I have a 1967 Cutlass I drove daily in high school, which sadly has been neglected for the last few years. It was originally a 330 Olds and powerglide car, the original engine gave up in early 2001. The cheap and quick fix was a crate 350 long block (and TH350 by Hughes), which has been in the car ever since. It has about 20,000 miles on it now.



Its topped with a performer intake, 600 cfm carb, headers, and HEI, and good for about 250hp, 300 lb-ft



Basically, I'm bored with it and want a little more. Toyed with the idea of going back with an olds big block, but I just don't have the money or the time right now, so I'm gonna stick with what I've got.

The plan:
Vortec 062 heads, machined for .greater lift and regular valve springs
Comp Cams CS XE262H-10 (.462 intake, .469 exhaust)
Performer RPM intake
rebuild the HEI, new wires, etc
MAYBE try to put a TBI / EFI system on it

8/20/2007 10:37:22 PM

nice. personally i would just continue saving and get an olds motor back in it, but anything is better than nothing. should run a good bit stronger. tbi would be cool, they're pretty simple to wire up.

edit: found a pic of it i had from a garage meet a while back.



[Edited on August 20, 2007 at 10:45 PM. Reason : .]

8/20/2007 10:43:06 PM

Man, that's a nice car.

Wouldn't mind having one of those for a sunday cruiser one day.

8/20/2007 10:49:43 PM

Nice!

If you must put an olds back in it just stay away from anything "Mondello". He was the olds man from the 60's but in the last 4-5 years sold his business and good name. Quality and service are no more.

I dig the olds motors but you are really limited on what you can do with them. 35 year old parts tend to fail.

I would go BBC. Crazy parts availabilty and stupid power.
If your bored with your sb throw a plate on it and spray it till it pukes.

Mine was 455 powered

8/20/2007 10:57:52 PM

^good call. if you're sticking with the sbc, definitely spray the hell out of it in addition to the other upgrades. set it up right, and it should still live a long, happy life on a 100-150 shot. you won't be bored with that.

8/20/2007 11:01:41 PM

cast pistons might not like it

8/20/2007 11:41:51 PM

cast pistons do not want!~
id stick with an olds motor too. i know the gm is dirt cheap but id pay to be different. i always loved some gs carswait thats means a buick. i like the buicks


i swear i saw a toronado the other day tho..shit was huge.

[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 2:48 AM. Reason : ~]

8/21/2007 2:44:10 AM

nice car man cant wait to see what you do to it

8/21/2007 8:49:37 AM

Well if you cant spray it. I would go the route of Vortex heads and GM "hot cam". 25-2800 converter and some 3.73-4.11 out back. Should move pretty good. Almost seems easier to pull it down and replace the pistons and just spray it.

8/21/2007 11:37:07 AM

Quote :

" 25-2800 converter and some 3.73-4.11 out back. Should move pretty good"

though an auto tranny. isnt that a little steep. just curious.

daily driven or just crusin. that would be the diff i guess

8/21/2007 1:36:23 PM

The gears are too steep for hwy driving. That combo will be a blast around town though. The deeper the gears the higher the stall needs to be. or vice versa. You cant do one with out the other and have it perform as intended. Put in the converter first with no gear and it would constantly be slipping generating too much heat. I suppose you could do the gears first but your launch would really suffer. This isnt a combo for a DD anyway.

Hell, I used to ride around with 32-3500 converter and 3.90 gears. Makes nice work of the rear tires. How the hell else are you gonna get that sled moving?

8/21/2007 4:37:37 PM

true. i didnt think you ment a dd set up. do a nice hotchcis front end combo so it doenst push the front tires off of it with that iron block to. it will lighten it up and be a little stiffer

8/21/2007 4:41:30 PM

I think I just may have a spare BBO block now that I think about it... and I might be interested in a SBC.

[Edited on August 21, 2007 at 6:07 PM. Reason : if you sell the parts off it though im not interested in the sbc. ill need it ready to roll]

8/21/2007 6:03:35 PM

8/21/2007 6:05:09 PM

tight^

8/21/2007 6:47:22 PM

Top end is torn down, I took some pictures and will get them up soon. As far as T/C and axle goes... I used to have a 2000 stall in the car untill it failed (made a clunk clunk clunk noise and no forward motion, the vanes broke free). I replaced it with a stock converter to get it back on the road. Looks like a decent 2500 rpm stall unit will run $200-250.

I found a smokin deal on a chevelle 12 bolt w/ 3.73 and a posi in Selma, but I just spend a ton of cash on heads, cam, intake, gaskets, etc.

Oh, and the pistons look great, valley looks great no sludge, just some carbon (it is carb'd). By the way, how is there no valve seal on the exhaust valves on my stock heads? how does that work? Are they not needed because the guide and stem are such tight tolerance? The vortec heads I have have posi-lock seals on each stem (posi lock seals supposedly keep oil from draining into the combustion chamber when the engine is sitting better than umbrella style)

8/21/2007 10:58:56 PM

Cam Specs?

8/22/2007 11:23:43 PM

Quote :

"I found a smokin deal on a chevelle 12 bolt w/ 3.73 and a posi in Selma, but I just spend a ton of cash on heads, cam, intake, gaskets, etc."

care to pass on the details?

8/22/2007 11:28:53 PM

update: Did some more work, got the engine torn down and built back up this weekend.

Torn down to shortblock:


Cleaned the gasket surfaces, no need to deck the block. Vortec heads are resurfaced and I'm installing new seals and springs.



