My new 80 Biarritz 455

[seok]

I wonder if they picked 455 because it was 1 over a 454?  Or wasn't the 454 out yet?    Weren't some of those 350 and or 455 engines actually not actually that many cubic inches but they named them that anyway?    I remember reading that thinking it was strange and it was before I think they started really mixing between brands.   Maybe they were planning on mixing them up earlier than they did so they wanted to be able to say you are getting a GM 350 so it doesn't matter which factory it comes from?   They didn't want to say 347 352 or whatever?

Not sure, but I'm assuming they chose it because the 80 Eldorado had the option to come factory with an Olds 5.7 (diesel in this case) and possibly made it an easier swap? I would think an even easier one would be to stay small block olds and go to a 403. Either way I'm happy theres a Big Block under the hood :-)

[TJ Hopland]

The 'new' Eldo must have been designed with the idea of using the Cadillac engine at the time which was the 425 and the 368/8-6-4 had to be well in the works by then and likely what they thought would be the standard engine for that gen body style.  I doubt they ever planned on the 4100 going into that body.   The big Cad was among the widest engines at the top so room there should not have been an issue.  I think there was less than an inch difference in width and height between the standard and tall deck Olds and both were similar or even smaller than the Cad.   Buick (Riviera) and Olds (Toronado) I suspect were thinking the 350 would be the biggest engine they would ever install so the Cad likely set the max dimensions.

I wonder why they didn't do the 425 the first year?  Maybe concerns about the transmission holding up?  The olds was likely an easy choice since they were doing the diesels and and olds would be the standard toro motor so they would not have had to create any special parts to install them plus they were already doing the olds motors in the Seville.

[James Landi]

TJ,

Congratulations on your ownership of this terrific conversion.  My 85 convertible, having suffered the indignity of three broken 4100's, received a small block Olds 260 cid engine back in 2013.  Thereafter, I was never fearful that I'd have to be towed home!  Our beloved Glenn Brown is the present owner of my conversion.  The one amazing fact of the ordeal converting it, is that the 4100's electronic distributor fit perfectly and works seamlessly in the 1978 Olds engine... go figure.       Happy day,   James

[Scot Minesinger]

The 455 engine was introduced by Oldsmobile in 1968.  By 1970, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick used the 455 engine size.  Buick and Pontiac introduced the 455 engine in 1970.  Chevrolet introduced the 454 engine in 1970 too.  In 1968 and 1969 the top engine choices for Chevy was the 427, Pontiac was a 428 (or 429) and Buick used the 430 (introduced in 1967).

[TJ Hopland]

Its not my car but if it would have come up for sale in my area who knows maybe it would be mine now, it does look nice and I bet is a nice quiet smooth ride.

I wounder what would have happened if gas didn't get expensive in what 73?   Think the cars would have kept getting bigger and the cubic inches would have kept growing?  I'm assuming around a liter per cylinder was about a practical max so we would have been adding cylinders?   Back to really long hoods?

[Scot Minesinger]

A liter is 61 cubic inches x 8 = 488 cubic inches, Cadillac surpassed in 1970 with 500 cubic inches, and the 472 was darn close.  That 1973 gas price increase really was something, as I got my license in 1976 when gas was past a $1 per gallon, $1.50/gallon for premium unleaded.  It used to b e like $0.35 per gallon in 1972 or so.  If gas prices triple in the next couple of years, the car market would change drastically.

[TJ Hopland]

What if the GMC motorhome was the test bed for the new even bigger Cadillac?   What if the 77 Cadillac was going to have 6 wheels and be 23 feet long?   16 liter v16?  Drop tanks for fuel like airplanes?   They may have been like rockets where you hit the diminishing returns where all your thrust is needed just to lift your fuel. 

[bcroe]

What I saw in 60s Olds was 2 barrel carb on a low compression, 4 on
a high compression.  But it deserves an HEI ignition. 

