Photos For Lyle - Fatherly Advice and Rants

Photos I took back then are provided following the text below.

If you have any specific questions not covered below, be sure to let me know.

Motor mounts were probably the biggest issue when dealing with the 455 vs. the original 324 engine.
After doing some research I learned that 455 engines installed in Olds Toronado’s had a single mount in the front for the engine and two mounts on the transmission. I got a front mount from a wrecking yard and had someone fabricate a heavy-duty mount for the front and a cross-member type bar with two mounts for the transmission.
Hopefully, the photos will help as I have provided them to others in the past and they were able to use them to fab mounts for their installations. The transmission photo isn’t that great, but I don’t have a hoist to get a better shot of it.
My engine was originally built for drag racing and puts out over 420hp with 450 foot-pounds of torque and the motor mount setup has never failed when I floored it, occasionally. Ha!

My Olds came with power steering that worked like a dream. Unfortunately, the stock setup had an issue as it was too big and wouldn’t allow proper placement of the engine. I obtained a manual steering setup that barely fit and had it rebuilt. A few years later I learned there are newer versions that will work just fine, but since it steers nicely on the road I didn’t want to tear everything apart to make the change.
Yes, it takes a little muscle to get into a tight parking spot, but the gig steering wheel makes it doable.

I don’t know how easy it is to find a setup for dual exhaust on an installation like this. I was able to find exhaust manifolds from a W-30 Olds that met my needs. The local muffler shop took it from there.

This is a big one that I failed to do.
This engine makes a lot of heat and it easily transmits it through the firewall to the engine compartment.
Install heat shielding in abundance to keep the heat out of the car.

This big block generates abundant heat.
Originally, I had an additional row of core installed and used the stock belt-driven fan.
This became an issue because it didn’t generate much are movement, especially when idling or in slow traffic.
Also, when I floored it as it was very close to the radiator and would hit it sometimes.
I ended up installing an electric push fan on one side of the radiator and a pull fan on the other. This works fine even on the hottest California days.

Adjusting points are a drag and they aren’t the best options, so I replaced mine with an MSD Electronic ignition system.
Be advised that all-in-one-versions are great, but since the distributor is so close to the firewall size could be an issue, so consider that.

I replaced pretty much everything except the coil springs in the front and the leaf springs in the back.
The original engine and automatic transmission are much heavier than a 455 with a Turbo400 or Turbo350 transmission. I don’t remember exactly, because it has been so long ago, but with the new 455/T400 combo installed the front end of the car raised quite a bit. At least 6 to 9 inches.
I had a hot rodder friend who was a wizard at lowering front-ends by taking a blow torch to the coil springs. It worked great and rides fine, but must be done by someone with the proper experience.

While I was doing the restomod on my Olds I rebuilt the brake system with new shoes, honed the cylinders, etc.
After I got the card on the road I experience the typical issues associated with old braking systems. It was hard to stop and pulled to the left or right while trying to stop. No matter how I adjusted the brake shoes, driving was scary.
I found a disk brake kit from a company that is now out of business, but their kit did the trick. I know there are similar systems out there now, but can’t recommend any particular firm due to lack of experience with them.
After putting disk brakes on the front, it stops like a dream.
I used the vacuum system on the system for the power brakes. They work fine, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t replace the old one with a new modern system.

If we need to talk live, down the road, that’s fine too.