I want to know how to identify what year my olds 324 is. Its in a 56 but it has #8 heads on it. I heard that the #8 heads came on the 55 and the #10s came on 56.
also i hear the #10 heads flow better. What about having a port job done on the #8 heads? Would this be just as good as the #10s
Is it possible that the 8 heads were put on a 56 block. I know that it is probably unlikely that that is what happened.
Maybe there was an engine swap. Is the trans the air cooled hydro? Or does it have coolant lines? Few 56's got the hydro, but it would tip you off on a possible 55 drivetrain in the car. Yep the 56 head do flow better.
I know its got a hydro-matic in it. IDK if its air cooled or not. The book for 56 has the hydromatic and the other trans in it. I cant remember what its called now for some reason.
I'll have to look for coolant lines but im thinking that there are none. I'll have to look. Do you know if a port job would make the #8s as good as the tens?
A set of 55 heads could have been put on a 56 block during a repair in the past. On a stock street car most people would not notice much difference. The 56 heads are definitely the more desirable ones in stock configuration from a performance standpoint. #10's are getting hard to find though. There are some very experienced early Olds guys on here that usually offer good advice. Must be past their bedtime now...ha-ha! (I'm a geezer too). Some guy on here (RocketDaemon(?) or something like that) had a thread going with alot of good tech contributions on it. Try the "advanced search" function. You only know that you are in the USA ???
just fyi.....its easy to determine what trans you have, hydromatic does not have park......jettaway has park....from what i found alot of the plain 88s came with hydromatic, the super 88 and 98 had the jettaway. im pretty sure but sir woosh is correct withthe 56 324 that was equiped witht the hydromatic had the #8 heads beacuse they were leftover 1955 model engine. the jettaway equiped cars were a newer casting 324 for 1956. which i would ***ume had the #10 heads.....i could be wrong......................john
Here is a reply to a similar post I made earlier and it seems to be accurate except that the stamped numbers were between #1 and #3 plugs on my 54 engine and between 5 and 7 on an earlier 54 engine I found. Hey REM/mo - I'm kinda new to this Olds block identification, too, but I found some info. which might help you. Instead of wrestling with block casting numbers, I'd check the actual motor number ***igned to your particular block, the one that is STAMPED into the angled i.d. pad surface located along the far back and upper area of the block on the driver's side, roughly between cylinders #5 and #7. According to my copy of the Hollander Bible of Interchange, 1953 Olds motors begin with #R-215001; 1954s begin with #V-1001 up; 1955s begin with #V-400001; and 1956s begin with #V-1000001. Please check this info. with a known Olds expert before ordering expensive parts or having labor done on your block, and good luck!! mr50s <!-- / message -->
In the book it says there was a sychromesh or something like that and a jetaway hydramatic for 56. that is in the original factory service manual.
From what I have read, it is important to know if the block is a 55 or 56. I believe the cam journals are different in 55 from the 56.
For help with Olds IDing 442.com has been an excellent source for me. Not only for 442s.....but all engine/head casting numbers. Hope it helps. Fish
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