Texas_Muscle

I just picked up a 66 cutlass and it had "AA" stamped on the side of the block. What Engine would that be?

GAOldsman

Need a casting number to decipher for you. Should be here

Texas_Muscle

396021f is stamped on it its a 455 in my 1966 cutlass i just got

bently68

I looked at my engine and found these numbers 3955582 What engine and horse power do I have? It is in a 1968 Cutlass convertable

Allan R

the 395558 2 is a 350 that was produced from 68-70. The HP rating is 250 2bbl and 310 4bbl. That's brake hp though

arodenhiser

I do believe that would be a 68-76 small block olds 350cid/5.7 liter. Maybe the original engine.
There are stamped/indented numbers on the heads by #1 cylinder (driver's side, front) . the end of the number will match the vin of the car if it is the original. The heads should also have a big number 5 casted/raised on them.
You would likely have a 250hp 2 barrel or 310hp 4 barrel engine.
If the engine has ever been rebuilt or exchanged all bets are off as to what you have power wise.

Other's may have more info, please post if you do.

Adam

arodenhiser

Darn you Allan, you type too fast. I do think the 395558 2 was produced up to '76. Joe can you tell us the truth.

Adam

Allan R

Adam,
S o r r y, I' l l s l o w d o w n. H o w' s t h i s ?

re the 395558 - that BLOCK was produced certainly up to 76 but the casting changed to 395558 - 5

Here's a chart that shows the production runs of the Olds engine and castings that went with them>

Tony72Cutlass'S'

You mean i have to press on the brake AND gas to get that kinda horsepowerz!?

Allan R

Sure if you feel like it...
You know what brake HP is don't you? After all you are an engineer

By comparison the 72 is very close to the same performance as the 70. Just measured at the wheel with all the load items included to affect the actual ratings...
Your Cutlass S out the factory door was 160 hp, the 4bbl makes it a 180 hp. You can tweak it all you want to build those numbers. I like mine stock with 4bbl. The added dual exhaust does help a bit, but it doesn't boost HP all that much.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

You know, this single exhaust has really grown on me. I don't think I'm going to change it unless it gets a leak of sorts.

Its weird, at idle, she really rumbles. Romp on the pedal on the on-ramp to the freeway, lots of boogie and not so much noise.

Allan R

Just the way a Rocket should run....I also liked the deep resonating sound the single would make. My duals sound pretty good too. I had resonators put on after the mufflers though because at highway speed they were pretty darned loud and the droning would get to you after awhile.

arodenhiser

Thank's that is much better. My 5 year can now help sound it out.

Arrrrrrggh! I hate it when YOU people make me question what I have . I have always thought I had a '76 engine in my '68 due to the number's on the pad. I have a 395558 2. The numbers are not clear and may have been altered. I am not number's matching. The number for the year is messed up a bit and I thought it was a 6. You make me now hope it's a 0 for a 1970 block. I will need to get a pic of the pad for your opinion. Thanks again!



EDIT

Her's a quote from Mr Padavano. I now really want to know if the truth is out there? Scully? Are you there?

Too much info is dangerous.

Adam

wmachine

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...=9970399476565

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...=9980399476565

Wild About Cars. http://wildaboutcars.com. An information supersource, especially Oldsmobile. More Olds content than anywhere else on the internet and continuing to grow.
You'll find Chassis Service Manuals, Product Information Manuals (AKA Assembly Manuals), Inspector's Manuals, and other documents that will contain this and much much more.
Dealer Brochures, magazine ads and articles, and a home page for you online with your own garage where you can show off what you have.
Free to join, free to learn.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Here's a shot of my block, bone stock 72 350. Colloquially known as the 'boom-mobile'

joe_padavano

Yup. Look, if all you're worried about is the YEAR of the block, check the VIN derivative stamp, specifically the second character.

arodenhiser

All this made me get my hands dirty, geeeez thanks guys .

Firstly, I have a 395558 2 block.



