A puzzling g-body

[SRD art]

Hey guys-

I just picked up another Olds Cutlass wagon, a '78, photos coming soon. Here's the weird thing- It has a what appears to be factory installed Chevy 350 in it. From the research I've done I can't find anywhere that a Chevy 350 was ever installed in a G body, only 305 Chevys or Olds 350s. It only has 89 K original miles on it, and all the smog equipment, exhaust, cruise control, A/C, everything looks factory perfect. It does have a BOP TH350 attached to it. It also has a factory rally gauge dash with tach and the muffler has dual outlets for a dual exhaust look although it is still a single exhaust. On the highway it revs higher than my wagon so I'm assuming maybe 3.08+ gears? I will check the axle vin when I can get it on a lift at work. The car looks to be bone stock and untouched. The motor is caked with grease, so it looks like it's been in there for a loooong time. It doesn't show any obvious signs of a swap to yank an Olds 350 and put in a Chevy 350. The radiator support says it's a 350, the vin 3H35L8R484538 says it's a 350, and the block is a 3970010 Chevy 350.

Do I have something rare or a custom order or were 350 Chevys put in G bodies and I just haven't found out about it yet?

Does anyone know what the numbers/ letters in the photo below around the "350" on it's emissions tag on the radiator support mean? Thanks!!

 

[rustyroger]

How is the BOP 350 attached to a Chevy block?.

Roger/

 

[-83MONTESS-]

My guess would be that it was a 350 olds diesel. A BOP trans wont bolt on a chevy engine without an adapter.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Is it the multi-pattern bell housing T-350 that was common in the late 70's? My '76 LeMans had one w/Pontiac 350. I also had a '78 El Camino that had a Chevy 350 and the multi-bell. I can't find anything on an LM engine, but an LM1 is a pretty common base Chevy 350.

 

[jrm81bu]

Look on the pad in front of the passenger head behind the alternator. The vin will be stamped there plus it will have the suffix code to tell you what it was originally put in if the vin doesn't match.

 

[SRD art]

You're right Bonne- It's the GM multi pattern trans. The holes line up with the BOP motors and when used with a Chevy motor the top two tabs are not used. I'll get a photo up when I start the build thread, but I need to do the concept rendering first.

Jrm- That's out next step. I have a busy week but we plan to spray wash the engine and move the alt next Sat to get the engine vin #. Anybody know website where can I go to decipher that?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I thought so. GM was swapping engines around like crazy so some beancounter decided why not have a one-size-fits-all bellhousing. The LM1's were found in A/B/F/X bodies so I'm pretty sure yours just may be original. Here's a good site with codes.http://www.nastyz28.com/chevy-engine-code-stampings.php

 

[tc1959]

I found this on a Camaro site about the LM 350 http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/z28lm1.h ... ose_button

 

[SRD art]

Excellent info! I will check all those casting numbers when we start digging into the engine. We'll be doing a re-gasket and swap on new valve covers, an intake and headers over the summer.

IIRC we understand '78 G-bodies were still considered A bodies, as you mentioned the LM 350 was an option for them so maybe that explains it. Or, I wonder if this car got a left over 350 because that was what was convenient on the assembly line, or maybe it was a special order? A friend suggested maybe someone planning to tow ordered it from the dealer hence the bigger engine and tach and gauge package, however there is no hitch on it. I'll check later to see if maybe one was bolted on at some point.

Lol! It's looking like I can now tell people you could get a G-Body with a Chevy 350, I always thought a 305 was it.

BTW the engine is painted corporate blue.

 

[tc1959]

Excellent info! I will check all those casting numbers when we start digging into the engine. We'll be doing a re-gasket and swap on new valve covers, an intake and headers over the summer.

IIRC we understand '78 G-bodies were still considered A bodies, as you mentioned the LM 350 was an option for them so maybe that explains it. Or, I wonder if this car got a left over 350 because that was what was convenient on the assembly line, or maybe it was a special order? A friend suggested maybe someone planning to tow ordered it from the dealer hence the bigger engine and tach and gauge package, however there is no hitch on it. I'll check later to see if maybe one was bolted on at some point.

Lol! It's looking like I can now tell people you could get a G-Body with a Chevy 350, I always thought a 305 was it.

BTW the engine is painted corporate blue.

My 78 El Camino was born with the same LM 350 with a Quadrajet carb and no air pump.