rebuilding and addn performance 86' v8 307 engine

[custom442]

No not entirely true.. If your talking SBC's sure..they may be cheaper to build.. but step into BBC territory, ive never seen em close to being a true bang for your buck... While searching thru catalogs you may have a larger array of parts to chose from when building a BBC but theyre prices are about the same as comparable Olds performance parts...

Yes, was referring to SBC. I'd rather have a 455 than a 454 if I were to build it, just cuz my car is an olds. But when it comes to building a mouse motor, I've gotta go with the cheaper one that puts out more power.

 

[tbird1986]

to a 307 some of the best things you can do for cheap is get the cam out of a vin 9 307 thats a 20hp increase get the earlier 5a heads (much better flow) and the 16 cast iron intake from 77-79 160thermostat gapn plugs a .060 and advance your timing by bout 2degrees and you will see a major increase all around

 

[Minion1186]

what i was thinking of doing is throwing on a set of 350 olds heads on the 307,an older carby,older hei dist. and a 350 intkae manifold,bottom end 307,top end 350.

 

[Yoda]

Several people have touched on the axle ratio as an issue and for good reason. It was quite common to equip G-Body cars with a 2.41:1 axle ratio. While that ratio improved fuel economy for at-the-speed-limit freeway cruising it was one of the single biggest hindrances to performance. Swapping to a 3.23:1 or 3.42:1 ratio should be the very first step in any performance plans for an otherwise stock car. Before headers or intake. The ratio change will be a much more profound improvement to performance than dual exhaust and a nice dual plane. If you plan to keep the stock cam go with the 3.23:1 gear set even if you add the headers and intake. If you will also bump up the cam for a little lope and deck the heads for compression you might want to try 3.42:1 or 3.55:1 gears.

 

[monte olrac]

No not entirely true.. If your talking SBC's sure..they may be cheaper to build.. but step into BBC territory, ive never seen em close to being a true bang for your buck... While searching thru catalogs you may have a larger array of parts to chose from when building a BBC but theyre prices are about the same as comparable Olds performance parts...

Well I have to dissagree, I know that a BBC maybe isn't as cost effective as a big inch olds, But the availabilty of "comparable" high performance parts is no where near close, you can make big power out of an B.O.P. but you will need to do vast amounts of researsh an find a reputable machine shop to do head work for you, custom grind cams and so on. it's alot easier for me to look on summit and but parts that have been proven to perform and have choices. IMO.

 

[kustomkyle]

Some people also don't understand that "adding a little horsepower" doesn't mean 500+horsepower.

I dont know if this was a crack at what i posted but here is a little explination on my post and the reason that i posted this interesting article was....
First: To show all of the chevy boys that are reading the posts on this subject that the oldsmobile engines are gone but they are not forgoten there are still plenty of people out there building them and making all kinds of numbers wether they are huge or not. The thing is that they are still doing it for the same price or cheaper than all those chevy guys out there, and i plan on proving that to all my buddies when i build my 403!
Second: There was a lot of information in that article and many others on this pair of builders about building these motors. The article holds information on little things that could make these motors have a little more power or IF he had a little more to spend he could use more of the article to make some more power. It was just to plant the ideas in his head to see what he COULD achive out of his stock motor and still keep that stock block in it. Also power is all about time determination and the willingness to learn things that one may not have known before to build with what one has. That is all this was, a point in the right direction, to have a path to head down.
So if that comment was pointed toward me that is not what i was going for and if it wasn't i guess everyone got more information than was needed.....and if that it the case i am sorry for my babbling.....

No, I was referring to the 307 bashers.

The non-performance gearing that everyone says to change will make it accelerate better, but then you take away one of the benefits of a small V8, which is good gas mileage. I would rather make a 307 a little peppier but still be able to cruise at 75MPH and get 23MPG. The 4-speed auto helps a lot too, which would make highway driving better and apparently the 3.73 equipped 442's weren't much worse for fuel mileage than a VIN Y car. Modifying a 307 and driveline too much would pretty much defeat the purpose of having a small engine, and you would be better off putting in a bigger engine. Basically it is all about what kind of "performance" you want, "light" or "heavy".

 

[patmckinneyracing]

As far as the big block arguement, yes parts are more readily available for the BBC while a BBO is more unique but it depends on how deep your pocket is and how far are you willing to go. As far as I'm concerned, all big block builds are going to cost you an arm and a leg if you actually do a good job and don't half *ss it like some people do. As previously stated, it really is about who you know and if you have contacts to help with the machine work and parts. I had the owner of Seacoast Dyno up in new england "guide" me through the build of my sbc 350 and he only charged me lil under a 1000$.

Now for the mouse motors battle taking place. I'll let it be known that I deal mainly with mopar and my one chevy.

The best, and as stated already, FIRST THING you should do is do a rear end swap. A cam, intake, and headers can come letter once you have an idea of what your working with. My 350 is making 400hp with a good 350 transmission with a b&m shift kit, but I wasn't feeling a damn thing because I was running the stock 2.29 dog leg. A rear end swap is the biggest thing that can turn your 307 powered olds from econo to performo.

Now I don't know how far you are willing to go on this build with sticking to "factory" or "resto-mod". The truth is that sbc motors are easier to find. You can find a 350 sbc in any junkyard in just about any camaro, truck, whatever. The chevy's were mass produced and were damn good motors. Now the olds motors are plenty good too because they are know for their torque (same with mopars) and are more unique than seeing a chevy under the hood.

My 2 cents, what the hell does it matter?! Chevy made both chevy and olds motors so is it that big of a deal? Its not like our cars are pulling the price of a hemi challenger or yenko camaro. Unless you have a junkyard near you that hasn't crushed our cars, cause basically our cars were "disposable" and weren't worth a thing even back in those days, then your going to be paying good money to get parts online that are either chinese crap or are worth top dollar.