Next is my vin dervitive stamp - 36M281861



I don't know what the mark on the 3 and 6 is. The pad on the passenger side has it too. I wonder if it was clamped or braced during a rebuild or something like that. I know this has been apart before.




So it looks to me that I have a 395558 2 block from 1976 to me. I had the heads changed back to number 5's and when I bought it the engine had 8's.

I don't want to start riot like Ken did with his "does a 1976 F block exist?"

Adam

p.s. Joe, I am not worried, just too curious, like a monkey named George.

Allan R

Adam, what can I say? Your stamping pad show 76 - no question about it. The chart I posted earlier is a cropped screen shot from the Wild About Cars website.

Mulder? I know the truth is out there... just wondering now which truth to trust...Sounds like Joe P has it nailed down purty good. Sorry you had to get your hands dirty - I'm sure you were itching for a reason to anyway.

arodenhiser

No one seems to agree, tech section here on CO, Oldsfaq, WAC, Oldsmobile wiki, experts on ROP, all say different years. Joe's the only one who I seen say '68-76 for the 2 casting. I sure what my engine is on the outside, I wish I knew the inside.

Regarding my dirty hands. I just finished putting my 2 1/2 Pypes kit on with the car on ramps in my garage. Me nice and dirty. I'm researching now what I need to do to remove the Holley and put on my 1970 251 quadrajet. I like having my hands dirty.

Adam

P.S. I never met you, but I am sure you aren't as nice on the eyes as Scully. Trust no one!

Allan R

Adam
Ah hahahaha....Man if I had eyes like Scully, I'd BE Scully. I always thought she was hot, even though I'm not partial to redheads.

Solution to removing the Holley? Well, you love this - it involves getting your hands dirty..... Nice to see you're going back to QJ. You'll prolly need the throttle cable and plate, but not much more. Do you have the 68 CSM? I have a Rochester Carb book for QJ, 4GC etc but it doesn't have the info you're looking for - just the reubuild/perf/econo tuning. Plenty of great photos and diagrams. Heck they even have a pic of Vic Edelbrock when he was around 35 years old (tells you how old this book is )

Yeah, I know what you mean about searching for the truth. Seems like everyone knows what it is.... and BTW, keeping with your theme... I don't trust you

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Why dont we just get a bunch of guys together with 70 -72 Engines and they can post their casting numbers.

Allan R

Tony, we know the 70-72 are 395558 2. That's not the issue. Adam knows his engine isn't original. I guess what we need is guys with 75/76 to post their engine castings. It would also be nice to see if any other 76 engines have that mark Adam has on his stamping pad.

Jamesbo

Allan, I hates ta brake it to ya. Scully in real life is a blonde.

arodenhiser

There are a lot of pictures of her too. Gillian Anderson is a looker. Here is a recent headshot of her at 43.



Anyways, back to the cars...



hee hee


Adam

Allan R

Y'all go right ahead and brakes dat to me all ya wants. I's married to a blonde

43 huh? Wonder what I'd do wit her if I could catch her??? Oh yeah!! , noooo, wait.....dang I hate it when CRAFT disease sets in.....

back to de cars, my foot....yer such a tease.... Oh look - a lobster....

Bennyboy2

OK my two cents My 70 CS engine is Blue Don`t really care if it is correct color it goes good with the car LOL. My Number is 395558 2

Octania

Since we have this resurrected- I saw that chart recently. Forget where.

I will call bullshed/ typo there, simply because I have never seen a #5 block. I assert that all 395558 blocks- all 68-76 Olds 350's- are #2 blocks.

Offering reward for proof that a 398558-5 block exists....

joe_padavano

I'll give you a hint. The URL is three digits, followed by .com.

Octania

What? Incorrect information on THE INTERNET?!

Well, we shall do what we can to provide accurate info instead.

395558-2 is the 68-76 350 block.

There is no such thing as a SMW 403, even if you get the 4A block...

