BUILD THREAD Street/Strip Cutlass Build: Race it, break it, fix it, repeat.

[Kwik_Cutty88]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Bad News.

I would definitely do that, if funds allowed, which the don't. Also would have liked to do some port and polish work, and put higher compression pistons in, but right now I'm just ready to get it back on the road

 

[307 Regal]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Bad News.

Oh the joys of hot rodding... :|

This.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Bad News.

Got quite a bit done today. Painted both front wheels, just have to add the gloss coat to the plasti dip. Pressed in all of the new Energy Suspension control arm bushings. My dad picked up 4 new ball joints and poly sway bar end links. Also started re painting my valve covers and air cleaner with VHT Wrinkle plus. It's super hard to get it to wrinkle nicely/uniform, have to respray it this week, any tips? Gonna do all the pulleys and accessory brackets with that stuff as well. Definitely a look I haven't seen before. Started disassembling my leaky power steering pump for a rebuilt as well. Also ordered a new flex plate , balancer, oil pressure and water temp gauge. Still have to get the valve seals and the necessary gaskets. Still have that 168 tooth B&M flexplate and Jeg's balancer for a 400, (only 20k miles) up for grabs. Please spread the word.

 

[Fox80]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Good to see you got it figured out, by the look of that flange I knew it was a 350 crank, if you ever actually see a 400 stock crank you will see it is very noticeable how different they look, and most people would never use a stock 400 crank for a 383. A 383 would need to be balanced and internally balancing a stock 400 crank with a 383 rod/piston setup is a pain and isn't very wise on a very weak stock 400 crank. I would bet for sure you have found your driveline vibration, might not be a bad idea to pull a couple main caps and give the main bearings a look, if the vibration was bad enough for you to feel it that can be very hard on the mains, also check your oil pump pickup tube they like to crack from vibration as well as the pump housing, for $28 I would just put a new pump on it to be safe. I seen a motor break the pump off the main cap and drop it in the pan and lose oil pressure because it lost about ten teeth on a ring gear so it happens very easy

 

[BuWaGone]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Sorry to hear about you "383" actually being a possible 350. I say possible because if your block is truly a 71 307 block you would have to bore it +.125 to get 4" bore of a 350. Not trying to dishearten you but you may want to recheck your block I.D. numbers. Wish you the best of luck on that. Which ever cubic inch your engine turns out to be you have a very nice Cutlass and hope you keep up the awesome work.

 

[BuWaGone]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Good to see you got it figured out, by the look of that flange I knew it was a 350 crank, if you ever actually see a 400 stock crank you will see it is very noticeable how different they look, and most people would never use a stock 400 crank for a 383. A 383 would need to be balanced and internally balancing a stock 400 crank with a 383 rod/piston setup is a pain and isn't very wise on a very weak stock 400 crank. I would bet for sure you have found your driveline vibration, might not be a bad idea to pull a couple main caps and give the main bearings a look, if the vibration was bad enough for you to feel it that can be very hard on the mains, also check your oil pump pickup tube they like to crack from vibration as well as the pump housing, for $28 I would just put a new pump on it to be safe. I seen a motor break the pump off the main cap and drop it in the pan and lose oil pressure because it lost about ten teeth on a ring gear so it happens very easy

x2, I would check out my main bearings and of they showed a lot of wear plus your excessively worn gear drive I'd disassemble the block, clean it and install new bears. There must be a lot of metal in the oil.

 

[Fox80]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Sorry to hear about you "383" actually being a possible 350. I say possible because if your block is truly a 71 307 block you would have to bore it +.125 to get 4" bore of a 350. Not trying to dishearten you but you may want to recheck your block I.D. numbers. Wish you the best of luck on that. Which ever cubic inch your engine turns out to be you have a very nice Cutlass and hope you keep up the awesome work.

Must be I missed something I didn't realize you had a 307 block, if so then yes that is probably a 307 the above post is correct a 307 block will be a 307 with that crank, you could not have bored it out large enough to make a 350 out of it

 

[BuWaGone]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Sorry to hear about you "383" actually being a possible 350. I say possible because if your block is truly a 71 307 block you would have to bore it +.125 to get 4" bore of a 350. Not trying to dishearten you but you may want to recheck your block I.D. numbers. Wish you the best of luck on that. Which ever cubic inch your engine turns out to be you have a very nice Cutlass and hope you keep up the awesome work.

Must be I missed something I didn't realize you had a 307 block, if so then yes that is probably a 307 the above post is correct a 307 block will be a 307 with that crank, you could not have bored it out large enough to make a 350 out of it

I just noticed his sig. it lists a 71 307 block bored. I hope it was a typo but if not he still has a stout 307 with the parts he has. Just find a decent rebuild able 350 short block and do a simple rebuild. If the bores don't have taper maybe you can get by with a simple freshen up.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

We checked the bore size as well. It is definitely a 4" bore. Weird cause the the vin tag under the head on the right side and the stamping number in the rear left verify its a 307. I can post numbers of some of you guys wanna check it out. When we pulled the pan off absolutely no metal in the oil, everything was tight and clean. In fact I don't think I've ever had any metal in the oil, when I checked during previous changes. Pickup looked ok too. Maybe I just got real lucky.

 

[Fox80]

Re: Budget Cutlass Build Thread, Making Progress.

Yea post the block number, it must be a 350 block should end in "010" in the number by the bell housing flange on the left side