I am trying to find out which engine I have. I need to know if it is a hi-po version or what. Can someone tell me which numbers makes it a hi-po.

Thanks
Lee

Hi,

"hi-po" is more of a marketing term than anything else- There are two different versions of the 400, and the later one is the worst performing of the two. Your 68 442 would have had the late version from the factory.

http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofe400.htm#E ... gineDetail

The Olds faq should be used as a guide, and not absolute truth. A great deal of it is accurate, but there are some embellishments and bits of misinformation scattered within.

Casting number 396026 is the late 400, while casting number 390925 is the early 400.

Early 400 should have had B heads, while the late 400 should have D heads, and the Cranks are different too. (Early 400 has same crank as the 425, late 400 has the same crank as the 455)

Hope this helps, and welcome to TOC.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the info. I`m trying to figure out what i`ve got. I`m going to sell the engine and I need to know what I have.

Thanks

Hi WS61400,

Welcome to TOC.

Early ('65-'67) 400s may, or may not, have been optional in the F85/Cutlass, but they were used in all 442s.


Problem is, the information was compiled from messages in an old mailing "mailing list". Not much different than a "cut and paste" from any Olds forum. Its inaccuracies are well known in the Olds community, and the site owner has refused to make any changes.

Recently, it was copied and pasted to the following site and some of the original (and most knowledgeable) contributors are making/overseeing the corrections.

http://www.oldsmobilewiki.com/index.php ... Big_Blocks

Norm

just noted andrewk's comments ref. theolds FAQ @ 442.COM. I'm new to the Olds world [Nov./08], but did note discrepencies in their stats etc.compared to body manual and other sources.Guess it just shows the need for checking with a number of reputable people and sources.Derek