86 olds cutlass supreme brougham please help!!

[NMcCarthy]

Hello there I am new to the forum and the Oldsmobile world, I recently put a olds 350 in this cutlass and everything looked and seemed okay with engine.
When I got the engine in and all hooked up when I crank it over it barely cranks, almost like the battery is dying although it is a good red cap optima that's fully charged. even tried hooking a booster up. no difference. I tried rotating distributor back and forth makes no difference on cranking speed. I felt sick to my stomach,lol
I am very excited about this car any and all help would be very much appreciated. thank you. btw my name is Nick

 

[jetsetw31]

Hi fellow 350 Olds owner. If your starter is new, then the first thing that pops to mind is the engine grounds. Make sure both are secure to the block. The body ground strap and the battery ground cable.
I hope this helps.
T

 

[olds307 and 403]

There are a few of us who love the Olds 350, was much more reliable than the famed sbc 350 back in the 70's. I would bet you are using the stock 307 starter, not a powerful starter. Mine would start my 403 OK, except warm. It could be on it's way out or as said a ground issue. Did you hook the negative cable to the driver's side head? Did you reattach the body to motor grounds?

 

[jetsetw31]

I would bet you are using the stock 307 starter, not a powerful starter. Mine would start my 403 OK, except warm. It could be on it's way out

Thanks olds307 and 403, I forgot to mention about not using the 307 metric starter. I should have remembered that since I did the same thing on my '73 350 when I had my 200R4 behind it. I changed to a new '73 starter but mainly because the 307 starter wouldn't fit in the manual bell housing. The metric starter wasn't that old but man, did it turn slow.
T