I have an '81 olds cutl*** with a 383 stroker putting out around 420 horses and 500 ft pounds of torque. I want to swap engines with my 52 styeline. It has a stock 350. Does anyone know if that would be to much power for the stock 52 frame or will it just flex to much? Its gonna be a street/strip cruizer when im done.
Dosnt hurt the cutl*** at all. They share the same frames as the turbo grand nationals, monte carlos and came with v8 factory. Its my understanding that 52's came with a straight six so i just didnt know if the frame would be up to the task. Its got a stock 350 engine and ****** now. I want to swap out running gear with my cutl*** and maybe sell the cutl***.
a better question might be do you have the proper driveline/rear suspension to put that power to the ground.....or brakes to slow it down
I take it that i'll be fine with the frame. The cutl*** has a 12 bolt posi out of a '70 chevelle ss. Im going to eventually try and swap that into the 52 also with some airbags. I have 3.73 richmond gears in the 12 bolt so this time around im going to try and score an overdrive 200r4 out of a buick grand national. The cutl*** screams about 3000 rpms going down the hwy at 60 mph with the turbo 350.
Figured the grand national will last alittle longer than the rest as long as im not doing hole shots all the time. It comes factory beefed up to withstand the turbo abuse. Bigger spline and such.
at 64 I'm still waiting to see where too much horsepower is ever an issue. Adjust the combination accordingly and drive on. Frank
One thing to consider is your not going to put all that power to the ground .You will be able to burn the tires to the ground .If it ever hooks up then you may have issues .My last 2 cents
Im new to the older hotrods. I just wanted to be sure i wasnt going to have to modify the frame putting this much power to it. Ive built numerous buick regals and my cutl*** in the past. 1st time on something this old. Plans are to upgrade the whole running gear, put power disk brakes on the front, eventually airbag it, chop the top, shave the door handles, and take your attention away from the 4 doors. Im still working that last part out in my head.
"Too much power is never enough!" The frame is not the problem, rear suspension, rear axle, brakes, drive shaft is where you should put your effort. If you have the standard '52 setup you should work on those first before you drive it too much.
Chevyshack, I challenge you to offer any engine to us Hambers which we'll agree would be "too much power" HaHa
420 HP and 500 FT LBs of torque. that is too much power for the stock rear springs if you plan on using it. as for the frame. I see so many of these cars with V8's where the stock trans crossmember was cut out and replaced by **** with no strength. however the trans crossmember was modified should be built as strong or stronger than the original crossmember.
Who cares if it's too much power...just drop it in and drive it. If anything breaks fix it...that's hotrodding.
Like everybody is saying, not too much power, unless you are concerned about wearing your tires out. To harness that much power you would have to have more meat on the ground than street/cruizer rubber and suspension to keep it there. Of course that much power could be too much for some people's dirver skills.
O.k. I agree you can never have too much power. I was just conserned about it twisting or something. Im not familiar with the design of early chevy's. Ive seen camaro's and a nova twist up and break the windsheild before. I know their both subframe cars. Call it being cautious. Ive never gotten my cutl*** to hook up so i doubt the 52 will either.
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