Headers fit a Cutlass Supreme just like any other Cutlass...

There is a rubber main seal that fits the Olds engines...

White_Knuckles

Reading this goodness I dashed out to my '67 Franken-car and discovered the *558-2 bugger. The heads are #6, it has an RPM intake without EGR. The rockers have "V" shaped support brackets between them. I have always wondered what this swap is??

Well it's a 350 made between 68-76. Doh! Any ideas if lack of EGR dates it early in the range? Hey what are those rocker supports? Factory or add-on?

Bennyboy2

My 558 2 has the same strange looking V shaped support between them actually had to modify my for all Olds Chrome Valve Covers so they would fit wasn't a big deal just cut out the shields at the PCV and Oil Cap and use the Baffled rubber inserts!

Fun71

If your engine has an RPM intake (aftermarket) then lack of EGR says nothing about the year of the engine; it only means the RPM intake doesn't have EGR.

#6 heads were used in 1970 but they could have been changed as easily as your intake manifold was.
If you desire to know what year your engine is, look at the VIN pad on the block near the #1 cylinder. The second character denotes the year of manufacture.

P1010401-1.jpg

Head_ID.jpg

White_Knuckles

Thanks for that tip Kenneth! I did not know the block year has been there all along. This engine has fingerprints and DNA from others who performed several modifications. It has a mystery lumpy cam, and HEI. I can't tell what was added or retained? It runs rather well for a "mouse motor" maybe even 300 ponys? It's kind of fun reverse engineering that thing.

Couple of us talking about those "V" rocker supports. Anyone know what those devils are and if a factory thing?

White_Knuckles

Well as Kenneth said the heads (with the "V" supports) may be swapped? Are your heads stamped #6 or what? The head casting # appears fairly large and easy to spot on the lower, front head edge (see the pic above). Maybe these are installed on a certain range of heads or even all of them? I noticed them putting on M/T valve covers that fortunately cleared. Never spotted a post where someone mentions them but seeing yours I'm pretty sure they're factory.

joe_padavano

Could somebody post a photo of what you are calling "V" rocker supports? The factory used two kinds of supports on the 1965-1990 motors (1964s used the one-year-only shaft rockers on the No. 1 heads). All 1965-1990 Olds heads use rocker bridges between the intake and exhaust rockers on a given cylinder to prevent the rockers from pivoting off the valve tips.

The 1965 motors used a stamped sheet metal rocker bridge between the rockers that looks like this. The bridge fit over two semi-cylindrical trunnions that the rockers actually pivot on.



The later motors used a die cast one-piece bridge that incorporates the trunnions into the bridge.



There is also an aftermarket bridge that is three piece. The two trunnions in this photo are similar to the ones used on the 1965 motors with the sheet metal bridge above.

White_Knuckles

There we have it! I should have grabbed a pic last week when I swapped covers. I'm chicken to pull 'em now 'cause I had issues with sealing. But yes, the cast flavor in the center pic are what I spotted. I used the "V" description due to the tapered outside legs. Your post proves Olds rocker design is outside of the familiar Chev** concept. I never knew that 'till now. Thought I had an upgrade.

Note: sorry for hijacking this thread but took liberty with the Scully run-away (tee-hee). This is a great thread and many may learn some cool ID info!

joe_padavano

Just factory-issue.

White_Knuckles

Demonstrates how unique engineering still existed back in days of yore. Part of the fun messin' with these is coming across things like this. I thought they were GM common engineering and shared part thinking in the 70's? Guess not. Obviously the engine is different but I keep seeing it's - a lot different.

Glad she's not just another Chevelle at times like these. Unique design is cool.

White_Knuckles

On topic...

Yikes, just got a read of the second block character and it's either a weak stamped 0 or the letter J? I'm thinking it's a 1970 where it's a zero and the 6 heads may be the originals? This has been fun - thanks to the Olds wizards!!

joe_padavano

It has to be a digit, so it's a "0". You are correct, that's 1970.