so my 307 is not long for this earth

[84 W40]

There 's not much you can do with that engine other than a tune up and rebuild the carb for performance and save your money to buy an olds 350 and go from there. Your year engine is a roller cam type and the heads are a small port design so don't waste your money trying to get 250 hp out of it . See if you can get your hands on an hand held oil pressure gauge and connect it where the oil sender is and check the psi when the engine is cold,hot and in drive. Sounds like it needs a rebuild but 10w40 wont hurt it try it.

 

[86Olds442]

rust me, there is nothing left to tune up on this motor. I've already pulled the heads and gave it a valve job, and replaced everything that there is to replace in regards to a tune up. I just want this motor to last a year or hopefully two. We'll see. This car just reminds me of the money pit movie. LOL. Good thing it was cheap to buy, just not cheap to fix. :|

 

[monte olrac]

10w 40 won't make that much of a difference anyway, bump it up to 20w 50 or straight 50 weight night be a band aid fix but it should due until you are ready to drop a new motor. I would check it with a manual guage as sugguested earlier too. last if you don't mind doing a little work replace the oil pump with a high pressure unit. that should get you by.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I will second getting a mechanical gauge to check it with. They should be available for less than $20 at a parts store. That way, you can see if the stock gauge is off. As for what to do, I put a Buick 231 V6 through severe service pizza delivery driving, and made it go 200k in the mid 1990's (At the time, they were known for going out at around 80k.). The oil pumps in Buicks are notorious for giving out due to a rather poor design that does not age well. Mine was no exception to the rule in that oil pressure was low enough that the light would flicker on at idle some times. My fix was straight 40 weight, and I managed to get another 40k out of it before I pulled it out. Ironically, I sold it to someone to replace the engine in an 84 Cutlass that had 70k miles on it, and, yep... a rod knock! I had told the guy it should not be used without changing the timing chain and oil pump, but he insisted on not spending the money. So, it lasted about another month after that. Anyways, try 40 weight. If it worked for a 231 that was manually shifted at 6k RPM all day long, it should last for a while in a car driven normally.

As for what happened to the pizza delivery beater Cutlass, well... the pic is in my sig. As for it's pizza delivery career, I just finished using it for that purpose tonight.

 

[86cutlassrules]

Have you changed the oil recently and the problem showed up soon after? Sometimes a defective filter will throw your pressure off its a rarity but possible. First thing to do is make sure you have enough oil in it, I think you said before that it has an oil leak, who knows its worth a shot. Next put the mechanical gauge on it and see how much pressure you actually have. If your warm pressure is below 15-20 at idle your stuck. Because in gear at a light you'll have something like 5 psi. My recommendation is to take the engine off the mounts lift it up a few inches, remove the oil pan and just buy a new set of standard rod and main bearings, and a high pressure pump. You'll get another decade out of it. I ran a 75 caddy with a 500 down to 1 quart of oil and it just started to make that noise, to let you know its going to have a rod knock any second. I shut it down and did exactly what I just told you and Ive put 30k on it since. Run it on 10-40 in the winter and 20-50 in the summer and you'll never have a problem. A Lucas oil additive wont hurt either. If your looking for the cheap way out Im about to part out an 86 Cutlass Supreme that has I think 114k on it but runs super strong Ill give you the engine minus the intake, carb, and sensors for like $100 or some parts I could use for my other 86 either or.

 

[jae]

10w 40 won't make that much of a difference anyway, bump it up to 20w 50 or straight 50 weight night be a band aid fix but it should due until you are ready to drop a new motor. I would check it with a manual guage as sugguested earlier too. last if you don't mind doing a little work replace the oil pump with a high pressure unit. that should get you by.

Agree. I had a similar issue years ago and ran 20w50 to pet the motor along for a year or so. Depending on were you live it can be slightly hard starting in winter but the thicker oil will help. But I wouldn't get comfortable with this quick fix - you should find out what the pressure is first.

Best thing to do is start with the basics. If you changed the oil recently how did the old oil look, feel, smell? Are you getting any type of blow-by? What was the oil reading on the dipstick when you parked after the freeway romp, normal or low? How was the pressure before this highway run? I'd try looking at the filter too to see if there's trash or shavings in it.

Also, are your other gauges reading inaccurately, particularly the volt gauge? If so, basic tell-tell sign the gauges are off.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[86Olds442]

10w 40 won't make that much of a difference anyway, bump it up to 20w 50 or straight 50 weight night be a band aid fix but it should due until you are ready to drop a new motor. I would check it with a manual guage as sugguested earlier too. last if you don't mind doing a little work replace the oil pump with a high pressure unit. that should get you by.

