New Cutlass owner, need to be pointed in the right direction

[Butcher]

Greetings!

I've been a Turbo Regal owner all my life, love the cars. Just sold my last one because lately I decided I wanted something,... well, more obnoxious. I want something LOUD and chrome, and cool. Something that gets EVERYONES attention everywhere I go.

Well, I just picked up a 1986 Cutlass 442 with a 307 VIN 9 motor. This body is mint, but the engine is old and crusty. I want to swap it out with,... well I'm not sure what. That's what I need some help with.

I'm not looking to race the car, it doesn't have to be as fast as can be. I would like it to not be slow though... I want it to be loud, with the headers etc. This would not be a daily driver, something to bring to the local cruise nights and maybe to the track once in a while. I want the basic old hot rod with the 442 body.

Where do I go from here? Is a Chevy 350 the way to go? Would I be better off with an Olds 350 or whatever? I'm not looking for the fastest car, just something moderately fast, and cool with that old hotrod sound.

If someone could point me in the right direction, perhaps some links - or web sites. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!
🙂

 

[KrisW]

Of course, I am biased, but I don't like chevy small blocks. There's just no originality left. There's nothing more disappointing than looking under the hood and going, "gee, another small block chevy," so I'm not going there.

On the other hand, if you like originality (of course you do! That's why you got a 442, not a Monte SS) then Olds V8 is the choice. The engine will sit down on your factory motor mounts, and the accessory drives from your 307 will bolt onto any olds small block as long as you keep the 307 water pump and pulleys to go with it.

My advice; 350 or 403 Olds, some "C" casting big block heads or aluminum, headers and the like.

You'll be really happy! I promise!

 

[bigdan]

LOUD: then drop the oil rev it to 6000 rpm it will be loud! lollll joking!

since you already have a genuine olds engine , keep it olds!
i wish \i had an olds engine in mine but it was born chevy!
Dan

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

How about an Olds 403? It was used in the late 70's in B bodies and Trans Ams. That and a set of Edelbrock heads and all the other stuff and you have a decent bolt in solution to your power and noise lust. Add at least a 2.5 in true dual exhaust with Flowmasters if you want to get really annoying. Keep the rear axle you have and the trans, but have the trans gone through with better clutches and seals plus a better converter if you plan on a rowdy cam. Be sure you get back the same core from the trans shop as the 442 trans is better than other TH200 4R's, and an unscrupulous shop may try to switch it out so they can re sell your core. Run an Olds Quadrajet from a non computer car and an HEI form the same to have an inexpensive solution to the fuel and spark parts of the equation but still maximize driveability and fuel economy. I would even keep the stock air filter housing as it is a dual snorkel design and probably flows enough air to keep up. My Cutlass is SBC powered and I am quite happy with it. However, it was a 3.8 V6 car and there was no solution I liked for swapping to anything else that would give me the bang for the buck. You already have all the Olds stuff so my advice is to just put in a real Olds engine and you will be happy with it.

 

[Vern]

How much are you willing to spend on the motor? A well built Olds 403 would be a great choice. But if you want a really obnoxtious & different eye opener to draw looks & scratchin heads at the lights cruise ins and cars shows take a serious look at a Cadillac 500. You can make a cheap eazy 509, 519, and now even 532ci depending on piston & gasket choice. Its not a hard swap and the core motor is dirt cheap.

I put one in an 88 Cutlass that got totaled (gal pulled in front of me) and now its going into an 87 442. Beautiful thing is I don't have to butcher anything so the vin 9 307 can be put back if someone has stupid money for a restoration. My GN draws more looks & thumbs up on the street because its more recognized, then again the 442 gets alot of thumbs at the lights when they hear it idle. Sometimes I keep the idle low to make her lump more. 🙂 They both draw lots of looks at the car show with the hood up. The GN gets as many looks but the big Cad gets more questions conversations and people bringing their buddys to look at it.

www.cadillacpower.com

 

[megaladon6]

since it's a 442 i would stick with an olds engine. of course its not original :lol: but a pontiac only engine would be!
but that's just an unoriginal monte ss owner talking. 😀

 

[455OLDSMAN]

Another vote for the 403. A buddy of mine put one in his 72 cutlass. It was a pretty fun ride even in stock form.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The only bad thing I have heard about the 403 is that the main webs are not that strong and it is not well suited to high horsepower applications for that reason. However, enough people run them in street cars that I would not be too worried about it. I would also consider a stoker engine based off a Olds 350 Diesel block. It is a much thicker and stronger casting than the gas engines. You have to block off the injector pump hole in the block, but other than that everything else bolts in the same from what I have read.

 

[jae]

How about an Olds 403? It was used in the late 70's in B bodies and Trans Ams. That and a set of Edelbrock heads and all the other stuff and you have a decent bolt in solution to your power and noise lust. Add at least a 2.5 in true dual exhaust with Flowmasters if you want to get really annoying. Keep the rear axle you have and the trans, but have the trans gone through with better clutches and seals plus a better converter if you plan on a rowdy cam. Be sure you get back the same core from the trans shop as the 442 trans is better than other TH200 4R's, and an unscrupulous shop may try to switch it out so they can re sell your core. Run an Olds Quadrajet from a non computer car and an HEI form the same to have an inexpensive solution to the fuel and spark parts of the equation but still maximize driveability and fuel economy. I would even keep the stock air filter housing as it is a dual snorkel design and probably flows enough air to keep up.You already have all the Olds stuff so my advice is to just put in a real Olds engine and you will be happy with it.

I would agree with 85CB, except I would run a 350 Olds (just my biased preference I guess since I did a swap on an 81 Calais and have an '86 with 350). Whatever you go with, 403/350, if you go with the aluminum Edelbrocks make sure you get the proper manifold, can't remember the p/n off hand but I believe it's the Performer. The heads are made for the BB so the intake ports won't line up with a stock/aftermarket SB manifold, so you have to go with the Performer as it has more meat in the port flange area and can be matched to the heads. For a little summary I'm running a short-block with a 68-70 block - these have the solid webs, high-nickel content than the later blocks. The internals are to W31-specs but with a better piston, little bit more compression; heads are from a '72 and it's topped with Edelbrock intake & 750 carb. It makes a pretty decent combination, decent street car. I'm figuring the same principals can be applied to the 403 as well; haven't really dug deep into one, only did routine maintanence on them; the 260/307 is pretty much unsupported so...

For exhaust I'm using Hedman HTC headers, into 2.5" mandrel-bent exhaust & 40-series Flowmasters. It's got a decent rumble to it, but may change to a 50-series as the interior resonnace can hit the decibel meter somewhat high. I'm not sure what the emission laws are in your town but if possible dump the stock exhaust-type system and go with true duals. Also if going this route pick up a dual-exhaust crossmember, like G-Force. They're pretty beefy, have the cut-outs in them, and you can run large pipes through the cut-outs (they're actually raised sections in the crossmember). Just some ideas.

In any event, make a plan and a budget, then put some more $$ aside for those unforseen expenses. Good luck 😀

 

[KrisW]

The intake to use on an Olds small block with big block heads is a Performer RPM. There is enough material on the port flanges to match them up.

403s do have windowed main webs but Butcher says that not much racing will be involved regularly. It will last a good long while unless it is relentlessly pounded into the ground.

You don't HAVE to block off the injector pump hole in the diesel block. It will drain some oil back to the front of the timing cover but so what? A little extra oil never hurt anything!

Hey Vern! What motor mounts are you using to run your caddy engine? I've never actually gotten a straight answer to that one. Inquiring minds want to know!