My new 80 Biarritz 455

[seok]

*Sorry if this is a repost, don't think my other one went through*

Wanted to show my new 80 Biarritz. Previous owner owned since 84. Originally a diesel, sometime in the early 90s he had the dealer toss the diesel and replace it with an Olds 455. Running the codes I found it's a 68 from a full size delta 88 or ninety eight. The car has been garaged nearly all it's life and last registered in 98 when he decided to park it. family would take it out occasionally to keep things moving. Has 108k miles on it and about 20k miles on motor swap. I believe it still has the thm325 which sort of concerns me with that big block torque, but I think as long as im not hammering down on it every stop light it should be ok, which I wouldn't do anyways as this is a cruiser.
Everything works but the antenna, interior is beautiful, lights are bright, leather is soft, and the car runs excellent!
Needs bumper fillers and rear shocks. Since I've sold my 79 a couple years ago I've been wanting another, I think this is a keeper!

[seok]

Pics

[76eldo]

Great car with a great engine!

[D.Smith]

I resized and lightened them for you.   Nice car!

[seok]

Thank you Dave! I don't know why my phone takes pics so dark.

[35-709]

Paint that engine Cadillac Blue!  The ORIGINAL Cadillac Blue.   

[seok]

Cadillac blue would be nice, but, while the olds 350 did, the 455 never came in the Cadillac and I believe for 68 the 455 olds was red. If I'm not mistaken

[35-709]

   No, the 455 never came in a Cadillac but it's there now!  Even GM corporate blue would be OK.

[seok]

  No, the 455 never came in a Cadillac but it's there now!  Even GM corporate blue would be OK.

Totally agree. It would look real nice.
Plus if it were Cadillac blue it would really confuse some people haha.

[Scot Minesinger]

That is a super cool car, made so by a high compression 455 engine.  It must go like a 1970 Eldorado, but understand the trans may not be up to the task of a steady constant diet of transmitting high torque to the front wheels , so power is there when needed - just do not use every time.  In 68 the 455 was kind of a tomato red, and I would not paint that engine - leave it Oldsmobile 455 red.  Normally starting into the 80's the engine is the weak point of a Cadillac (not every one but more than a majority - 41., diesel, V-6 and etc.), contrary to just about every decade before.  This clearly removes any doubt that the engine is the weak point - it certainly is more of the good part about your Cadillac.

BTW if the trans goes, replace it with a 425 if it fits (not sure if it is dimensionally different than 325), or otherwise a strong rebuilt 325 - no big deal, neither are rare or expensive.

Enjoy your unique 455 hi-compression 1980 Cadillac!

[35-709]

"Enjoy your unique 455 hi-compression 1980 Cadillac!"

Yeah!  Bottom line.   

[seok]

Definitely will enjoy it!

Yes it does have the 2bbl on it. That's my first project is swapping for a 4bbl. I have a couple spares here for my 68 Buick that should be fine with a little linkage and fuel line fixing. I also want to make sure timing and curve is good. I'm into buicks and we always curve them where they like it best around 10-12* initial, 22* mechanical advance for 32-34* total all in by about 2400rpm. That's where they like them. But I've never worked on Olds, any advice on where timing and curve is best for these? Thanks

[Scot Minesinger]

In 1968 GM divisions designed differences in their engines.  Remember the late 1970's where the Olds "R" 350 engine had the distributor in rear and some Delta 88's had the Chevy 350 with dist in front (like a Cadillac).  1971 and newer GM shared more designs and parts.  Be careful about mixing Buick and Olds 1968 engine components.

Is the 2 barrel carb 455 engine not fast enough for you?  If it runs well and has decent power why change it?  This will never be a racer, guarantee that my Mother in law's Camry with v-6 will beat this car in a 0-60mph race no matter what you do to this engine.  Plus you are worried that the 325 trans cannot handle all that power, and now there could be even more power.

My Dad drove a 1970 Olds 442 with a 455 engine (4bbl), 370hp, and my Mother's 1968 Thunderbird (a heavier car) with 429 seemed faster, especially on low end grunt.  Not sure the Olds 455's had the strong low end and that may be what you are dealing with.

