85 Cutlass Supreme - Mulligan
- Thread starter Algershick
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Update time. I've posted mostly in the "what did you do to your g-body today" thread about my escapades, but I'll add some of it here for reference.
I scoured local yards for some 5A 307 heads/ A4 intake and came up empty handed. Most of the Olds motors the G Bodies I found were 260's. I did find a 307 equipped 1983 (?) Delta 88 in a yard in Tumwater, about 30 miles away. I called ahead, verified it was a 307 car, packed up my tools and headed down there.
Upon arrival, the gal at the counter argued with me for a few minutes about the 83 stuff not being compatible with my 85 motor because her computer said so. I finally agreed with her and said I'd buy the parts anyway. She gave me the row# for the car and I excitedly made my way out to the purple Delta 88... only to find that the engine/transmission had already been pulled. FAIL! I drove home in defeat.
Most every car part I've ever bought has been from eBay or Craigslist. My wife mentioned an app called Offer Up to me so I downloaded it and was able to pick up a 2004R transmission for very cheap and, wait for it, an 82 307 for $150 only 2 miles away from my house! It was already pulled, the owner was working on an 84 Cutlass with plans on installing a 76 350. This motor appeared to be a pullout from an 82 Delta 88, and I learned that the big cars had cast iron intake manifolds rather than the aluminum A4 style that G Bodies received. It'll still work. I brought it home, drained it and began scheming.
I scoured local yards for some 5A 307 heads/ A4 intake and came up empty handed. Most of the Olds motors the G Bodies I found were 260's. I did find a 307 equipped 1983 (?) Delta 88 in a yard in Tumwater, about 30 miles away. I called ahead, verified it was a 307 car, packed up my tools and headed down there.
Upon arrival, the gal at the counter argued with me for a few minutes about the 83 stuff not being compatible with my 85 motor because her computer said so. I finally agreed with her and said I'd buy the parts anyway. She gave me the row# for the car and I excitedly made my way out to the purple Delta 88... only to find that the engine/transmission had already been pulled. FAIL! I drove home in defeat.
Most every car part I've ever bought has been from eBay or Craigslist. My wife mentioned an app called Offer Up to me so I downloaded it and was able to pick up a 2004R transmission for very cheap and, wait for it, an 82 307 for $150 only 2 miles away from my house! It was already pulled, the owner was working on an 84 Cutlass with plans on installing a 76 350. This motor appeared to be a pullout from an 82 Delta 88, and I learned that the big cars had cast iron intake manifolds rather than the aluminum A4 style that G Bodies received. It'll still work. I brought it home, drained it and began scheming.
I had already tore down my 85 motor down to the short block and cleaned/painted it along with replacing freeze plugs. Please excuse the mess in the garage and the mountains of parts you may see in my pictures, I've got a lot going on. 😱
This thing leaked like crazy from the valve covers, intake, heads, oil pan, timing cover, oil pressure sending unit, basically every seal on the engine. I soaked it with oven cleaner and pressure washed it.
I bought a full gasket set and intended on cleaning and resealing it. I've warmed up too the 350's gold color and painted my 307 short block with that theme.
Installed a new Cloyes timing set as my stock chain was super stretched and the nylon gears were severely cracked.
Timing cover and water pump installed, right side up again.
This thing leaked like crazy from the valve covers, intake, heads, oil pan, timing cover, oil pressure sending unit, basically every seal on the engine. I soaked it with oven cleaner and pressure washed it.
I bought a full gasket set and intended on cleaning and resealing it. I've warmed up too the 350's gold color and painted my 307 short block with that theme.
Installed a new Cloyes timing set as my stock chain was super stretched and the nylon gears were severely cracked.
Timing cover and water pump installed, right side up again.
Now that I had acquired a 5A head equipped 307, I had to make a decision. Do I start over and reseal/dress up that motor, which I didn't know anything about, or pull the heads off of it and install them on my 307 which I know ran well? I mulled over my choice and decided to run the 5A heads on my roller block. I'll hang on to the early short block for now as a backup.
1 down!
I pressure washed the heads and iron #17 intake manifold to discover that they were GM Corporate Blue underneath.
Painted up the intake, side by side with the stocker peanut port A5 aluminum one.
And, last photo for today, but a mockup with the intake set down on top of the heads. As far as visuals go, its come a long ways from being that greasy pig I initially pulled out.
1 down!
I pressure washed the heads and iron #17 intake manifold to discover that they were GM Corporate Blue underneath.
Painted up the intake, side by side with the stocker peanut port A5 aluminum one.
And, last photo for today, but a mockup with the intake set down on top of the heads. As far as visuals go, its come a long ways from being that greasy pig I initially pulled out.
The gold looks great! Nice attention to detail.
What was that TBI set up off of? A 305 set up would probably work pretty well. Use the cast iron exhaust manifolds in place of your tubular manifolds. Your 2004R with either 3.42 or 3.73 gears will make a nice driver.
It was off of a 305 truck. Do the cast manifolds flow better than the stainless ones? And, I do have a set of 2 series Richmond 3.42's going in that I purchased from a member here.
I'm looking up the part numbers on my exhaust manifolds and they should be the cast iron variety also used on Vin 9 engines, not the tubular stainless ones. This seems strange being that it's an 85 motor.
That TBI set up should be close enough, just set the base timing at 20 instead of the factory 0. I ran a factory set up on 94 Z71 with an Olds 350, 204/214 cam and 307 5A heads. It ran perfect in closed loop. Open loop was OK but my cam was borderline too big, ran a little bit rough, factory set up does not like larger cams. Get rid of the awful factory cross over set up, cap the extra port and run 2.25" dual exhaust. Add an O2 bung and use the 3 wire heated sensor. Maybe since it was the first year so they were using up cast manifolds? Yes, they are supposed to flow better but are still restrictive. The 3.42 gears with the stock 14" tires will run around 1800 rpm at 60 mph with the torque converter locked up. I would get a converter in the low 2000 range.
I appreciate the information Olds307, was that a Chevy 350 setup/GM ECU that worked so well with your Olds 350? That makes me feel a bit better going into this. I initially bought all of this TBI stuff thinking I'd run my Grand Prix's 301 on it... but I'm going bigger. Can you recommend an O2 sensor? The factory passenger manifold has a bung from the stock O2 I'm hoping can be used. I don't know any better, but Megasquirt pushes their Innovate LC-2 O2 pretty hard so that's what I was leaning towards.
What do you suggest capping the crossover with? I sawzalled it in half just to avoid fighting exhaust bolts under the car, and I'd like to run duals. As far as the converter goes, like everything else this was budget oriented. I purchased a stock D5 442/GN converter from a member here and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Thanks, Anubis.
What do you suggest capping the crossover with? I sawzalled it in half just to avoid fighting exhaust bolts under the car, and I'd like to run duals. As far as the converter goes, like everything else this was budget oriented. I purchased a stock D5 442/GN converter from a member here and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Thanks, Anubis.
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