81 Cutty...350 w/ Edelbrock Intake, Carburetor & Manifol
- Thread starter Esotericnem
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If you go with the craiglist 350 ask the person for the block casting number as well as the heads. It is on a pad on the top front of the engine, between the intake and the back of the waterpump, right next to the oil tube. Iit should be a six-digit number, with a larger number to the right of it.
The heads can be decoded just as easy; the number is located on the center exhaust exits of the head, like right under the middle valve cover bolt, should be six numbers as well (may be split 3 - 3). Also there should be a number(and maybe a letter) at the end of the head on a pad (driver side is the easiest to see but since the engine is out of the car, either side will do).
The preferred 350 blocks are the 68-70 with the larger number being a 2 (also 75 - 76 but with a different 6-digit casting number I believe). The second being the early 70s up to 74, with a large 5, with the later blocks the least preferred, with a 3A or 3B. The reason being is the early blocks have the higher nickel-content as well as solid main webs, the later-70s blocks have the open webs and a lower nickel-content.
I have a 68-70 block, along with 7a (A is subscript) heads in the 86. The 7A (large A) are the 307 heads.
Oh, if you go the SBC route you may have to due a trans swap too. I'm not 100% sure your transmission will bolt up unless it's a dual/pattern like a 200-4R.
Good hunting...
The heads can be decoded just as easy; the number is located on the center exhaust exits of the head, like right under the middle valve cover bolt, should be six numbers as well (may be split 3 - 3). Also there should be a number(and maybe a letter) at the end of the head on a pad (driver side is the easiest to see but since the engine is out of the car, either side will do).
The preferred 350 blocks are the 68-70 with the larger number being a 2 (also 75 - 76 but with a different 6-digit casting number I believe). The second being the early 70s up to 74, with a large 5, with the later blocks the least preferred, with a 3A or 3B. The reason being is the early blocks have the higher nickel-content as well as solid main webs, the later-70s blocks have the open webs and a lower nickel-content.
I have a 68-70 block, along with 7a (A is subscript) heads in the 86. The 7A (large A) are the 307 heads.
Oh, if you go the SBC route you may have to due a trans swap too. I'm not 100% sure your transmission will bolt up unless it's a dual/pattern like a 200-4R.
Good hunting...
No, not complicated at all. Knowing the codes/casting numbers and where to look helps ensure you get what you think you're getting so you don't get burned. Sometimes just glancing over something or taking someone's word for it isn't good enough.
Again, your options are to go with another Olds 350 or swap out to the Chevy 350. As stated there are parts galour for the first-gen Chevy small-block, pretty darn cheap too considering the power you can make with them. And you can just build the power up in stages. The main thing is to get a good one and get the car running. In any event, try to hear it run first!
The Olds will cost you more to build / buy.
Again, your options are to go with another Olds 350 or swap out to the Chevy 350. As stated there are parts galour for the first-gen Chevy small-block, pretty darn cheap too considering the power you can make with them. And you can just build the power up in stages. The main thing is to get a good one and get the car running. In any event, try to hear it run first!
The Olds will cost you more to build / buy.
jae said:
ZZZZZZZZZ.....
Another belly-button SBC swap. Keep in mind that the SBO has a better bore/stroke ratio than any other GM 350. Get a set of Edelbrock heads, Perf RPM intake ported to match, and good headers.
Not always. While new parts for Chebby motors are cheaper due to greater production quantities, used parts for Olds motors tend to be less expensive due to the lower demand.
The Olds parts parts may be cheaper in your neck of the woods but not mine and many other persons, unless you're building a boat-anchor 307. You can practically got those dogs for free. Even then the parts aren't dirt cheap. Have you priced any parts lately? Where are you getting your cheap $$$ parts from, let me and the rest of us know please :!:
I have a 350 Olds in my 86 (same swap I did in the 81) and in BOTH instances I could've built a SBC WAY cheaper than the Olds. (The 350 SBC for the 66 Impala SS I had was built nice, and was cheaper to boot!!) Also, I believe the Edelbrocks are BB heads - I believe Mondello and other Olds houses may have aluminum heads that can be used on the SB but they are hella expensive. Heck, even those guys prefer to use the early 350 iron heads, the #5 through #7a heads (not the yuck #7A heads on the later-model 307). You have to use the BB heads, which run about $1800 in Jegs and Summit and I believe a specific intake, can't remember off-hand if it's the Torker-style or the Performer, and get it matchined and port matched to use with the 350. You also have to look at the year of the block, as the later 350s have open webs and less-nickel content, along with sucky heads. There's always the 350 diesel route, but you're still looking at changing a lot of parts, and that gets expensive quick. Believe me, I looked into this VERY thoroughly but wanted Olds power, so I stuck with that, along with a hopped-up BOP TH350 and Ford 9" rear. It's not as easy or cheap as you're trying to make it out to be!! I mean, EGGE has parts cheaper than most, but not that cheap.
IF you would have read the posts from beginning you would know this guy is in a bit of a bind and is looking for alternatives. He wants to get his car going and SBC power may be a way to go for the time being. I thought this board/forum was to help others and offer advice, not put people down for the choices they made.
