olds 307 to chevy 350 swap

[MrSony]

How would it be "cutting" it up? And it'd be as legit with an SBC as it would with a bigger olds swapped in lol

A lot of SBC swaps I've seen, and it may just be me, but it all just seems sloppy when someone swaps a chevy into a car that didn't have one. Wires need moved around. Olds has the starter on the drivers side, chevy on the left. new battery cables, wires for ignition and gauge/idiot lights. Not saying that it can be done and look clean, but from what I've seen, it looks just tedious and annoying. Plus if your dead set on your plan to put the 307 back in at some point or try to sell it with the car, it will be a pain in the *ss to go from Chevy to Olds again. It will never look right again. With a 350 or a 403, everything swaps over. Everything works with eachother. Even a 455 would work well in there. Like others have said, it's your car, do as you please. But if you are going to rebuild the 307 for later use, why go through all that extra trouble putting a chevy in there? Plus, it won't be a 442 anymore. It will just be a cutlass with odd looking shifters and a SBC to anyone who you may want to sell it to in the future.

 

[L67ss]

Trust me that 307 is far from what made it a 442. That just happened to be the bean counter motor used to appease purists. And I've done swaps both directions. The only wires that actually need mods are for the starter. And even when I still rocked a 307 in my 86 I still never ran that c4 management bs lol

 

[Blake442]

Keeping it Olds is great, but since you've got the SBC laying around I don't blame you... I went thru the same thing.
I blew up the original 307 in my 442 and had just gotten a free K5 Blazer that was super rusty, but had a low-mile crate 350.
It wasn't ideal, but it sure beat not being able to drive the car! It was in there for 2 years before I took it apart for the 455 swap.

All I had to do was swap the frame mounts for the motor, lengthen the starter and alternator wires, and shorten the rubber fuel line that pokes out from the frame opening to the fuel pump. I had already put headers and true dual exhaust on my car, so I just swapped headers and adapted them to my pipes. I even reused the 307 carb and got an electronic distributor out of the junkyard so that it would still run on the computer.

 

[565bbchevy]

I think it is kind of funny that GM stopped being purist in the 70's yet we think with our Gbodies it's some sort of abomination if someone puts a SBC in anything other than a Chevy and yet pretty much all the engine offerings for our cars other than the GN were pretty pathetic.
I do think a 350 or 403 Olds would be a cooler option for a true 442 or Hurst Olds but I also would have no issue with a nicely built SBC that is cleanly installed.
And I do agree that most of the SBC installs I see around here are hack jobs with wires everywhere and ac lines cut off, etc.
I have even considered and 350 Olds to replace the oil burning 307 in my Regal but it comes down to the fact I am doing it on a budget and I already have everything from a prior project to build a aluminum headed, roller cammed SBC so it makes no sense to me to spend a bunch of money going a different route.

 

[Ribbedroof]

Seems like a Monte engine harness would resolve the wiring issues related to the different component locations, and allow the OE harness to remain unmodified for later re-installation.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Seems like a Monte engine harness would resolve the wiring issues related to the different component locations, and allow the OE harness to remain unmodified for later re-installation.

This is a good idea. The 307 was compromise motor, Olds came out of the gate swinging in 83 then gave up and went backwards. The FE3X prototype 200 hp version should have made it into the 85 442 along with 5 SPD manual option. By the way the last good Olds 350 was 76. It is nearly indentical to the 73-75 engine other than like the 74 and up, no "N" crank. All those 350's need for a good boost is maybe a rering, actually may not, and either flat top pistons, if an over bore is necessary and the exhaust bowls need a bowl hog, already have a 1.625" valve and 2" or 2.07" intake valve with bowl opened while getting worked with maybe a .010"-.020" cut and a better cam. Or early heads milled slghtly with .028" gaskets, if the short block is good, most actually will be, Olds made a quality engine back then, either one gives 9 to 1 compression. Another big hit against your 307 is that awful crossover and those super manifolds. Olds gained 30 HP with ram air, shorty headers, Y pipe and Corvette converter in place of that awful crossover pipe and manifold set up. Olds actually made a worse flowing tubular manifold on swirl port cars, the HO version actually kept the same manifolds as your car.

 

[Injectedcutty]

Like others said, at the end of the day its your money, your car, etc. I personally wouldn't go the sbc route unless you keep everything to possibly swap back later but like mr. Sony said....that rarely ever happens!
If my cutlass had something other than the poopy 307 i wouldn't have most likely went the sbc route. However, one day if i ever went back to rocket power it would be a 455 without question. Doing a sbc swap can look nice if time is taken so it just doesn't look like it was tossed in and hooked up.
I've had my cutlass sbc powered since 2003ish and when i began the resto i spent a ton of time cleaning up wiring and trying to give the effect that my efi motor came from the assembly line.....i feel i accomplished that but we (my brother n law and i) have alot of hours in just trying to make it look factory. Here were the results before the motor died, but it will look the same once the new heart goes back in.