1986 Olds Cutlass Salon Thread

[Minion1186]

My plans for the engine are(originally planned)350 horspower,430ft pounds torque,750 cfm qjet,HEI ignition,headers,glasspacks,duals.Crank blueprinted,bored .50 over,ported heads,hot cam,upgraded valvetrain like stiff valve springs,mechanical lifters from comp cams,edelbrock non egr intake,run non a/c,paint it either oldsmobile gold or satin black(so people think its a 307 ),and those "trick under the bumper" cold air intakes that f-85 cutlasses had in 1968(or the same thing a spectre muscle car cold air kit).Right now the specs for the engine are an 8.0:1 compression ratio,180HP and 275 ft lbs torque with #8 eco heads.For the rest of the car,a beefed up 200 4r trans from gearstar performance for $3400,and a $3600 ford 9inch crate rear with 370 gears and 31spline axles,tires will be Bf Goodrich white letters,stock tire size p20570r14,New olds superstock 2 rims and new center caps.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I would paint it gloss black as, surprisingly, that seems to be what GM painted their engines when new. Yeah, I like the "stock look" under the hood. Less to care for and maintain, plus no one knows what you have. Mine looks like a 305, but...

 

[Blake442]

Stock sized 205's up front is cool, but will only result in a smoke show on the rear.
I suggest squeezing a little more tread surface on there by running a 15x7 with a 255/60 that are painted to match the 14x6's up front.

 

[Minion1186]

Well more of an update on the 350 and parts.I decided to get my hands dirty and start cleaning the cylinder heads and the block.Lets just say i need lots of degreaser to remove 100,000 miles of oil sludge and grease from the heads.When i took most of the lifters out of the engine,most where bastards to remove,they were completely worn,and in the pics you can see that some of them still need to be removed,i think i need hercules to help me,the seem to not want to come out and all.I have decided not to use the stock intake manifold,and spend $319 on a non egr edelbrock one.I've taken the oil pan,timing cover,hamonic balancer and most of the valvetrain out about 2 months ago.Inside the oil pan was the oil (black as sin btw) and water :shock: but the engine isnt seized so there's nothing to worry about.I also started clean the quadrjunk carb in a bath to further remove the grease from it.I will use parts from this carb especially the jets and the float needle and float,only as spares since they're in good shape.I started cleaning the engine today though,I had limited time(about an hour and a half) at the garage since i finally fell asleep at 6 am and woke at 12pm.But i removed most of the top layer of crap from the engine with a razor blade and a vaccum clenaer and brake cleaner(flashback to when i cleaned the engine of my 86 supreme years ago 🙁 ).Anyway I've also found the broken bolt studs from the exhaust manifolds,which is a problem cause i dont know how to remove broken studs from cylinder heads,can you help?.I also took a pic of my extra hood that came with the car,I dont plan on using it at all,I will get a cowl induction hood for the cutlass and put a bigger air filter on it then.

 

[dogsht]

Never heard of gearstar performance. $3,400!! :shock: Check out long time well known proven 200-4r guru Lonnie Diers at www.extremeautomatics.com he has a 200-4r for $1,395 with no exchange guarnateed to 10.90s. (Much faster than you plan to go with a nicely built for the street sb) A $3,600 Ford 9 is way over kill as well. You could find an used 8.5 with 3.42/3.73s with posi for less than a grand that will easily have you covered. It will also waste less power & fuel. You would think you are building for 500ci big block or wild hugh stall race only small block or something with lots 0 spray. Also I agree with blake some 15x7s with 255/60 would suite much better than tiny 205/14s in the rear. I like the paint it black & look stock but carry a big stick thing myself. Hey the early vin9 307 made about the same power as the that 350 chevy did originally so you could pull it off to the guy in the passenger seat. If you want big power mild & reliable street power ie to take advantage of that transmission & rear keep the quadrajunk & pitch that lil 350 in the dumpster and get ya a big block 496 or 540 if you stay with chevy. 8) Sorry I got spoiled with torque but I like your general auto ideas & goals. Should be a cool car and have fun.

