Building a 66 Olds Rocket 455
Buddy, gonna' shut you down.
The Beach Boys - Shut Down
Building a 66 Olds Rocket 455 |
Tach it up, tach it up Buddy, gonna' shut you down. The Beach Boys - Shut Down |
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My other automotive toy engenders a completely different approach to going fast. While the Buick Grand National is a high-tech turbocharged, fuel injected V6, the Olds is a 60s-style carbureted big block. There's an old racer's adage that says: "There's no substitute for cubic inches." While turbochargers, fuel injection and computerized engine management have evolved to the point where that's no longer completely true, there's still something magical about a big V8 breathing through a four barrel carb, headers and dual exhausts that evokes the halcyon days of the American Musclecar in the 1960s and early 70s.
The bottom line ? Two different cars, two different approaches, but one thing in common: They're both a blast to drive !
And that's really what it's all about...
A little history...
I'm the second owner of my F-85, which I bought in 1985. She was originally a sedate straight 6 250 cube car that had faithfully served her original owner as everyday transportation for many years. I used her as daily transportation during my senior year in college, but had a much different plan for what was to come. The original 6 was removed in 1986 in favor of a slightly-worked 330 V8 that I had from my previous Oldsmobile, a 64 F-85. The original white paint was touched-up, cleaned and buffed, the engine compartment was detailed, and the Olds and I hit the local car show and cruise circuit for a few years having a lot of fun and winning the occasional trophy.
In 1990, it was finally time to take the next step: a stoutly built 455 V8 and a restoration of the Olds' body complete with fresh paint, rechromed bumpers and custom stripes. We took second place in our class at the Philadelphia World-of-Wheels show on our first outing. Since then, we've been to a lots of different shows and have generally done pretty well.
Now, it's time for something different again...and the Olds and I are trying our luck at the dragstrip. After a little tuning, some QJ fiddling, the addition of airbags and a set of BFG 235/15 Drag Radials, the Olds has turned a best ET to-date of 13.3 @ 103 MPH through the full exhaust. The plugs looked a little lean, so we'll go up a jet size on the primaries and use a bit more secondary rod to get some more fuel. Then, we'll open up the exhaust dumps and see what she'll do.
Did I say I was hoping for mid-13s ? What I really meant was high 12s. :-)
Building the Rocket-V8
The following pictures were taken during my build-up of the Olds "Rocket" 455 that now sits between the fenderwells of my F-85:
 The first step was to remove the 330 V8 from the Olds' Engine Bay. Remember to scribe or mark some alignment guides on the hood so you can get it lined up correctly when it's time to put it back on the hinges. It's a really good idea to have at least two friends around to help out at this point. One guy operates the "cherry picker" engine hoist while the other two guide the block up and out of the car. You don't want it swinging around and banging against something on the way out. |
 This is also the time to detail the engine compartment while its accessible. A lot of degreaser, a little semi-flat black, some cast iron gray and a little lacquer thinner to clean the wires is all it takes. One thing I didn't do at this point and regretted later was replacing the heater core. Take my advice: if you've got the engine out and don't know how old the heater core is...replace it ! This will save you from the infamous hot ethylene glycol foot bath at some point in the future. |
 When the detailing was done, it was time to start assembling the 455. The block was out of a 1970 Olds 442 with only 42,000 miles on it. It had been badly wrecked in the back end, but the engine was in pristine condition. It came out, got disassembled and taken to the machine shop for a good hot tank cleaning and .030 overbore to accomodate the new 10.25:1 forged pistons. In my opinion, one of the absolute most important things in preparing a block is cleanliness. After the block came back from the machine shop, I spent an afternoon with water, detergent and bristle bore brushes cleaning out all the passages. The piston bores were quickly sprayed with a shot of WD-40 to prevent surface rusting, then cleaned repeatedly with transmission fluid and a lint free rag. |
 Assembly progressed without any major problems. The cam (a Mondello JM20/22H) runs with 0.496" / 0.512" lift intake/exhaust and 226 / 230 duration at 0.050 and was installed 2 deg. advanced via timing gear bushings. Also used a split front cover (highly recommended) to allow future cam changes, if necessary, without pulling the harmonic balancer. Also seen in this shot is the 8 quart Milodon pan. This, along with a high pressure/volume pump, cross drilled crank and restricted top-end oiling should keep the rod and main bearings happy. Yeah, it's probably overkill for what I'm doing with the car, but I didn't want to have to worry about the bottom end of the engine if I later decided to go with a hotter cam or something. |
 Final assembly consisted of putting the polished Edelbrock Performer intake in place and fitting up all the accessories. After going through tons of different pulleys, I finally found some that seemed to give the right geometry. It wound up being a combination of the 455's original pulleys and accessory brackets along with some from the 330 and even a few from a friend's Pontiac. The block was painted Olds 455 metallic blue and all the accessory brackets given a good coating of gloss black enamel. |
 This is what everything wound up looking like when it was completed. Overall, I'm very happy with how it came out but there's always a few more things to be done. Of course, that's half the fun of this hobby... |
 The original, unrestored F-85 Deluxe interior. Only additions are a tach (seen on the steering column) and a set of gauges (under the dash; not seen in this photo). |
 My latest addition to the Olds has been a cold air induction system. Shown here is the 14x3 inch twin scoop setup made by Air Inlet Systems, ramairbx@worldchat.com. This is a very nicely crafted and inexpensive way to make a do-it-yourself ram air system. I chose to remove the front two high beam headlights and duct fresh air in directly from the grill. However, there's no reason you couldn't set it up to use something like the stock 66 442 W-30 scoops. |
 I suppose some purists out there might argue with my choice of ducting location for the air inlets, but I was more interested in getting some of that high pressure air at the grill than maintaining the "stock" look of the car. I designed this so that I would only have to cut the bolt-on headlight mounting plates (of which I have spares should I ever decide to revert to stock) rather than the entire front grill support. The scoops are fashioned out of black plastic oil funnels. |
Still to come:
If you have any questions about my Olds project, feel free to
email me. |