The factory HP ratings of the 60’s have as much credibility as $h!+. Keep in mind that the 70 W-30, which had a more radical cam and better flowing heads and intake than the W-34, was only rated at 370 HP. Mighty suspicious until you realize that GM Corporate mandated a 10 pound per HP minimum limit on all cars except the Corvette. The 442, to add to the conspiracy theory, had a curb weight of about 3700 lbs. Coincidence? I think not!
In fact, it’s kind of hard to believe that all the W-30 equipment only raised the HP of the base 442 engine by 5-10 HP (do you really believe that the 66 W-30 setup didn’t change the 360 HP rating of the L-69 tri-carb engine?). It is curious that the various year W-30 HP ratings were almost always 1/10 of the curb weight of the car for that year!
And, of course, the H/O was not subject to the GM 10 pound per HP limit (since it was theoretically built outside of Oldsmobile), so they were allowed to advertise 390 HP in the 68 H/O.
Year Model CID CR HP Torque 0-60 ‘64 F-85 V-6 165 330 2bbl low 230 330 4bbl hi 290 ‘64 442 4spd 330 310 7.4 ‘65 442 A2 400 345 7.8 442 4spd 400 345 5.5 Starfire 425 4bbl 10.5 370 470 98 425 4bbl 10.25 360 470 88 425 2bbl 10.25 310 450 ‘67 Toro 425 4bbl 10.5 385 480 Starfire 425 4bbl 10.5 375 470 98 425 4bbl 10.25 365 470 88 425 2bbl 10.25 310 450 88 425 2bbl 9.0 300 430 Cutlass 330 4bbl 10.25 320 360 Cutlass 330 4bbl 9.0 310 340 Jetfire 330 2bbl 10.25 260 355 Cutlass 330 2bbl 9.0 250 335 442 400 4bbl 10.5 350 440 T. C. 400 2bbl 10.5 300 425 ‘68 W-30 400 4bbl 10.5 360@5400 440@3600 442 OAI 400 4bbl 10.5 350@4800 440@3200 442 AT 400 4bbl 10.5 325@4800 440@3200 T. C. 400 2bbl 9.0 290@4600 425@2400 ‘69 350 2bbl 9.0 350 4bbl 10.25 400 4bbl 10.25 88 455 2bbl 9.0 310 88, 98 455 4bbl 10.25 365 88 455 4bbl 10.25 390 ‘77 - ‘79 many 403 4bbl 8.5 175 310 ‘76 - ‘78 many 350 4bbl 8.5 160 275 ‘79 many 260 2bbl 105 205 ‘79 many 350 4bbl 160 275 ‘87 - ‘90 many 307 140 ‘85 - ‘87 442, H/O 307 HO 4bbl 170 245
