In the 60s and 70s, GM made big block engines for all of its constituent divisions.
Specifically, I am interested in the:
Pontiac 455
Olds 455
Buick 455
Chevy (GMC?)454
Cadillac 472-500
Do any of these engines (especially the 455s) have any
parts in common?
Iknow the Chevy and the Cadillac are different from each other and the 455s; I’m not so sure about the 455s. I think they’re all different, but I’m not sure.
After a quick Google search, I’m proven right! ::waits for cheers to subside::
From this page:
OK, so now I’m an expert on internal combustion engines, all of a sudden? Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me these things? I mean, I have a passing accquaintance with the general theory of the things, but I never realized that I knew the specifics of which ones got put in which cars. Heck, I don’t even own a car, big-block or otherwise.
Well, considering I have a roomful of Cad 472s and 500s, a car with an Olds 455 (and a spare engine) and my various siblings have Buick 455s and Chevy 454s, I believe I can speak with some authority. 
And, I’m sorry to say, no, the vast majority of parts are not in any way interchangeable.
There are a precious few bits- some share a common lifter length and diameter, internal ignition components (like the cap & rotor, points or HEI modules) they all pretty uniformly accept a QuadraJet carburetor (though carbs themselves typically have slightly different linkages for different throttles or kickdowns, etc) and of course, various bolts.
That’s about all I can think of right now.
I do know that the Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Cadillac have one common bellhousing pattern, and the Chevy has another. But each engine uses a different type and style of motormount and starter.
And, as Gunslinger mentioned, some parts can be MADE to interchange for various reasons. I’m not familiar with the Buick rod trick, but I do know that there’s a certain Pontiac piston that one uses in an Olds 455 in order to use longer rods (which improves torque.)
If you’re looking to hop-up any of these, there’s a lot of suppliers out there, but all of 'em combined (Buick, Cad, Pontiac, Olds) don’t have a tenth of what’s avilable for the big-block Chevrolet.
If you want to put a cheap torquemonster in, say, an older pickup or a small car- both popular mods, with that car magazine’s installation of a Cad 500 into a Chevette being the epitome- the engines themselves are easy to find in scrapyards or in cheap, rusty-but-running land barges.
Sorry I can’t help you that much with the details of parts exchanges. I specialize in how and why they work, not specifics of the engines - not that I’m not interested, mind you, but I am sadly underqualified to answer your OP. Homer may know quite a bit more on that subject.
A girl’s got to know her limitations…
[Here](http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofeng.htm#ENG 1964 - 1990 Similarities Other GM Engines) is a link to the page at 442.com that details differences between various GM engines and how to identify them.
With all that Doc said about parts availability for B-O-P blocks, the Olds engines do have tremendous potential. They used much higher nickel content in the steel than did Chevrolet thus allowing smaller blocks (that’s also why there’s no such thing as 4-bolt mains on Oldsmobile engines ;), there’s no need). The Olds 455 also has the longest stroke of all the 7.4L engines, making for good torque potential.
sewalk, you aren’t referring to the blocks being steel, right? AFAIK, there are no mass-produced steel blocks from American manufacturers.
My bad, I should have said “iron alloy”.
So, Doc Nickel, in this roomfull of big block cars, you don’t have a 1968 Eldo you’re looking to sell, do you? 
IIRC, there were 4-bolt 455 Rockets, but they’re rare ultra hipo mills used only in 442s. According to a Hot Rod article on how to build a 650 hp Olds 455, there’s no need to bother looking for a four-bolt 455, because the 2-bolts are plenty strong for a measly 700 hp.
Ah, Anthracite, I appreciate the referral, but I must defer to Doc Nickel and Gunslinger.
However, should anyone have any other questions, my specialty is modern inline 4s (Chevy, Mitsu, Ford, Honda, Subaru), turbos, Chevy V6s and SBCs.
–Tim
Necros- Sorry, I just have a roomful of engines, not entire cars. Which is a good thing, I barely have enough room just for the engines.
Gunslinger- No production Olds came with 4-bolt mains. In the mid-sixties Olds had a couple of wonderful one-off examples that were essentially hand made. These included a massive twin-turbocharged and fuel injected 455, an overhead-cam version, and a “hemi” head version that looked like it’d have kicked Mopar butt.
To strengthen an Olds bottom end, one “gussets” the main caps and uses studs. If you convert the small-block Olds diesel block to a gas engine, you get a tremendously strong block which has enoigh spare metal to machine for 4-bolt main caps. (The big blocks’ inner mains webbing is too thin to drill for extra studs.)
That Hot Rod article referred to 650+ ft/lb of torque, as I recall. It “only” made some 400+ HP I think, but as I remember, the dyno chart didn’t even start recording until some 3,500 rpm, and the torque peak at that point was coming DOWN from something like 550+ ft/lb.
The '68 Toronado 455 that I have in my '66, was factory rated at some 380+ HP and 500 ft/lb of torque. Bone stock. And, of course, mine’s upgraded just a little from that.
Hey Homer: You know anything about Diesel Chevettes?
Ah. I looked it up. The article I had in mind was about the Pontiac 455 (replace Olds with Poncho in my post, and it’s accurate), not the Olds. Damn GM and their same-displacement-different-everything else! That’s why I’m a Ford man–the only difference between Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln engines is the valve covers. Well, and the Lincolns have the biggest engines stock… 
Right on for the Poncho 4-bolts. HO TAs and whatnot had 'em… kinda rare, as I recall, but I’m not a Pontiac nut.
As for the Fords… Well, nothin’ against Ford, but do you really want to bring up parts interchangeability problems and then say “Ford is better”?
Y’know, how the 289 shares little with either (totally different) 351, themselves far removed from the 360 and 390s, and all of which are different from the three big-block variants?
Let’s not forget three different bellhousings either.
Sure, a “Ford” 351M might be the same as a “Lincoln” 351M… GM apparently kept the compatibility in the seperate divisions, while Ford kept it only for individual engine sizes.
Not that I… ahem… have anything against Fords. But anything more will be a Great Debate.
Doc Nickel: Can I pick your brain a bit about a 1968 Cadillac 472? I’m having some weird problems after a rebuild of the Rockester 4MV… necros@gtemail.net