Hard for a FWD to win a drag race with a RWD.  That is, until there
is snow on the road.  Bruce Roe

[seok]

Hi Bruce, nice to hear from you, been a long time man.
I had that 79 Biarritz that you helped me out with when I converted to 4bb.
This 455 is HEI so I'm set there.

[signart]

'68 2 barrel Olds came with 9:00 to one and 10:25 compression ratios configurations.  (490 ft lbs and 500 ft lbs of torque respectively). If yours is the 10:25 version, it should net 510 ft. lbs of torque.
Olds used these configurations through the years on various c.i. engines with two barrel carbs, small and tall blocks.  At least 3 different h.p. ratings for 4 barrel 455 engines in '68.
They didn't play catch up to anybody.
You need to determine which compression ratio you have as timing specs 5* BTDC for 9:00 and 7.5* for 10:25.
Downside to the 10:25, it will require premium gas. If you have the 9 to one, should be good with 87 octane.
If it has been rebuilt, all bets are off.

Congratulations, you have the best of both worlds!

[79 Eldorado]

Very nice! I have a 79 Olds Toronado with a 455 as well. Did they keep the 7 quart pan from the Diesel motor? Mine needed slight massaging to allow the crank throws to clear. My TH325 has been holding up against most typical transmission failure in it's most recent configuration despite auto-xing for a few yeas with it.  It has the transgo kit in it and the clearance in the layered clutch packs were optimized by adding additional friction disks (too long ago to recall the details and a friend who had a lot of transmission experience rebuilt it while I was there for support). I stopped racing it because there were parts which were extremely difficult to find if something broke. Mine did break the neck of the casting which goes around the transmission input shaft once. There is a natural stress concentration in that casting. I still have the broken one in my garage someplace. One of the two large gears which transfer the power side to side through the chain rides on that shaft. I suspected the torque makes the gears want to come closer and the casting couldn't handle it.

This is my second 79 Olds Toronado but I also have a 79 Eldorado with the original 5.7L gas motor. It's strange for me to see an Olds motor which isn't Olds powder blue, Gold or like the newer ones black but I guess I didn't realize in '68 they were red. One real big advantage you have is a valve cover with all 10 bolts. I don't know why Olds ever went to 5.

As for the antenna have you tried checking the antenna relay? It's left of the steering column. It's a large relay in a cluster of relays. After I wiggled it once, possibly causing it to seat better or wiggling helped clear the oxidation from the terminals, it seemed to work properly there after.

For the distributor there was a kit by I think Moroso. If you find the kit I'm talking about it had spring sets in red, blue and white. The red are extremely weak. The blue are a little lighter than factory and the white were at least as heavy as factory. My Olds motors seem to always do the best with the factory weights and the blue springs (the 455 and the 350).

Another interesting thing I initially tried a 2000 RPM converter but with the 455 it came-up a lot higher than with the same converter and the 350. I went back to the stock converter which came with the 350 motor and it was perfect for the 455 (around 2000 RPM which is what I needed for my cam selection).

Scott

[67_Eldo]

The 455 engine was introduced by Oldsmobile in 1968.  By 1970, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick used the 455 engine size.  Buick and Pontiac introduced the 455 engine in 1970.

The three "GM" 455 engines were not the same.

* Olds based its 455 on the 425 found in the 1967 Toronado
* Buick based its 455 on the 430 Wildcat
* Pontiac based its 455 on the 1967 Pontiac 400

Oldsmobile put a 2-barrel on its big blocks (the 400 in 1967 and the 455 later on) as part of its Turnpike Cruiser package. These engines also had camshafts that pushed the torque curve down the RPM scale. Couple those changes with a very long rear end and you can see the Olds strategy: Take advantage of the tremendous torque generated by the big block to push the car down the road in an economical -- and even ecologically friendly -- manner.

How so "eco friendly"? Olds contended that the fewer times the motor turned over, the fewer emissions it was generating.

I had a 1973 Firebird Trans Am with Pontiac's 455 HO. It was not a good engine. However, good engine or not, it would be worth tons o' money today!