[seok]

Fast enough for me isn't my reason. I have my fast car, this isn't it.  I like the 4bbl. It gives better gas mileage at cruise than a 2bbl if you stay out of the secondaries. and will have more power when it is needed. Best of both.
Recurving the time will provide optimum engine performance and also be more fuel efficient. Plus we all know you never tune a carb before getting the timing dialed in. Who knows where my timing is at right now. It could be 2, 4, degrees off and run what seems to be ok but be wasting fuel at the same time. That's why I asked what these motors like for timing.

[TJ Hopland]

So its got a 2bbl intake on it?  Or has it got the 2bbl quadrajet, did they call it the dual jet?   I wonder if they did that to 'save' the transmission?  Was there a 2bbl intake for the tall deck olds?

Wonder if its still high compression or if they lowered it at some point? 

Going to the 425 trans apparently takes some custom work so it would seem unlikely someone went through the trouble.    The 325 seemed to be more reliable that the 325 4L that came in 82.  The 325 was apparently on par with the 200c for innards except didn't have a locking torque converter.  The 4L was like a 200 4r which may have had a few too many parts jammed into a small case for its own good.

Hard to tell for sure from that angle but it looks like they kept the giant alternator?  Which would mean its got the diesel brackets which I thought would get in the way of the heads on the tall deck motors?  What I remember about the tall deck is it was darn near like they just put a spacer between the block and the head, all the mounts and holes for brackets were the same place on all the blocks.  They just needed a slightly wider intake to reach the heads in their new location.  Maybe the giant cad diesel alternator was the key, it may have sat further out to start with?  The last diesel I spent a lit of time on had a little smaller alternator so my perspective may be a bit off.

[seok]

It's a 2bb/intake. Not the bigger Rochester 2bbl that looks like a 4bbl without secondaries. And yes it's HUGE alternator!

[TJ Hopland]

Interesting that its a 2bbl. I knew they did big truck motors with 2bbls and in the 70's they did strange things like that presumably as emissions and economy bandaids but the tall deck big inch Olds I thought was always a performance 4bbl sort of thing.  I know there was a 2bbl intake for the short decks, those went into your base model cars.  What carb is it got on it now?   Are you planning on a aftermarket intake or a stock late 60's -76 Q jet one?   Anyone know when Olds went to the Qjet? 

Be prepared to wait and pay if you need to replace that alternator.  It was pretty rare for cars, I think it was only diesel Cads that used them for a couple years.  That model was mostly used on heavy equipment.   Without having to recover 2 batteries from starting a diesel and running the glow plugs it should hardly ever have to work so hopefully it will last a long time in your application.  I had seen a lot of diesels where they put a regular gas alternator on presumably because they were cheaper and in stock.  Brackets don't line up correctly and the wiring was also different so they were usually a disaster and constantly running at full load with the diesels so they didn't last. 

I bet that is a nice riding car.  All the extra insulation the diesels had should make it extra quiet and I would imagine added a little weight so maybe smooths out the ride a bit.   

[D.Smith]

Paint that engine Cadillac Blue!  The ORIGINAL Cadillac Blue.   

I disagree.    No point in painting it blue as it isn't a Cadillac engine.

Keeping it Oldsmobile red is more impressive as when you lift the hood car guys right away know it is something special, not a diesel boat anchor engine.

[Scot Minesinger]

1968 was the first year for the 455 in an Oldsmobile (or any GM car).  The 4bbl was standard in the Ninety-Eight, so this probably was from a Delta 88.  In 68 and 69 Buick was using the 430 block, and in 1970 joined the GM 455 engine party.  An intake manifold for a 4bbl 455 Olds engine should be more common than a 2bbl intake.  You probably can even get a stock looking one that is performance type that adds another 10% to the power. 

Keep us posted. 

[TJ Hopland]

I just thought it was odd that there was a 2bbl intake for a tall deck motor.  I would have thought 4bbl would have been standard on tall deck which tended to be fairly large displacement motors.   I could see it if it was the same motor they had in the 50's but Olds changed in what the earlier 60's?  The Gen2 was after the aluminum experiment?

In the 50's with the introduction of V8 (for most brands) pretty much every brand had a 2bbl as the base engine option didn't they?  Your base model if it even was a V8 was a low compression 2bbl?  Then a low comp 4bbl?   Then high comp 4bb?  Then if you had an even higher option you went to the multicarb or fuel injection on the high comp motor?     

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?