Took the timing cover off and that bitch of a gasket (I really don't want to drop the oil pan). Timing chain already had more slack in it than I'd like. I got a new double roller chain w/ the cam.

Cam specs are:

Cam Style: Hydraulic flat tappet
Basic Operating RPM Range: 1,300-5,600
Intake Duration at 050 inch Lift: 218
Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift: 224
Duration at 050 inch Lift: 218 int./224 exh.
Advertised Intake Duration: 262
Advertised Exhaust Duration: 270



Next step is the assembled heads. I'm using felpro 1094 .015 thickness head gaskets to bring the compression ratio up to around 9.5:1.


Topping off the motor is a performer RPM manifold, it uses 8 verticle bolts instead of the normal 12 and are much easier to get to. The intake gaskets are also much fancier than regular SBC stuff. Probably because so many stock vortec engines had leaky intake gaskets.

8/29/2007 11:36:02 PM

Some cheap stamped steel valve covers (but pretty shiny).

I rebuilt my HEI (the old one was in surprisingly bad shape considering its low mileage).

8/29/2007 11:40:59 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-TSI-TH350-TH400-2000-2400-STALL-TORQUE-CONVERTER_W0QQitemZ230163968819QQihZ013QQcategoryZ46104QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

hmm this is tempting... wonder if its any good

8/29/2007 11:54:54 PM

bling

8/29/2007 11:56:56 PM

Dude, please dont put that thing back in that pretty Cutlass.

8/30/2007 7:42:01 PM

Its already in, it never left (mostly)

8/30/2007 10:24:56 PM

shoulda at least swapped springs, put in 1.7 roller rockers, and a higher lift cam while you were at it, put that intake and headers to work

8/30/2007 10:27:01 PM

For the love of all thats holy, pull the SBC, sell it to Ivan for next years derby car (we are getting monte carlo and we are gonna win something with it) and fund at the very least an SBO build.

Thats a nice car, but the bastard aspect is skewing the actual cool factor down badly. At least in the eyes of the car gods. Ransom Olds is turning over in his grave from all the damn cutlasses on the road with non olds powerplants.

8/30/2007 11:00:07 PM

Fuck an Olds motor.









And yes I like the damn things.

BBC FTW and the wallet

8/30/2007 11:32:21 PM

I did upgrade valve springs to some beehives good to .550" lift, but to make vortec heads work w/ a higher lift cam (anything over .480") you have to cut the guides down shorter and narrower. I'm following more or less a build in chevy high performance magazine from awhile back that netted 385 hp w/ 1.5 rockers, and something like 412 hp w/ 1.6:1 rockers. The heads really breath over half an inch lift, but for the cost right now (more machine work plus self aligning 1.6 rockers which aren't cheap) I think i'll be happy.

I'm gonna wait on some 1.6:1 rockers to come around cheap, and hope its not too much lift. The main binding point is the top of the valve seal w/ the bottom of the spring retainer. I measured almost a perfect .500" clearance without the spring installed. .469 / 1.5 *1.6 = .5002, which basically leaves no room for error (common clearance is .020" or so). Some rockers run slightly more or less than advertised ratio, making it a crap shoot, and I really dont want to bend pushrods, or worse.

primer, didn't you have your olds motor built twice?

[Edited on August 31, 2007 at 12:31 AM. Reason : .]

8/31/2007 12:28:38 AM

oh, and I'm getting some new meats on tommorow, 225/60/16's on the front and 265/60/16 on the back, just some good old bfg radial t/a's

8/31/2007 12:30:33 AM

if thats a vortech block, why doesnt it have a roller cam? it doesnt even have the mounts for the retainer

8/31/2007 7:18:14 AM

its not a vortec block, its a new 86-earlier block made in mexico

8/31/2007 8:36:57 AM

that explains a lot, so what made you decide to go with vortec heads as many problems as they have, especially with that intake setup?


not tryin to be a jackass, just curious

8/31/2007 8:42:05 AM

they are a cheap 40hp compared to the smog era heads I have. also, they have a 64cc chamber vs the 76cc of the stock heads. I have about $150 in the heads, total. They also outflow most aftermarket heads under $1000. I did have pair or twisted wedge trick flow alluminum heads that I bought cheap ($300) and ebayed them for $800. I'm between classes now, but I'll post the articles that have the flow #s.

8/31/2007 10:09:06 AM

this is calling your fuckin name man!!!!

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/pts/446279904.html

10/11/2007 8:41:35 PM

btttt

10/12/2007 7:26:42 PM

yeah I saw that, I also saw this: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/pts/446398629.html

I just bought z28, so my funds are pretty low

10/13/2007 3:13:19 AM

i hate it when people post shit for 1 dollar.

10/13/2007 7:26:10 AM

Quote :

"CARROL SHELBY ENGINES"

those are just aurora shortstars.

10/13/2007 10:12:55 AM

^winnAr. good motors. just hope the case halves don't leak (most do eventually).

10/13/2007 11:24:56 AM

olds ftw

10/13/2007 1:32:51 PM

Man, you rednecks will put a 350 in anything won't you?

10/13/2007 6:28:45 PM

RWD aurora engines... I can't think of anywhere else to get one. I think it'd be a cool one of a kind all olds thing

10/13/2007 8:58:43 PM

the a8 "shortstar" is more cadillac corporate than olds.

10/13/2007 10:38:26 PM

they're pretty popular buggy motors for the compact size and weight. i think you can get crates from gm and turnkey engines.

10/14/2007 12:36:07 AM