Believe it or but under that pile of junk is an Olds 455 Rocket engine. Our friend's uncle had promised it to him years ago and he had been saving to build it right AND to upgrade the rest of the drive train to handle the power. In July 2021, we traveled up to New Jersey to retrieve the engine. His uncle had two Rockets, one rebuilt before being stored and one other. We found this one and stopped. For our plans, it didn't matter which one we had.
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Due to the location, we had to dismantle the engine and carry it out to the truck one piece at a time. Many classic cars rested on the property and we had to weave a path out between them.
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When we were down to the block, the uncle helped us out with a backhoe.
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He set the block down in the back of the truck without disturbing the truck.
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A friend of the family commented on the Rocket resting safely in the tire for transport back to VA.
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The small pile of parts out so far. Some of the others still had to be carried out and loaded.
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A rainstorm was incoming. In order to close the hard tonneau, we had to take a flame wrench to the oil fill tube to get it out of the block.
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The intake valley looks pretty good for an old engine.
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One bank of cylinders. Minor rust and only a small amount of carbon build up. Definitely not rebuilt before storing.
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The other bank of cylinders. A bit more rust but nothing a good hone can't remove.
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All the brackets to be kept until the engine is reassembled. There will be some performance upgrades, so we may or may not need these.
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And if there was any doubt, this came with the engine.
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One pile of pistons. These will be replaced.
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The crank bearings were still coated in oil.
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One forged crank. The goal is to keep this original crank.
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The oil pan doesn't show much build up, but we will replace the oil pump and lifters.
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The heads will be rebuilt and checked to see if they are usable. If not, they will be replaced with a high performance upgrade of cast aluminum.
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The inside of the value covers and the cam. The cam is definitely being upgraded, but the valve covers will most likely be restored and reused. Time to send this beast off to the machinst to see what we have to work with.
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