make 330 HP at the rear wheels with all factory equipment in place when a rebuild was done according to this manual. Frankly, if your engine runs smooth and does not smoke, and you are just looking to drive it moderately without trouble, leave the short block alone rather than rebuild it. But don't leave that block untouched if you are adding a wild camshaft, big carburetor and/or manifold and other performance goodies that will take the block into a higher rpm range - you will generally be sorry. Do it completely and right, or let it be - If you are going to modify the engine with a more radical cam, carburetion and perhaps a power adder, unless you have an engine with less than 25 thousand miles that is less than ten years old, you will likely need to rebuild it. Changing the rpm range and adding more power potential to a tired engine is looking for trouble without a rebuild. Cast pistons do not like power adders, especially nitrous. Lean conditions will take the top of the cast piston right off. Detonation damaged piston 15 All Chassis/Service manuals are available on CD from

14 3.3 Increasing Displacement Introduction What Works Generally, there are two ways to increase displacement boring the block and or stroking the crankshaft. Other than the 330, Olds block cannot be bored significantly enough where that process alone will result in any big displacement gains. As we have stated, Olds Gen2 and Gen 3 engines used thin wall casting, so there is little meat in the cylinder walls. As such, most engines are not happy with increased bore sizing over.040". The chart below shows the maximum increase from boring the motors, based upon the maximum SAFE overbore. As you can see, the only block that has potential for large increases in displacement is the 350 diesel. The Diesel will also make 418 cubes with a 0.030" bore clean up and the 400/425 forged crank installed. The Chart above should give you a good idea of what works and what doesn't make sense. For example, boring a 330 over 0.030" nets 5 cubic inches, so an over bore should be used to get good round holes. Taking a Gen out 0.060" will get you 10 cubic inches, so why go that far and take a chance of striking water or weakening the block? A 260 becomes a 269 with a 0.060" overbore, so why not just use the larger engine? Thus, if you are looking for cubes, it is smarter to go to the next size block. This is especially true since Olds offered a large number of different engine blocks in each family. Also, the cost of stroking an engine is high unless a factory crank can be used. Remember that stroking will usually also mean new connecting rods and/or pistons (in some cases custom pistons, which can get quite expensive). That is why most bored and stroked diesels are built for specific racing classes or for a chassis which is just too small for the big block. Increasing Displacement on the 350 Diesel General - The 350 diesel engines are so designed that as much as 90 cubic inch displacement increases are possible, given the strength of the block, its huge deck and that it utilizes the mains of the Gen 2 big block. The Bore The "DX" series block has bore that are practically siamesed. Thus bores of up to 4.250" are feasible. To be certain you won't strike water, be sure to have the block sonic tested. The Block - The deck is also very thick, allowing superior clamping of the head. Since the mains have so much beef, they are easily converted to 4-bolt configuration. See picture on the right. Diesel block modified for 4-bolt mains. Beef in the main webs allows this as a simple conversion. Alongside is the cap assembly. Mondello has an assembly that can be modified to fit. The Crankshaft The diesel block will accept a 400/425 forged crankshaft, allowing for the 3.975" stroke if the counterweights are cut down by approximately 0.375". Rods and Pistons For any stroke increases or bores beyond 4.185", special pistons are required. Engine builders like Dick Miller can suggest a piston/rod assembly that will work

15 Mondello prefers the "440" configuration that uses 454 Chevy rods (narrowed) and a custom Arias piston. This build will be covered in the Building your Block Section 3.4. Suffice it to say: "Don't try this at home". Increasing Displacement on the 455 Rods and Pistons Mondello's package uses Arias custom pistons and Chevy big block rods. Dick Miller's kit uses 7" forged rods by Oliver and Diamond custom pistons. General The 455 has enough space inside the case for an even longer stroke, and as such an increased displacement. The Bore The 455 strokers come with either stock or increased bore. 455 and 425 inch blocks can be bored sufficiently that when combined with a longer stroke they can reach 500 inches. Mondello and Dick Miller Racing provide custom pistons with special bores as well as with adjusted pin height to compensate for the new stroke. The Block - The standard 455 or 425 block can be used. Mondello's kits include increased bore and stroke to reach either 486 or 493 cubic inches. Dick Miller Racing sells two kits to make 500 a cubic inch engine (4.185" x 4.500"). The kits use either a billet steel or cast crankshaft assembly that can be installed in a 425 or 455 block. The Crankshaft - Mondello's kit uses quality cast nodular iron crankshafts that are built up to the proper stroke and then cryogenically frozen for extra longevity. Dick Miller's kit comes with either a steel billet or cast nodular iron crank with a 5.00" stroke Components of a Dick Miller Racing 500 inch block kit. Both kits are fully machined and balanced. You can assemble the components in a block of your choice or you can have both organizations fully build and assemble the short block. Both will also build a complete long block. Contact them for pricing. 3.4 Suggested Builds By Block Introduction Since this question always comes up, we decided to answer it before you started building your block. We will to qualify it with two provisos: 1) There is no such thing as "best"; there is however a good set of suggested components you should consider; and 2) all bets are off with a Street/Strip or Super Modified engine. Let's explain: 1. "Best" is a relative term. What one person might think is best is a reliable but peppy engine, and another might think total power, no matter what the cost in drivability and longevity, is the best. For our definition, what we consider "best" is, for Factory Modified through Street Wild is the most powerful engine possible with the most drivability and reliability. Because of that, our recommended engines are likely to produce less power, but they won't break and most of all you will enjoy them. 2. Street/Strip and Super Modified engines. These engines are not only subjected to such stress that we can't make any guarantees on reliability, except to say that our suggestions will opt for strength in lieu of HP. And as far as the "best" for an application, there are so many variables in racing that a statement of this nature is impossible. of application and only add or subtract parts based upon specific usage. We feel that our basic block could be and should be used by any level of vehicle, with the only variable being rods (forged aluminum or specialty for strokers) and super light weight pistons. The theory here is that if the block has been built properly, it becomes a solid foundation, with only the camshaft, induction, exhaust & oiling considerations as variables. 350 Nodular Iron crankshaft. Note the large cast "N" behind the 1 & 2 connecting rod throws. This crankshaft is much stronger than the cast 260 and 307 units, and will handle rpms in the 7000 range. Our descriptions will be by block or series of blocks and will be broken down by Street (from factory Modified to Street Wild) and Racing (Street /Strip and Super Modified). Remember that it is best to build our basic block regardless

16 Suggested 260 and 307 Engine Mods Street 260. Block. Build the block as suggested in Section 3.5 and 3.6. Stock cast pistons may be used, or you may have Arias build you a custom set of forged units. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. Replace the cast crank with the early nodular 350 crank, casting number with a large "N" on the front counterweight. Use the 350 rods, casting number as well - as the crank will need to be rebalanced. Heads. Discard the 260 cylinder heads as they were never intended for anything but pedestrian usage, with power production leveling out at about 3800 rpm. Replace them with a set of code "5A" heads, found on engines. Retain the stock 307 valve sizes and polish the ports and combustion chambers. With the 307 head milled 0.050" (maximum) and stock cast pistons, the compression ratio will be about the original actual of 7.86:1. Even with this setup, the intake side of the bores must be notched for valve clearance. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 260 would be the factory (Supercars Unlimited #14-240) and 300 lb springs (SU #14-060). (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1) Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a 307 or 350 with single cat con and duals will work. Hooker makes headers for the Cutlass, No Intake and Carb. Trash the 260 components and install a bbl manifold from a Run a corresponding year carb from a 350 or 307 as appropriate. If your carb is an electronic model using computer controls, AUTOMOTION Rochester Carb Service can recalibrate it if you send them your cam and head configuration. A way to richen the WOT mixture is to adjust the Quadrajet's secondary metering rods. This should not lead to an over-rich condition at idle or part throttle, since the secondaries are typically closed and because only the primary barrels are ECM controlled. See Section 5.2 for tips. Ignition. Run a modified HEI distributor. See the info in Section 6. Racing 260. The 260 should never be considered for a Super Modified car, however, for a non-emission controlled engine, the following should be done in addition to the items denoted in the Street 260. Heads. Fully port the 307 5A heads. If you are willing to notch both sides of the bore, and relieve the pistons, you may run valves (1.875" intakes and 1.562" exhausts). Run Mondello ARK-465 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. Camshaft. Automatic cars should run specs similar to Mondello's JM cam kit and stick cars should run specs similar to the Mondello JM cam kit. (Cam Specs in Section 3.1) Intake and Carb. Install an Edelbrock Performer 3711 and an AUTOMOTION prepped Quadrajet carb. Street 307. Block. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. Stock cast pistons may be used, or you may purchase Arias # :1 forged pistons, which are about 100 grams lighter than stock. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. Replace the cast crank with the early nodular 350 crank, casting number with a large "N" on the front counterweight. Use the 350 rods, casting number as well - as the crank will need to be rebalanced. Heads. If you are running a post , discard the heads and run the code "5A" heads, found on engines. Retain the stock 307 valve sizes and polish the ports and combustion chambers. With stock pistons, mill these heads 0.030", for a true 8.7:1 compression ratio. Early "5A" heads compared to the later "6A" and "7A" units. The arrows point to the 5A units. Note the larger ports and familiar exhaust setup. Aluminum 307 intake, for "5A" heads. Aside from the EGR valve fitment, the manifold is strikingly similar to the W-350, W-31 unit, however the ports are smaller This is an excellent manifold for the 260 Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the is a cam and kit with specs close to the Mondello JM Roller cam motors (1986 and later) should run specs like the RH-6-14 kit with stock roller tappets. Early engines can convert to the roller setup using Mondello RT-685 roller hydraulic tappets. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1) Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a 307 or 350 with single cat con and duals will work. Hooker makes non-emissions legal headers Cutlass, No

17 Intake and Carb. Install an Edelbrock Performer 3711 and an AUTOMOTION built Quadrajet carb. It will have to be recalibrated, if electronic. One way to richen the WOT mixture is to adjust the Quadrajet's secondary metering rods. This should not lead to an over rich condition at idle or part throttle, since the secondaries are typically closed and because only the primary barrels are ECM controlled. See Section 5.2 for tips. Ignition. Run a modified HEI distributor. See the info in Section 6. Racing 307. The 307 should never be considered a Super Modified motor, but we can make it a Street/Strip engine. For a non-emission controlled engine, the following should be done in addition to the items denoted in the Street 307. Block. Purchase Arias # :1 forged pistons, which are about 100 grams lighter than stock. Heads. You may rework 5A heads or utilize 330/350 heads. 1. Fully port and polish the chambers in the 307 5A heads. Run valves (1.875" intakes and 1.562" exhausts). Run Mondello ARK-465 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. Run Mondello ARK-465 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. OR 2. Install polished /350 heads and later heads will have to be shaved " to return to the 9.5:1 compression ratio of the 307 heads. Run Mondello ARK-460 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. Camshaft. Run a cam with specs like the Mondello JM for auto trans cars with 3.55 or 3.73 gear, and like the JM on cars with a 4.11 or better. Roller tappet cars should run specs near the RH for auto transmission cars with 3.55 or 3.73 gears, & the RH-22 on cars with a 4.11 or better. (See Cam Specs Section 3.1) Exhaust. Run Hooker non-emissions legal headers for the Cutlass, No Edelbrock 3711 Manifold. Note the "low-rise" configuration is still higher than the stock 307 manifold shown on the previous page. Intake and Carb. The Edelbrock Performer 3711 is more than enough for the 307. Run an AUTOMOTION calibrated Quadrajet carb, which will likely have to be recalibrated, if electronic. One way to richen the WOT mixture is to adjust the Quadrajet's secondary metering rods. This should not lead to an over rich condition at idle or part throttle, since the secondaries are typically closed and because only the primary barrels are ECM controlled. See Section 5.2 for tips. Suggested 330 and 350 Engine Mods Street 330. Block. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. If you have a 1964 "1" or "1A" block with the 45 lifter angle, it should be changed out to a "2" "4" cast code 39 cam lifter angle block for a full cam selection available in the later unit. Stock cast pistons may be used (available from Kanter Auto), or you may overbore the engine to utilize 350 forged units. 350 W-31 Sealed Power Forged 10.5:1 Part # L2320F (standard bore) or Sealed Power Forged 10.25:1 standard hi-comp Part # L2321F (0.030" over), or 350 Sealed Power cast stock piston Part # W332AP (7.9:1 CR with stock 70 cc "6" heads) will fit with an overbore. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. The standard forged crank is the best there is. Retain it and the rods, which match the fillets on the crank. Heads. As long as you have casting code "2" "7" heads, you are OK. "1", "1A" or "2" heads have strange rocker assemblies and should be discarded in favor of the later units. If you are running the stock cast replacement 7.9:1 pistons, you will have to mill the head 0.050" (maximum) to return the compression ratio to 8.9:1 actual. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 330 would be the factory cam for auto trans cars with a 3200 stall and at least 3.42 gears; (Supercars Unlimited #14-082) and 300 lb springs (SU #14-060). SMT cars should run specs similar to the Mondello JM cam and kit. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1). Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a 330 or 350 with duals will work. We suggest Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Intake and Carb. Replace the stock intake manifold with an Edelbrock Performer 3711 and a AUTOMOTION Modified 780 Quadrajet carb, Ignition. Run a modified Mallory Unilite distributor. See the setup info in Section 6. Racing 330. The 330 can easily be a Super Modified car, however, consider overboring it to a maximum of 0.098" to reach a 0.030" overbored 350 (sonic test first). The following should be done in addition to the items denoted in the Street 330. Block. Consider Arias # " over 350 pistons (0.098" over on the 330) as these units are about grams lighter than standard Speed Pro WL2320F30, which are about 655 grams versus about 600 for the Arias unit. Heads - Factory. Fully port and polish the 330 heads. Add 350 W-31 valves (2.000" intakes and 1.625" exhausts). Run Mondello ARK-460 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. If you expect rpms in excess of 6700, run the Mondello 7200 Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit as it will accept lift in excess of 0.600"

18 Suggest using 3/8" pushrods, therefore must drill pushrod holes to 9/16". Recommended for use with our SK-695 valve spring kit. Heads Aftermarket. You may fit Edelbrock aluminum heads #60519, However a Edelbrock Performer intake #7111 MUST be used and port matching is necessary. Fit Mondello RR-442-P Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit. Camshaft. Automatic cars should run specs like the Mondello JM cam kit and stick cars should run the JM-6-7 cam kit. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run the JM-6-7 cam. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1) Intake and Carb. Auto cars should run an Edelbrock high rise Performer 7111 and a AUTOMOTION Quadrajet carb. SMT and AMT cars running Edelbrock heads cars can use the Edelbrock 2812 Olds Victor Manifold with a 780 Holley. Street 350. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. Diesel Blocks can follow the suggestions here, with the exception that they should follow the crankshaft mods shown in the 455 section. For diesel 350s, see all the tips in the following block build sections as they relate to 455s. See also the stroking info in Section 3.7. Block. If you have a late "3A" block with the "windowed mains", it should be changed out to a "2" "4" casting code with the 39 cam lifter angle block, which is far sturdier. Stock cast pistons Part # W332AP (7.9:1 CR with stock 70 cc "6" heads) may be used (available from Sealed Power). 350 W-31 Sealed Power Forged 10.5:1 Part # L2320F (standard bore) or Sealed Power Forged 10.25:1 hi-comp Part # L2321F (0.030" over), will fit. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. Standard cast nodular iron crank is fine. If you want more longevity, go with the 330 forged unit, casting # or Use it and the rods, which match the fillets on the crank. This crank is available from Standard Crankshaft Company See numbers and Heads. As long as you have casting code "2" "7" heads, you are OK. Stay away from "8" and the later "3A" emission series, the former, because of huge chamber size and the latter because of the odd-sized valves. If you are running the stock cast replacement 7.9:1 pistons, you will have to mill the head " " (maximum) to return the compression ratio to an actual CR of 8.9:1. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 350 would be the factory cam for auto trans cars with a 3200 stall and at least 3.42 gears; (Supercars Unlimited #14-082) and 300 lb springs (SU #14-060). SMT cars should run specs like the JM cam and kit. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1). Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a 330 or 350 with duals will work. Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Intake and Carb. Replace the stock intake manifold with an Edelbrock Performer 3711 and a AUTOMOTION Modified 780 Quadrajet carb, Ignition. Run a modified Mallory Unilite distributor. See the setup info in Section 6. If your car ran a HEI, suggest a Mallory or Accel replacement HEI Unit. Racing 350. The 350 can easily be a Super Modified car, however, consider overboring it to a maximum of 0.060". The following should be done in addition to the items denoted in the Street 330. Block. Consider running Arias # " over pistons, as these units are anywhere from grams lighter than standard Speed Pro WL2320F30, which are about 655 grams versus about 600 for the Arias unit. Heads - Factory. Fully port and polish the 350 heads. Add 350 W-31 valves (2.000" intakes & 1.625" exhausts). Run Mondello ARK-460 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. Heads Aftermarket. You may fit Edelbrock aluminum heads #60519, However a Edelbrock Performer intake #7111 MUST be used and port matching is necessary. Fit Mondello RR-442-P Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit. Camshaft. Automatic cars should run specs like the JM cam and stick cars should run JM-6-7 cam specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads & 4.33:1 gears can also run the JM-6-7 cam. (See Cam Specs Section 3.1) Edelbrock 7111 Manifold. Note "high-rise" configuration as compared to the 3711 manifold shown on the previous page. Intake and Carb. Auto cars should run an Edelbrock high rise Performer 7111 & a AUTOMOTION Quadrajet carb. SMT and AMT cars running Edelbrock heads cars can use the Edelbrock 2812 Olds Victor Manifold with a 780 Holley. This manifold may not fit W-25 or W- 31 Ram-Air air cleaner without hood/air cleaner modifications (See Section 5, Ram Air Tips for alternative fitment approaches). Suggested 403 Mods Street 403. Block. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. The "nice" but almost impossible to find "4A" block with the non-windowed mains, is a great choice if you can, get one. They were found in some 1977 Buick and Pontiac wagons and Firebird Trans Ams. See the Block ID Chart in this Section to identify this rare baby. Most of you will have the standard "4B" casting code model. Thus, build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6, and

19 remember that 6250 is the smart rpm limit for this engine, though it will want to rev higher. Stock cast pistons Part # W466P (7.9:1 CR with stock 83 cc "4A" heads) may be used (available from Sealed Power). If these pistons are used, mill the head 0.040" to raise the CR to about 8.5:1. Arias sells a forged unit that will return 10.2:1 if the heads are milled the same 0.040" (Part # L2230F, available in 0.030" over). KB Pistons also make a forged unit, #KB-405, which will also deliver a 10.2:1 compression ratio with a 0.040" head mill. Use main studs rather than the stock bolts, as the studs will be less prone to damaging the flimsy main web area. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. The standard crank is cast iron crank and should be replaced either with the nodular iron unit (casting number and "N" on first counter weight). The 403 rod is a healthy forged piece & would be a good addition to a 350. It can be adapted to any of the small blocks, including the forged crank units. If you want more longevity, go with the 330 forged unit, (casting number or ). This crank is available from the Standard Crankshaft Company numbers and If you use the forged unit, take the rods, which match the fillets on the forged crank. Or have the standard 403 rods machined to fit this crank (the 403 rod is a healthier forged piece, but cannot be fitted w/o machining see picture above). Heads. Certain early "4A" heads were delivered with standard 350 intakes (1.875") and a miniscule (1.50" exhaust. If your 4A heads have the 2.00" intake, they will have the 1.50" exhaust. The good news is that these heads will accept the W " intake and the 1.625" exhaust valves, and can go all the way to 1.710" exhausts with no problem. The 403 has enough cubes to lend itself to utilizing big block heads, but there will be a huge port mismatch between them and the small block manifolds that would require extensive mods to the manifold, including welding, that would offset any gains. Besides, you cannot safely rev the 403 to the rpms that would make this change work. Spend your money on a good valve job and port and combustion chamber polish. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 403 AMT would be JM spec or the factory /296 cam with a 2800 stall and at least 3.42 gears; (Supercars Unlimited cam #14-240) and 300 lb springs (SU #14-060). SMT cars should run the JM cam specs & appropriate kit. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1). Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a 350 with duals will work. However, we suggest using Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Intake and Carb. Replace the stock intake with an Edelbrock Performer 3711 & AUTOMOTION modified 780 Quadrajet, Ignition. Run a Mallory or Accel replacement HEI distributor. See the setup info in Section 6. Racing owners have to real careful as the engine should not be revved over 6500 rpm in "race trim". Street/Strip engines should only be overbored to clean up the bores, to reduce the chance of cylinder wall flex; we suggest a maximum of 0.030", with 0.020" as better. The following should be done in addition to the items denoted in the Street 330. Block. The block should be treated to Mondello's SG-490 Halo Support Girdle. It is a steel support girdle for Oldsmobile big block or small block engines that fits inside oil pan without any special machining. Specify the 403 block size when ordering. Consider Mondello's top end valley support kit as well. Consider running Arias # " over pistons, as these units are anywhere from grams lighter than standard KB 405 forging, and much stronger than the W466P cast unit. KB pistons are about 675 grams versus about 610 for the Arias unit. Heads - Factory. Fully port and polish the 403 heads. Run 2.072" intakes and 1.710" exhausts. Run Mondello ARK- 460 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 8.400" x 5/16" pushrods. Heads Aftermarket. You may fit Edelbrock aluminum heads #60519, However a Edelbrock Performer intake #7111 MUST be used and port matching is necessary. Fit Mondello RR-442-P Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit. Camshaft. Automatic cars should run JM cam specs; stick cars should run JM-6-7 cam specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run JM-6-7 cam specs. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1) Intake and Carb. Auto cars should run an Edelbrock high rise Performer 7111 and a AUTOMOTION Quadrajet carb. SMT and AMT cars running Edelbrock heads cars can use the Edelbrock 2812 Olds Victor Manifold with a 780 Holley. Suggested 400 SS and 425 Mods Street 400 and 425. Except for the bore, these engines are identical. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. See all the tips in the block build sections as they relate to 455s. See also the stroking info in Section 3.7. Block. If you have a "A" "B" block, you will be saddled with the early 45 cam lifter angle of attack, so if possible, you should change it out to a "E" block from the if you want to retain the 400 cubic inch size, or a "F" (455 block) if you want a 425 displacement, both of which are the newer 39 cam lifter angle blocks and will allow you to run all the factory and non-custom ground cams offered in the aftermarket. Again, build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. Follow any and all suggestions for both the 425 and 455, especially as it regards oiling

