Ok so here are all the things that are going on with this thing.  I took it out today and it was running fine for about 10 min.  I heard a pop and slowed up and looked everything over and it looked ok so I hit the gas and it would not get up on plane.  Ok so I reach back and check the exhaust and there is nothing coming out of the right bank.  Perfect.  So I had to limp it back to the dock at idle.  Now for the questions.  What is the problem? Also have alot of oil in the bilge, and a leak from the heads so I'm assuming that I blew the head gasket, but thats on the left bank.  So I was looking up parts and I came across a page about the 455.  Good motor very forgiving yada yada.  So I started looking up parts and I came across a vendor and I started reading through looking at different parts.  They had some parts that could raise the temp of the water.  I've never seen my water temp get above 120, and thats no matter how hard I'm running it.  They claim that this motor is designed to run at a minimum of 160 or you will blow a head gasket.  I would normally think they were nuts but now it seems plausible? Has anyone ever heard of this?  I also though I maybe was running too heavy of an oil 20/50w.  Also my oil press fluctuates between 30 and 40.  Is that normal or should it be higher?  Not that this is a big priority I leave for afghanistan on tuesday so no summer out on the water    Just looking for info its bugging me to no end.  Anyone got anything to add feel free to chime in.  Also my headers are melting the water line.  Is there a certain type of hose to use? I was thinking of redoing all the hoses anyway with something heavier, maybe braided lines or something.

nicely said, good luck and be safe. I wish I knew more bout Olds 455's lol.

I would recommend at minimum, pull the spark plugs and crank the engine over to push out any water from the cylinders.  Then add a squirt of ATF to each cylinder to cut down on the chance of cylinder damage due to rust.

Thank you for your service, and be safe