New member from Chicagoland area

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Well, got the car back from the mechanic and he told me the motor is a little tired. Timing chain is kinda loose, carb is completely OEM, never been rebuilt. He replaced the inner and outer tierod ends, aligned it, and did the front brakes. I could have done the brakes but its cold as sh*t here in Chitown and I hate workin on the car in the cold, even in a heated garage. Plus a 23 yr old car is bound to be rusty and things are gonna be hard to break apart.
I also had a new exhaust put on. Nothing ridiculous for now, they replaced the "j" pipe cuz it was leaking badly, and put new pipe to the back with a single in dual out flowmaster muffler, with chrome tips that exit just behind each back wheel. Totally silent now in the car, and a nice mild grumble when I get on it.

I've decided not to drop any substantial amount of money into the current 307, as it has the roller heads and is pretty restricted. I've decided to buy a new crate 350 longblock with accessories from Jegs and drop it in sometime this summer. I know alot of Olds guys are purists and say I should go with a Rocket 350 but those are more expensive and SBC parts are cheap as dirt. This is the one I'm thinking of:

http://www.jegs.com/i/GM-Performance/80 ... tId=752506

My mech said he can drop that in no problem, just will need a rebuilt transmission with Chevy bell housing and redo the rear end with better gearing. Since I plan to do a 442 clone and the car is an '88 anyways it'll be sorta a frankenstein 442 😉

I finally got around to installing a JVC cd receiver with an aux jack so I can listen to the tunes on my iPhone. Also replaced the stock speakers with Kicker 3.5" up front and Kicker 4x10s in the back deck. Sounds alot more crisp now. I've also got a 12" MB Quart sub in a box I need to get an amp for, then I can throw that in the trunk for some bump.

Whatcha guys think about the motor plans?
 
88Classic said:
Whatcha guys think about the motor plans?

If you were working on it yourself I would say stick an Olds back in it. I'm not a purist or Olds guy, but it's just more interesting to see something else than a sbc. IMO, no GM engine parts from that era are expensive compared to today's stuff.
It's your car and your budget. Do what makes you happy, not the peanut gallery.
 
That's a good engine choice. If it were me I'd piece together my own kit though. The block is a great starter but with 8.5:1 compression it's still going to be a dog. That's the same engine I've got right now. But the base is by far one of the best to start with. 4 bolt mains (if it matters to you), 1 piece rear main seal, LT1 powdered rods. Throw a set of hypers and a decent set of heads and a matching cam/intake and your golden 8)

Welcome to the forum we need more members from Illinois. I think the Olds should keep an Olds in it, though.
 
Welcome!
Assuming your car has a 200-4R, it already has a universal bellhousing that will support both the Chevy and BOP patterns, though you'll still want to go through it and upgrade accordingly.

*edit* You do have the 200-4R, I can see the overdrive shift quadrant on your instrument cluster...
 
quick update...i've changed my mind and i'm gonna keep the olds all olds 🙂 probably 350 rocket but i found a place that sells a crate turnkey 307 with 300hp...kinda piqued my interest..may look into that. other than that the car is still about the same. i had the carb rebuilt as read elsewhere on the site and machine polished/waxed the sides of the car, where it still has some clearcoat..lol. i got the a/c working the other day. i never thought to put my gauges on it over the summer, so i did that and saw it still had some pressure. compressor would kick on and off quickly. it had 134a adapters on it already so its been converted at some point. i dumped 3 cans in and it got ice cold in the car. little too late tho, summers bout over with, LOL.

i have new a/c parts for when i get the new motor. also have a couple of cans of real r12..😀

motor plans have been pushed back a bit till i get some bills paid off, but it'll be good to go by spring/early summer. i bought this as a long term project and not an overnight thing.

olds.jpg
 
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