20 SS. The 400 can be overbored to the 4.125" diameter of the 425, but if you do not want to go that far and you want to run stock cast pistons, you can run Olds 350 pieces if you bore your block 0.060" over. (Supposedly Kanter Auto has stock cast pistons, but we have no information as to the pedigree of these pieces. If you use the 350 cast unit, it is the standard hi comp number L2321F (10.25:1) which will return about 9.3:1 in CR in the 400 with the 79 cc heads. If you want to go forged, you will also need to go to 350 specific pieces as there are no 400 units available unless you want to go custom. We suggest either Arias piston part # 2025 (Specs at 10.0:1 CR with stock 79 cc "C" heads, but our computation is closer to 9.5:1) or the part # L2320F available from Sealed Power (standard 350 bore) is L2320F and will return about 9.5:1. See Heads, below The 425 is also a special animal, but cannot use the 350 cast piston because it only comes in 0.060" over, and this would allow too much piston to wall clearance in the standard 425 bores ( over is only 4.117" vs "). Thus, an aftermarket piston is necessary. Arias sells a forged piston, part number 2025 which is available in stock and 0.030" over sizes. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. Standard forged crank is the best there is. Retain it and the rods, which match the fillets on the crank. A rebuilt crank is available from the Standard Crankshaft Company under number Heads. If you have "A" series heads, you should change them out to the later "C" or later units or drill out the rocker stands from 5/16" to 7/16" and fit later rocker assemblies. We suggest Mondello's ARK-425 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System be installed, if you are making this conversion, as these are specific to the "A" heads and will allow the use of Mondello's standard 425/ " x 5/16" pushrods. If you go to "C" or later heads, install Mondello's ARK-455 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System. NOTE: if you are going to run "C" or later heads on a 45 lifter angle block, the pushrod holes will have to be drilled out to 9/16" because of the angle of attack of the pushrod on the rocker. A port match and combustion chamber polish is well worth it removing hot spots will preclude detonation SS. If you are running aftermarket a 4.057" bore and cc heads, Mondello claims a 9.86:1 compression ratio, but we see about 9.9:1 in our calculations; the 418 will se an honest 10:1. To reach better than 10.0:1, you can mill the head 0.030" to get to 74 cc chambers, which will deliver and 10.74:1 respectively. Caution here as certain 67 "C" heads have been milled at the factory to reach as little as 72 cc already. See Section 4, Head Milling, and Calculating Compression Ratio. "D" Heads should not be milled as they already have 72 cc chambers Aftermarket 425 Pistons will deliver about a 9.8:1 compression ratio in standard bore, and about 9.9:1 in 0.030" over. We suggest only a cleanup mill for the street, as 0.020" will get you a more than adequate 10.25:1 in the 30 over engine and 10.1;1 in the stock bore model. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 400 AMT would be JM spec. (Minimum of 3.42:1 rear gears and a 2800 stall). The 400 SMT cars should run JM cam specs. 425 AMT cars can run JM specs and SMT cars can use JM-5-6 cam specs if they use 4.33:1s; otherwise use JM (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1). Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a with duals will work. We suggest using Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Intake and Carb. Replace the stock intake manifold with an Edelbrock Performer 2151 and a AUTOMOTION Modified 780 Quadrajet carb. This manifold will not fit Toronado or Ram-Air air cleaner without hood or air cleaner modifications (See Section 5, Ram Air Tips for alternative fitment approaches). Ignition. Run a modified Mallory Unilite distributor. See the setup info in Section 6. If you wish, you can run a Mallory or Accel replacement HEI Unit. Racing 400 SS and 425. The 400 SS and 425 can easily be a Super Modified car; however: 1. For the 400 SS. Overbore the 400 to take either Arias 2025s (at 4.057") or s (for a maximum bore of 4.087"), which will make it a For the 425. Overbore the 400 to take Arias pistons (for a maximum bore of 4.155"), which will make it a s have been taken out to 4.185" (438) and even 0.090" over to 4.215" for 444 cubes. Please sonic test the 425 before going to 0.090" over. The following should be done in addition to the items denoted for the Street 400SS and 425 above. Block. The block should be treated to Mondello's SG-490 Halo Support Girdle. It is a steel support girdle for Oldsmobile big block or small block engines that fits inside oil pan without any special machining. Specify big block size when ordering. A rebuilt forged crank is available from the Standard Crankshaft Company number Heads - Factory. Fully port and polish the big block heads ("C" suggested, unless you have access to "D" or "F" units). Run Mondello ARK-455 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 9.700" x 5/16" pushrods. ("A" Heads should run ARK4-25 rockers). Use 2.072" intakes and 1.710" exhausts SS. The 418 motor will make a solid 10.75:1 CR with a 0.040" mill to take it to 74 cc chambers. The 411 (4.057" bore) will make a solid 10.5:1 with the same milling. If you are running the JM-6-7 cam, you will need to change over to RR-442-P roller rockers to allow this cam's higher lift The 432 motor will make 9.9:1 with standard 79 cc "C" heads. It will be at a solid 10.7:1 CR with a 0.040" mill to take it to 72 cc chambers. 438 (4.185" bore) motors will sit on 10:0:1 with stock 79 cc

21 heads and will be at 10.9:1 with the 0.040" mill. The 444 (4.215" bore) will make a solid 11.1:1 with the same milling. If you are running the JM 5-6 or JM-6-7 cam, you will need to change over to RR-442-P roller rockers to allow this cam's higher lift. Heads Aftermarket. You may fit Edelbrock aluminum heads #60519 which should be fully ported, port matched to the intake, and the chambers should be polished and cc evened. Fit Mondello RR-442-P Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit and heavy duty 3/8"pushrods. If you are running Bulldog heads, use 2.072" intakes and 1.710" exhausts. Consider blocking the heat riser passages. See Section 4.0. Camshaft SS. Automatic cars should run JM cam specs, and SMT cars should run the JM-6-7 cam specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run the JM-6-7 cam specs Automatic cars should run JM-5-6 cam specs and SMT cars should run the JM-6-7 cam specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run the JM-6-7 cam specs. See Cam Specs in Section 3.1 for more specific information. Intake and Carb. Auto cars should run an Edelbrock # 2370 Torker and a Holley 780CFM carb. SMT cars should move to the Edelbrock #2110 Victor manifold and a 800 CFM Holley. SMT and AMT cars running Edelbrock heads cars can use the Edelbrock # 2811 Olds Victor Manifold with a 850 CFM Holley. This manifold will not fit Toronado or W-25 Ram-Air air cleaner without hood or air cleaner modifications. (See Section 5, Ram Air Tips for other fitments). Suggested 400 LS and 455 Mods Street 400LS and 455. Except for the bore, these engines are identical. 1. The 400 LS. This block is rather unique as it was built to accommodate the then GM prohibition against more than 400 cubic inches in an intermediate car. Unfortunately, the new 4.250" stroke crankshaft that was standard in the big block required a very small bore (3.870") to meet the GM mandate. The small bore shrouded the intake valve and required notching the bore for clearance. Olds did not want to incur the tooling expense of two different crankshafts, and retaining the original makeup of the , so they developed the odd-ball 400 LS. In retrospect, they would have been better off retaining the earlier engine because with the exception of the standard AMT 442, the engine was a huge failure, not so much in performance, but in failure, as in engine failure. Warranty claims were so bad that many dealers substituted the 455 in lieu of the 400 in many stick and W-30 engine repairs. The problem is that the small bore apparently allows a lot of piston rock and rod movement during reciprocation and this causes the rod to work out of centerline, hence a spun bearing. Also, the 400 LS does not to rev like the previous 400 SS and owners of the earlier cars who upgraded were unpleasantly surprised when they tried their former racing tactics. 2. The 455. The 455 was a stroked version of the 425, basically because the design constraints that allowed both the big and small block to be machined on the same line. Thus the bore centers were such that a 4.125" bore was the largest allowed without siamesing the cylinders. If Olds had siamesed the bores as they later did with the 403, they would have had a 452 that would have allowed the use of the 400/425 crank. But Olds had another reason for the longer stroke. They were anticipating the soon to come emissions laws which were going to require slower turning engines with shorter overlap cams. In that case, a longer stroke engine would make better torque and reasonable horsepower. (Remember Oldsmobile sold 88s, 98s and Toronados that could use every bit of that torque). As a result, the 455 was born. It actually was a great success, being used in GM's motor home and marine engine production long after it was lost to the Oldsmobile line. The 455 actually is a great performance engine in stock form if the rpms were kept under Block. Build the block as suggested Section 3.5 and 3.6. See all the tips in the block build sections as they relate to 455s. See also the stroking info in Section 3.7. A note on the pistons used for the 400 LS and the 455. They have a different compression distance than the other Olds engines (the distance from the centerline of the piston pin to the top of the piston). All other Oldsmobiles except the 307 have a compression distance of 1.612", but the 400 LS and the 455 use 1.735", so they cannot use other pistons LS. Those of you with the 400 LS "G" code block can build a good running 400 inch motor if you consider keeping the rpms to less than Follow any and all build suggestions for both the 455, especially as it regards oiling, being especially careful to follow all the suggestions on crankshaft and connecting rod prep. The 400 LS can be safely overbored 0.030" to the 9.900; usually 0.060" over to 3.930"; and with sonic testing, occasionally to 3.960", but never to 4.00". A 400LS code "G" block is a different casting from any other and will not accept being bored to the 455's 4.125"! The good news is that pistons are available for the 400LS for the aftermarket replacement industry and performance resellers. There is cast unit available from Sealed Power that is the standard bore hi comp number L2346F which will return about 9.5:1 CR in the 400 with the 79 cc heads. We suggest you go forged, and you can go to a Speed Pro unit available in both 0.030" and 0.040" over; a TRW-L2346F that will return about 9.6:1. If you want to mill the head, a 0.025" cut will return a

22 75 cc chamber and 10.00:1 and a 0.040" cut will get you to 72 ccs and about 10.40: The 455 block, code "F", FA", and "L", is unique unto itself, and so many 455 blocks were manufactured that it is the next most common Olds engine after the 350. This motor has been hot rodded even more than the 350 until recently, so there is a great deal of knowledge and expertise around. There is also a lot of misinformation out there as well, so follow our recommended build instructions in this manual. Follow any and all build suggestions for the 455 in the following Sections, especially as it regards oiling, being especially careful to use all the recommendations on crankshaft and connecting rod prep. The 455 can be safely overbored 0.060" over to 4.186"; and with sonic testing, occasionally 0.090" to 4.216", but never to 4.250". Because of the 455's popularity, almost every hot rodding component is readily available, with pistons and even forged aluminum rods almost commonplace. Pistons are available for the 455 from the aftermarket replacement industry and performance resellers. There is cast unit available from Sealed Power that is available from standard bore to 0.060" over in hi comp Part # W369P which will return about 9.45:1 CR with the 79 cc heads. We suggest you go forged, and you can go to a Sealed Power unit available from standard to 0.060" over Part # L2323F that will return the same CR. If you want to mill the head, a 0.025" cut will return a 75 cc chamber and 9.85:1 and a 0.040" cut will get you to 72 ccs and about 10.2:1. If the block is overbored 0.060" the compression ratios would be 9.72:1 with stock 79 cc heads, with 75 cc, and 72cc heads will net 10.46:1. Arias and KB offer a complete line of high and low compression forged pistons for this engine. Remember that casting code "D" heads come standard with 72 cc chambers, so cc your chambers prior to any cuts and check the amount of head surface milled. (Section how to determine if the head has been milled). Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. The standard cast nodular iron crank is strong enough for Super Modified engines, if rpms are kept under 7000 (6250 for the 400 LS). Prepare the crankshaft and rods as suggested in Section 3.5 and 3.6. Heads. If you have "J" series heads, you should change them out to the earlier "C" or "E" units. The later "G" "GA" and "G A " are also good, and are fitted with stainless seats. Of course, "D", "F", "H" and "K" series heads are excellent, because they have a bit better intake ports and one heat riser passage blocked on each head. We suggest Mondello's ARK-455 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System be installed which will allow the use of Mondello's standard 425/ " x 5/16" pushrods. A port match and combustion chamber polish is well worth it removing hot spots will preclude detonation LS. If you are running aftermarket pistons and a 3.900" bore and cc heads, we calculate a 9.57:1 compression ratio. You can mill the head 0.030" to get to 74 cc chambers, which will deliver 10.15:1, and 10.00:1 if you stay with the stock bore. Remember that "D" heads have been milled at the factory to reach as little as 72 cc already. See Section 4, Head Milling, and Calculating Compression Ratio. "D" Heads should not be milled as they may already have been milled to reach their 72 cc chambers Aftermarket 455 Pistons will deliver about a 9.44:1 compression ratio in standard bore, and about 9.7:1 in 0.060" over. We suggest only a 0.030" head mill for the street, as this will return a 9.95:1 in the stock bore and 0.020" will get you a more than adequate 10.02:1 in the 60 over engine. Camshaft. For the street, the best camshaft for the 400 and 455 AMT would be JM-36 specs. (Minimum of 3.42:1 rear gears and a 2800 stall). The 400and SMT cars should run JM specs. (See Cam Specs in Section 3.1). Exhaust. Any exhaust manifold for a dual exhaust car of your model vehicle running a with duals will work. We suggest using Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Intake and Carb. Replace the stock intake manifold with an Edelbrock Performer 2151 and a AUTOMOTION Modified 780 Quadrajet carb. This manifold will not fit Toronado or Ram-Air air cleaner without hood or air cleaner modifications (See Section 5, Ram Air Tips for alternative fitment approaches). An Offenhauser Tunnel Port top and bottom for the Ignition. Run a modified Mallory Unilite distributor. See the setup info in Section 6. If you wish, you can run a Mallory or Accel replacement HEI Unit. Racing. The long stroke on the 400 LS and 455 does add some disadvantages to this motor in racing applications, but it can be made into a reliable piece if it is kept in its proper operating range and it is recognized that using its ability to make torque outweighs its horsepower production capabilities

23 The 400 LS is not a good engine for racing due to its bore sizing, long stroke, and piston instability. If you wish to use a 400 cu. in motor, build a 400 SS. See the Racing information on the 400 SS above. If you want to build a long stroke motor, we suggest you build a 455. However, you can build a reliable 400 LS Street/Strip Motor, if you will keep the rpms below 6250 and follow the suggestions in Sections 3.5 and 3.6 and below. The 455 has been built into a successful bracket and pro racing motor. It also has limitations in its rpm band given its long stroke, but does not suffer from the cylinder shrouding and piston instability. See the information in Sections 3.5 and 3.6 and below. Block. The block should be treated to Mondello's SG-490 Halo Support Girdle. It is a steel support girdle for Oldsmobile big block or small block engines that fits inside oil pan without any special machining. Specify big block size when ordering. For high rpm work install Mondello MG-455 Support Girdle. This pricey piece requires a custom oil pan, which is included in the price, but it will preclude lower end failure unless the block is abused. Mondello support girdles. The "halo" girdle is the top unit. It should be sufficient for most applications except for extreme racing situations. In the case of the 400, the block should be relieved for intake valve clearance and flow even more than the factory's work. The relief must be carefully done so as not to compromise the top ring's compression seal. Modern CNC machining can be set to accomplish this purpose. See Section 3.5. Opening the bore 0.060" will help intake valve breathing. Install the lightest forged piston possible. A lightweight forged piston places the least strain on the crankshaft and rods. For the 400 LS, we suggest the Arias piston #2028. For the 455, we suggest the Arias piston #2060 in 0.060" over. Crankshaft and Connecting Rods. The standard cast nodular iron crank is strong enough for Super Modified engines, if rpms are kept under 7000 (6250 for the 400 LS). If you wish to rev this motor higher, you should consider the following: Aftermarket connecting rods. H-Beam and Forged Aluminum rods are available in the aftermarket for the 400 LS and 455. Forged aluminum rods are lighter in weight and will add less stress to the crankshaft due to less reciprocating mass. Forged "H beam" rods. H beam rods will handle most severe usage applications. Forged aluminum rods are lighter, but not stronger. Crankshafts. Olds Performance Products sells a custom forged crankshaft made from the finest grade of 4340, 9310, and VB materials in strokes up to 4.650". It has a starting price of $ Rocket Racing can supply a billet crank for the big block at about $2200. (See listings in Section 7). Heads - Factory. Fully port and polish the big block heads ("C" suggested, unless you have access to "D", "F" "H", or "K" units). Run Mondello ARK-455 Aluminum Roller Rocker Arm System with 9.700" x 5/16" pushrods LS. The 400 motor will make 10.25:1 CR with a 0.040" mill to take it to 72 cc chambers. The 413 (0.060" overbore) will make a solid 10.5:1 with the same milling. If you are running the JM-6-7 cam, you will need to change over to RR-442-P roller rockers to allow this cam's higher lift The 432 motor will make 9.9:1 with standard 79 cc "C" heads. It will be at a solid 10.7:1 CR with a 0.040" mill to take it to 72 cc chambers. 438 (4.185" bore) motors will sit on 10:0:1 with stock 79 cc heads and will be at 10.9:1 with the 0.040" mill. The 444 (4.215" bore) will make a solid 11.1:1 with the same milling. If you are running the JM 5-6 or JM-6-7 cam, you will need to change over to RR-442-P roller rockers to allow this cam's higher lift. Add 2.072" intakes and 1.710" exhausts. Heads Aftermarket. You may fit Edelbrock aluminum heads #60519 which should be fully ported, port matched to the intake, and the chambers should be polished and cc evened. Fit Mondello RR-442-P Aluminum Roller Rocker Kit and heavy duty 3/8"pushrods. If you are running Bulldog heads, use 2.072" intakes and 1.710" exhausts. Camshaft LS. Automatic cars should run JM-36 cam specs and SMT cars should run JM cam specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run JM cam specs Automatic cars should run Mondello's JM-5-6 cam kit and SMT cars should run the JM-6-7 cam

