A bone stock Olds 455 will twist your frame so much you will be able to the bed move up in the rear view mirror when you stomp the go pedal.
I would put it in the truck and drive it before I did any changes.
Carl
That's probably the best advice I've heard yet. Honestly makes the most sense. I'm new at engine rebuilds as is. Although I'm not scared of a challenge I think that just seeing how it runs stock first is my best be and I can change things from there.
The reason I'm going with the 3.73 gearing is because from all my research I know that it works best with the muncie 4 speed. I already know about the crank shaft on the 455 no being drilled for manual set up. I plan on either drilling for clearance or just buying the manual crank shaft and getting everything re balanced.
Still haven't figured out why people prefer drilling stock instead of spend the $300 on a manual crank. Maybe I'm missing something.
Either way I think finding wngine mods that will fit my particular set up is obvious. So maybe running it stock for a while and see where I think it will need work is a good start before getting balls deep into a ridiculous build that may or may not work well with my set up.
