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425 olds good engine? worth anything?

44K views 18 replies 17 participants last post by  twistedaxle 
#1 ·
i found a 1967 or 1968 Beaumont 88( give or take a few letters it was a few weeks ago) it has a running 425 in it, its sitting in the salvage yard with little rust and it starts. i did some reading and it has good power figures. they came with forged cranks too i guess. would that be worth any thing? i was told they are hard to find parts for, and hard to find in general. that doesn't mean they are worth any thing though. look at chevys revolution.. no oil filter.. nice huh. any way the guy wants 400 for the car. im halfway thinking of it. what do you think?
 
#2 ·
BUICK/OLDS/PONTIAC are more expensive to build then a chevy........Chevy parts are a dime a dozen and in some cases very inexpensive.............Im a Pontiac guy and everything that I put in my car (motor) was way more money then a chevy block.......just my 2cents
 
#4 ·
"Delmont 88" perhaps ? There was a Delmont, a Delstar and a Dynamic 88 that I can recall........ The 425 would be a great swap for a mid-60's F85 (base model of the Cutlass) or old pickup, fat fender rod, etc. While parts are more expensive than a Chevy they are available and they are capable of making lots of torque. Buddy of mine has a 425/375HP from a '66 Olds 98 and he has 3 people that want it but he's not selling which is very unusual because with him EVERYTHING has a price.
 
#8 ·
If it runs good,tear it down to a shortblock,add a fresh oil pump,a mild jet boat type cam and timing chain.Have the heads freshened with new springs and seals,and a 3 angle valve job,top it off with a torker intake a 1" carb spacer and a 750 double pump and add a perfromance curved HEI distributor and you will have a 10:1 compression pump gas motor that will make an honest 480hp,and will be very mild to drive.
Such and engine would work with power brakes and would idle OK with air conditioning,and with 3.73 gears and a 2500 stall convertor it will put a 3500# car into the 12's.Add a 125 shot to it and run 11's.My pick for a car would be an early 80's cutlass.I know of a junkyard in Jersey right now hat has an 84 442 wth an 8.5" rear and 3.73's and a blown tranny for $1200.The body is fair,and the interior is a rat but it would fly with a 425 in it.Good luck.

BTW,a baumont was a spin off of the 98 wile a delmont was the upscale 88.And any 425 Olds will have a th400 bolted to the back of it too.I say that if you dont own a car or an engine,this is a great place to start.
 
#11 · (Edited)
You fellows should remember though, that before about 1972, we had tetraethyl lead in our fuel that would work with the valve seats of the day. If you resurrect one of these motors today, you must cut and install hard exhaust seats to prevent recession of the valve down into the head.

Now, I know that a few fellows will come on and tell us how they have been runnin' unleaded gas on early heads with no problem. BULL HOCKEY!!!! If you're gonna run pre-'72 heads with unleaded fuel, you're asking for trouble if you don't install hard seats.

Some of you fellows may be able to pick up a few pointers by reading through these articles. Joe Mondello was one of the premier Olds afficionados until his recent passing, but it is my understanding that his son, Bernard has taken the reins and is continuing the business.
http://www.mondellotwister.com/articles.html

A friend of mine, Bob Parmenter, schooled me on the valve recession nightmare and why tetraethyl lead worked. It seems that without lead, every time the valve closes, it micro-welds a tiny little bit of the valve to the seat. Next time the valve opens, it rips off the tiny bit of seat that was welded to the valve. After doing this enough times, you can see that the valve would work its way down into the head. Now, in the same way that you cannot weld a dirty connection, the tetraethyl lead coated the valve and seat and acted as a dirtying agent, preventing welding at the valve/seat interface. Cool beans, Huh?
 
#12 ·
techinspector1 said:
Some of you fellows may be able to pick up a few pointers by reading through these articles. Joe Mondello was one of the premier Olds afficionados until his recent passing, but it is my understanding that his son, Bernard has taken the reins and is continuing the business.
http://www.mondellotwister.com/articles.html

No one from Joe Mondello's family has anything to do with the operation of Mondello Performance Products, the current owner has a very poor customer service track record. Most of the article postings are well over 20 years old.

Bernard Mondello runs Bernard Mondello Racing Enterprise(for over 20 years), and has never been involved in the operation of MPP.

Joe's Technical school in Tennesse is still owned by the Mondello family, and they have brought in a very skilled automotive machinist to continue to run the school as Joe would have wanted. Again, they have nothing to do with MPP, or how it is currently operated.

There are a number of other Oldsmobile related shops around the country, with far better parts and customer service, for those wanting to run Oldsmobile engines.
 
#13 ·
FmrStrtracer said:
No one from Joe Mondello's family has anything to do with the operation of Mondello Performance Products, the current owner has a very poor customer service track record. Most of the article postings are well over 20 years old.

Bernard Mondello runs Bernard Mondello Racing Enterprise(for over 20 years), and has never been involved in the operation of MPP.

Joe's Technical school in Tennesse is still owned by the Mondello family, and they have brought in a very skilled automotive machinist to continue to run the school as Joe would have wanted. Again, they have nothing to do with MPP, or how it is currently operated.

There are a number of other Oldsmobile related shops around the country, with far better parts and customer service, for those wanting to run Oldsmobile engines.
Thank you for the correction.
The articles may be 20 years old, but that doesn't mean that they have no value to someone who is new to Oldsmobile motors.
 
#16 ·
This is an awfully old thread, just found it today and could not resist the input. I put a 425 olds out of a Delta 88 in my first T bucket. I figured it was much lighter than the 427. Put a Crower cam in it with solid lifters, redid the rocker arms, dual quad manifold with 2 holly's sitting sideways (they wouldn't fit end to end). This pic is from around 1971, my Dad and I
 

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#17 ·
techinspector1 said:
... the tetraethyl lead coated the valve and seat and acted as a dirtying agent, preventing welding at the valve/seat interface. Cool beans, Huh?
"Dirtying" is undoubtedly the operative word. The lead doesn't burn. So it coats everything it comes into contact with in the exhaust. Great for exhaust valves which lead hard lives. Not so great for catalytic converters, which also may lead equally hard lives but I have a difficult time forcing myself to care.
 
#18 ·
WOW! paint that t bucket blue with a spray can, make the olds a hemi instead, grow your hair about six more inches and add some sacks of chicken food in the back ground and it's ME IN 73!!!

oh yeah, see martinsrs posts on the 425, you should get it just in case an SR-71 comes up for auction!
 
#19 ·
jdsaengine said:
This is an awfully old thread, just found it today and could not resist the input. I put a 425 olds out of a Delta 88 in my first T bucket. I figured it was much lighter than the 427. Put a Crower cam in it with solid lifters, redid the rocker arms, dual quad manifold with 2 holly's sitting sideways (they wouldn't fit end to end). This pic is from around 1971, my Dad and I
That is one good looking engine.

As far as carbs go, you can fit two Carter AFBs fore-and-aft where you'll never get two Holleys to go. Somebody who deals in superchargers makes a manifold that will allow you to put two Holley carbs on top of a Jimmy blower. The name of the manufacturer escapes me at the moment; it looked like a big "Y."

Is it a problem to run Holley carbs when they're sitting sideways?
 
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