1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham

Ahah, I see you don't like FRAM ?
Yes, to the poorly constructed, orange can of doom. The latest Tough Guard and the Ultra Synthetic are very good filters. I got Wix and Purolator Pure One filters off Amazon for cheaper than that POS at Walmart or Canadian Tire. It might be fine for the initial fire up of this motor, then switch to something better.
 
No non-Fram oil filter yet bought yet...! 🙂

But got an ECM for the engine, a 1983 Riviera Turbo unit, closest thing to my 1984 Cutlass. The rationale being - I will recycle the emission control stuff (EGR solenoid, AIR valves, etc) from the 1984, and the ECM must be as close as possible to control these, and because the 1984 Turbo ECM is for injection and not carburation, 1983 is the closest fit. The turbo v6 engine denomination is 231-8 for 1982/1983, while 231-3 is for 1980/1981, so different setup for emission, etc.

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And for the initial engine bench test, no ECM, this means -- the mixture control solenoid will be unhooked, making the engine run very rich; the CCC distributor unhooked, no retard/no detonation control; so basically, running at idle for a few minutes to see if there are any obvious leaks / noises / vibrations / any autodestructive tendencies...
 
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And it's starting to look ugly & crowded...

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What's left:

1. Get the harmonic balancer & flywheel - this engine is externally balanced, so these are a must to bench test it; Flywheel bought, the Turbo kind; Harmonic balancer still MIA, but a few candidates spotted (very $$$);

2. Fabricate the exhaust link between the header and the turbo;

3. Fabricate the turbo oil line feed;

4. Hook the fuel line to the carb (I think I lost the fitting I had for that ...);

5. Block all the unused (for now) vacuum ports...
 
Checking the 231-8 diagram to check the routing of the turbo oil feed and the fuel line.

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Pretty sure the exhaust pipe I used will not be fit to generate boost, but OK for a first startup. The turbo oil feed line will likely be stuck behind the alternator, will need to redo this maybe.

Next is the fuel line.
 
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A slow week, finally got a turbo flywheel, installed. Wired the starter, gave it a few cranks to adjust the shims.

Also got a tube bender, played a bit with it and made the fuel line from pump to carburator.

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Still missing the harmonic balancer (it's in the mail).
 
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So I have everything now - all parts assembled, including the harmonic balancer. Pink paint marking was there from the NOS part, so keeping it there 🙂

Do I bench test it - run it on the stand, etc, or just put it in the car and then run it?

I watched videos on youtube saying - BEWARE YOU WILL WIPE YOUR CAM LOBES IN 2.3 SECONDS!

This is when anxiety kicks in 🙂
 

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