1975 20' Kona. Factory Olds 455 (of course), Berkley, Place diverter, etc.
So here's the scoop- bought boat last year as a shell, installed new floor, carpet seats, upholstry, wiring, and olds 455 from some guy that says it runs good.
Installed 10quart pan and double remote oil filters, installed engine, fired right up, ran strong. J heads, yuk. Got 50-55mph out of it.
Made ticking, then BANGING sounds. I though there was a monkey with a hammer in the engine bay. Turnes out, there was no monkey per say. Compression checked good even though engine seemed to be running on 7 cylinders. The engine got the shakes.
Pulled intake, found crack in heat riser passage of aluminum edelbrock performer. Hmm
Noticed that a clip had come loose on one of the lifters and had been jumping around on the end of the push rod for long enough to rand the edges good. Ordered edelbrock performer cam and lifter kit.
Found some nice G heads to replace the J heads. Ported, polished them, sent them to maching shop.
Pulled J heads. Found that piston 1 and 3 have been hitting head lightly (could still see machine mark on piston). Looked at head, yep, it had been hitting the head. Hmm
Looked into bores again for wrist pin damage. Found none. Hmm, the oil pressure on this engine was always 40-60psi so I figure the bottom end is good.
Noticed that the pistons looked a little small for the bores! oh crap! I see rings and pistons rocked side to side about .060" estimated. Measured bores to be 4.125", that's standard bore! WTF? These are Olds-looking pistons with the 3/8" deep dish. Confused...
Now I'm looking into replacing the olds with something else, probably a 454 chevy. I do a lot of metal fab so I'm not worried about engine mounts or headers but I am wondering what parts I can use from the Olds on something else. I know the bell housing is the same for Olds, Buick and Pontiac. But what about the flywheel and U-joint? Does anyone know if the crank bolt pattern is the same for big block chevy and olds? I have a butload of smallblock chevy stuff, can I use a smallblock flywheel in a big block chevy? I know the distributor and bellhousing is the same for small and big block chevys, but what else?
I would like to slap on a couple turbochargers on whatever engine I throw in there and I know the big block chevy is a prime candidate for that, I've done a couple of them. I know power can be made with the Pontiacs and Buicks but?????
What do you think about all of this?
Chuck with bad luck in Oregon...