24 specs. AMT cars running Edelbrock heads and 4.33:1 gears can also run the JM-6-7 spec. See Cam Specs in Section 3.1 for more specific information. Intake and Carb. Auto cars should run an Edelbrock # 2370 Torker and a Holley 780CFM carb. SMT cars should move to the Edelbrock #2110 Victor manifold and a 800 CFM Holley. SMT and AMT cars running Edelbrock heads cars can use the Edelbrock # 2811 Olds Victor Manifold with a 850 CFM Holley. This manifold will not fit Toronado or W-25 Ram-Air air cleaner without hood or air cleaner modifications. (See Section 5, Ram Air Tips for alternative fitment approaches). Exhaust. We Suggest using Dick Miller Racing headers, (662) (See Section 5.0, Headers). Tell Dick what configuration you are running. Assembly and Peripherals See Section 8.1 for Assembly Worksheets that will detail the specifics in assembling the block as well as Sections 3.5 and 3.6 that follow. Cylinder head building and induction and exhaust will be covered in Sections 4 and Block Machining and Preparation You have carted your pieces to a machinist/rebuilder, and they are ready to get to work. Provide them with the Assembly Worksheet for your engine and then wait patiently for the results. The following pages are here as a guide, in narrative fashion so you can see the logic and steps and to add clarity to any of the processes, The specifications below are a compilation of the experiences of our Olds SMAs (Subject Matter Advisors) who are listed in the back of this book. This list is updated from time to time, so if you are seeking additional advice, please go to and check for additions to the list or the latest information on your engine. If you are not a member of Wild About Cars, our membership fee is very low, and well worth it. You may see some advice in here that is opposed to what you have already learned or seems conservative. This is because we will tell you what we know to work because we want you to be extremely satisfied. For outstanding results, please follow the information in here when building and assembling your engine. If you are considering an increased displacement engine, please see Section 3.3 Increasing Displacement, before you embark on block preparation, as some steps might be superseded are additional machine work may be required. Block Preparation General Remember to refer to the appropriate Assembly Worksheet for the correct tolerances, based on your engine type. Three key elements should be prepared in the block all designed to make the pieces that are attached to it work in precision and harmony. They are: 1. Ensuring that the block main journals are properly straight and true; 2. Careful squaring of the "deck" (where the heads bolt to) to ensure it is level and is 90 degrees to the cylinder bores. 3. Making certain that the cylinder bores are round and truly aligned with the crankshaft when the heads and crankshaft are torqued into place. Even the strongest blocks distort somewhat when they are completely bolted together, due to the stress of each bolt/stud exerts on the metal when it is tightened. A totally stock block of moderate tune can gain horsepower if these elements are properly executed, not to mention how the proper alignment affects clearance issues, cylinder/piston sealing, oiling and longevity. Thus the following steps should be taken in any case: Align hone main bearing saddles FIRST before any other boring or honing. When boring and honing, use torque plate on both heads at the same time, and torque the main caps in place; and When torqueing the head(s), use gaskets and fasteners of same type as will be used on the finished assembly. Finish with a hand hone with grit between 300 and 500. Resurface the block deck for straightness, as necessary. See Assembly Worksheet for the proper procedure. Replace all freeze-out plugs with new. On Super Modified blocks, plugs may be replaced with screw-in type. Align Boring the Mains A quality machine shop will know how to check the block for main journal alignment. In most cases, and especially with "thin wall cast or aluminum engines, this is done with the head(s) torqued in place to ensure that the boring will represent how the block will sit when assembled. In many cases, only an "align hone" is necessary. Regardless, this should be done to ensure proper seating of the crank. Squaring the Block Deck - To square the deck we must consider not only how much we can cut to accomplish this goal, but its effect on the piston's position in the block at TDC. If we cut too much, the piston could be "out of the hole", that is, sticking out of the bore in such a manner as to contact the head, or merely up far enough so as to allow the valves to strike the piston as they open. The procedure is to test assemble a piston/con rod assembly in the short block, and then measure a center piston on each bank and at all four corners (at positions 1 and 7 and 2 and 8). Then square cut the block so the pistons are an equal (and proper) amount below the deck. (See Assembly Information Worksheet, Item 3.2 for the appropriate specification for your engine). When the optimum deck height is calculated, the excess material is removed by a milling machine. Each bank may

25 require a different amount to be removed to reach the deck height. Boring and Honing the Block Over time and usage, the cylinder bores will become out-of-round, in some cases to the point that excessive oil "blow by" will occur. This is why even a standard rebuild usually requires a re-boring of the block and over size pistons. Those modifying their engines also bore the block to increase the capacity of the engine for more power. Regardless, the best performing engines will be rebored and/or honed to accomplish a round hole. It is essential to accomplish this with a "torque plate" in place. A torque plate is nothing more than a thick steel plate with bore holes in it that allows the boring machine to pass through, but it is torqued in place replicating the cylinder heads being bolted to the block. If the block distorts under torqueing, there is no sense to have spent all your money carefully boring and honing the block only to have out of round bores once the heads are in place, so do not overlook this process regardless of the cost, which nowadays is commonplace in the rebuilding business. If you are building a complete stocker that is going to see less than 5 thousand miles a year, this may not be necessary, but ask and find out what the cost is. Always "under bore" the block 0.005" to allow the honing to take the block to the desired bore. This assures that the cylinder wall finish is made up of clean new metal. Another good practice is to chamfer cut the top edge slightly where the deck and bore meet so as to ensure there are no ridges that will make installing the pistons difficult. Maximum Bore by Block 260, 307 late 350 (1977 and up) and 403 = 0.040" 330 = 0.185" 350 = 0.098" 400 SS = 0.185". For those marked "F", "FO", "FOO", "F1", "F2", or "F3" in the rear bell housing, but sonic test. 400 LS = 0.060" " may be possible. Sonic test first; custom piston required. 425 = 0.125". For those marked "F", "FO", "FOO", "F1", "F2", or "F3" in the rear bell housing, but sonic test. 455 = 0.125". For those marked "F", "FO", "FOO", "F1", "F2", or "F3" in the rear bell housing, but sonic test. Specific Block Machining Crank Oil Feed Holes in Block - A critical issue in oiling an Olds block, and especially in a 455, is ensuring that you do send too much oil to the cam, at the expense of the oil needed to lubricate the large 3.00" mains. Oldsmobile engines supply too much oil to the gallery that feeds both the mains and then on to the lifters 16. Each main bearing oil gallery hole leading up to the cam is too large. It must be restricted, following the procedure below. Install Mondello oil restrictors 17. Install restrictors into the main bearing saddle. Knurling provides an interference fit, use Loctite to secure. See illustration at right, which shows which oil hole to restrict. Red arrows point to R-100 restrictors sitting in the main bearing gallery hole, but not yet driven in. Gallery hole next to restrictor (near larger arrow tips) is the incoming oil feed (thin arrows point to the casting line for this feed angling off away from the cam). DO NOT insert the restrictor in this hole. Make sure 2 & 4 Oil feed lines are properly drilled from the factory before installing the restrictors. (The feed line is the angled incoming line right next to the cam oil feed line you will be restricting). As stated, DO NOT restrict this feed, but rather the feed that clearly sends oil to the cam bearings. - For Stock through Street Wild: restrict feed for numbers 2, 3, and 4 mains. - Super Modified Cars: Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 mains. Apply Loctite to knurled portion before installing. Drive knurled portion into saddle with a 3/8" drift punch, until restrictor bottoms out. Make sure each restrictor is firmly in place and cannot move. Ensure that the restrictor body does not extend into the main journal saddle. If it does, it may not be totally bottomed out, or it may need to be machined so as not to protrude. Cam Bearings - Remove and replace the old cam bearings. Super Modified engines and mechanical cam engines can further restrict the oil to the cam using special cam bearings. Mondello sells a set of oil restricting cam bearings, RCB-499 for this purpose. Rear Block Oil Lifter Galleries - The left rear oil lifter gallery plug (3/8 pipe plug closest to the distributor gear) should have a hole drilled in it. This plug is located behind the 29/32" freeze plug on the left rear side of the camshaft in the bell housing area. Replace the cup plug with a stock OEM tapped plug as shown on the right side in the diagram on the left, and drill 16 If you are running mechanical lifters, you must restrict oil at the lifter as well. See next page. 17 All 307s, 350s and 455s use R-100 restrictor kit; all 403s use R 105 restrictor kit. Strip 307, 350 and 455 use R

26 the 0.040" hole in it. You may also purchase a PP-40 predrilled plug from Mondello. rods and be flayed into foam (not good). Mondello and other vendors sell kits to restrict this oil flow. If you will use a mechanical cam or mechanical roller cam: Install lifter oil gallery restrictors (see arrows in picture below) which show the restrictors already in place) 18. The lifter bore oiling holes must be drilled and tapped to accept these new restrictors. The plug is located behind the cup plug that the arrow is pointing to. Lifter Valley Oil Return. Elongate the lifter valley oil return downward to help oil return to the pan more quickly. The picture on the right shows the engine front with the two oil gallery plugs on either side of the cam. Note that the lifter feed holes are now restricted to about 30% of their original diameter. Grind and elongate as shown by arrow tip. White dotted circle indicates original drain-back hole circumference. The drain back from the lifter gallery is found just above the right-hand side plug and should be modified by elongating the large opening into the lifter valley downward at bottom. Timing Gear Oiling. As stated above, there are two oil gallery plugs on the front of the motor. The picture shows that the right-hand plug should contain a tiny hole that results in oil squirted on the chain (see fat red arrow in picture above). When installing new gallery plugs, remember to make sure that ONLY the right-hand plug contains this hole. In Super Modified installs, this hole can be plugged to increase oil pressure, where necessary. However, this should not be done if the engine will not be run for any significant period, as in a street application. Cam Valley Preparation. This is the most overlooked issue in block building. In Olds motors, the cast section of the valley is rough enough to restrict oil return by as much as one quart! Remove any burs and make sure that the return holes down to the crankshaft area are free of flashing and opened up to their full dimensions. Polish the valley. Mechanical Cam Oiling Restriction. As previously stated, the Olds engine sends too much oil to the hydraulic lifters. This is OK when hydraulic cams are used, but it is detrimental to the operation of mechanical lifter cams, AND it will spill oil needed for the lower end into the lifter gallery, where in addition to starving the engine of oil, it will pour down on the The residue of this work could foul the oil passages; therefore this kit must be installed before engine is assembled. This modification should also be done prior to the installation of any reciprocating parts and the cam and cam bearings. In this way the block can be cleaned of debris after the restrictor install is complete. Mechanical cam specifications are discussed in Section 3.1. Obviously, cam specifications and usage will depend upon engine usage. Boring the Block: Cylinder Bores. Each Olds block has a different tolerance for the amount of over bore without either striking water or substantially weakening the block. See the Chart at the end of this section and the Assembly Worksheet at the end of this Manual for recommendations on your specific block type. In general: In most cases, 330 small blocks can be bored out to a net bore of 4.125" (0.187" overbore). 350 engines up through 1975 can be bored out to a net bore of 4.155" (0.098" overbore). Late, windowed main, 262, 307,350 and 403s can not be bored out more than 0.040" without sonic testing. Rare, early "4B" solid main 403s can be bored out 0.060" with no problems and may go as far as 0.090" with sonic testing. The SS can be bored out to 4.125" and may go as far as 4.180" with sonic testing. 425s and 455s can be bored out to 4.215" and blocks with codes certain "F" codes 19 may go as far as 4.250" with sonic testing. 18 Mondello sells a lifter gallery oil restrictor kit, LR-100. The kit includes: drill, tap, Loctite, restrictors and instructions for installation. 19 The metallic quality code is located in the bell housing area. Codes "F", "FO", "FOO", "F1", "F2", and "F3" will usually take a 0.125" overbore

27 When in doubt, reduce the bore by at lease 0.010". Piston to Bore Clearance. As a practical aspect of block boring, make sure that the machinist has the pistons for your engine in hand before he starts his machine work. This way he can measure the actual piston to see what the real bore size should be and individually hone it, if necessary, for a custom piston-to-bore clearance. Different pistons expand at a different rate and the design of the skirt may require less or more clearance. Determine piston usage as shown in the Assembly Worksheet, which indicates the best piston for each modification level. Insert the piston upside down in the bore and check between piston skirt and the bore. Hone the block with a rigid hone (200 grit stone) using a torque plate to reach the desired clearance. Use the specifications in the Assembly Worksheet to match the piston type and modification level. If the piston manufacturer has a SPECIFIC TOLERANCE for your engine and application use it. The cylinders should be honed the specified clearance measurement over the expected bore, as shown in the Assembly Worksheet. This allows for the total piston skirt clearance. Stock cast aluminum pistons usually use about twice the clearance of forged units because they expand more. Piston and Deck Height. Deck height figures as shown in Assembly Worksheet should be below the deck for most Olds engines. That distance is measured from the block surface to the top of the piston. If is shown, it means that the piston should be even with the deck. If the pistons are too far in the hole, additional milling of the block should be done. If the pistons are too far out of the hole, on Olds engines, they can be milled the difference, especially if forged. Piston Pins. Use the tolerances as shown in the Assembly Worksheet. Press Fit Pins: Use the specification found in the Assembly Worksheet. Remember, if the pin fits too tightly, it will not rock freely on the rod when it gets hot, in many cases resulting in failure. Free Floating Pins: Follow the piston manufacturer s recommendations. When using Aluminum rods, make sure you order pistons with pin boss width or the rod will bind in the pin boss unless you have minimum boss clearance per side. Piston Rings. Set end-gap as shown in Assembly Worksheet. Assemble ring in bore bone dry as oil will affect end-gap. Lubricate piston skirt only. Oil ring: install as supplied

28 Engine Boring Net Result This chart is a guide. Each engine will have different cylinder wall thickness, as prior to 1984 sand casting molds were used. If you stay in the green numbers you should have little trouble. Areas in orange are possible, and areas in red are dangerous and will likely require block filling. Bore is shown in even numbers, but blocks may be bored to meet a piston size or cylinder to wall clearance

29 3.6 Crankshaft, Connecting Rod and Piston Preparation Crankshaft Preparation and Modification - All Crank Straightness. This should be done before machining, if possible. If done before, the check can be made by installing the crank in a lathe that holds the ends centered. A dial indicator should be placed on the center main bearing journal and the crankshaft slowly rotated. The journal should not indicate more than 0.002" lateral movement. If the crank has been machined, it should be installed into the block, using only the front and rear main bearings and caps. Lubricate the bearings and torque the caps to spec. Again, place a dial indicator on the center main bearing journal and spin the crankshaft. The indicator should show no more than 0.002" total lateral run out. If the crankshaft is slightly bent, a competent machine shop can straighten it. Cross-Drill the Crankshaft. Cross drilling will ensure that sufficient oil leaves the reservoir in the crank throws and keeps the bearings lubricated. Additional holes are drilled in the main journals, intersecting the original oil passage at 2 & 4 (1, 3, & 5 usually are). Ensure that the hole is clear and goes all the way through. This will give the main journal to a constant supply of pressurized oil, since one of the oil passages are exposed to the bearing shell oil groove at all times. The picture shows cross drilling. It is recommended that a competent machine shop perform this operation. Crankshaft (forged unit), showing a large chamfer in the main journal and smaller chamfers on rod journals (dashed). Crankshaft Preparation and Modification Cast Units Crank Fillet Radius - Cast cranks have a rolled negative radius at each journal fillet (see arrows in picture). This fillet is the point at which the main bearing and rod journals intersect the webs. The intersection should be well radiused. This area is one of the most highly stressed areas on the crank and cracks will normally start wherever there is a sharp angle or scratch in that area's metal surface. Crankshaft, showing oil path through cross-drilled main journals Chamfering of the Oil Passages - When the oil passages are drilled into the crankshaft main and rod journals or when the main journals are ground down, a sharp edge with burrs usually results. These rough edges should be chamfered with a small grinding stone mounted on a drill, die grinder, or Dremel tool. A mild chamfer should be made, being very careful not to scratch the journal surface. The chamfer also leaves a small reservoir of oil that can help push oil across the bearing surface. The machine shop performs your crank reconditioning or modifying will usually chamfer the oil holes if instructed. After chamfering, the journals must receive a polish to remove any burrs. If you do the chamfering yourself, the journals can be re-polished by cutting a new, clean piece of 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper the width of the journal and long enough to wrap around the journal at least 1-1/2 times. Lubricate the sandpaper with solvent; wrap a shoelace around the paper and pull the lace ends alternately up and down. Your finger will easily tell you if the job is done. Stock cast crankshaft, with arrows showing journal fillets. Above diagram shows proper fillet radius. Make sure that this area is properly finished and machine as necessary. Also Magnaflux that area for cracks. Deburring the Crankshaft - Any cast crankshaft will have some casting flash and sharp edges on the counterweights. While forged cranks do not usually have flash, they should be inspected for poorly defined forging lines, etc. Excessive flash and sharp edges should be smoothed out with heavy grit sanding disc or a small grinder. Deburring will prevent any small pieces of metal from breaking off of the crank and dropping into the oil pan. Secondly, cracks usually originate on a sharp edge or some

30 imperfection on a metal surface. Deburring reduces the number of likely fracture origination sites. Main Bearing Modification to Ensure Proper Oiling Use the highest quality bearing possible. We have had the most success using Clevite 77 bearings 20. The bearing sets come in two pieces. The "bottom" part of the set is the piece that sits in the block side of the main bearing saddle. The bottom of main bearing #1 is the only one not grooved and does require any. All other bearings should be grooved top and bottom. 1. In order to ensure that sufficient oil from the block feeds get to the cross-drilled and chamfered crank and coat the bearing surface, follow the following preparation of the bearings. This prep is for the bottom shell of the main bearing set for bearings 2, 3, and 4: Drill out bearing center oiling hole (not the block) to 17/64 with a drill bit here: Area outlined should be cut out (see below) Wash all bearing with cleaning solvent, then install. 2. Set crankshaft main bearing clearance to maximum. 3. Set crankshaft end play clearance to Assemble crankshaft with engine assembly oil or just regular oil, DO NOT use STP. Manual Transmission Crankshafts If you had a manual transmission crankshaft, the crank was machined at the factory with a deeper pilot hole to accept the transmission shaft. Automatic transmission cars DO NOT have this hole bored in them. To convert a crank from auto to manual transmission, your machinist must bore a three stage hole; 1) for the pilot shaft, 2) for the pilot bearing, and 3) for a means to drive in and remove the bearing. See the diagram below (not to scale): Bearing placement hole W x D (from flywheel end of crank) Bearing drive-in access hole W x D (from flywheel end of crank) After drilling, use rat tail file or ¼" grinder to debur and elongate the hole in 2, 3, and 4 bearing towards the oil restrictors; like this: NOTE: The upper main bearing shell (one that sits in block) as seen when set in journal Transmission pilot shaft hole W x D (from flywheel end of crank) NOTE: Some marine blocks and L series blocks do not have provision on the left rear for the manual transmission screw-in ball for the clutch cross shaft. Check your block. Result of cut After Before Connecting Rod Preparation - General For almost all street applications, properly inspected and prepared stock connecting rods work fine. Follow these critical steps in making the factory rod stand up to as much abuse as possible are: Then debur all sharp edges. On all bearings: use a bearing scraper to remove all sharp edges and to even mating surfaces. Use 600 wet/dry sandpaper to remove any rough surfaces on the bearings. Then sand again with using cleaning solvent. 20 Many aftermarket bearing sets are not matched or vary widely in quality. Clevite bearing come grooved top and bottom, many others do not. 1. Magnaflux the rods. Even a minor surface crack in a cast rod can mean destructive trouble when the engine is spin to its maximum rpm. 2. Keep matching caps and rods together. Make sure that when the rods are removed from the engine that each rod and its companion end cap are marked so that they are always matched to their original mate. 3. Bead Blasting and Shot peening. Bead blast the rods to make sure they are absolutely clean. Have the rods shot peened. Shot peening bombards the rod with very small ball bearings that compress the rod's surface. This induces permanent compressive forces both on and just under the metal surface, which works toward impeding the formation of cracks. 4. Resize the small end. Have the small ends reamed and honed to fit the wrist pin that is going to be used. The wrist pin diameter is usually dependent on the piston type, whether forged or cast piston. Ensure that the small end is honed out to its final dimension, not reamed

31 Reaming is not a precision operation and cannot achieve the precise dimensions required for the correct fit. If the small end bore is scored or worn over size, the rod may be bushed with bronze to achieve the proper size, but it is suggested that a replacement rod be found. 5. Set the rod to pin clearance. Olds connecting rods are designed for pressed wrist pins that are held rigidly in the rods and do not ride in a bushing. The small end should have a wrist pin interference clearance of " which will allow the pins to be pressed into position. The edges of the rod's small end should be chamfered or debarred, after honing, to remove sharp edges or burrs that may interfere with pin installation. 6. Resize the big ends. After undergoing millions of cycles, used connecting rod big ends are usually oval, with the larger diameter parallel with the rod beam. This prevents the rod bearings from fitting properly and can lead to oil pressure loss, rapid bearing wear or a spun bearing. The rod big ends should be resized. Some material is ground from the cap face and the rod face to make the bore diameter undersize, and then the bore is honed to reach the proper dimension. It is critical that the center to center distance of the rod is reduced as little as possible and that all the rods have as consistent a center to center distance as possible from rod to rod. 7. Polishing and deburring. A polished metal surface is less prone to cracks than a rough one. You can do the procedure prior to taking the rods to the machine shop if you wish to reduce your costs. The idea is to reduce the height of the casting mark running along the rod beam and smooth the beam's side. Be careful only to remove the casting ridge and not to actually remove wall material from the beam. Install the rod caps, bolts and nuts and tighten the nuts snugly - they do not have to be torqued or very tight. (Always clamp the rod big end into a vise using padding, brass or aluminum jaw pads. As the rod can be twisted very easily, even by tightening the bolts). Carefully grind off most of the casting ridge from the beam sides. Then, using an abrasive drum in a die grinder or drill, dress down the rest of the ridge and blend it into the beam wall. A high polish in not necessary, only a smooth one. Continue the smoothing up and over the small ends. (When using the abrasive drum, always keep it at a 90 degree angle to the rod length. Any microscopic scratches from the polishing should travel parallel with the beam's length). Sharp edges around the rod bolt heads and the nuts should be smoothed with a small, fine file or sandpaper. 8. Equalizing the rod weights. All rods should be weighed and material removed to ensure that the rods are as close in weight as possible. This will ensure that when the engine is balanced that as little harmonic vibration will occur. Since the crankshaft will be balanced by bob weights and not with the actual pistons and rods, this paramount for a smooth running engine that will rev freely. Your machinist should perform this function, but it can be done at home, by carefully grinding the tab on the small end and/or the cap. When you receive the balanced crank and other components or the completed short block, the machine shop should include the weights of the individual pistons, wrist pins, and rod big and small ends (and even the bob weights used. Store this record in case a piston or con rod has to be replaced. The weight of the replacement part can then be adjusted to the proper weight to maintain the engine balance. Rod Bolt Reuse DO NOT REUSE your old rod bolts as repeated use stretches them. Bolts should be replaced with new bolts that have been magnafluxed, heat treated and shot peened. Aftermarket suppliers such as APR have the proper bolts. See Vendor Listings in Section 7. Rod Clearance Rod Side Clearance: Rod Side clearance should be as shown in Assembly Worksheet. Pry between rods to check. If clearance is too tight, have the rods ground to proper clearance. A magnetic base surface grinder is suggested. Rod Bearing Clearance: Rod bearing clearance should be as shown in the Assembly Worksheet. Connecting Rod Prep Olds Oiling Issues Use the highest quality rod bearing possible. We have had most success with Clevite 77 bearings. SPECIAL ROD OIL RELIEF: Olds motors actually trap oil on the rod bearing surface. Under hard use, this oil does not leave the bearing surface where it overheats and causes bearing failure. Do the following: On the big end of each rod, parallel to the I-Beam, machine a slot at the top and bottom rod bearing journal that would butt up against the other rod and/or face the crank throw on both sides of the rod. This slot should be 0.50 WIDE and only DEEP. Do not make this cut inside in the bearing bore. Cut relief here on rod outside. Rod as seen from end on with cap side facing you DONOT GRIND INSIDE THE BORE!

32 One-Side Rod Cut Only: On Stock, Factory Modified and Street Mild engines make this cut on ONE SIDE of every rod only. Make sure that the slots on the rods face each other on the journal (the inside side of the rod). Two-Side Rod Cut: On Street Wild and Super Modified make the cut on EACH SIDE of each rod. Resize Rod Big End: The rod big end should be resized under the minimum factory specification. This gives better crush fit to bearing and will help avoid spinning it. 21 Aftermarket Rods Aftermarket suppliers such as Mondello, Carrillo and Crower list rods for both big and small block applications. Follow vendor s side clearance advice. See Vendor Listings in Section 7. Piston Preparation The first consideration for your piston is type cast or forged. Those using a 350 diesel for your build will have to decide on whether they are increasing the displacement as this will influence this decision as well. Piston type affects clearance; and in some cases ring selection and the actual bore because clearances are different with each type. Make sure you are aware of the piston type and its recommended clearances before you start your build. Forged or Cast Selection. They first key in selection is usage. Since forged pistons are more durable, they are usually considered for performance applications. However, cast pistons can take on performance issues, but they do not like detonation and will shatter when subjected to these pressures, especially under higher compressions and power adder situations. If you are considering compression ratios above 10.0:1, will be turning excessive rpms where valve float is possible or intend to use a power adder, you should use a forged piston, if available. Piston Weight. Most of us would assume that pistons would all weight nearly the same, but this is far from true. Cast and forged pistons will have different weights, mostly because of their makeup, but the manufacturer may also construct the piston differently adding or subtracting weight as well. In the forged marketplace, certain manufacturers will offer "light weight" pistons, mostly for racing applications, because the lighter the weight of the reciprocating part of the engine, the faster it will rev up. If you are using the vehicle in performance applications, a lighter weight, forged piston is more appropriate. Most common forged units for Olds weigh about grams less than their stock, cast counterpart. See the listing of the vendors supplying forged pistons in Section 7 and contact them for more information on your particular application. For stock pistons see the listing in Section 9 - Appendix for parts numbers and application. Piston Pins. Piston pins come in many different weights, diameters, lengths and strengths. Unless you are building a full-race engine, a standard quality pin is fine. Many pistons come with the pins that are compatible to the piston or the manufacturer will recommend a pin. Availability. Fortunately Olds is reasonably high on the list of popularity as far as the aftermarket goes. What this means to you, the rebuilder, is a reasonable selection of pistons. The following lists potential piston choices. Remember also that the long stroke 400 and 455 use a different compression distance than the rest of the Olds blocks at 1.735" versus 1.612", with the exception of the 307 which in the later version has its own compression distance of and 307. Availability is limited mostly to cast replacement pistons in " oversize. 260 and 307 pistons can be acquired from Sealed Power, Melling, and NAPA, in cast aluminum. 307 pistons are also available in hypereutectic alloy pistons are available from Venolia in a forged configuration. Kanter Auto Products, stocks cast pistons for the 330. (Remember, the 330 can usually be bored out 0.125" to reach 350 standard bore, which allows fitment of both cast and forged pistons available to the later block). 350 and and 403 engines have multiple choices, with cast, forged and hypereutectic alloy pistons available from Arias, Melling, NAPA, Sealed Power, and Venolia. 400 Short Stroke and SS and 425 engine users can get cast pistons from Kanter. The 400 SS engine can also use the 350 piston as a 0.060" over cast or forged unit, with the W-31 piece keeping a compression ratio and the 350 high compression unit delivering about 9.5:1. Arias and KB stock forged pistons (reworked 350 pieces) for this engine. 400 Long Stroke. With its unique bore of 3.870", one would think that the engine would suffer from a lack of replacement pistons, but that is not the case with sealed Power, Clevite, NAPA and others offering stock and forged replacement pistons, Arias also offers some custom pieces for this engine engines have the most availability, with Arias, Melling, NAPA, Ross, Sealed Power, and Venolia supplying both cast, forged, and hypereutectic alloy pistons. Strengthening the Block Assembly Main Cap Girdles and Main Caps. Street Wild and Super Modified cars that will see RPMs over 6500 should consider main cap girdles and heavy duty main caps, especially 455s and 403s. Girdles. Several Companies make main cap girdles. We absolutely suggest a girdle for the 403 block if you are going to build a Street Wild or Super Modified engine. Dick Miller Racing makes an excellent machined cap girdle for small and big blocks. Rocket Racing makes a slick design for both blocks. 21 Mondello Performance will sell you a set of brand new factory forged, prepped and machined rods for around $ The compression distance is the distance from the center of the pin bore to the top of the piston

33 Mondello makes a halo girdle as well and also a full girdle for big blocks that requires a ton of machining, but it turns the block into a deep skirt design. All girdles require a modified, aftermarket, or reworked oil pan to fit. Caps. Big blocks have been proven to have added longevity at Street/Strip to Super Modified levels with replacement caps. High RPM s could use them and they should be an absolute necessity in a 403 (regardless, you still have to keep the revs less than 6000 in this block). Dick Miller Racing and Rocket Racing make 2-bolt caps for both blocks. Rocket s caps are aluminum, Dick Miller s are Billet Steel. Rocket makes a set of 4-bolt caps for the DX diesel block as well. Mondello and Dick Miller will make up 2 bolt caps and 4 bolt caps for the big block only (which might fit the diesel block). Adding a Valley Support. Boat racers years ago ran an X brace inside the valley of a Big Block to keep it from flexing under the load of a supercharged 455. Mondello sells a simple tube that is bolted in and runs the length of the valley at the top, tying the front and rear together. Super Modified Racers may want to contact Joe and ask if this is a beneficial modification for their application. Filling the Block Water Passages. Blocks with large overbores weaken the block structure when used in racing applications, especially when high cylinder pressures are experienced. Filling the block will add strength and reduce flexing, but it should only be done for Super Modified, race only engines. Under this procedure, blocks are filled with epoxy. There is also a product called Hard Blok which is recommended by some block builders. With no water passages, YOU CANNOT RUN THE BLOCK ON THE STREET. If you fill the block, add to your piston cylinder to wall clearance, when machining the block. Engine Harmonic Balancer The Olds harmonic balancer is press fit only. Do not reuse your harmonic balancer. Both Mondello and Super Cars Unlimited sell a replacement OEM balancers and race-type balancers that are degreed for better time adjustment. If you are run a 400 SS and/or a 425 crankshaft in the 455, the BB balancer must be rebalanced. If you are running a 330 crank, the balancer must be remarked for TDC (See page 75). The W-31 ran a different harmonic balancer which was balanced to a greater degree than the stock OEM balancer; use the race type harmonic balancer if you are rebuilding a W-31. Cars that run and quicker must run a SFI Certified Harmonic Balancer. These balancers are stocked by Dick Miller and Super Cars Unlimited. Completing the Short Block Completing the Assembly. The following items will be installed next; however these items and their assembly will vary, depending on your application. Camshafts and Related Hardware. The selection of an appropriate camshaft was discussed in the Section 3.1, Camshaft Selection and Usage. See Section 3.8 Short Block Assembly. Timing Gears, Chains and Gear Sets. This subject was discussed in Section 3.1, Camshaft Selection and Usage. See Section 3.8 Short Block Assembly. See Section 9 - Appendix for the section on degreeing your camshaft. Engine Oiling System. The setup and installation of the oiling system is shown in Section 3.7, Oiling and Cooling the Engine. Oiling solutions depend upon engine usage. Cylinder Heads, Valves, Rocker Arms and Pushrods. This will be covered in Section 4, Cylinder Head Preparation and Usage. General Recommendations - Stock or Modified. With all we ve done so far, our basic block could still reside an Olds basically as a stock motor. With all the other components we add to the block from this point forward, the build will be able to diverge from Stock all the way to Super Modified. It is what we bolt to the short block we have built that will determine its character, power output and streetability. At the moderate performance end of the scale, a mild cam and quality valve job with a revised intake manifold and better ignition might be all we're looking for. Of course, adding an aggressive cam, roller rockers, larger valves and a higher volume intake manifold might result in an all-out bracket car. You are now at the point where the decisions on components are in your hands albeit with our recommendations. We will always recommend not only performance enhancing items, but also those that will add to longevity and reliability to your motor. At this point, it is more imperative to recognize that just one change in components from this point on will affect other aspects and components that will comprise your finished engine. Building a high rpm 350 and ignoring the oiling system, for example, would be counterproductive, so consider your choices carefully. Add or subtract components based upon your intended usage and our suggestions. If you are not sure: Weigh in on the side of longevity or strength. Back off one level on your mods usually you can always upgrade later on without huge cost. Always use the highest quality of parts this is a high performance engine, regardless of tune which usually means more stress on components. Insist on the best level of machining and tolerances. If unsure ask a specialist in Oldsmobiles. People like Dick Miller, Olds Performance Products and the boys at Rocket Racing would love to sell you parts, but they also want those parts to work for you. They all know that an unhappy customer is a lost customer. If you do not intend to stroke your engine go to Section

34 3.7 Special Section Stroking the 350 Diesel and 455 Introduction Stroking an engine is a serious business because you are just not changing components; in many cases you are changing the entire relationship between these components and the block. Stroking is not just adding a new crankshaft and that's it the rod and piston may both have to be changed because either the new stroke will push the piston out of the bore or it will slide too low in the block, exposing the rings. Many times, when stroking the engine, the bore is changed as well, and as a result, the piston may have to be custom made for your application. When combined with the cost of the crankshaft and rods, this can become a very expensive proposition. This is why we recommend that you only stroke your Olds engine if it is absolutely necessary, for racing or because fitment of the larger big block is impossible. That said, there are some popular combos out there, with the diesel 350 being stroked to 438 and the 455 stroked to 500 cubic inches. We suggest you contact Dick Miller Racing if you are considering this and follow their advice. Stroking the 350 Diesel Block. Follow the build instructions in the previous sections and sonic test the block for cylinder wall thickness. This is not a cheap process, but less expensive than boring the block and then having to ditch it because a will is too thin or you struck water. To make 440 cubes, you will bore the block 0.125" to 4.185" from its standard 4.060" bore. If the walls show enough thickness, you can go another 0.065" for 4.250" (and 454 cubes), but this is rare. You will have to fill the water jackets with epoxy, so this a race only engine. Diesel block showing the injector drive hole plugged, in this case with a threaded pipe plug. The dark area is not a hole, but an Allen key slot to screw in the plug. All stroked 350s have to have the blocks notched 0.125" (much as a 455 is from the factory) for connecting rod clearance. The rods will clear the cam lobes unless you have a cam with 0.650" lift or more, which will not work. Do not deck the block until initial fitment of the pistons and rods are tried to see where the piston is "in the hole". This is because diesel blocks can vary between and 0.030" in deck height from the factory. Diesel engines should have gasoline cam bearings installed which will block off the oil feed to the injector drive hole located just below the cam access hole in the front of the block. This hole should then be plugged. At the rear of the block there is also an injector drain hole which also must be plugged using a 11/16 cup plug. Remember to follow all the oil restriction instructions in the previous section as this block uses the big block journals. Crankshaft. This build requires the use of a 400 SS or 425 crank (part number ) which is no longer available from the factory. You will also need a 425 flexplate or flywheel. Mondello can supply new pieces if you desire. The crank counterweights must be cut down in diameter by 0.375" to fit in the block. Mondello offset machines the crank from the factory 3.975" stroke to 4.000". Additionally, the rod journals will have to be machined down to 2.199" so that a Chevy 454 rod can be fitted. All other preparation to the crankshaft should be accomplished as discussed in the previous Section. For best results use a 350 gas or 455 harmonic balancer; as on the diesel piece a 0.680" spacer would have to be fabricated or purchased from Mondello. Rods and Pistons. Steel 454 Chevy rod cores will need to be used, or forged aluminum aftermarket Chevy pieces. The Chevy steel rods should be prepared as was discussed for the Olds forgings, except as follows: Big end. The rod big end must be narrowed on the one side to remove the offset and the other should be cut down for proper side clearance, reducing the rod's width of 0.857" to the Olds width of 0.821". Notch the rods as instructed for the Olds pieces in the previous section. Small end. The small end should be bushed and bored to accept 0.927" small block Chevy wrist pins. Piston. The piston for this combination will be custom forged, and is supplied by Arias. Contact Mondello for the pistons. Balance and Finishing. The crankshaft requires quite a bit of Mallory Metal to balance, since the counterweights have been cut down. (Mondello can sell you a complete kit for this conversion; balanced and ready to go including all the necessary parts and pieces, if you do not want the "adventure" of managing all this). Finish the block prep and assembly of the block as you would any other Olds engine. Follow all other suggestions and assembly instructions. Heads and Intake. Gasoline heads have to be used. Remember that you have increased the displacement to 125% of its original size of 350 cubic inches and that the standard 350 head will not flow enough air to feed the beast. For this install, the easiest head to work with is the 403 piece, which has the largest combustion chambers (83 cc) of any small block head, and can accept the 455 valves

35 You can use big block heads, but since you will be using a small block manifold because of the deck height, it will have to be modified by welding and porting to match the larger ports in these heads and are not suggested. 350 heads can be used because they do flow fairly well, but most have small combustion chambers and would push the compression ratio quite high. If you do not have access to a set of 4A 403 heads, we suggest the "8" series heads with the 79 cc combustion chambers, to which the big block valves can be added ala the W-31. All 350 heads should be ported, and earlier heads (prior to 1977) will need to have the head bolt holes opened up to 0.532" to accommodate the diesel's ½" head bolts. 403 and big block heads utilize the larger bolts. The best bet, if you can afford it, is to install Edelbrock Performer heads and the Edelbrock 7111 manifold, ported. All other head work should be as described in Section 4. Stroking the 455 Dick Miller Racing and Mondello offer complete kits to stroke the 455. The kits increase the bore and the stroke, and contain all the parts and pieces which have already been balanced and fully machined. You will need to prepare the bare block as described in Section 3.5 and then install the components. Dick's 500 cube kit is intended for Street Wild through Super Modified use; Mondello's two versions are for Street Wild through Street/Strip (he recommends rpms under 5500). Contact Dick at: and Mondello at Cast Crank Kits. Dick Miller Kit. This is a complete kit, with all the components. The cast crank kit comes with a cast iron crank that has been balanced, cross drilled and chamfered, with new rod bearings, modified main bearings, DMR " forged rods by Oliver, with either Diamond or Arias custom pistons, moly file fit rings, a new flywheel damper and bolt, a new flexplate, ARP flexplate bolts, freeze plug kit, and gasket set. Dick suggests that you also use his DMR-5943 billet main bearing caps and his custom girdle. Mondello Kits. This is a complete kit, with all the components in either 486 or 493 cube setup. The kit comes with a cast iron crank that has been balanced, cross drilled and chamfered, with new rod bearings, modified main bearings, forged rods and Arias custom pistons, rings, and necessary peripherals. It is suggested that you use a halo girdle. Forged Crank Kit. Only Dick offers a forged kit that comes with a steel crank that is balanced, cross drilled and chamfered, with new rod bearings, and modified main bearings, DMR " forged rods by Oliver, with Diamond custom pistons, moly file fit rings, a new damper and bolt, a new flexplate, ARP flexplate bolts, freeze plug kit, and gasket set. Dick suggests his DMR-5943 billet main bearing caps and his custom girdle. Billet Stroker Crankshaft. If you want to do it yourself, via a billet crankshaft route, Rocket Racing has this crank in stock. They can also make up custom stroker kits for your Olds. Cast Stroker Crankshaft. Olds Performance takes the same route as Rocket racing with a cast crank, which they stock. Olds Performance Products will also make up a stroker kit to order Engine Oiling Introduction We have seen engines with a stock oiling system that have only turned 5200 RPM at wide open throttle spin a bearing, or worse. After all the money you just spent on this killer short block we've just help you machine and put together, do you want to throw it away by using a stock oil pump? (Hint: throw away the oil pump instead). 5 1 Oil Pump and Oiling System Described 4 3 Oiling is critical to the health of an Olds engine. Understand that the big block was not designed as a performance platform, but more as a smooth running passenger car powerplant that would deliver good torque over a broad rpm band. And while the small block's architecture is more in the direction of a high rpm performance powerplant, much of that was serendipitous planning for longevity and reliability. In reality, Olds engineers used the oiling system to quiet the engine by supplying a good deal of oil to the lifters and to the main bearings to cushion vibration and suppress noise! This is the reason for the 3.000" mains in the big block and the large oil feeds to the cam. (See the diagram at right, with 5 key lubrication areas numbered in red). 2 How the System Works. Oil enters the pump through a screened inlet located near the bottom rear of the oil pan. The oil is pressurized by the pump and then it passes through the oil filter located on the right rear side of the engine block. It then enters the right main oil gallery [1] where those passages distribute it to the five main bearings [2]. The right side valve lifters also receive oil from this gallery from eight feed holes that intersect the gallery

36 The five camshaft bearings are lubricated from vertical passages that intersect the main bearing oil passages [3]. (This is where we insert the oil restrictors). From the front main bearing a third passage connects the right main oil gallery to the left gallery which then feeds the left bank of valve lifters [4]. The engine oil pressure warning light/pressure sender switch is connected to the front of the left oil gallery. At the front end of the right gallery a small orifice sprays oil to lubricate the fuel pump eccentric cam and the timing chain [5]. The oil pump and distributor drive gear are lubricated by splash from the rear cam bearing and connecting rod bearings. The rocker arms and valve tips are lubricated by means of oil furnished to them through the hydraulic lifters and hollow push-rods. A disc valve in the lifter meters oil to the pushrods. The connecting rod bearings are oiled by constant oil flow from passages drilled through the crankshaft connecting the main journals to the rod journals. A groove around each main bearing furnishes oil to the drilled crankshaft passages. An intermittent spray from the connecting rods lubricates the cylinder walls and piston pins when the drilled hole in the rod indexes with the rod journal passage. Oil returns to the oil pan reservoir from the rocker arms through passages at each end of the cylinder heads. Oil from the valve lifter compartment returns through clearance holes in the lower portion of the valley atop the camshaft. The timing chain area drains directly into the oil pan. Key Areas. The key areas noted above are critical to the oiling system. As you can see in the above description, the main bearings are not the primary focus of the oiling and are considered a distribution point for oil to other parts of the system, rather than having their own dedicated feed. As a result, too much oil goes to the cam and lifters, at the expense of the main bearings. At engine speeds under 3500 rpm, this is not a problem as there is sufficient oil to go around. Above that rpm range, the oil is all pumped up to the lifters and cam, at the expense of the main and rod bearings. Further, all that oil ends up in the valley or rushing down the returns where it hits the spinning crankshaft and is sprayed away from the oil pan. (In the 60s, Olds engineers made a clear oil pan and used a slow motion picture movie camera to document this. They were astounded at the amount of oil flying around in the engine.) Thus, if we can reduce the amount of oil to the lifters and cam and ensure that it stays in the crank, the bearings will receive sufficient oil. This also means that a high volume pump does not help as much in directing the oil where we want it to go and having sufficient oil in the pan to ensure that the bearings are not starved. Second, we need to understand that the total bearing surface area of a big block means that we need to not only keep oil where it will do the most good but keep enough pressure on the oil to make sure it does not stay in one place too long and overheat. This is the reason for the rod relief cuts, and the elongating of the main bearing oil feed hole and all the chamfers on the crank. They remove the oil from the bearings and allow fresh oil to reach the bearing surface. Here is where a high pressure (not too high) oil pump can help, but only if we make the changes to the bearing, crank and rods. That way, the reciprocating parts get enough oil to ensure a long and happy life. We need to add more oil to the system, using a deeper pan. This means that at rpms above 5500 there will be sufficient oil at the pickup to ensure proper oil pressure. At 5500, there is 1 quart in the filter, 1 quart in each valve cover, and 1-2 quarts in the valley or being drained back to the pan. Where is the oil for the bearings if we only have 5 quarts? Oil Pump Selection The following section indicates our best advice for how to oil your engine, given the levels of modification we have devised. See also the section on oil pan selection that follows. When in doubt, or if your engine will occasionally see drag strip action, upgrade to the next highest level. On all levels of modification, carefully polish and relieve the oiling channel that the oil pump bolts to on the rear main cap. (See diagram at right). 1. Stock/Factory Modified Minimum. Install high pressure oil pump spring. Use Mondello PS-110 spring kit. Factory Modified cars should consider the high volume pump if installing a Toronado oil pan. 2. Factory High Performance. Install high volume pump and Toronado oil pan. The oil pickup does not have to be dropped as the pan just increases the amount of oil to one additional quart. Mondello (SP-754) and Olds Performance Products (2123) supply a similar pump. 3. Street Mild Street Wild. Install Mondello SP-756 pump and Toro or Aftermarket Pan. This pump moves too much oil to be used with the stock 4 quart oil pan but will work with the Olds Toronado 5 quart pan. The pickup can be lowered ½" if desired. The number 5 main cap with the oil passage ground and the oil suction hole relieved. The channel has been slightly enlarged, polished, and the entrance to the oil suction hole smoothed into the pickup passage. 4. Street /Strip Super Modified. Install Mondello SP-765 pump. This pump requires a 7/8 diameter pickup that can be supplied by Mondello to match your pan selection (pickup depth). Select an aftermarket pan preferably the Mondello OP Quart Oil Pan. See the Section below on oil pan selection. Oil Pump Drive Purchase a new oil pump drive shaft (the shaft that runs from the distributor to the oil pump). All levels of performance should go with the heftier drive shafts offered by the

37 aftermarket. The factory shaft can actually twist and change the ignition timing when used with a high volume pump. Oil Pan Capacity and Pickup We cannot count the times we ve seen cars with a 10 quart pan with a stock pump or a stock pan and a huge volume pump. Both of these scenarios are recipes for disaster. The first is just a waste of oil with no improvement in oiling and the second is worse, because you can bet that pan is sucked dry every time that engine hits 4500 rpm. How much oil you need to oil the engine properly is based upon key factors. They are: the volume of the pump, the oil restriction being used, and period of time when the engine will stay in the RPM range. Here are a few points to consider: Too much oil. Too much oil can actually drag on the engine by the oil it sends to the top of the motor, which actually interferes with the operation of the valve springs and then has to get back to the pan. This occurs by cascading down through the cam valley into the crank area where it gets whipped around and drags on the rods not to mention being turned to foam. It can also go down the valve guides and foul the mixture and plugs. Too much pressure. There is such a thing as too much oil pressure as well. In this case, the oil is under so much pressure that it is removed from surfaces without cooling and cushioning the area. Ideally, you want sufficient oil to stay cool, stay on the bearing surfaces and to oil the cylinder walls, cam, lifters and rockers and valve stems. Pressure also acts just like volume, since oil will take the path of least resistance, and in an Olds that means it will all end up at the top of the motor. Again, this oil will end up running down the valve stems where it will foul spark plugs and even cause detonation. Oil Pan Selection Like the pump, we need to match the pan to the level of performance. We need the right amount of oil in the right place at the right time. 1. Stock. Stock Pan. The stock pan is only recommended where clearance is an issue or you are restoring your car to stock specifications. In this case try to find the W-30 oil pan baffle that fits in the stock pan, part # It bolts to the block main caps and will keep the oil near the pump under acceleration. If you cannot find this baffle, Mondello sells a baffle for each engine series that will work in all oil pans: small block uses WT-195; big block uses WT-190. We suggest all engines use selection 2, unless stock appearance is necessary. 2. Factory High Performance and Street Mild. Use a Toronado Oil Pan. All Toronados from 1966 through 1978 ran a pan that carried one extra quart of oil. You can run this pan with a stock oil pickup, the Toronado pickup, or a Mondello PU-1 Pickup (recommended). These pans are quite plentiful in junkyards. (The Toronados ran a 403 with this pan). The pan is available from certain suppliers OEM replacement. In 1980, the Toro oil pan was changed to a 4 quart version. Toronado oil pan, which pan holds an extra quart of oil & will fit on any Olds block. Pencil points to built in windage scraper. Note dimple for Toro drive shaft and slight offset to left to clear transmission. This will ID the pan. When you find that pan, take the baffle that surrounds the oil pump as well. There is one up front too which doesn t look like much but is helpful). Here are the parts numbers in case you find any NROS pieces at swap meets: Toronado Pan Toronado Rear Oil Baffle Toronado front Oil Baffle These baffles require 4 bolts and attaching nuts as well part number Toronado rear oil pan baffle. This mounts to the main bearing saddle and surrounds the oil pump. If you find a Toro pan, be sure to use this as well. Shown are attaching bolts number If you are using studs, ARP and Mondello have an appropriate stud kit with standoff and nut that will work, though the baffle holes may need to be drilled out to fit. Mondello sells a baffle for each engine series that will work in all oil pans: the small blocks use WT- 195; big blocks use WT-190. Mondello OP-807 oil pan. This pan holds 2 extra quarts of oil and will fit on any Olds block and in any modern chassis. Use the Mondello SP-756 oil pump with ¾ pickup with this pan. 3. Street Wild. Use a Mondello OP Quart Oil Pan (1 lower than stock but is even with the front cross member). This pan will need modification in the

38 1967 Cutlass and 442 chassis as it may hit the cross member. Use a SP-756/PU-1 or SP-765/PU-4 (oil pump and pick-up) which are recommended for this pan. Use Mondello's WT-190 or WT-195 deflector. 4. Super Modified. Use a Mondello OP Quart Oil Pan (2 lower than stock and 1 lower than the front crossmember). This pan will need modification in Cutlass and 442 chassis. Use a SP-756/PU-2 or SP- 765/PU-5 (oil pump and pick-up) that are recommended for this pan. Use WT-190 or WT-195 deflector. Olds pan, pump and pickup SS-815-HD from Mondello. This system is a good "plug and play" approach for most Oldsmobiles, regardless of performance level 5. Dry Sump Systems. Moroso builds dry sump systems that have been modified by Olds Performance for use in Olds blocks. Get out your check book, though, this is not a cheap solution. Crank Scrapers and Full Length Windage Trays Street Wild and better engines should consider a scraper and/or windage tray. Most trays and scrapers will likely require custom fitting to make sure the crank throws, the oil pan and the tray are all in proper alignment. Do not expect the scraper or tray to fit without alignment and sizing which means some grinding or trimming. Mondello has a full tray, CT-850, for all big and small blocks. If the tray is used with main studs & straps, then you will need to order ST-942 or ST-947 main stud and strap kit with stand-off studs. Mondello also has ½ windage trays similar to the baffle that was supplied with the Toronado pan, model WT-190 (big block) or WT-19 (small block). If you are using a Toro baffle, do not buy this baffle as it is very similar in function. Rocket Racing has a scraper that needs custom fitting. Dick Miller offers a full-length stainless steel formed windage tray for all size Olds engines. This tray fits crankshaft counterweights so snugly no skimmer baffle is needed. It fits all oil pans except Toronado pans. Olds Performance has integrated a scraper and full windage tray into some of their oil pans. Mounting the Oil Pump Mount your oil pump, oil pump driveshaft, any windage tray and or scraper and the oil pump pickup tube. If you are using an oil pan baffle, bolt it in place, then place the oil pan gasket on the block for measuring purposes. Using an adjustable carpenter s square, measure from the bottom of the oil pump pickup to the oil pan gasket and note the measurement. Then using the adjustable carpenter s square again, measure from the oil pan gasket surface on the oil pan to the bottom of the pan where pickup tube would be located and note the measurement. Subtract the first measurement from the second measurement to show the clearance between the oil pump pickup and the bottom of the pan. This measurement ought to be between Adjust if necessary. Rotate your engine assembly to make sure your crankshaft counterweights, connecting rod bolts, and nuts clear your oil dipstick (and indicator), oil pump housing and any windage tray and/or scraper. After you have checked all clearances, then trial fit your pan on the block to be sure it clears everything as well. Oil, Oil Filter and Oil Pressure Always oil-prime your engine with a drill or an oil primer tool. When oil priming the engine, rotate the crank a quarter turn every seconds until you see oil coming out of all of the pushrods and rocker arms. Always use a quality 20w-40 (street), or 20w-50 (racing) oil and a quality filter. Use 10w-30 or 20w-40 during break in. DO NOT USE Teflon or synthetic oil during break in. DO NOT USE NON-DETERGENT OIL at any time as it will cause premature camshaft and lifter damage. Aluminum rod engines prefer 25w-50 (street) or straight 50w racing (at track) oil. If your engine does not show better than 20 psi at operating temperature STOP. Check for proper oil pump operation, the hole in the plug in the left rear oil gallery and properly installed bearings, properly torques rods and mains, cam bearings, and restrictors. Run a quality oil filter and name-brand oil. If you wish to change over to synthetic oil, do so after 500 miles or after the engine has been broken in. Olds crankshaft scraper and baffle from Rocket Racing. The following oil filters are recommended: AC Racing PF-454 or PF-1218; Fram HP4 or HP8; K&N K33HP2003; Moroso 22459; and WIX 51069R. If fitment is and Issue, use Fram FRM-HP8. Stock and Factory Modified may use standard quality name brand filters if desired

39 3.9 Assembling Your Short Block You may have your machinist assemble the short block As such, many of these steps will be their responsibility in your build. You can be responsible for bolting all this together, and if you wish to do so, go for it. We will state that the machinist is probably in a better position to do the assembly and they usually want to, because this guarantees that the fruits of their labor will come together successfully. If your machinist is not an Olds specialist, it would be prudent to provide them with the Assembly and Blueprinting Worksheet (See Section 8.1) so that they can follow the recommended clearance s, etc. for your specific engine. Installing the Crankshaft, Pistons and Connecting Rods Follow the instructions as contained in the Chassis Service Manual regarding the fitment of the crankshaft. Use the specification in the Assembly and Blueprinting Sheet for your specific block, as shown. Place the crankshaft in the block and torque to the proper levels. Recheck bearing clearance, and end play. Front and rear oil seals should be in place. Seal Spin the crankshaft. It should turn freely, to a finger touch. Install the piston and rod assemblies with the piston notches pointing in the proper direction. This ensures that the rod squirt hole will be aligned to spray on the cylinder walls. Torque rod end caps to the proper level. If the cylinder walls are lightly oiled, the entire rotating assembly should move smoothly. The piston rings will exert resistance, but there should be no binding or ring chatter. It is a good practice to cover the cylinder bore tops with wide masking tape on the deck at this time. In this manner, no foreign objects can enter the engine and damage the pistons or cylinder walls. Installing the Cam This should be done AFTER the short block is complete and assembled. Make sure that the cam bores are clean and then install the cam bearings if you did not already. If you are using a mechanical or roller cam, use Mondello bearing kit RCB-499 for this purpose. Checking Camshaft Retaining Bolt and Thrust Clearance Olds cams have a habit of walking in and out in the block (actually wearing the block on the front casting). Once loose, and if you set the timing with this play in the cam, it will move forward as the engine spins up, and your ignition timing will become retarded. This will make your engine run sluggish. Check the following: After installing cam, the fuel pump eccentric, the cam retaining bolt, cam timing gear and chain in place AND with the gasket (heavy weight thick) tacked to block; measure with a straight edge and feeler gauge. The distance from the edge of the block to the end of the camshaft retaining bolt (with the felt front cover gasket on and the cam pushed back as far as it can go) should be between You will likely find that the cam thrust clearance is way beyond this specification (as much as toward the rear of the block due to wear). Thus: Camshaft manufacturers and vendors like Mondello sell spacers that fit between the cam and the block to push cam back into the proper clearance. The spacer(s) will need to be installed before you do final fitment of the cam and set cam timing. Mondello and others also sell a camshaft bolt with a thrust button on the front tip of it that keeps the cam from moving too far forward. This way the cam will stay in its proper front and rearward placement. We suggest installing this bolt in place of a standard cam retaining bolt. If so, you must use the thicker (0.031 thick) front cover gasket. Measuring thrust clearance with a feeler gauge between the thrust bolt head and straight edge. A spacer may also be needed on the crankshaft to bring the crank timing gear in line with the cam gear. Mondello and others sell a series of spacers in the proper thicknesses that will solve this problem. Install the lifters Install your lifters at this time. If the lifters have not been preoiled by the manufacturer (they so say so in the packaging), or they look dry, soak the lifters overnight in engine oil and use an old pushrod to depress the lifter plunger a few times to remove any trapped air. Remember to use cam assembly/break in lube on the base of the lifter before sliding it in the bore. Install the Cam Timing Chain and Gears With number 6 cylinder at top dead center on its compression stroke - not #1 (you can tell this because the two lifters should be completely down in their holes), the crankshaft gear zero mark should be at 12:00 p.m. and the camshaft gear zero mark should be at 6:00 p.m. (see diagram). If you are going to degree your camshaft, now is the time to do it, if not, make sure the timing gear zero marks are lined up and your timing chain set is well lubricated. (See the Section on degreeing your cam in Section 9 - Appendix)

40 Put Loctite on the cam retaining bolt and torque it to 65 ft. lbs. Align marks here and here When the number 6 piston is at TDC the timing marks should align as shown above. The Right Timing Chain and Gears Cam timing is a key element in determining horsepower and drivability. Even a factory stock cam installed improperly advanced or retarded even a few degrees can kill performance or worse, cause engine damage by allowing the valves to hit the pistons. Cheap timing chains can be incorrectly marked or incorrectly machined, either retarding or advancing the cam as much as 10 to 12. Because of this, we ONLY recommend Cloyes True Roller Timing Sets (less than $100.00), however Speed Pro makes a quality unit as well. Don t use timing gear sets with fiber or plastic gear teeth or single roller chains like the cheap factory piece shown in the picture. Don t scrimp here as a cheap part will likely cost you time and money. For Super Modified vehicles, Mondello sells a GD-455 Camshaft Gear Drive (there are gears only, no chain) that fits under stock timing covers and allows you to advance or retard your camshaft easily. This setup is about 4 times the cost of a good chain set, but allows for very accurate cam timing. Mondello s TC-810 two piece front timing cover is also recommended. Mondello says that the gear set will fit all Olds 330s through 455s up to Call and ask about fitment if you have a 307. A Note on Degreeing the Cam DO NOT assume that the cam will be degreed properly versus the timing chain. Any good shop will want to degree the cam, so ask that they do. If they cannot, or for those of you who are do-it-yourselfers, follow the steps in the Appendix. Advancing your camshaft 1-2 is preferable even for stock applications as it will help compensate for any chain stretch. A Note on Camshaft Break-In Always use a recommended camshaft break-in lube or moly lube on your camshaft and lifters during final assembly. To break in a camshaft, run the engine between rpm for minutes with good oil pressure. Do not allow the engine to idle down during the break-in period. Do not rev or race the engine to high rpm s during the break-in period. Take extra care and properly set valve lash or lifter preload. (See Section 4, Cylinder Head Preparation and Usage). Installing a Harmonic Balancer Follow the instructions in the Chassis Service manual for installing the balancer and front cover with seal. Use the late model neoprene front seal to seal the crankshaft nose to the front cover. Remember, the balancer is pressed on the nose of the crankshaft, so be very careful when aligning and fastening it. Factory Balancer. If you install a factory harmonic balancer, ensure that it is the correct one for your vehicle. We do not recommend using a repair kit for the balancer, as there is a possibility that the repair can fail at high rpm : The aftermarket offers a balancer for the 350, 400LS, 403 and 455; Sealed Power Part # This balancer can be used for a 330, but TDC must be remarked (see below). This balancer will fit the 400SS and 425, BUT it must be attached and rebalanced with the entire rotating assembly. The following are the original part numbers for the balancers, should you discover an NOS piece: : : and 425: (except w-31): W-31: and 455: all 350, 403 & 455 V8: & 307 V8: can also use and 307: The aftermarket offers a balancer for the 307; Sealed Power Part # GM still stocks the OEM balancer under part number Aftermarket Balancer. A better solution is to use an aftermarket balancer. Both Supercars Unlimited and Mondello sell aftermarket balancers : For non-race V8s use Mondello's 8080 Degreed Harmonic Balancer/Damper Harmonic Balancer. Degreed 0-60 as well as every 90 degrees. This balancer can be used for a 330, but TDC must be remarked (see next page). This balancer will fit the 400SS & 425, BUT it must be attached & rebalanced with the entire rotating assembly. Race Only Balancer. The best unit is one made by TCI and sold through Mondello : The 8087 SFI Certified Harmonic Balancer Damper is a SFI certified Harmonic Balancer. SFI certified balancers will not separate from the rubber sleeve at high rpm. The 8087 fits 350, 400LS, V8 Oldsmobile engines. The must have TDC recalibrated, and 400SS & 425 must be attached and rebalanced with the entire rotating assembly

41 Scribing a New Timing Mark on the Harmonic Balancer for the 330 V8 The process of scribing a new timing mark on the 6.5" 350 Harmonic Balancer is not difficult. 1. With the front cover removed, set the engine to TDC on the number one cylinder. (Piston in the TDC position and both intake and exhaust closed). 2. Replace the front cover and timing marker. 3. Slide the harmonic balancer on the crankshaft without moving the crankshaft. (Retain the TDC position). 4. Note the relationship of the timing mark on the balancer and the timing mark on the pointer tab. 5. Re-scribe a new mark on the balancer corresponding to the 0 degree mark on the pointer. Engine at TDC. Re-scribe a new mark here. All measurement shown in Section 6 will now be accurate when measured from the new mark

42 How to Build Your Heads Section Picking the Correct Head Introduction Section 04 - Building Your Cylinder Heads Treat your cylinder head preparation with as much TLC as your block. If you are using a set of stock Olds heads, clean and prep them just as you did for the block. You should Magnaflux the heads and check them for cracks. We have seen heads with cracks that run from the upper water passages to the exhaust valve seat. DO NOT assume anything. Remember, you will spend a lot of money on the heads and a cracked one is a financial black hole. The Right Head for You This is a loaded statement. When a tuner or speed shop makes a recommendation, they have to consider that if they under-spec the head, even if this is not the problem, and the car does not run to the owner s expectations, the head (or cam) choice will be blamed. The shop also makes more money if they sell you high-end parts. Remember this when you select your shop. All heads, regardless of Factory or aftermarket, should be brought up to the closest tolerances possible. They should receive the best valve job, valve guides, and valves as possible, even if stock specs are being sought. Most Stock through Street Wild applications can use the stock head (perhaps a different year or version), with professional preparation, port matching and upgraded parts. Street Wild applications should consider either a highly modified and flowed factory piece or an aftermarket selection. Street/Strip and Super Modified engines should consider a flowed and modified aftermarket head where available as their design will likely outperform any stocker, even when optimized for racing. If you are unsure of what head will work best for you, contact us at: oldsheadsadvisor@wildaboutcars.com. We have listed cylinder head shops with expertise in Oldsmobile in Section 9. Unleaded Gasoline and Cylinder Head Preparation and Use If you are running a street motor, remember that earlier heads were not designed to run on unleaded gas, All Olds heads were made from high quality carbon steel and early heads generally do not generally need seat inserts, though later heads were fitted with them. If you are concerned about seat damage, find a set of "7" (small block or letter "G" (big block) heads, or you may have stainless steel seats installed in your current heads and later heads were fitted with inserts. These inserts can be replaced and are stocked by most resellers such as Sealed Power and Clevite. Most 330, 350 and Gen 2 big blocks will tolerate unleaded fuel due to the quality of steel used in the head manufacture, but if the seats show erosion from unleaded gas use, they can be replaced with hardened seats, The Cylinder Head Usage Chart indicates which heads will work in stock form with unleaded fuel. Those of you restoring your car and wanting authenticity or desiring the features of earlier heads can install heads without hardened seats, but consider that the heads could require rebuilding after as little as 25,000 miles. Most restored cars will not reach this threshold in quite a few years, however. Race only heads may not see enough action to require hardened seats. Speak to your rebuilder and follow their recommendations. The best stock heads that already have hardened exhaust seats for the use of unleaded gas were those delivered from 1971 onward: For the small block. Use A series heads. Later small block heads can be used, but they have either larger combustion chambers or smaller valves, or both. Once you have to change valves and cut these heads for smaller combustion chambers, you might as well modify heads by adding hardened seats. For the big block. The most common hardened seat heads for big blocks are "G A " heads, which are fine, though some versions may contain the smaller 2.00 intake, depending on which car the heads were originally mounted on (Delta 88s, for example). Obviously any of the "H", K, and K A heads which contain stainless seats flow as good as the earlier "D" and "F" W-30 pieces, but are rare. We think that the early "C" head, when fitted with stainless seat insert and 2.070" intakes will flow as well as any of the more rare pieces, when cleaned up. Pre-1972 heads, with good preparation, and fitted with the largest possible valves, will handle the needs of any vehicle modification level through Street Wild and many Street/Strip cars. Good aftermarket cylinder heads are available, and you may want to take advantages of the improvements they offer, however, realize that they are not cheap and in some cases require specialized intake manifolds to realize their potential

43 How to Build Your Heads Section Head Selection Criteria and Other Potential Tweaks Introduction In this Section we offer suggestions on what head to use, based upon the performance levels we use in this manual. Remember, these are suggestions and recommendations, and there are numerous issues that may affect the performance of your engine that have nothing to do with just the bolting together of a series of parts. Remember, the quality of work done, the car the engine is placed in, its gearing, transmission, and ancillary parts such as carbs, ignition and such will all affect performance. Have no fear - we will cover these issues in Section 5. However, in our cylinder head recommendations by performance level, we have allowed some latitude in what performance you can achieve if you follow our advice. It is imperative not to fool yourself and either over engineer or under engineer your project. Before you select a cylinder head, please go back to Section 1 and carefully consider the primary use of the vehicle and your performance level before you select a cylinder head. Head Considerations for "Stock" Vehicles Let s be clear here. When we say "stock", we mean that the engine has, for the most part, factory supplied or NROS pieces, and is operating within the parameters originally set by the factory. You may have changed the rear gear set, added headers, and tuned the carb or ignition, but the engine s internals are pretty much as the factory intended. Most engines would be viewed as stock under the Oldsmobile Club of America s judging criteria at this level of engine build. For example, if you are running a 1964 Cutlass with 442 internals or a with different gears and a efficient dual exhaust system, those type of cars are still stock in our definition. Converting your 1964 Cutlass to a 1970 spec W-31 engine - or putting a 350 in an would not be "stock", but rather what we call Factory Modified or "Street Mild". Head selection under these criteria is limited, but: For Pre-1971 Cars. If you are running a Pre-1971 car, would suggest using your heads, but converting them to hardened exhaust valve seats. If you are running a stock spec cam, in most cases oversized valves are not as important as a quality valve job using the specs suggested in Section 4.1. If you have built the entire short block, we would have also suggested reducing your compression ratio to a maximum of 9.5:1 (actual). A quality head porting and intake matching job will really help and should not affect your "stock" classification. All stock Olds V8s will benefit from the replacement of the valve springs with replacement W-series valve springs (Super Cars Unlimited spring #14-060). For Post 1970 Cars. Our suggestion is to retain your heads, but where possible, move back to 1971 specs on your head's combustion chamber size and run a quality valve job using the specs suggested in Section and up cars should consider removing the valve rotators and replacing them with stock valve spring retainers. (Don't forget to shim the valve seats). Late 350s (1973 up) and 307 cars can retro-fit valve sizes in their stock heads and see a measurable improvement. You might want to run 9:1 9.5:1 pistons. A quality head porting and intake matching job will really help even more in these emission style heads. All will benefit from the replacement of the valve springs with replacement W- series valve springs (Super Cars Unlimited spring #14-060). All small blocks after 1976, including the diesel, used ½" head bolts rather than 7 / 16 ". If you are mounting early heads on these motors, the heads bolt holes will have to be drilled out to between 0.530" and ". Head Considerations for Factory Modified Vehicles Factory Modified cars are basically cars that would have been brought up to the Factory s high water mark in the years , plus any technology tweaks we ve learned over the years to increase that level of performance further. Factory heads would be used, but with the best configuration considered for that block. For example, placing 1968 W-31 heads on that 1964 Cutlass we used in the stock example above would now move it to Factory Modified. HEI ignition, running a better factory intake or exhaust manifold, converting to duals when you car didn t come with them, etc are all tweaks that will categorize a car as a Factory Modified vehicle. Once changed in this fashion, it is unlikely that your car would be viewed as stock under the Oldsmobile Club s criteria at this level. Run Factory Heads. All Factory Modified cars should still run factory heads. If you are considering aftermarket heads, go to the Street Wild suggestions. Here, the factory heads should use hardened valve seats and the largest valves that are appropriate. 307s should run 1970 valves 23 ; 330s and 350s should move to W-31 valve sizes; 403s should go to the full 455 valve sizes; and 260s should ditch the stock head for the 307 with standard 307 valves, and the head should be milled to reach 59 ccs, minimum. Post 1976 engines running early heads will have to have the head bolt holes drilled out to " Keep Compression Reasonable. In all cases, keep the CR to a max of 9.75:1 if you intend to street the car for the most part. If you go higher in CR, consider octane additives. Later Cars Should Use Early Heads. All post s and 455s should return to spec heads; with 6 heads being the best for small blocks and C or E heads being best for big blocks. Adjustable pushrods are a suggested. A quality head porting & intake matching job is recommended; and springs (Super Cars Unlimited spring #14-060). Consider a More Aggressive Cam. To take advantage of these heads modifications, a more aggressive cam engines may require the top of the deck to be relieved to allow sufficient clearance for the intake valve if larger than intakes and cam lifts of over are used. If this is the case, DO NOT use a 0.00 deck height

44 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 should be fitted. At the high end of this modification range, Mondello or Super Cars Unlimited replacement W- 31 and W-30 cams should be used as they are ground to better tolerances. The NHRA cheater cam offered by Super Cars Unlimited should ONLY be considered for a manual transmission big block car with 3.91:1 gears or better. (See our Cam Suggestion Chart in Section 3). Head Considerations for Street Mild Vehicles Street Mild cars are Factory Modified cars with aftermarket parts replacing factory parts where the parts would add a performance improvement. We still recommend factory heads at this level. Other suggestions which move the engine performance level higher would be: Fitting Oversized valves. Big Block owners can consider fitting oversized valves (beyond /1.625 ). All street Mild blocks should use 2.00" intakes and 1.625" exhausts. 403s must change the valve sizes to 2.072" intakes and 1.629" exhausts. Porting and a Competition Valve Job, At the Street Mild level, porting should at least include the deburring and smoothing of existing intake and exhaust ports. A competition valve job should be done. Even the Combustion Chambers. The chambers should be cc'd and evened, with any burs removed. The heads should be milled, if necessary, to reach the desired compression ratio. Stronger Cams. More race oriented cams and aftermarket valve springs should be installed. See the chart in the camshaft Section for suggestions. More Aggressive Valve Train. The entire valve train should be upgraded, with adjustable rocker arms and stronger pushrods, and lighter high-strength retainers. Fill the Exhaust Port Divider. Filling in the exhaust port divider on the center exhaust port (see page 82) should be considered, but is not mandatory. Close the Heat Riser. Closing off the heat riser passages in the center exhaust parts should also be considered. In the case of Street Mild cars, this can be done with a gasket. Upgraded Intake and Exhaust. Running and aftermarket intake and an exhaust system is a plus just consider the cars major usage. 260 and 307 cars in Street Mild can move to a 330/350 block. Head Considerations for Street Wild Vehicles All the gloves are off, but streetability is still the watchword. A Street Wild car should still be able to be driven to the grocery, but no one will think it is getting good mileage on the way. All the changes made in Street Mild heads, as above, should be made in Street Wild, with the following exceptions or additions. Aftermarket Heads 24. Aftermarket heads should be considered at this level with cost consideration being the watchword. We suggest stock Edelbrock or Bulldog heads with roller rockers. Standard valve sizes are OK. 24 Aftermarket Heads are discussed in detail in Section 4.4 Factory Heads. Factory heads can be used, but all the suggested changes in Street Mild level are now law. Clean up the Chambers. The chambers should be reworked to ensure that no bumps or other impediments to good chamber filling and even combustion are available. After clean up, the heads should be cc'd and milled, if necessary. Aftermarket Valves. For factory heads, lightweight and "flowed" valves should be considered. Stronger Cams. The cams recommended in Section 3 for Street Wild cars are mandatory. Upgraded Intake and Exhaust. Run as much intake as the car will handle and still be driveable. Duals and headers are mandatory. See Section 5 for recommendations. Head Considerations for Street/Strip Vehicles A Street/Strip car should be drivable on the street, but just barely. This is a car that idles poorly, does not want to run below 1500 rpm, requires premium fuel, and gets poor mileage. All modifications in the Street Wild level should apply here, with the following additions or exceptions. Aftermarket Heads. We suggest that factory heads be discarded, and the listed aftermarket heads be fitted, with the exception of the Mondello & Rocket Racing heads, which are marginal on the street and should not be fitted. Porting. Heads should be ported and the valve sizes matched to the camshaft specs and transmission and rear gears. This will require consultation with the head manufacturer; please work with them and be very honest on your application and related parts. Stronger Cams. The cams recommended in Section 3 for Street/Strip cars are mandatory. Induction. Intake and carb(s) will need to be carefully matched to your application. See Section 5 for more information. Head Considerations for Super Modified Vehicles Do not consider running a Super Modified engine on the street, please. All modifications in the Street/Strip level should apply here, with the following additions or exceptions. Small Block. If you are running a small block, we recommend Bulldog heads. Contact Dick Miller Racing for advice on valve size and porting issues. Please work with Dick and be very honest on your application and related parts to be utilized in your race car. Big Block. Big Block cars should run Mondello or Rocket Racing heads. When contacting these experts be very honest on your application and related parts that you will be using or intend to use. These experts have tons of race proven experience and will advise you accordingly. Mondello heads should be reserved for cars running manual transmission, 4.33:1 or better gears, and a 425/455 or better big block. Valves and Valve Train. All Super Modified cars should use the strongest, latest and LIGHTEST valve train components available, to include: roller rockers, 3/8-7/16 pushrods, and titanium valve keepers. Valves should be flowed and lightweight, especially in the small block, which could see over 8000 rpm. Follow the suggestions

45 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 on valve size recommended by the vendor that sells you the heads in fact we suggest that you let them prepare the heads for you. Stronger Cams. The cams recommended in Section 3 for Super Modified cars are mandatory. Induction. Intake and carb(s) will need to be carefully matched to your application, and in fact, there are only 2 manifolds that will fit Mondello heads. See Section 4.4 and Section 5 for more information. Big Block Ports Small Block Ports Comparison of intake side of small and big block heads. Note how the big block intake port runs up to almost the top of the head. Comparison of intake side of small and big block heads, picture two. SB head with big block gasket fitted. While the BB head has more volume in the port, the turn into the valve pocket is too lazy because of the size and relation to the head floor. The small block, on the other hand, has smaller volume, but a better entry. Recommended Valve Sizes See the chart in Section 3, Valve Span and Potential Shrouding Maximum Valve Span for the recommended maximum valve sizes that will fit in a particular block without interference. See Section 3.4, Suggested Builds by Block for recommended valve sizes for performance application by tuning level. 4.2 Building Your Heads Head Inspection and Preparation 1. Stock Head Cleanup. See the Assembly Worksheet for machining tolerances and specifications. Treat your heads as you would the block when it comes to a rebuild. Hot tank and bead blast heads for clean working surfaces. Check head block mating surface for straightness and resurface each head as necessary. Check combustion chamber volume and calculate compression ratio (see below). Resurface the head as necessary for proper volume (both heads should be milled an appropriate amount to equalize them). Clean combustion chamber of any burs and casting bumps and imperfections. Replace all freeze-out plugs with new. Test fit heads and ensure there are no interference problems and that all necessary bolt and screw holes are tapped and properly threaded or cleaned and rethreaded. 2. Aftermarket Head Inspection and Preparation. Inspect assembled aftermarket heads, if ordered complete, for any shipping damage or other imperfections. Do not assume that the heads will be ready to go. Check combustion chamber volume and calculate compression ratio (see below) and resurface the head as necessary for proper volume. Test fit heads and ensure there are no interference problems and that all necessary bolt and screw holes are tapped and properly threaded. Head Milling - General The head surface that mates to the block is generally milled to ensure they are square. It can also be milled to reduce combustion chamber volume, but unless the engine will be race only, it is better to leave the chambers as large as possible, given today's fuel octane available for street engines. Excessive head milling can adversely affect piston to valve clearance, rocker geometry, the fitment of the intake manifold (more about this later) and even pushrod length. Obviously, different pistons and over bores will result in different compression ratios. See the chart at the end of this Section for some of the possible compression ratios that different cylinder heads will provide. 260 Engines. Discard the stock 260 heads and replace them with, at a minimum, 307 heads. We will discuss what other changes will need to be made to these heads for fitment on the 260 V8 later. Suffice it to say that the intake side of the bore will have to be notched, even with the fitment of 307 pieces. Heads will have to be milled if stock 260 pistons are used. See the chart at the end of this Section for milling suggestions. 307 Engines. Larger valves can be fitted to these heads, up to the 350's 1.875" intake and 1.562" exhaust

46 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 However, these heads are somewhat restrictive, and since this size valve will work without interference, it is recommended that "7" or "7A" heads be fitted due to their stainless steel valve inserts and valve which meet this size. The bolt holes will have to be increased to " (17/32) in order to mount these heads. Little milling is necessary as the stock 307 heads used similar sized combustion chambers to the Engines. The currently available cast pistons for the 330 are only offered in 9.0:1, so some chamber reduction may be necessary, by head milling, to reach higher compression rations. This can be done if the block deck has not been milled to the point that the piston is too far up in the bore. See the section on deck and head milling in this Section. 330s can run W-31 size valves (2.00" intake and 1.625" exhausts, but the intake valve edge is only " from the bore edge, so it is recommended that the bore be notched in the intake side. 350 Engines. 350 heads are most prevalent, with the commonly used piece either the units ("5" & "6" casting code) without stainless valve seats and 1971 "7" cast code units. These heads will all easily accept the 2.00" intake and the 1.625" exhaust. Ports are more than adequate for high lift cams and HP figures into the HP range. Since most heads used chambers in the cc range, only a cleanup mill is needed. The exception is the "8" heads, which used a 79 cc chamber. 403 Engines. 403 engines use a hybrid head that has large combustion chambers, a big block intake, a post 1972 small block exhaust and 350 sized ports. Milling the head will reduce the compression ratio, and the heads will all easily accept the 1.625" exhaust. Ports are adequate for high lift cams and will support the revs that a 403 can sustain safely. 400 SS Engines. 400 SS engines used heads similar to the other big blocks, so head milling would only be used to clean up the head surface. 425 Engines. The same is true for the 425, as they used heads similar to the other big blocks, so head milling would only be used to clean up the head surface. 400 LS Engines. 400 LS engines used pistons of similar design to the 455, and again, since there is a host of pistons available, milling would only be used to clean up the head surface. 455 Engines. 455 engines have the most piston availability and compression ratios are more than high enough in for any application, therefore, it is inadvisable to mill the factory heads for more compression, even in race engines. Most aftermarket heads are designed to be milled, but again the piston and combustion chambers should be equalized first. Head Milling - Detail 1. Calculating previous milling. Check and calculate the following: Has the head been milled before? Stock Olds heads should be high when measured from surface of the number 1 or number 4 head bolt boss to the cylinder head surface. If more than has been removed, the pushrods will have to be shortened Experience tells us that after the head will begin to flex and you may experience head gasket failure. Many previously rehabbed heads have been cut as much as from the gitgo. Check this carefully. Can the head be used? Many previously rehabbed heads have been cut as much as from the gitgo, so another 0.030" cut could make the head marginal. Measuring the head to see if it has been milled, and if so, how much head is shown. If the head needs to cut beyond 0.040" total (previous plus new cut), you would likely need to O- ring the head. Unless they are the rare W-30 "D", "F", "H" or "K" pieces, consider another set of heads. 2. Setting the chamber volume. If you wish to equalize the chamber volume, this should be done by determining the largest chamber and then doing some "cleanup" polishing/grinding in the surface areas away from the valve seats after the valve seats have been redone. If you wish to equalize the chambers, we suggest that a competent machine shop perform this work. 3. Milling for chamber size reduction. See the Assembly Worksheet for rule of thumb for cut versus the cc's of reduction. If you are cutting the heads for cc reduction, try to start with a set of heads that have not been cut before. In the case of the rare "W" series heads, be careful to even the chamber size equal to the smallest individual chamber on the heads only. We suggest that a competent machine shop perform this work. 4. Combustion chamber volume reduction in relation to compression ratio. Compression ratio is a factor of the displacement of the cylinder, the head volume, any piston relief or dome, the head gasket thickness and including any deck clearance. This will result in the actual displacement, not the factory spec, which is a factor of your ACTUAL BORE AND STROKE. See the Assembly Worksheet for this calculation. 5. Intake manifold alignment. DO NOT cut the intake side of the head for intake manifold alignment as this can cause the gasket to leak. Cut the intake manifold. See the Assembly Worksheet for a rule of thumb for this cut. Calculating Compression Ratio After head milling, it is important to determine the proper compression ratio. Not only will this impact street driving due to excessive heat from unleaded gasoline, but overzealous milling could result in weakened heads which will warp or fail under too high a compression ratio. Therefore, it is best to

47 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 calculate the amount of cutting that is necessary to reach the compression ratio desired and see if that amount of milling is appropriate for the head. The other thing to know is that piston manufacturers and the Factory use(d) some optimistic values for gasket thickness, "in the hole" and head cc to get to those 11.5:1 numbers you see. The Formula. The formula for determining compression ratio relies on: 1. Knowing the displacement of one cylinder. To calculate total displacement, you multiply bore diameter times bore diameter (total square area) and then multiply that number times For example, in a short stroke 400, we would multiply x 4.00 = and then multiply that by , which equals Then we multiply that number by the stroke, which is This results in the swept area of one cylinder, or in this case, cubic inches. If you were to multiply that number by 8, we would arrive at cubic inches, which is close enough to 400. In this case, however, we only need one cylinder's displacement, which is Computing the compression ratio. To get the first piece of the compression ratio puzzle, we must take the and multiply it by This equals the number of ccs in the swept area, in this case (If we multiplied this by 8, we would have 6553 ccs or 6.55 liters, which is 400 cubes). We then divide it by the combination of the head cc volume (let's say 79); the head gasket thickness in ccs (which is about 9.5 in a big block, using a 0.040" thick standard gasket); the piston dish (which in a 400 is 0); and the depth of the piston in the hole, which is " (about 2.5 ccs), for a total here of ccs. The computation will look like this: 819.2/91 = 9.00:1 What Can We Cut to Achieve Optimum Compression Ratio? There are two other numbers we need to know to be able to calculate the compression ratio change; the amount to be milled to remove 1 cc of chamber volume. For the sake of an Olds, the number is for a small block heads, 0.005" removes one cc; and for a big block heads, removes one cc. What we have to be concerned about is that figure of 0.060" maximum that we can mill the head before we have problems. In our hypothetical 400, to reach the maximum milled amount, the best compression ratio we can achieve is 10.1:1. This would be a 0.060" mill to get our chamber to 69 cc. If we decked the block to get the piston at 0.00" deck height (a bit dangerous), we could achieve 10.4:1. The Effect of Boring and Stroking on Compression. We are increasing the swept area of the engine, and with the combustion chamber staying the same, we will increase compression if we increase the size of the engine by boring or stroking. For example, if we bored our hypothetical 400 block 0.060", our compression ratio would go up to 9.27:1. The Effect of the Piston Dish on Compression. The key element in computing compression is the recognition that milling the heads will not drive compression up by huge amounts. Removing the dish in Olds engines (less the W-31 and the 400 SS, which have flat top pistons to begin with) will have more effect, since the dish usually displaces as much as twice the total potential ccs that could be removed by milling. Head Porting Rule One: Don t try this at home. Rule Two: Don t try this at your local shop unless they are an Olds expert. Most shops can do a good job of port matching and polishing the ports, but after that, without experience with flow testing an Olds head, they are just guessing. Below are the areas where you will see results, but this can be an expensive proposition with bad results if the shop does not have experience. Exhaust Port: reshape valve pocket; widen the port; raise the roof of the port; blend (tear drop) the valve guide bump; remove the AIR bump; fill or weld in the heat riser passages (not good for a car using the little bi-metal choke adjustment spring on the carb). In Super Modified, the center exhaust port divider should be welded up to bring it flush with the exhaust manifold surface (likely you will have to machine the surface to re-true it) afterwards. Intake Port: reshape the valve pocket; raise the roof of the port; and blend (tear drop) the valve guide bump; match the port to the intake manifold. If the manifold is larger than the port, you will loose flow. Cleaning up the heads will result in some improvement in lieu of a true head porting job. It is more a cost versus benefit issue. Therefore, save aggravation and purchase a set of modified heads from someone like Dick Miller or make sure your shop is qualified. Ask them to show you what they will be doing, and if not satisfied, take thee heads to someone else. Good porting can be worth anywhere from HP; bad porting can actually reduce horsepower. See the listing in the Appendix for shops with a good record. Evening the Mating Surface on the Center Exhaust Ports The center exhaust port on Olds heads does not have the center divider meet the gasket mating surface. It is unclear as to why this feature was included in the design. The common conclusion is that with the original log type exhaust manifolds, the pulses from the two ports overlapped and created a better scavenging of the manifold. Regardless, the port should be brazed up if any serious head preparation is considered. (See picture of completed port). Center exhaust port brazed and mating surface milled. In stock form, the center port divider does not meet the exhaust manifold mounting surface. Sealing Off the Heat Riser Passages Except for "D", "F", "H" and "K" (W-30 and marine) heads, where at least one of the center ports are blocked off, all other Olds heads have the center exhaust ports vented into the heat riser passages. If these ports are not closed off, serious turbulence occurs in the port at high RPM. These

48 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 ports can be blocked with a plug pressed into the opening, but the plug can come loose under vibration from usage. A better solution is to pour in a metal into the head that will plug the port off. Mondello sells a product specialized just for this application. It is Zinc alloy, Mondello Part No. ZA-12. This works well and is easy to use. See the procedure that follows. It takes approximately 6 pounds of the material to fill a pair of heads. This alloy is melted into liquid, and then poured into the passages by the following steps: 1. Place the cylinder head on a smooth, flat and heatresistant surface such as a steel plate. Position the head so that it is sitting on the intake port side with the exhaust ports facing up. 2. Melt the Zinc alloy material in a cast iron ladle or skillet using a gas burner or torch at approximately 800 F to melt the alloy. It may take minutes to reach a fully molten liquid state. When melted, stir until thoroughly mixed for about 2 minutes. 3. Carefully, but quickly, pour the melted alloy into the heat riser passages by pouring not from the heat riser passage, but through center two exhaust ports from the exhaust side. (See picture). 4. Fill each passage until the alloy rises to the bottom of the valve guide pocket. Do not stop pouring. If you do, and then continue, it will not stick to the hardened portion. 5. After cooling, the excess material in the valve pocket may be cleaned up with a die grinder. 1. Combustion Chamber Preparation. Polish and prep the chamber. Cc the chambers and match all to the size of the LARGEST chamber. 2. Valve Stem Length. Remove and measure the valve stem length of your old valves. They should all be the same length. Use this length for new valves, valve or cut the stems to the length of the SHORTEST valve. 3. Valve Stem Position on the Spring Side of the Head. When using standard Olds rockers and pedestals, you will want the valve to protrude through the head to the same position as it did (assuming it was correct before). See Valve Installed Height later in this Section. Measure the height they protrude from the valve spring seat to the top of the valve. 4. Valve Seat Position. The seats should be repositioned in the chamber according to the finished outside and inside dimension of the valve (where the valve will actually sit in the chamber). You would be surprised how much working with the position of the valve stem hole can move the valve around. Where the valve sits in the chamber can affect flow. If you are using oversized valves, this is even more critical as there is not a ton of room for bigger valves once you go beyond intakes and 1.65 exhausts in a bore block. See Valve Span Chart in Section Each Valve Pocket. Each pocket should be sized the same to equalize flow for each chamber. At right: 455 head with before and after bowl work. Chamber on left has been polished (dashed arrow). Note work in the runners (arrows) where the guides have been reduced in size and flowed. Chamber on right is stock. Pouring the zinc alloy through the enter exhaust ports (dashed arrow). The alloy is poured through the exhaust port into the heat riser runner (bent arrow). This is done in each center port - pouring into the passages until full. When cooled, the valve pocket should be cleaned up with a die grinder. Once the passages are filled, these heads will flow as well as or better than W-machine heads on the exhaust side. The OAI heads will have a slight flow advantage on the intake port side due to differences in construction. Valve Seating and Combustion Chamber Prep Ask if your shop has the experience with Olds heads before you ask them to do this. If you are just doing a Stocker or Factory High Performance level engine, a good valve job from a reputable shop will be OK, after that level, the following needs to be done: 6. Install Hardened Seats. If you are spending the money to do the heads, and considering unleaded fuel, all heads should have stainless steel valve seat inserts (especially in the exhaust) installed These seat are cut to the appropriate size and valve seat angle. Make sure your shop is proficient in this installation. Improperly installed seats can fall out and cause mayhem. Seat installation position and stem guide hole finished position are critical for well seated and nonsticking valves. DO NOT attempt to install small block Chevy exhaust seats, or any seats thicker than If an exhaust seat is thicker than it will likely pierce the water jacket in the cylinder head. Exhaust seats that are thick are best. Use a good quality exhaust seat like Lee-Alloy, Martite, or Martin Wells. Mondello offers appropriate Martite alloy valve seats if you are unsure. 7. Oversized Valves. Cutting the chamber floor for oversized valves is tricky because you can raise the valve stem tip substantially by cutting the seat too deep

49 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 Higher or uneven valve tips will spoil rocker arm geometry. If you are installing oversized valves or replaceable valve seats, make sure the valve seat heights are machined to the original factory heights in the combustion chambers. Measure the valve stem length of the valves that were in the heads as Olds used different valve stem lengths in different years. Match BOTH INTAKE and EXHAUST LENGTH as they can be different. 8. What Valve to Use. There are valve fitment size suggestions in this Section and Section 3.1. If you are in any way unsure about what size valve to fit, we suggest that you speak to a professional with Olds engine building experience. Valve Seat Angles We suggest 45 valve seats and valve angles for both intake and exhaust. This is the mantra of Joe Mondello. When Bob Gerometta built his first engine back in the 70s, he called Mondello and Joe was adamant that 30 seats were not good - and that horsepower would be found in a 45 seat. (He was right. Bob's first street 425 pushed over 450 HP on the dyno). Here is what Joe recommends: 1. Valve Face and Valve Angle: Each valve face width should be to wider than the valve seat width cut in the cylinder head. (Don t worry about the actual valve size; this is only for bragging rights). Use 45 angles on the valves; Joe does not use interference angles. Undercut the intake valves between 18 and 24 (this angle will depend on the valve shape and radius under the head of the valve, but stay in this range). Cut the exhaust valves 15 to 26 (this angle will depend on the valve shape and radius under the head of the valve, but stay in this range). 2. Seat Face and Angle: The intake valve seat width in the head should be The exhaust seat width.060 to.080. Both intake and exhaust valve seats in the head should have the following angles: 33 top cut; 45 primary cut; 58 undercut; 70 bottom cut. Valve Interference Angle should be Zero Relationship of valve seat and face. Note that where valve and seat touch there is a 1 degree interference angle. We do not recommend this, and instead prefer no interference angle and a complete seal. Valve Guides Iron guides are recommended for most applications as they will hold up well and are happier with unleaded fuel. In Street/Strip and Super Modified applications use bronze guides. (Bob uses bronze guides in all his rebuilds, because bronze can be honed to very exacting specifications. However, if cost is a consideration, steel is fine). At the minimum: For Stock through Street Wild. Use iron guides. Iron guides should be knurled to eliminate sticking. Valve stem to guide clearance should be Intake and exhaust for iron guides. For Street/Strip and Super Modified. Use bronze guides. Valve stem to guide clearance should be on the intake and on the exhaust. Use the appropriate valve stem seal for each application. All Engines. Teflon valve seals are best, but positive type rubber or umbrella seals are OK. Do NOT use Chevy valve stem seals Olds specific ONLY. Valve Springs If you have factory springs on your heads and they have seen over 20,000 miles, check each one for open and closed pressure. The factory springs and should show and open pressure of between lbs. and about of closed pressure. All other factory springs should show between 220 lbs. open and closed pressure. The repeated heat cycling will reduce the spring s elasticity and thus, its spring rate. Frankly, we would replace the springs as a matter of course. 1. Stock and Factory Modified. Super Cars Unlimited sells NROS springs that meet or exceed factory specs and have great Quality Control. They have the proper spring for each replacement situation with a direct spring number substitution. Contact them about your application (and/or use the NOS spring number) if you are unsure of the correct replacement. Our Chart in Section 3.1 shows the most common applications. For cars running the factory cams all the way through # , the factory springs # and are adequate if RPMs will stay below 6500 and as long as valve rotators are removed and replaced with aftermarket or stock factory retainers. Heads that were factory-equipped with valve rotators will have.125 deeper spring seats than those that use solid retainers. In both performance and race applications, these heavy rotators should be replaced with solid retainers, and Valves should be shimmed to compensate for the rotators removal. Stock or aftermarket retainers may be used for this purpose we have never seen a factory retainer fail if properly installed, however, many aftermarket retainers are stronger and lighter and less weight will help spring life and let the motor rev more freely. 2. Street Mild and some Street Wild. Street Mild and Street Wild cars can run factory cams and NROS valve springs; however we feel that aftermarket cams and springs will deliver better performance. See the suggestions on the

50 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 Chart in Section 3.1. Street/Strip and Super Modified should run aftermarket springs and cams. 3. Certain Street Wild cars. Stick Street Wild cars - or auto Street Wild cars with 4.33:1 or better gears and a 3500 rpm stall or better converter should run aftermarket cams and springs. See our suggestions in Section 3.1. enough to not open the valve correctly in both open height or cam duration. 4. All Others. Street/Strip and Super Modified should run aftermarket springs and cams. The Relationship of Valve Length, Spring Height, Rocker Stand Height and Pushrod Length While this seems simple enough, these relationships become complex when there is no adjustment in any of these parts and pieces as takes place in a standard Oldsmobile valve train. To understand it better, the first thing we need to recognize is that the rocker stand is of a fixed height and is the pivot point for the valve opening and closing. Because of this the pressure on the valve and/or the lifter (through the pushrod) will be affected by the height of the valve on the one side and the length of the lifter/pushrod on the other. Think of a seesaw with two people on it whose legs are the same length. If one of us bends our knees the other is raised. And if the pivot is raised, both of our feet will not touch the ground. If the pivot point is lowered, one or both of us will both need to bend our knees. When all is as determined by the factory, the valve and the pushrod will exert the proper pressure to preload the lifter correctly at TDC. If we change this relationship, then we could either collapse the lifter (hydraulic) leave the valve slightly open (mechanical) or leave the valve train loose Except for the pushrods and valves, here are the components that affect preload. It can get pretty complicated. This usually comes into play if we: Install valves with a longer stem or set the valve deeper in the valve seat pocket. Install valves with a shorter stem or set the valve higher in the pocket. Change the spring height so as to allow higher lift cams. Install longer or shorter pushrods. Install a lifter with a longer than original length. Install rocker pedestals of a different height than original. The next Section will detail the impact of the components and detail what should be done to get it right. 4.3 Checking Head Tolerances Steps to Ensure that Incorrect Valve Stem Height Does Not Occur The following are the steps to ensure correct relationship. Understand that stem height and spring height have a relationship, but their measurements are for different purposes. The proper stem height ensures proper rocker arm geometry; the proper spring height prevents valve spring coil bind. (See the checklist in the Assembly Worksheet). 1. Before Reconditioning the Head: Remove and measure the original components: valve stem length, rocker stand height, pushrod length and even lifter length. Note these measurements. Measure all of the components that will be installed: the valve stem length, rocker shaft stand height, pushrod length, and even lifter length. Note these measurements, which may be different from the originals, for future adjustments. coil bind area Valve Stem Height measured with tool or calipers spring installed height Initial measurements done on heads BEFORE disassembly and rebuild

51 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 Measure the valve STEM installed height. 25 Use tool BT-6428 as shown in the Oldsmobile Chassis Service Manual or Mondello HG-455 (or you may make a tool or even use calipers). You can also purchase an aftermarket tool to do this 26. You will be measuring the height of the valve tips from top edge of a fixed point on head (usually the pedestal stand or valve cover attachment surface). Note these measurements. Make sure that the proper valve SPRING installed height. This is measured from the valve spring seat to the top of the valve (see diagram on right). The spring height should be to preclude coil bind. Many early small block Olds heads (casting #s 1, 2, 3, 4 & some 5) and early big block heads may have an installed spring height of as little as 1.60" and will definitely bind the spring). Note difference between your height and the optimum. If replacing worn stock rocker shaft stands, recognize that newer replacement stands may not be the same height (measure the distance from the base to the bottom of the rocker shaft journal). It is not a good idea to replace them piecemeal if one is worn or damaged, replace all of them. If replacing piecemeal, note height difference between old & new. Regardless, the shorter stands should be shimmed so that all are the same height when installed. Is valve Stem height the same? Machine Stem tip for correct stem height spring installed height Check NEW valve stem height versus the OLD using valve stem height measurements from 1 above. Note difference, if any. Ensure that all valve stem heights are equal. Machine valve tips to even. If the valve spring installed height is too short, you may have to cut (machine) the spring seats deeper to achieve proper installed spring height. Side view Top view Mondello HG-455 Valve Stem Height Gauge. The tool is used for setting the proper height especially with stock steel heads. Ends fit on head ridge and center post touches valve tip. If height is correct, 0.005" feeler should slide under tip. If the spring seat is cut and other measurements (i. e. valve stem height) stay the same, the relationship of the valve stem height to the rocker and pushrod will not change, while the spring height will. This is good, as long as the cuts do not strike water. Your heads may have only the exhaust spring seat cut deeper for the thicker valve rotators (1973 or later engines had both). These rotators are as much as thicker than the standard keepers are. Heads using these rotators will have the spring seat cut deeper than the pre-1970 depth. We suggest that all spring seats be machined to the same depth and the spring seat be shimmed to reach the correct spring installed height. Machine spring seat for correct spring height Is valve Spring height the same? Checking measurements done on heads AFTER rebuild. 2. During Cylinder Head Machining: If cutting in new valve seats or replacing valves. Once the seats and valves are cut, test fit valve and spring. 25 Certain early 400SS and 425s used valves with a different valve stem length because of their different rocker setup. Discard these valves and utilize standard 455 valves. Also use standard rockers or aftermarket rockers. 26 EXAMPLES: ERSCO No. VS-HG Valve Stem Height Gauge Kit. BHJ precision Engineered Equipment VT-1 Valve Stem Height Gauge (large diameter). Crane Cams & Comp Cams Micrometer. Using Factory Valve Stem Height Gauge, BT This tool is no longer available from GM, but the procedure is the same with the Mondello HG-455 tool shown above Machine the valve guides to above the floor of the valve seat (deep or non-deep seat heads) to preclude the guide and/or seal from preventing the spring from being compressed properly because the keeper might strike the guide or seal. 3. Upon Assembly:

