My 79 cutlass Calais has an olds 260 in it an i was just wondering if anyone has any info on the 260 I haven't heard anything on these engines. Are they good for anything? If so any build info would be very helpful possibly pulling the 260 out to put into my brothers 83 cutlass for his first vehicle.
Olds 260 questions
- Thread starter Itb2Ez
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The 260 was great for what it was designed to do -- run smooth, get decent mpg, and last a long time. If you can resist the urge to try to "make it better", it'll treat you well. Just keep it tuned and maintained. They are best left in stock form.
Good for reliability, gas mileage. They're not worth messing with as far as building them up.Itb2Ez said:
In my experience the gas mileage really isn't worth it either.
Comparing a an '81 Cutlass with a 260/TH-350C/2.29 combo and an '87 with a 455/TH-2004R/3.73 combo, the '87 managed roughly 2-3mpg better on average.
Definitely not worth swapping into anything unless you absolutely NEEDED a car up and running.
Comparing a an '81 Cutlass with a 260/TH-350C/2.29 combo and an '87 with a 455/TH-2004R/3.73 combo, the '87 managed roughly 2-3mpg better on average.
Definitely not worth swapping into anything unless you absolutely NEEDED a car up and running.
I pretty much assumed it wasn't the greatest engine just wanted to make sure. Only reason for considering the swap is my brother isn't putting in much fund wise an I wasn't Going to build him a motor just wasn't sure if the 260 was worth it since its a engine I already have or if I should keep shopping around for a $100 305 someone is yanking out an discarding.
FE3X CLONE said:
Totally agree with you on that. My 260 was the biggest turd and got shitty milage to boot. That little fvcker would just keep on going though even after severly overheating it a couple of times and running it damn near with no oil in it.
Itb2Ez, don't put a stupid Chevy engine in your Cutlass and butcher it all up. Just get any other Olds small block. It'll drop right in.
I have a 260. One time I pulled into a dirt parking lot and floored it. I wanted to make it spin out. But, it didn't even break traction. Pretty sad. But, on the highway it moves and grooves on down the road. It surprisingly has pretty decent pep at highway speeds and easily goes 80+ in traffic. One of these days I hope to put in a nice 350 but for now the 260 does fine as long as I don't want to burn out in dirt parking lots.
I had one in a Cutlass Wagon back when these things were new, and I despised it. Floor it from a dead stop and it would wait about a second before it moved; providing quite a bit of entertainment when crossing a busy roadway. The only plus I can think of is that I tried to kill it again and again and it just wouldn't die.
What's odd is I have really fat 50 series 15 inch tires on this cutlass an it breaks the tires lose extremely easy both of them. I assume its the 260 because it is a 2 barrel car an the exhaust is the size of a straw lol. It breaks the tires loose very easy but has zero acceleration am I missing something could this engine be something else? I did research in 442.com an all the 350's had 4 barrels according to there site.
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