I am now the owner of a 1974 Oldsmobile Rocket 350 and everything attached to it, including a TH350 transmission, a four barrel quadrajet, a 38 year old AC compressor and alternator, and the original air cleaner with about 3/4ths of the Rocket 350 sticker still on it. Apparently it was pulled from an Omega and was still running great while it was still in the car with a little less than 100k on it and no previous rebuilds, which, considering my still running fine with 167k and dubious maintenance 307, is entirely believable.
The Plan: First, compression check the cylinders. If everything looks all right there, move on to breaking it down, checking over everything for obvious wear, and overhauling the sh*t out of it. Plus, researching good power-adding upgrades to squeeze more beef from this baby. If it needs a rebuilding, time to start saving up money for the machinework! I was planning on spending well over two thousand on a high performance crate engine for my Cutlass anyways, so no need to cut corners when it comes to sprucing up this beasty. Then, I'm going to take my time rebuilding this engine right.
Optionals: Rebuilding the Quadrajet. On one hand, keeping the Quadrajet would keep it authentic Olds, which suddenly means a good bit more to me than before, but on the other hand I'm still going to convert my Cutlass to a five speed manual and that's not exactly authetic Olds either. Plus, I was intending on the Knightmobile being my answer to the Turbo Regal: The Super Cutlass. Which, naturally, requires putting in a supercharger, which, in turn, requires either a blowthrough capable carb for a centrifugal super(my preference for stealth supercharging), or requires installing a Roots super where I don't think it really matters what kind of carb I have as long as it can pump the gas.
Sub Optionals: I could just sell the Quadrajet before or after rebuilding it in order to recoup a bit of money which would, in turn, be spent on a 750CFM Demon for the centrifugal super.
I'm not sure if I should repaint the engine back to gold, which it seems it was originally(based on the old engine paint still on the front and the valve covers), or to metallic blue which would fit my car better and, at least according to Oldsfaq, was the normal color of 74 350s. I'm also not sure it really matters.