Okay, I know this isn't really a TRADITIONAL motor, but I have an opportunity to get a late-70s Cutlass for a ridiculously low price (from a bro-in-law). I'm pretty sure it's got the OLDS 350, and not the "corporate GM 350". I had an Olds 350 in a lo-mileage 77 Delta 88 that I drove for about a year, and I really liked the torquey way it ran (bone stock). I have a Chevy 350 in my car now, and it's getting a lot of miles on it, so I need to be making plans for the next mill anyway, and this deal came up. Plus, it's not just another SBC! So, will I need to re-do my engine mounts? Are there any space issues I should be concerned about? I know te B-O-P's used a different bellhousing pattern, and I've seen adapters for mating the B-O-P motors to Chevy trannys... but all the verbiage is about automatics. Can you use these adapters wth a manual trans bellhousing? Or do they even make B-O-P manual bellhousings to fit a Muncie M20 behind one of these? I did a HAMB search, and all I could find was a picture of someone's 455. There's plenty info elsewhere in the 'net about performance upgrades for the Olds 350, but if you have anything to share on that, please feel free to throw that in here... TIA, yall!
if its a good motor that doesn't need a rebuild, go for it. Otherwise it will cost almost twice as much to build the Olds motor as it would cost to rebuild another small block. On a closed hood car, it's great. The 350 in my cutlass is awesome, and like you said, very torquey. The adapters should work on both auto and manual transmissions. But it shouldn't be that hard to find a BOP bellhousing. There aren't many intake options, I've only seen 4bbls and the uncommon dual quad. Not a LOT of speed parts, at least not compared to parts for a Pontiac or something. And they are kinda ugly motors. Theres my $.02
Fathack did a techomatic on them. Check that out. I also have some articles xeroxed from Hot Rod back in the late ninties, if you wanna see them. Jay
I know my dad set an NHRA record in 1970 with one He had a Factory Olds ride that year, neat car I am trying to find. They are great motors, nice torque, different look.
Thanks, yall! I totally missed Fat Hack's tech on them. (Reading it as soon as I finish typing this!) I knew to expect the additional rebuild cost on these, but I'd plan to keep this one pretty mild anyways. Since I wouldn't be planning on a bunch of aftermarket stuff, hopefully that'll keep me from re-mortgaging the family farm. This motor does need a rebuild, but it does run, so... Fidgeter, is your Olds motor stock, or have you done anything to warm it up?
I believe it's a '68 block, 7A heads. The heads were rebuilt to '70 specs, the year they flowed the best from the factory. I don't remember all the details. .030 over, stock internals (except 403 rods, which are forged....but they don't do anything for this motor, it's just what we had...). 268H cam, Edelbrock performer intake and carb. It does tend to get a little warm at times, so make sure you've got a good radiator. No one makes headers for my car so I've got really crappy factory manifolds, but you should be able to make later year Cutlass headers work ok. www.realoldspower.com has a forum for engine builds, check it out, theres a lot of information there.
I think there is a '67 Olds tripower intake you can get, but it costs $ since it was a one year only thing on 442s. I'm not sure if the deck height is the same between 350s and 455s though. I think it is.
I have found several spots on the 'net that say the 455 is a taller deck than the "small block", but heads will interchange. (And many recommend swapping the 455 heads to the 350 blocks.) ^^I'd like to find out more of what this means.
I've got a low mileage '69 350 stashed in a corner that was pulled from a Cutlass. It has the #5 heads which are an excellent small block head, I believe the #5's were used on the hi-po Ramrod 350 engines in '68-'69.
Do yall have any insight on intake/carb upgrades for these? How well do the stock 4bbl intakes flow? Will there be much seat-of-yer-pants difference with an Edelbrock Performer and a Edelbrock or Holley carb? I've heard these SBO's like about a 700-750 CFM carb, but what do yall say? How about cams? I don't want anything wild, but a little better than stock would be something I'd be willing to look at. Right now, I rarely see 5200 RPM in my SBC, so I'd like to keep most of the power below 5500-ish. And will this thing bolt to the Chevy engine mounts, or am I gonna hafta cut my whole front end up?
hi slide, not sure what car your driving soo i cant say if youll have to cut it up.the motor mounts will have to be moved though.the 350 olds is a good motor.if you think there are little speed parts you just havent been looking hard enough.something to keep in mind the 77-up olds motors are windowed main blocks.i supose there fine for mild applications.in my personal opinion i wouldnt bother.i would find a solid main block to start with if you are planning on building one.with the stock valvetrain your limited to aprox .500" lift on the cam.they have adjustable kits,and many other options so forth so forth. all olds rods are forged btw.the 403 rods,and just built a bit heavier duty,but they can be a trade off.with weight.also if you do go with a 77-up block make sure,and ditch the heads for some older 5,6 or 7's.you will need to drill for the larger 1/2" bolts.for carb intake.i personally like the performer rpm for street.that is what i used on mine.i liked the edelbrock 750 for its driveablitity.the quadrajet worked good too.holley was ok,but was hell on gas.the performer(not rpm) is said to be about the same as stock for flow. eric
I just meant that the valve sizes they used made for the best factory flowing heads. So thats the specs I had mine built to. It's been almost 3-4 years since I rebuilt the motor though. After going back and looking at what I posted in response to Hack's Olds' motor tech, I don't even remember knowing half the stuff I said!! Oh well....guess I'm getting old....
They had W-30 and W-31 options then and as well some of the Vista Cruiser wagons with all options had the highest horsepower of them all! as to the fellow above and the exhaust manifolds- I found a set of Tubing manifolds that came from a eighties 307 that are excellent fodder for making some lakes style headers cheap.... I believe the tripower was in 1966 and maybe 1967 but only on a 400 cu inch 442 models- a friends older brother had one and I remember it being a new [factory] installed motor /came with a Hurst 4 speed in a convertible. He actually campaigned it as a sucessful drag car from about 1000 mile and never drove it on the street hardly at all!
OK, that definitely makes sense. I have a 52 Chevy Car with an SBC in it. MII front end, so that opens up a bit of space in there... and I'm running a long water pump and an HEI .
The Olds 350 is a great engine. I run one in my drag car and love the torque and consistancy. You cannot swap intakes between the SBO and BBO due to the 2inch deck height difference. The BBO intake is 2" wider and looks monsterous. The 7A heads you mentioned are a late 80's smog head with 1.3"x1.3" I/E ports. Terrible for flow and getting intakes and headers to match up. 5A heads are the best from the 80's. Same chamber and valve sizes as the standard #5 head from 68-70. The w-31 #5 heads had big block valves and blocked heat risers, very hard to find. From all the searching I've done I have yet to find a 2x4 or 3x2 intake for a 64 and up SBO. A BOP bellhousing is easy to find. There's no difference between one for a BBO or SBO. Check out www.442.com for more Olds engine info. There was a post on here a few months back about a guy selling a bellhousing and clutch assy for a 455 wich will work with a SBO just fine. Hope this helps,
Thanks, Dday. Good info... helps clear up some of the confusion I have of the heads. (Or is the confusion in my head? ) FWIW, Summit's web site is listing a couple of Offenhauser 2x4 intakes for SBO: OFY-5706 OFY-5587 It'd be nice if they showed pics, though....
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