Rebuilding my '86 307. Advice?

[442 Owner]

We found out tonight that this 307 has high perdormance roller lifters in it... which means to replace them thats another $150-$200 into the car why dont we invent a car that just burns our money instead of gasoline, eliminate the middle man so to speak

 

[ERIC87442]

We found out tonight that this 307 has high perdormance roller lifters in it... which means to replace them thats another $150-$200 into the car why dont we invent a car that just burns our money instead of gasoline, eliminate the middle man so to speak

haha nice way to put it, i am currently getting my 307 rebuilt, im not looking to get power out of it but its getting bored .060 and a bit of head work, im at about $1600 and counting so far, im keeping my stock cam and valvetrain there was only about 49k miles on it when i started the rebuild. building a 307 can get pricey if you want to get a good amount of power out of it.
you should check this link out http://popularhotrodding.automotive.com ... index.html

 

[86-blk442]

I would have to agree with the others and try looking for a 350 or bigger. 350's can be had fairly cheap (I got mine for $250 and built from there). When my 307 decided to kick the bucket and piss oil from the rear main I thought about rebuilding it, but I found the 350 and put some money into that. I'm not disappointed in the least bit with it, and with the OD trans I still get decent mileage when I keep my foot out of it. Just my .02 though!

 

[Blake442]

We found out tonight that this 307 has high perdormance roller lifters in it... which means to replace them thats another $150-$200 into the car why dont we invent a car that just burns our money instead of gasoline, eliminate the middle man so to speak

'86-'90 307's have roller cams from the factory. I would imagine they are still the originals.

For the amount of power you're looking to get, a pretty simple 350 or 403 would do the job just fine.
I just can't see the point of spending a dime on a 307 unless the goal is for a 100% correct resto...
If it were me, I'd put a 455 in it (I did).
Stuff the 307 in the corner of the garage and go have some fun.

 

[442 Owner]

Problem: we added the high rise intake and carburetor and aircleaner but it wont all fit under the hood. we substituted the carburetor for a Holley because they sit lower but it still needed 1-2 inches off for the hood to close. hood scoop idea is out. suggestions? please and thank you

 

[dogsht]

Yea. Take the hood off and drive it around when you find out its slower does not drive as well and uses more fuel maybe you will read the replys you already have as they were all good. Or you can just be determined to learn the hard expensive way.

 

[tc1959]

Problem: we added the high rise intake and carburetor and aircleaner but it wont all fit under the hood. we substituted the carburetor for a Holley because they sit lower but it still needed 1-2 inches off for the hood to close. hood scoop idea is out. suggestions? please and thank you

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Ah....reminds me of when I was 17 and put a Torker intake/Holley 600 on a 400 sbc in a '72 Caprice with 2.73 gears. $350 later it dawned on me that I had no idea wtf I was doing at the time.

On another note, I had a tired 403 in an '85 Cutlass. The rings were so bad it blew oil out of the driver's side tail pipe but it would still lay down a patch for half a block with a Q-JET on it.

Moral of the story....listen to advice from people that have already been through the wringer a few times. It will save you a headache and money. :wink:

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Issue #1, if your using an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, then it will fit under the stock hood. You'll need a drop base air cleaner though.

Issue #2, if you have roller lifters then as mentioned above, you've more than likely have the 7A headed roller engine. Considering there are NO aftermarket intakes that will properly bolt on to this engine without SEVERE port mistmatch, your going to end up with a super turd.

At this point you'd be better off to pull the intake and put the stock intake and carb back on.

This is all assuming you have the small port 7A heads.

The only way you could really get around this would be to pull the heads and install a set of the earlier 5A casting heads. But that's going to involve some work, espeically if you want to keep the roller cam.
And by the time it's all said and done, your still left with just a marginally better engine.

Whereas a 350 Olds would drop right in place...

 

[Dave1986]

sounds to me like youre having issues :?

i understand, i had issues too almost doing the exact same thing. I understand where everyone is coming from with the whole "replace the engine" deal. and in the end that probally is your best bet, however, swapping engines aint no easy task either.

i rebuilt my 307 too with a high rise intake and for the clearance problem, we modified the aircleaner. chopped off the bottom and put a corvette aircleaner bottom on it to shave off some height. that solved the poblem nicely and now we have a one of a kind 307! who else can claim they have modified it that way and thats pretty cool to say that.

but what do i know? im a 19 year old noob with a one-of-a-kind '86 olds that i wouldnt sell for the world :wink: