has anyone tried to put a olds 455 in a 82 and up trans am???????

 

I've put an Olds 350 into a 90 Firebird (some years ago), does that count? I'm sure if you search you'll also see that a guy put an olds engine into his Camaro and he was smart enough to take some pictures. He was somewhere in Chicago I believe...

 

I've just got to ask, so humor me..... WHY????

I know a guy who has a Olds big block (425") in his race car, and it is a fast car (low low 12s, full street weight '86 442) but the cost of building on is very high, if you can even find the right parts. Theres basically no aftermarket for the big Olds, and the little bit that is out there is just scary expensive and/or very outdated.

 

If you are going with something other than the traditional small block, I would go with a Pontiac engine 400 or 455. They have a little more aftermarket support than the Olds engine. And, after all, it is a Trans Am...........

 

got 2 layin around,i was just wondering if anyone had tried it before,

 

Hey how are you doing? Im doing a project now on my car. I have an 88 Pontiac Trans AM GTA. I bought a 82 Buick Park Ave from this lady that her husband had. He passed away. But he raced this buick. it had a 403 olds with 455 stage 1 heads. this is what i was told. i took the motor and trans out of the buick and it now lies in my Trans AM. we are almost done with it. the last big part is putting im the new 9inch ford rear and then doing all the other little stuff. I put in an tubular K-member and what we did was welded the motor mounts to a steel plate. At first the motor went in good but it was too close to the front so we had to move it back 2 inches. but to do that we had to cut the firewall on the right because of the headers. Im using the headerd that are used for a 1979 trans am. that car had the 403 olds in it. We started that motor up and that sucker is a beast. i have a 100 shot of nitrios for it to. the car should be done in a couple of weeks then im gonna send her off to the body shop to make here look pretty. but she will be fun.

 

It can be done. Basically when tranplanting a GM v8 into a car that didnt come with it, star with bolting up the transmission. Then, bolt up the engine and see how the motor mounts line up, and drill holes as needed. OR you could go theother way and modify the tranny mounting instead. Also, you will need the correct motor mounts (the ones that came with the engine originally). Finally, figure out clearances, plumbing, wire routing etc... When putting a big engine in, u usually have to worry about things like the exhaust hitting the steering column, etc... The fuel pump could be on the other side, same with the oil filter.

Also, the olds 350 wasnt a small block. The olds 350, 455 series motors were all the same block with different internals. SO you could swap 455 heads onto a 350, and other parts as well. Pontiac was the same way i beleive.

I have a bias against the 455 olds though, because if you rev them too high and hold them there, they will starve the bottom end for oil. This can be fixed with some mods. Buicks were known for the monster torque, and i dont know a whole lot about ponchos but they were a decent engine too.

 

While the Buicks and Olds motors made good torque, the Ponchos were king when it came to torque. The 455 Pontiac makes absolutely silly torque figures. If you want unique and torque, go that route.

If you just want big, get a Chevy big block... Its a drop-in motor (for the most part) and its got a much bigger aftermarket.

 

I think the olds 403 was in the short deck variety with the olds 350. I don't think the olds 455 heads would swap on. I'm not 100% on that, but I think you should check your casting numbers on that 403, if anything, just to prove me wrong. (I'm curious).
.
.
He raced an '82 Buick PARK AVENUE? huh, weird.

Online - You're right with pontiac, the Pontiac 350, 400, 455 are all the common size. Everything swaps AFAIK. Except for on the pontiac 301 (hence the bastard child moniker). But I think olds was different, ie, they had a "short deck" and "tall deck", and certain things didn't interchange between. Not sure about buicks.

I remember sofakingdom made a fairly detailed post about this within the last few weeks I think...

 

I dont think so, the 1970 GSX stage one was the biggest production motor next to the caddy 500, its big block weighed a little over the chevy 350, and it had the most power.

Chevelle made 500 i beleive, and teh stage 1 made 510 pound feet torque. Maybe the tin indians could have been modified for better torque, but they definately didnt come with more.

In any case, buicks are relatively cheap, because you can overhaul them to stock specs for an already powerful motor. But they get expensive to power tune and power build.

Same can be said of pontiac and olds, but to a much lesser extent.

Big block chevs are reliable though. You can build em up and they will keep going. Very popular choice for offroading.

The reason buicks are not as reliable, is because they need very precise specs and clearances when built, and not alot of people know how to do it right. They were the last castings built, and so arguably had the "best" and most precise clearances. The aim was efficiency with these, so the bores were very borderline, and everything possible was done to save weight and maximize power. Because of the weight savings, alot of material had to be lost, and thus why these blocks wont take alot of punishment when just thrown together.

However, if you look in the tech articles section, or engine swap even, they have a thread about putting BBCs in to a thirdgen. Id look into that and see what kind of clearance issues you have, and then just put it in there, and start bolting it up. Its not hard, so dont be intimidated, but you are stepping on new ground so it seems scary. Probably the hardest thing you will need to do, is reroute all the hoses and wiring.

 

wouldnt mind seing some pics of your set up

 

With only a few exceptions, the 455 Pontiac didn't really go into any of there performance cars like the GTO or Trans Am untill well into the smog era ('72+). That said, you are right, the big Chebby and Buicks made more torque from the factory, but look at some of the aftermarket builds. Theres even been a few comparisons between the GM 455s, Chevy 454, Mopar 440 and fNord 460. It was in Hot Rod IIRC (dead reliable source, I know ). Anyway... the Pontiac is usually middle of the road when it comes to HP... not the best, not the worst, but none of the others come close to the same torque figures of the Poncho mill, and rarely at the same low low RPMs.

Anyway, enough rambling from me here....


If you do want to build a really BAAAAD olds motor, try this... get an Olds 403 block, and drop a 455 Olds crank in there. The 403 has a HUGE bore - 4.38" or something, and the 455 crank has a longer stroke than a 454 Chevy, though I can't remember what exactly.

Anyway, I figured it out once, and you can build a 515ci engine from an overbored 403 block and a 455 crank.

You think the Buick 455 makes torque??? try an Olds 515 !!!

 

Well thats not fair, you cant talk about swapping cranks and blocks and then compare it to the stock buick. Im sorry im very partial to buick, they are the king of torque. Ill post the results of that hot-rod article, i highly doubt poncho came out with the highest figures. I remember the buick made close to 600ftlbs of torque all by about 2500rpms or less.

As for the 403 olds, ever heard of the nailhead engine? Too bad they didnt make a wole lot of aftermarket parts for them. The main prob with them was, the intake valve was smaller than the exhaust,a nd yet still they managed to get close to the 500 hp/tq figures before 1966!!!


But anyways, we can talk about who made the best blocks etc etc all day long, thats not really the point here. Id like to see what our original poster has accomplished so far, any troubles hes running into, that kinda stuff. Always interesting to see a big block go into a thirdgen, regardless whos the best.

 

Back in the 60s we dropped a Toranado 455 into a 442 it ran top eliminator
for a month out on Long Island.

 

I wasn't trying to compare the 515" stroker Olds to a 455" Buick, although I guess after reading my post, it does sound like that. Oh well, whatever.

Anyway... I still think if he's going to build an Olds motor, build a BIG one - a 515ci - all the parts are just sitting there in the junkyard waiting to be used. 403s aren't hard to find, and I doubt a 455 crank would be either. Its an easy stroker combo. If you are going to spend the kind of money you WILL be spending if you want to transplant a BBO in that car, then you might as well get the most from it, no?

 

I don't know, i've never heard of that 515 combo. Are you fairly sure that'd work? I didn't think the olds 403 would accept a 455 crank? Isn't the bore on the 455 even bigger than on the 403?
I also know the olds 403 block is renowned for being flat out garbage. Very weak main webbing, etc. If you have a link to anyone that's done this online, i'd like to read about it, because it's new to me.

 

I'm no guru on Olds motors by any stretch, but I know a guy who's built a pretty hairy '87 4-4-2 with a 425ci BBO. I seem to remember talking with him about this and he said it would work...?

Weak block could be a reason for no one using it though, but I dont know.

 

1970:455 GTO
1971:455 Firebirds

I also reading an article a long time ago about good techniques to get power out of the 403 like getting power out of the TBI.

 

I know this is a dead fourm but I am getting ready to put a olds 455 in my 85 trans an and relized that the starter was on the driver side was that an issue with your build?

 

No, this should not be an issue for anyone's build.

 

Is there any clearense issues that I don't know about or does the olds 403 or 455 block drop right in other then the motor mounts?

 

The Olds 455 is about two inches wider and one inch taller than it's little brother(s) the Olds 350 and 403, but the motor mounts line up in the same area. Here is a more detailed thread about installing a 350 Olds into a Camaro with pics and start up vids, enjoy...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...ldsmobile.html

 

Thank you very much I'm picking the motors up friday. Gona go pull a 403 and 455 getting them for 100 a peice as a complete motor then I am Gona try the 515 build as mentioned above I asked one of my college teacher about it and he did confirm it it also said it was very popular back in the day and in hot rod magazine.. but thank you very much for the info on a dead thread

 

I heard the engine mount brackets on a 403 trans am make it easier to swap into a car with chevy mounts.

 

I'd do a 515, if there were cast pistons for something else that would work with rods from something else. Maybe F 460 pistons? Similar bore to the 403. I think I recall Mondello making 550 TQ from a 403 using the better of the 2 different 403 blocks. The main webbing shouldn't care about torque, just RPM and detonation. The problem with Olds is the heads. Max porting the best GM heads barely beats unported Edelbrock heads, and the Edelbrocks are costly even without porting. The potential is there, but the value isn't.
Just because you have a big engine you like, and a sporty car you like, isn't necessarily grounds for trying to combine them.

 

Very true I already have a 383 and as some people say around here I just got a wild hair up my *** to try and do somthing bassicly cus it was Gona be pretty cheap

 

The 455 crank wont fit into the 403. The main bearings are different sizes.
I think you're getting mixed up in the olds 350 diesel block with a swapped crank from a 425.

 

O455 in third gen=pretty cheap? C454 maybe, if you don't mind 230 HP at 3600 RPM, and a lot of "ghetto" plus not being emissions legal. It should be possible to make the last 454s pass emissions in some places, with 30 MPG if geared tall enough, and they're 290 HP, but then the cheap is gone.

 

^^^ 230hp is if its kept stock from the factory. small chambered big valve head swap will boost compression and torque. and it would be cheap since all that would be needed is fabricated motor mounts. But no OLDS, it has to be PONTIAC 7.5L