Olds 350 question

[jonnyslick]

Hey,

I was talking to a friend and I mentioned that I'd like to put an Olds 350 into my Cutlass to replace the 307 and he kinda' laughed and suggested a Chevy 350. Now he's in his 60's and was a drag racer from back in the day and worked on lots more V8's than me, so I tend not to question him too much.

But he said that the Olds 350 is a very slow reving motor and that even with a good cam, head, and intake it just doesn't have the crisp response of a Chevy 350.

Now ... I've been around, built and driven Chevy 350 cars, but honestly I have no experience with an Olds 350. So ... is he right? Does the Olds motor rev slower and more sluggish than a Chevy?

 

[DrRansom442]

Hey,

I was talking to a friend and I mentioned that I'd like to put an Olds 350 into my Cutlass to replace the 307 and he kinda' laughed and suggested a Chevy 350. Now he's in his 60's and was a drag racer from back in the day and worked on lots more V8's than me, so I tend not to question him too much.

But he said that the Olds 350 is a very slow reving motor and that even with a good cam, head, and intake it just doesn't have the crisp response of a Chevy 350.

Now ... I've been around, built and driven Chevy 350 cars, but honestly I have no experience with an Olds 350. So ... is he right? Does the Olds motor rev slower and more sluggish than a Chevy?

Oldsmobiles are low RPM torque motors, so in a sense he is right, but ask him how many W-30 tore up the Chevelles on the strip. Response to me would imply acceleration and to me that is where torque trumps high rpm. Sure you can spin Chevies up to 9500 rpm (NASCAR does it for 500 miles at a time) but just how much wear and tear you think that is? If you want to build an Olds by all means build an Olds. They make plenty enough power for street/strip combos. Chevies are done to death.

 

[joe_padavano]

Oldsmobiles are low RPM torque motors...

Really?

Stroke of a 350 Chevy - 3.48"

Stroke of a 350 Olds - 3.385"

Sounds like an unfounded stereotype to me.

 

[dan2286]

If you plan on using the car for mainly street driving, the Olds engine will be great. They make great low-end torque in stock form, which helps move the car around. With a stock Olds engine, they dont like being revved over 5 or 6k on a regular basis. That can be fixed with some simple modifications. Go visit Oldspower.com or Realoldspower.com and talk to them for info. You also have to realize that it is going to cost more money to put a Chevy in place of the 307.

 

[joe_padavano]

The Olds 350 has the best bore/stroke ratio of any of the GM 350 motors. Given the same quality parts (rods, pistons, etc), there's no reason why it won't rev exactly the same as an SBC. More to the point, why do you need a 6500 RPM motor for a street car that never sees above 5000 anyway?

 

[jonnyslick]

^ I really don't need anything beyond 6k or 6.5k really. I'm just relaying what my friend told me and was curious if he was correct in his statement. I'm looking for around a 350 - 400 whp motor, that I can drive daily really. Nothing too fancy .

 

[joe_padavano]

^ I really don't need anything beyond 6k or 6.5k really. I'm just relaying what my friend told me and was curious if he was correct in his statement. I'm looking for around a 350 - 400 whp motor, that I can drive daily really. Nothing too fancy .

My point was that for a street driven motor, you'll rarely see the high side of 4500 RPM, never mind 6000.

 

[jonnyslick]

Yeah ..... well unless you drive like me 8).

So you said earlier that the SBO has a better bore/stroke ratio than the SBC. What does that mean exactly? What makes a good bore/stroke ratio and what makes one bad?

Also, you have any recomendations on cams that would fit what I'm looking for above and operated around say 1,500 to 6,500 range (or close). I wish I could find more videos online of SBO's with cams.

 

[steve57104]

olds is the way to go, if you are looking for street performance the 350 olds has plenty of tourque to deliver a lot of fun, if you want to run at the track at 6000 rpm then maybe chevy is the way to go

 

[steve57104]

for street, look for a cam that has the most amount of lift with the least amount of duration, mondello has a good list of cams and so does rocket racing or oldsmobile performance