Agree. I had a similar issue years ago and ran 20w50 to pet the motor along for a year or so. Depending on were you live it can be slightly hard starting in winter but the thicker oil will help. But I wouldn't get comfortable with this quick fix - you should find out what the pressure is first.

Best thing to do is start with the basics. If you changed the oil recently how did the old oil look, feel, smell? Are you getting any type of blow-by? What was the oil reading on the dipstick when you parked after the freeway romp, normal or low? How was the pressure before this highway run? I'd try looking at the filter too to see if there's trash or shavings in it.

Also, are your other gauges reading inaccurately, particularly the volt gauge? If so, basic tell-tell sign the gauges are off.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Ok, So I got tired of looking at the poor car sitting in the driveway and decided to check her oil pressure and change her oil. Well I now know that while cold, at least, she's getting about 47 psi. This is about a 2-3 psi improvement from before I changed the oil. Still don't have a manual guage, my Advance Auto was out of stock when I visited them. I'll get one this week still, but this is with a new sending unit on it too. All of the gauges seem to read accurately so, who knows how accurate the gauge is. I didn't get to fully warm her up or drive her yet and check what pressure I'm getting, I will get to do that tomorrow.

Now the oil that came out was put in the car in mid to late November, and has not even 500 miles on it. It was BLACK. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I kept the oil filter and will cut that open this week too.

The best news so far this week is that there is a machine shop around me willing to pull the motor, rebuild it and put it back in for $1800. While I don't really have this to spend today, I can cover this this year I'm sure. So I feel better about that!

Thanks Guys. I appreciate all of the help and advice. I'll keep you all updated with what I get out of it tomorrow.

 

[STL84Calais]

Ok, So I got tired of looking at the poor car sitting in the driveway and decided to check her oil pressure and change her oil. Well I now know that while cold, at least, she's getting about 47 psi. This is about a 2-3 psi improvement from before I changed the oil. Still don't have a manual guage, my Advance Auto was out of stock when I visited them. I'll get one this week still, but this is with a new sending unit on it too. All of the gauges seem to read accurately so, who knows how accurate the gauge is. I didn't get to fully warm her up or drive her yet and check what pressure I'm getting, I will get to do that tomorrow.

Now the oil that came out was put in the car in mid to late November, and has not even 500 miles on it. It was BLACK. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I kept the oil filter and will cut that open this week too.

The best news so far this week is that there is a machine shop around me willing to pull the motor, rebuild it and put it back in for $1800. While I don't really have this to spend today, I can cover this this year I'm sure. So I feel better about that!

Thanks Guys. I appreciate all of the help and advice. I'll keep you all updated with what I get out of it tomorrow.

While its in there, have them put a hotter cam in it, I'm running a Duration 280/290, Lift .472/.496 cam in my 455 with stock rockers (you should be able to to go up to .500 lift on stock valvetrain), this may be a little more than you want to go, but gives you an idea on how big you could go. Also run some SBO headers, these will improve your exhaust flow tremondusly. Have the heads ported and polished.

If you get ambitious, convert it to a hydraulic motor, use a set of ported/polished 5a heads with an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake port matched (I'd run a halo girdle for safety).

Both setups should make decent power, with the latter making more, although with much more $$$ spent. You could probably pull off the first setup for between $600-700 extra. Just an Idea if you can swing it. If it were me, I'd save a little extra, you'll end up liking it .

 

[ponchoman49]

Do yourself a favor and don't always believe the guage in the dash. Verify your oil pressure with an external guage from the parts store when they do get some in. The Olds rallye pack guages are notorious for showing lower than normal oil pressure and battery voltage due to weak solder joints in the guage cluster circuit board. Your 307 may be just fine. If it does end up being an oil pressure problem have it looked at and determine the cause of the weak pressure. You may just have a partially clogged pickup screen, blockage somewhere or a weak pump. Of course the worst case scenario is worn main and or rod bearings which does happen now and then on these "9" motors so you could have the crank plasti-guaged and some undersized bearings thrown in until you decide what to do for a new motor down the road. I would not get rid of the original 307 to your car whatever you do.

 

[gto78]

I've got an idea that maybe hasn't been posted yet, although I didn't entirely read everyone elses posts. Can you keep the original 307 block and heads, but put in a crank with a longer throw along with matching rods and pistons that may get you a 326-340 size displacement? I'm not familiar with Olds engines but I know some Pontiac guys will put a 455 crank into a 400 to yield a 428 or something similar. Also just like the 350 SBC guys that come up with 377 and 383 etc. Possibly there's a kit for you to upgrade the 307 and drop it right back in there with a lot of original parts (and matching numbers possibly).

JOE