52 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 Again, check to ensure valve stem height is the same and all are even as in the test fit in 2 above. Note any difference between NEW valve stem height and OLD as if the stem height may require shimming the rocker stands or installing adjustable pushrods. (You may need to compensate for any difference for lifter preload, which slightly compresses the lifter). Remember to check valve spring installed height and shim the valve seat for proper height. Check closed spring pressure, as too low a pressure can result in the retainer slipping free (not good). Check open spring pressure to ensure that it is not too high. Also check for coil bind. Install Pushrods, stands, rockers, and lifters (if not installed before). Check Preload (see separate discussion below). 4. Ways to Bring Lifter Preload into Specification: Shim or machine rocker shaft stands to either add or subtract preload. Shimming the stands will reduce preload and machining the stands will increase preload. (Think of the seesaw again). Install adjustable pushrods. We suggest that ALL engines with stock rocker stands use adjustable pushrods. Preload can be set easily, and it will reduce machining and compensate for rocker arm wear. Install adjustable roller rockers. Vendors that sell these assemblies are listed in Section 7. Preventing Coil Bind and Other Interference The major cause of this problem is not the valve spring being totally compressed, but rather the retainer striking the exhaust valve stem seal. Obviously valve spring installed height, the keeper depth, and the height of the stem seal are all part of this equation. Here are some tips: Machine the valve guides to 0.700" above the floor of the valve seat which includes any shims needed to return the seat to the spec of pre-rotator engines. This is absolutely necessary for cams with more than 0.500" lift. Use valve springs and keepers specified for the appropriate Oldsmobile V8 especially if aftermarket cams and springs have been fitted. For aftermarket cams, run the springs and hardware specified by the manufacturer. You must still check for proper heights as in 1-4 above. Do not use valve stem seals not specified for an Olds engine as they can cause interference. Run recommended type seals. Note on Coil Bind and Spring Height with Pre Heads Since early Olds heads have a higher valve seat (1970 and later engines cut the seats deeper to allow for "rotators" which were thicker than the original keepers were. This allowed them to use the same length NOS springs. This can become a problem with aftermarket springs especially on 1970 heads where only the exhaust valves had deeper seats and rotators. If you do not use the proper retainers or cut the seats, the spring will already be compressed when installed and it will bind. Conversely, if you do not have enough height to hold the valve and spring under proper tension, the keepers will fall out and the vale will be unattached to the spring with disastrous results. Here are some ways to solve the problems: For NOS springs in 1970 heads where you wish to remove the rotators, merely shim the exhaust seats as appropriate (usually 0.060") and run factory retainer #387596, or better; Clevite Chrome Moly Steel # For NOS springs in 1971 and later heads with deep seats, shim the seats (usually 0.060") and run factory retainer #387596, or the better; Clevite Chrome Moly Steel part # For aftermarket springs that are longer in length then NOS (for higher lift cams, etc), and where you do not wish to cut the valve seats, or the seats are already cut and the spring is too long, Mondello sells two retainers that are higher than stock, yet retain the proper position for the keepers: CR-310 which is 0.060" higher, and CR-320 which is 0.125" higher. This is especially true for many roller cam valve springs which need an installed height from 1.900" to 1.950". Mechanical Lifter Valve Clearance or Lash Mechanical lifters are just that, a solid body that contacts the camshaft and that has a seat for the pushrod, held in place by a retaining lock. The seat has a chamber below it where oil enters and is pumped up the pushrod s hollow stem to lubricate the rocker arm and valve stem. The oil has nothing to do with lash or clearance. The pushrod seat is fixed in place and cannot move, thus its contact to the pushrod and the pushrod s contact to the rocker arm need some sort of clearance so as not to bind. This is because heat and friction cause the lifter, pushrod, rocker (and even the valve) to expand and contract. This clearance is called lash. Lash is set on the rocker arm by screwing down on the pivot bolt or a contact screw on the rocker where it meets the valve stem. Lash settings vary by engine and cam manufacturer. See the specifications on the cam you purchased, which should be included as part of the instructions. Setting Mechanical Lifter Valve Clearance or Lash You will set this lifter clearance or lash by placing a feeler gauge between the rocker tip and the valve tip when the engine is hot and running. Then for each valve, you turn the adjusting nut until the proper feeler will pass through the tip with slight resistance. That is the point where you lock the adjuster into position. Hydraulic Lifters and Preload Hydraulic lifters are just the opposite and are zero lash. When the rocker arm assembly is torqued down into position, the pushrod will take up the clearance and cause the pushrod to press against the seat and move it down by 0.020" ". This distance that the pushrod seat moves down (away from the retaining lock) is "Lifter Preload". Hydraulic

53 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 lifter mechanisms require this amount of "preload" for it to work properly. How to Set Preload on Stock Olds Valve Train On a stock Olds valve train, the proper valve stem, rocker stand height, and the pushrod length are all designed in concert to take up and set this preload (between ). Hydraulic lifters compensate for thermal expansion of the engine; thus checking and adjusting can be done with the engine cold or hot. 1. How to check: Pick a cylinder for your check. Rotate the engine manually in its normal direction until both valves on that cylinder are closed. You are on the compression cycle for that cylinder. (The valve springs are at their least amount of tension or have no tension). Make sure 5-10 minutes has passed for the lifters to bleed down (oil will leave the lifters once the engine is not running). Then lay a metal or rigid plastic straightedge across the surface of the head on the intake side where the valve cover gasket sits. Use a metal scribe and the straightedge to carefully scribe a reference line on both intake and exhaust pushrods. Then carefully remove the torque from all valve train bolts, removing any pressure from the pushrods. Wait a few minutes for the pushrod seat in the hydraulic lifters to move back to their neutral position. Carefully scribe a new line on both pushrods. Measure the distance between the two scribe marks on one of the pushrods, then the other. They should be the same, and if not take the average. This represents the amount of lifter preload. If the lines are 0.020" to 0.050" apart you have proper lifter preload. If the lines are the same (the plunger in the lifter did not move), or the lines are less than 0.020" apart you have zero or insufficient preload. If the lines are further apart than.060", you have excessive lifter preload. 2. How to bring preload into tolerance: If too tight. Shim the rocker stands to the proper preload. Replace pushrods with shorter units if available. Valve stem tips may also be ground, but this requires their removal. If too loose. Mill the rocker stands to the proper preload. Replace pushrods with longer units if available. Or add adjustable pushrods. Follow the steps as shown in How to Set Preload with Chevy Type and Aftermarket Roller Rockers, below. How to Set Hydraulic Lifter Preload Many Olds adjustable rocker kits use Chevy-type rockers or adjustable pushrods. The process is still the same regardless of which setup is used. Preload needs to be from 0.020" to 0.050" with any adjustable rockers. Hydraulic lifters compensate for thermal expansion of the engine; thus checking and adjusting can be done with the engine cold or hot. 1. Each cylinder needs to have its preload set individually. Find the first cylinder in the firing order ( ). Starting with #1 will preclude rotating the engine excessively to find the base circle, though some back and forth may be required. 2. Rotate the engine in its normal direction of rotation and watch the exhaust valve on the selected cylinder. Just as the exhaust valve begins to open, stop and adjust that cylinder's intake rocker arm, not the exhaust rocker. This is because as the exhaust valve is just beginning to open, the intake lifter will be on the base circle of the lobe. This is the correct position for adjusting that valve. 3. Back off the intake rocker arm adjuster and remove any tension from the pushrod. If you are using adjustable pushrods, use the adjuster to remove any tension on it. Wait 1 or 2 minutes for that hydraulic lifter to return to its neutral position. (The spring inside the lifter will move the pushrod seat up against the retaining lock at this time. (If you are adjusting the valves after just having installed brand new lifters, they are usually in the neutral position as delivered because they are not filled with pressurized oil.) 4. Spin the intake pushrod with your fingers as you tighten down the rocker arm nut or the pushrod adjustment nut. When you feel a slight resistance to the turning of the pushrod, you will be at "Zero Lash" (no clearance). Turn the adjusting nut down another ½ - 1 full turn from the point of resistance and then lock the adjuster into position. With the pushrod, turn the nut ½ turn from the point of resistance. The intake valve is adjusted properly. 5. Continue to hand turn the engine while watching that same intake valve. It will cycle from to full open and then begin to close. When the intake is almost closed, (you may have to go past closed and return) stop and adjust the exhaust rocker arm or pushrod on that particular cylinder. (As with the exhaust, when the intake is almost closed, now the exhaust lifter is on the base circle of its lobe.) Loosen the exhaust rocker arm(or pushrod adjuster) and follow the procedure described in steps 3 and 4 above to adjust this rocker arm. Both valves on this cylinder are now adjusted. Repeat the procedure following the firing order until all are set. Remember that lifters with insufficient preload will clatter or "pump up

54 How to Build Your Heads Section Assembly and Adding Performance Components Valves If this is a performance build, Street Mild or better, replace all valves with new, regardless. Exhaust valves tend to become brittle over time from repeated hot/cold cycling and have been known to fragment under high RPM use when attached to new valve springs and with hardened seats. (Not a pretty sight when the pieces of the valve strike your brand new piston). Stainless steel valves or valves that are compatible with unleaded fuel are recommended. Remember that at a paltry 3000 rpm, the valve has to go through 1500 cycles in one minute. Think about what that means in just a few hours of running time. We recommend stainless steel valves or valves that are compatible with unleaded fuel and stainless steel seats. Stock replacement valves. Super Cars Unlimited also sells NROS valves for your Olds big block from and the small block from Send them your application (and/or valve NOS part number) if you are unsure of the correct replacement. Oversize valves. Mondello sells a complete line of oversized and specialty valves for any application. Please be candid as to your engine use so that Joe and his staff can make appropriate recommendations. Valve Specifications. Valve stem lengths are different dependant on the cylinder head in use, see the chart in Section 3 for the appropriate valve length for Stock head applications. Retainers and Keepers. Replace all the retainers and keepers, regardless of their condition. Stock and Street mild can use the NROS standard retainer # (also, Clevite Chrome Moly Steel # ). and keepers, # (also Clevite hardened steel # A). For Street Wild through Super Modified, use Mondello VK- 340 heat treated steel valve keepers and CR-300 chrome moly steel valve spring retainers. (Mondello sells retainers in and height to adjust installed spring height without having to use shims under the spring, or in concert with such shims). Please see Preventing Coil Bind and Other Interference in the previous Section, 4.3 Rocker Arms Stock rocker arms are really only suitable for stock and mild aftermarket cams that do not result in over lift. Do not reuse stock rocker arms in a head rebuild. Olds rocker arms wear in normal use and this wear will affect geometry and lifter preload. If installing cams with lift or more, aftermarket adjustable rocker arms must be used because there is no way for the stock rocker to compensate for the lift geometry. Frankly, if you are building a performance engine and running an aftermarket cam, we would suggest adding adjustable rockers regardless of the lift. If you are running a factory cam and don t want the expense, consider adjustable pushrods so as to be able to set preload properly. There are two types of adjustable rockers: roller and straight pivot. Roller rockers are more complex, and obviously the more complex the rocker, the more the cost. Expect to pay a good deal more for roller rockers, but remember, not only do they give you the adjustability, but much, much less frictional loss and more horsepower because of the lesser friction. 1. Straight Pivot Adjustable Rockers. Straight pivot adjustable rockers (see picture below) use a Chevy type approach - individual rocker studs for each rocker, a stamped steel rocker, pivot, and guide plate. The guide plate holds the pushrod in alignment and prevents the rocker from twisting on the pivot. Chevy type adjustable rocker sets modified for use in Oldsmobile V8s The stud on which the rocker rides is threaded on both ends and the top end allows one to turn up and down on the nut, moving the rocker up and down and adjusting the preload. Adjustable rockers are available in either 1.6:1 or 1.7:1 rocker ratio, or in many cases, you any choose either ratio. Mondello, Olds Performance, and others sell these kits and they run from about $300 to $600, including pushrods and depending on the materials used. This is for street use only, with no more than.500" lift, no more than 320 lbs. open spring pressure. Fits under stock valve covers. Kit includes: Stamped steel rocker arms 1.6:1 and rocker balls, 3/8" x 5/16" screw in studs, 5/16" guide plates, chrome moly pushrods, 3/8" heat treated poly locks for positive adjustment. 2. Roller Rockers. Roller rockers are more complex, but much better from a performance point of view. (see picture at left). The rocker is usually forged aluminum. In many cases, the two rockers for the intake and exhaust valve sit on one shaft with the roller bearings between the shaft and the rocker; others are individually mounted much like straight pivot type adjustable rockers. Studs bisect the rocker shaft and bolt to the head. Some more expensive kits include a shaft that runs the length of the head for more stability and more accurate cam timing. Many Old builders sell these kits and they run from $350 all the way up to $1,500, including pushrods and on the materials used, as well as the sophistication of their design. Roller rockers are recommended for installation on aftermarket heads and in Street Wild through Super Modified applications. We suggest you use roller rockers if you can afford them

55 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 1. Availability. Stock pushrods are available from Super Cars Unlimited. Mondello carries a complete line of hardened, heavy-wall, oil restricted (.040 hole) and cryogenically frozen pushrods in lengths from in both 3/8 and 5/16 diameter. These may be used to set lifter preload or merely to replace factory pushrods. Mondello roller rocker set for Oldsmobile V8s. This set can use stock pushrods, though it is not recommended because they can flex under higher spring loads. The Mondello rockers can be installed without machine work and can be used with any hydraulic, mechanical or roller camshaft up to 500 lbs of open spring pressure and max cam lift of 0.650". They will fit under stock height (2.900") valve covers if the oil baffle is removed, and with 5/16" valve cover gaskets. Rockers are a true 1.6:1 ratio and are fully adjustable to allow setting proper valve lash and lifter preload. Includes shaft mounted roller rockers and all hardware. Pushrods Pushrods seem like such a simple device, and they are, but they have a very important job to do, namely, opening and closing the valves under huge pressure from the valve springs and constant up and down cycling. We have found that when valve spring pressure exceeds 320 lbs, the stock pushrod will start to flex. Thus, please move to aftermarket 3/8 diameter pushrods when using aftermarket high performance valve springs. 2. Interference with the Head. Some heads have pushrod holes that were cut for the 45 lifter angle. When used with later block, this may cause the pushrod to rub in the access hole in the head. Aftermarket pushrods thicker than factory units can also rub. If using 3/8 pushrods, the holes in the pushrod holes in the head will have to be bored to 9/16 (0.5325"). Always test fit the rocker/pushrod assemblies, and then check for any interference. 3. Pushrod length. Many block/heads combinations require a different pushrod length. This is especially true in the stock setup where there is no adjustability See Assembly Worksheet as well as the charts in this Section and Section 3 for the proper stock pushrod length. Engines running the lifter must run a shorter pushrod. This is because of the lifter's added length of for the 0.921" lifter vs for the 0.842" lifter. 4. Adjustment. Stock pushrods have no provision for and need no adjustment. Adjustment is determined by the relationship of the rocker stand and valve stem height. (See Section 4.3) You may purchase adjustable pushrods for your Olds from Mondello, Isky and Crane Cams. 4.4 Aftermarket Heads Introduction A few years ago, if you were looking for a racing head for Olds, unless you had a pair of out of production CJ Batten aluminum heads, you were out of luck. But that is not the case anymore. There are 4 different vendors selling special "designed from the ground up" heads that will bolt to your block with no alteration and best of all they use commonly available intakes. If you are going for the stock look or are restoring a car these heads will not be an option; but if you aren t, Mondello, Edelbrock, Rocket Racing and Bulldog Performance (sold through Dick Miller Racing) all offer aftermarket heads. All aftermarket heads run a higher or raised exhaust port than stock (a major change and improvement), but some will not bolt to stock headers or stock exhaust manifolds and require special custom made pipes. (This is driven by the new raised ports. All have different intake runners and will require an aftermarket intake manifold; each as specified by the manufacturer and detailed below. If you are not going down the restored path, we suggest that you determine the cost of the headwork you would do on stock heads (including valve train) and then match that against purchasing a set of aftermarket heads. You may find out that the aftermarket heads are cheaper in the long run. The other advantage is that if you have aftermarket heads and want to upgrade them you have a great deal more leeway to go in the performance department. Street Wild and Super Modified cars will benefit from aftermarket heads. Last, all aftermarket heads are made from aluminum, and as such will off weight savings and better heat dissipation. Available Aftermarket Heads Edelbrock Performer Heads. The Edelbrock heads are more main stream in that they have been designed to be bolt on replacements for stock heads. That does not mean that they are bad or compromised it just means that they have been designed so that the average car guy can bolt them up and see a reasonable performance increase without any other major changes or additional head work. These heads can be further ported for increased flow, but they can only take a intake

56 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 and accessory brackets; mechanical fuel pump causes no interference; symmetrical ports are clear of water passages to allow extensive porting. See the contact information in Section 7 and call to determine fitment. Bulldog Performance Heads. The runners on the Bulldog head were designed by Dick Bradshaw with input from Dick Miller; to assure the user that they will have a head to allow performance equal or better than our competitors. Edelbrock "Performer" heads showing quality casting and machining and stock-like port configuration on the intake side and raised exhaust ports. The heads are designed for all 455 intake manifolds. Buying a product from a historic manufacturer like Edelbrock, you know you can count on a well engineered product. The Performer is very compatible with factory parts and uses high-quality castings and parts with detailed finish work, right down to the Heli-Coiled rocker and exhaust bolt-holes. The heads will fit big blocks with no mods, but will only fit the small blocks by using an Edelbrock manifold #7111; and port matching is required in this case. The heads will not fit the 260, but may work with the 307 with some tweaking. Rocket Racing Heads. Rocket claims the head outflows any currently available aluminum head out of the box. It accepts standard exhaust flanges and readily available valve train pieces. Rocket claims that the ports have more material in them than any other head which allows for generous porting without the fear of hitting water. Rocket Racing heads. Note similarity to others on the exhaust side, but the differences on the intake side: spread & height from head base. These heads will not work on a small block and they need a special manifold. The complete approach to Olds performance led Rocket Racing to team with Kayenel Machine to create a highperformance aluminum Olds head. RRP designed the head to cover a broad range of applications, from street/strip to fullrace and small block if you are willing to do some machining. The combustion chambers start out at approximately 76 cc. but they can be milled down for small blocks and yet can be used for big blocks with a dished piston. The valves are 2.15 and The heads use standard Olds valve covers. In order to deliver better intake flow, Rocket moved the ports apart in such a fashion as to negate stoke intake manifolds. Never fear, Rocket Racing offers its own intake manifolds for this unit. Other features/requirements: Raised intake ports require use of Rocket Racing intake, and big-blocks must use intake flange adaptors (included); raised exhaust ports accept stock-type flange; accepts stock-type valve covers Bulldog Performance heads showing raised exhaust, factory compatible intake side and CNC chambers. The heads are designed for either small or big block manifolds. For the big block, they can and should be enlarged to meet the manifold port sizing. Bulldog s Dick Bradshaw said that the lack of space in the Olds head made it a challenging proposition to reach Dick Miller's goals of retaining compatibility with stock parts while substantially improving performance. And the Bulldog head does indeed beat the stock castings by a large margin, flowing 292 CFM at 0.700" lift, and 279 CFM at 0.500" lift on the intake side. The head features intake valve sizes from and exhausts from (standard as delivered size is 2.15 and 1.75 ). They have 3/8 deep interlocking seats, bronze valve guides, CNC intake and exhaust openings. All machine cuts are blended. The heads start with 76cc chambers as cast, have all accessory holes and stock bolt patterns. Heads are drilled and tapped for 7/16 rocker studs and guide plates are supplied with head. The head accepts stock valve covers, custom covers are shown. Bulldog heads will fit standard Edelbrock Victor and Victor Air Gap manifolds for both small and big block with porting. Mondello/Knowlton Heads. Mondello was involved with the development of the Edelbrock aluminum head, and now Mondello Performance has teamed with Glenn Knowlton to produce an ultra high-performance Oldsmobile aluminum head. These heads can be configured for street engines or ported for serious drag racing. These heads come fully ported and have oval ports. They are sold complete with intake and exhaust valves, 290lbs/seat - 680lbs/open springs, retainers, locks, 7/16 studs and guide plates. You may choose your own rockers. Mondello aluminum tall valve covers are included with the heads. The flow numbers

57 How to Build Your Heads Section 4 on these heads (455 to 465 CFM) tell us that they are race only items, but these numbers are impressive. The heads are part of a package that includes a portmatched 4455 Mondello Posiflow Air Gap Manifold (a must, due to the intake port size and configuration). The heads will fit a small block but be ready to spend huge dollars for a special intake and other machining. See the vendor information in Section 7 and contact Mondello to determine fitment. Stacking Up Head vs. Head Actually, the heads fall into two categories: 1. Compatible with the Street. The Edelbrock and Bulldog units can be bolted to big and small block alike, and while they are more race than street, a Street Wild and up configured block, whether 350, 350 diesel stroker, 403 or big block can see benefit from them. 2. Race Only. The Mondello and Rocket Racing heads are truly big block Super Modified Category only pieces. Both only of those heads are really only valuable on the strip, where high rpms and huge flow numbers really matter. Take a look at the flow chart and statistics on the next page to see which head is right for you. From our vantage point most of you will be happy with a Street Mild with the Edelbrock heads, a Street Wild or Street Strip car with the Bulldogs, and a Super Modified lower rpm stroker big block with the Rocket Racing units and a Super Pro high rpm inch-based block running the Mondello pieces. Mondello/Knowlton heads may be the most radical. Note oval intake ports and huge intake side height. Also, see the different chambers and "beef" built into the head body and the ports. These heads will not work on a small block. Only the Mondello 4455 Posiflow manifold will attach. 4.5 Head Comparison Chart Flow Figures When comparing these figures, it is important to recognize that each flow bench is different, many variables could be introduced, and porting could be done that would make the engine inoperable in the real world. What is important is to see the relationship between aftermarket and stock ported and unported, etc. What stands out is that all the aftermarket heads flowed better on the exhaust side - which is the Achilles' heel of the factory piece. Also, significant is that the Mondello and Rocket Racing pieces showed that they are true racing BB heads. Dick Miller Racing is the only one who tested aftermarket heads on the Small Block (under 400 cu. in.), where the exhaust side really shines. Thanks to Stan Weiss for accumulating this data. You may visit Stan's site at