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BUILD THREAD 78 Malibu 350 rocket build kind of

It actually should be a 73 Olds 350, the one year Oldsmobile made them. Not sure why Olds did them just the one year. Either the engines are basically the exact same from 1973 to 1976. They are a very reliable engine for their time. Either a piston swap and bowl hog on the #8 heads or an early head or the finally released new Edelbrock 68cc head will wake them up with a cam swap. Either way you have a solid 200 HP motor and 300 ft-lbs of torque at low rpm, if it is in good running condition. Good luck, I guarantee you have the only one possibly on planet earth with that many doors and drive train combo, I like it.
 
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Small update today. Just got the headers in today they went pretty good.
 

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I have few questions regarding the cooling system and heater core.

Which side is the pressure and return?

I'm only asking cause there's this wastegate on the back of the intake heater port to cut pressure at WOT, I don't want to hook the wrong side up and blow that thing up.
 
The pressure side is 5/8" and the return is 3/4". Pressure almost always comes from the intake and the return can be plumbed to the water pump or the radiator tank. I believe the waste gate you're referring to is the vacuum operated valve that cuts water flow to the heater core when the A/C is on MAX.
 
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Sweet_Johnny said:
The pressure side is 5/8" and the return is 3/4". Pressure almost always comes from the intake and the return can be plumbed to the water pump or the radiator tank. I believe the waste gate you're referring to is the vacuum operated valve that cuts water flow to the heater core when the A/C is on MAX.
Click to expand...
Oh okay I removed the ac for now so no worries on that then. I noticed that the thermostat housing had a bypass kinda like a 880 block. I was afraid it would take forever to warm up if I hooked up the return to that.

But I'll do it that anyway.
 
The bypass hose helps prevent cavitation (air at the pump) as well as hot spots in the block by circulating coolant even when the thermostat is closed. I don't know if it's necessary for Olds engines but see no reason to remove it unless it's a problem. On my Chevy engine I have my return plumbed to the water pump, and that's pretty common. There's also typically a 3/4" heater hose connection on the radiator and I actually prefer to use that- then your coolant flows through the heater as well as the radiator before returning to the block. If your radiator has that connection then I wouldn't delete the bypass hose but would replace it.

Contact 78delta88 about that Rochester- he'll get you set up.
 
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Sweet_Johnny said:
The bypass hose helps prevent cavitation (air at the pump) as well as hot spots in the block by circulating coolant even when the thermostat is closed. I don't know if it's necessary for Olds engines but see no reason to remove it unless it's a problem. On my Chevy engine I have my return plumbed to the water pump, and that's pretty common. There's also typically a 3/4" heater hose connection on the radiator and I actually prefer to use that- then your coolant flows through the heater as well as the radiator before returning to the block. If your radiator has that connection then I wouldn't delete the bypass hose but would replace it.

Contact 78delta88 about that Rochester- he'll get you se
Click to expand...
I had no plans on removing it I was thinking it was for A heater core anyway.
 
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