 

[Minion1186]

my second plan (if all else fails) is to get the 3600 9inch,i just hope i can find a good 8.5 in a couple years,and just recently my one buddys stepbrother helps out at the transmission shop and may strenghten my 200 4r for half the price!An the 350?its a sbo,i dont plan on running any off brand engine like chevy,I will make an exception to run a wild 455 olds in my next cutlass i get,but for now it'll be a 350 olds from 73 barely making 350 horeses when everything is done.I would rahter run a 70 350,there is one completely built and ready to go just sitting in a shop a couple blocks from me,but the dude who owns it wont budge :evil: oh well

Never heard of gearstar performance. $3,400!! :shock: Check out long time well known proven 200-4r guru Lonnie Diers at www.extremeautomatics.com he has a 200-4r for $1,395 with no exchange guarnateed to 10.90s. (Much faster than you plan to go with a nicely built for the street sb) A $3,600 Ford 9 is way over kill as well. You could find an used 8.5 with 3.42/3.73s with posi for less than a grand that will easily have you covered. It will also waste less power & fuel. You would think you are building for 500ci big block or wild hugh stall race only small block or something with lots 0 spray. Also I agree with blake some 15x7s with 255/60 would suite much better than tiny 205/14s in the rear. I like the paint it black & look stock but carry a big stick thing myself. Hey the early vin9 307 made about the same power as the that 350 chevy did originally so you could pull it off to the guy in the passenger seat. If you want big power mild & reliable street power ie to take advantage of that transmission & rear keep the quadrajunk & pitch that lil 350 in the dumpster and get ya a big block 496 or 540 if you stay with chevy. 8) Sorry I got spoiled with torque but I like your general auto ideas & goals. Should be a cool car and have fun.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

With the right gears, 350hp is quite respectable in these cars. It may not be the fastest thing out there, but it will get the job done and be a fun car to drive while still being good at the practical every day stuff like fuel economy and idling in traffic.

As for the Chevy, I was by no means telling you to follow my example. I was just pointing out what GM did in a generic sense during the 80's. I did a Chevy for my own reasons, but figured most of the world would not know that my year Cutlass did not have a Chevy engine in US models during the 1985 model year. In that sense, it looks like a stock installation would look like had GM chosen to do so in 1985.

 

[Minion1186]

no i dont think you did anything to overboard with the chevy 355,i think if someone did look at your cars engine bay then they'd think it was a stock 305.I don't actually hate the idea too much off off brands in oldsmobiles,i mean like you said,gm did it,i see a couple 305 stock powered cutlasses on here and i think its a pretty cool option from the factory.I wanted the 350 olds and 373 gears so it could be driven as a daily.Right now my car has part time insurance,stopping me driving it in winter(like i would anyway )and after winter the insurance covers me to drive in nice weather,so it basically it's a summer car,so in a way i dont want the 350 to be so out of control i cant drive it as a daily.My whole plan is to smoke ricers and maybe some mustangs,but not as radical so it can be a daily.

 

[Minion1186]

Re: 1986 Olds Cutlass Salon Thread(About Time!)

a little update,well ive been busy for a week or so painting my valve covers and brackets for the 350.I've decided to paint the engine semigloss black just for the 307 factory stock look.I've also been tinkering with one of my 307 air cleaners and made a 442/ H/O style air cleaner.What i did was i punched a big hole into the opposite side of the air cleaner base,ripped the plastic piece off of the rubber/plastic snorkel that connects from the air cleaner snorkel to the rad and connected that piece to the hole.The outcome,a rednecked cold air intake that works!I've tested it on a hot summer day with the air cleaner lid NOT flipped and it kept the engine temp down 20 degrees and added a little performance margin.I hope many of yous wont laugh at it too much .

On a more techninal note,I may have a problem,I was looking at my carb the other day and found some cracks in the air horn and the main body of the carb,i dont know if its serious or if it wont hurt the performance of the car.One of the cracks goes from the carbs air horn in the rear all the way down to the venturi of one of the 4 barrels.

Also I've been playing around with my o2 sensor and since my car runs leaner than it should i disconnected it just to see what'll happen and the outcome seems to be that it runs richer (almost as it should)but has a bad idle and the service engine soon light always comes on.

 

[svltrack]

Re:

Stock sized 205's up front is cool, but will only result in a smoke show on the rear.
I suggest squeezing a little more tread surface on there by running a 15x7 with a 255/60 that are painted to match the 14x6's up front.

If memory serves I used to rub around almost every turn when I ran even a 245 on the back with my 88 Monte.. Maybe if you roll the fenders a touch you would be "better" on the outsides but the rails will probably still get touched