I have a 350 Olds in my 86 (same swap I did in the 81) and in BOTH instances I could've built a SBC WAY cheaper than the Olds. (The 350 SBC for the 66 Impala SS I had was built nice, and was cheaper to boot!!) Also, I believe the Edelbrocks are BB heads - I believe Mondello and other Olds houses may have aluminum heads that can be used on the SB but they are hella expensive. Heck, even those guys prefer to use the early 350 iron heads, the #5 through #7a heads (not the yuck #7A heads on the later-model 307). You have to use the BB heads, which run about $1800 in Jegs and Summit and I believe a specific intake, can't remember off-hand if it's the Torker-style or the Performer, and get it matchined and port matched to use with the 350. You also have to look at the year of the block, as the later 350s have open webs and less-nickel content, along with sucky heads. There's always the 350 diesel route, but you're still looking at changing a lot of parts, and that gets expensive quick. Believe me, I looked into this VERY thoroughly but wanted Olds power, so I stuck with that, along with a hopped-up BOP TH350 and Ford 9" rear. It's not as easy or cheap as you're trying to make it out to be!! I mean, EGGE has parts cheaper than most, but not that cheap.
IF you would have read the posts from beginning you would know this guy is in a bit of a bind and is looking for alternatives. He wants to get his car going and SBC power may be a way to go for the time being. I thought this board/forum was to help others and offer advice, not put people down for the choices they made.
jae said:
Over the last year, I picked up a 72 455 (with Torker intake) for $250, a 66 425 (with cracked block) for $150, a spare 425 block for this motor for $50, a pair of complete 403 long blocks for $250, and a set of E heads with screw-in rocker studs and guide plates already installed for $100. Heck, I've turned down complete running Olds 88s and 98s with 455s (in the few hundred dollars range each) just because I don't have time to deal with them. After work tonight I'm going to look at a complete running 1965 Olds F85 with 330 and 3 spd manual trans for $400.
The only external difference between big and small block Olds motors is the deck height. Edelbrock heads bolt to a 350 just as easily as to a 455. W-31 small blocks came with big-block sized valves from the factory. Yes, you need to worry about compression ratio due to the larger chambers, but you can deal with that. The Performer RPM has enough meat to match port it to the Edelbrock heads on a small block.
At www.summitracing.com right now, these heads are $809 each, assembled. Used, I've seen them for under $1200 a pair. Are Chevy heads cheaper? Yup, given that they build about a thousand times more of them. The point is, you can get a cheap running Olds motor now, and upgrade it as time permits.
I apologize if "ZZZZZZZZZZ" and "bellybutton SBC swap" is construed as a putdown.
Look, if you own a car, do what you want with it. In my OPINION, keeping an Olds engine in the car avoids problems with motor mounts, accessory brackets, and a host of little things. Are any of these show stoppers? Of course not. But all those little parts aren't free either if you have to get them one at a time from a wrecking yard.
So long as you and others are "convinced" that Olds parts are too expensive to deal with, the lower demand will keep prices of used parts lower for me. That's fine too.
Again, used parts that are questionable; a 66 w/425 that's cracked for $150, goody-goody-gumdrop. That's nice you found a set of E heads for 100 bucks, good for you. Try pricing a set of "F" heads, which are the good ones everybody's after. I've found some cheap stuff as well, to trashed to use right off the bat, with more $$$ to get them back into good working condition than worth being the norm. The 403s for $250, great for you. Boat-anchors, they make nice planters. You're listings are similar to articles that were in Car Craft over the past 1.5 years; you're not just copying those are you :? But then again you can't be as when they added the new hardware or the price to recondition the worn pieces the price was way more than what letting on.
Agree for the most part. Am WELL aware of the differences between deck heights, valvetrain angles and geometry, the different lifter diameters, what fits and what doesn't, what really works, what's just a patch so won't rehash. Again I looked all this up, not just recently but a long time ago when I did the first 350 swap, when there were less parts available than there are now. I remember when there weren't any aluminum heads available period and the only intake was the torker. (You were lucky to find a W-31, and the hot ticket was swapping in 330 crank since they are forged, along with #5 - #7 heads, swap out the valves, etc - but you knew that right?) So if you had a SB you had to junkyard crawl to find parts for the 350 or go with the 455 - been there, done that many times. The point is you stated you can build an Olds cheap, cheaper than the SBC. Also, you stated that since there's less of them, demand is lower, the Olds parts are cheaper, that's simply not true. But then you come back and admit the SBC is cheaper to build. Which is it? Heck, I've rebuilt SBCs for the cost of the Edelbrock heads alone (new @ $1600 and used). If you can get thrashed & trashed cars/parts dirt cheap great, I'll keep your secret
; just don't leave out the refurb prices and the like.Hmmm, that's funny. I never said they were "too" expensive to deal with; I stated they are more expensive than the SBC, which they are. Again, you apparently don't read all of the posting, just bits and pieces. If the parts were too expensive I wouldn't have built up the 350 Olds in my '86, nor the 350 in the '81 I had, nor the... Tell you what, build-up a SBC & a SBO price-wise from the bare block-up, using Summit, Jegs, Pace, Egge, whoever you want and get back to me with a price-list. You don't have to do it know, whenever you want. I've already done it and the SBC came out cheaper everytime. And I won't even bring up building the Ponchos or the Bufords...yikes!! :shock:
Before this gets too heated, I'm done with the responses (bored), moving on... :wink:
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