idk what yall are even talking about anymore. To the OP however, the next thing you need to do is see what flies and what doesn't w/ your local smog and local dmv. Different dmv's are stricter than other 1's. I was already out in cali with the cutlass and went through all this bs already. The only engine I saw people using in cutlasses were 307 olds or 350 olds. They said if you try to use any other engine you will just get turned around and not be able to get plates. If you do use the 350 olds it would be better to set it up stock, slide through and get plates, THEN pull it back out and do the intake/carb you would actually like to have fun using on a daily basis but just roll up stock and it can't look like a shade tree mechanic did the work b/c you might find yourself at a really strict dmv saying that 'the engine came this way' and 'should be stock' playing dumb to a smog nazi. If they find out its not the original engine nazis will march out with trumpets playing so loud that whatever you have to say is being drowned out. I had my cutlass out there for like 60 days and gave up on doing anything but some interior work real fast. It quickly became clear that even with the stock setup I was going to pass/fail the smog test by a hair on either side b/c my car was right on the fence and my engine had under 100,000 miles...
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lol, you COULD always find someone out of state that would let you register n insure it through their address, and just not have cali plates... CALI SUCKS UNLESS YOU ARE A POTHEAD... 
I have never ran the Buick 455 but I have heard of oiling issues with the front cover wearing. My old Boss blew out the bottom end twice on his 430. I believe the T/A cover and pump assembly fixes the issue.
Getting the 350 or 403 to pass the sniffer can be done if not too radical. The much bigger issue is getting them to believe anything else is a 307. Olds head and block casting numbers are a dead giveaway. To be technically legal you have the worse Olds engine to work with being a 1988, the swirl port 307. Tiny ports and low compression make it a turd. The computer also runs very aggressive timing, limiting the compression boost and cam size.
You will definitely not get past the smog nazis with the 403 because all the accessories mount to obviously visually different locations. Some versions of the 350 olds look nearly identical and if you paint the engine black or chrome it out there would not be obvious signs of a difference b/c everything will mount to the right location... you can definitely not even try to use any other engine except possibly the 3.8 turbo from the gn v6? It most likely had the same or lower emission requirement for it's year
pencero said:
The 307 accessories would mount in exactly the same way on a 403. All Olds small blocks are externally identical.
Your probably thinking of the Firebird accessory mounting on a 403. I switched everything directly from my 403 to my 350. The 3.8 turbo is a no go, last year was 87.
olds307 and 403 said:
Well, for a G-body, anyway. It was available in 1989 in the Trans Am. I would find it difficult to believe that they'd object to a passenger car engine from a later year passenger car would be a problem. I've heard of stranger things, though...
^^^ Yes I was thinking Firebird. The first GM car I ever was exposed to was a 79 TA w/ 403. I have not actually had exp w/ the 403 into a cutlass. 
It's still a solid point that a 403 might be hard to get past certain dmv's in his state... although maybe not others.
It's still a solid point that a 403 might be hard to get past certain dmv's in his state... although maybe not others.- Status
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