Olds 350 Performance (Opinions Please)

[79Hurst/Olds]

We would like to run 13.79 or better in our 79 H/O

Here's the deal, the reason I chose this number is that my Mustang ran a 13.8. It will have to be in full street trim, through the exhaust and on real street tires (probably 245/60-14 BFG T/A's). I don't want to use Nitrous (yet!) and the car has had a set of 3.42:1 gears installed by a previous owner.

Years ago I had a cousin that had a '72 442 with a 350 I remember that he put a cam, headers and intake (I think is was a SP2P...remember those???) with a holley. That car ran 14.14 with 3.08's and should be a heavier car!?!

Anyhow what do you think??

Thanks for your replys and opinions,

Scott and Erik

 

[BB Olds]

your goal is very possable and not as expencive as some may think. I thank the 3.42 gears are a good starting point my 79 camaro ran 13.6 @109 with 3.42's . it had a sbc 350 with stock bottom end from a 81 truck i fitted it with camel hump heads and a comp 224 deration cam with .470 lift a 600 cfm carb and headers. the big thing to do is get mached parts like cam valve springs and so on. your car is lighter than my camaro and has a better rear suspension. with your 350 olds i would install a mild cam and matching valve springs a dual plane intake and round a 600-650 cfm carb maybe have some port work done on the heads and mill them a little go for around 9.5- 10.0 compression. good luck with your set up and if you get close you can re gear to dile it in exactly.

 

[joe_padavano]

The Olds 350 is possibly one of the most underrated GM engines. I suspect that your 79 block may have windowed main webs, which are not your best choice for performance. Get a set of #5, 6, or 7 heads and install the larger valves like a W-31. The Performer RPM is a nice manifold choice. Headers are a must, since all 350s use the crappy small block exhaust manifolds. There were never any dedicated high-flow factory dual exhaust manifolds for the SBO.

If you really want to build a stout engine, get a forged crank from a 64-67 330 Olds and the beefier rods from a 403. You'll need to rebalance and use an early flywheel, but that should give you a pretty bulletproof bottom end. I strongly reccommend a dual pattern cam, since Olds exhaust ports are awful.