what should the olds cutlass line should been your ideas
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"Cafe Standards" aside, I think it was a huge mistake going from the Olds 350 to the 307. Really GM? They should have worked on a fuel injected Olds 350. They had throttle body injected cars around the same period. I think the OD 200 and 10 bolt 3:73 rears were ok, but that 307 was a TURD! That's just me.
yea what have been nice for fuel injected engine. I wish the 350 and 455 were standard baseline engines then go from there to top of the line engine. they could have done better on the hurst/olds hood scoop
350 Olds, close ratio 4 speed, 8.5 limited slip with 3.73 gears. The 4-4-2 coulda stood for 4 barrell Qjet, 4 speed manual, and 2 black marks :lol: It would have been nice to see a W30 hood or maybe a ram air setup like the 69s had.
Olds 350 or 403 with an improved version of the multiport from the 70's, 2004R AND 5 spd manual and the 3.73 8.5" posi. Even a big bore TBI would have allowed the larger motors. The standard trans could have called the 4 speed plus O/D. Even the Hurst shifter could have been marked that way. Too bad Olds didn't have the balls to put the 403 in the late 70's, would not have been any harder than the 350. Late 70's version should have had multiport 403 for California, Qjet for the rest, dual snorkel air cleaner, dual outlet exhaust, TH350C with higher stall and 3.08 posi 8.5" rear. That would have been near the quickest car of the late 70's. I also would have improved the exhaust manifolds, got rid of the awful cross over. A new Y pipe and better cat alone would have helped these car a lot.
I really like your idea that would have made a better car platform. to be honest I think if olds would had enough balls to tell corporate to shove it and put the muscle back in the famous named cars would been
The Cutlass and all other GM cars should have been powered by an engine developed after the top brass has summoned the division heads, banged their heads together and made them pool their ideas to come up with a great engine, great transmission etc, perhaps as long ago as the '50s.
Having sorted out a superb drivetrain they should have been told to go away and style their cars to meet various market demands without competing among themselves, but taking sales from Ford and Chrysler, and as the market changed making cars that would make the overseas makers forget about trying to crack the American market.
On that basis the '80s Cutlass would have a smooth efficient corporate V8 with a corporate V6 economy option for the buyers who wanted a car with a degree of luxury and performance a cut above Chevrolets, Fords or Plymouths, maybe if they wanted a more performance oriented car they would visit the Pontiac dealer, or for more luxury go to the Buick dealer. They wouldn't visit the Cadillac showroom unless the Olds was the second car for the wifes' runabout or for junior to go to college.
And they wouldn't be visiting the very few importers showrooms unless they wanted a car for a special niche not covered by American makers, such as a small sporty two seater or exotic supercar, or perhaps the snob value of a Rolls Royce.
I think that's what Alfred P Sloan would have wanted.
However in the real world the Oldsmobile heads did their best with what was available, G bodies were good cars for their time, reflected in sales figures. Remember making cars is a business run by businessmen, not car enthusiasts. As gearheads it's up to us to modify our cars to our own requirements, if we own a G body it's because we like the basic platform.
Roger.
Having sorted out a superb drivetrain they should have been told to go away and style their cars to meet various market demands without competing among themselves, but taking sales from Ford and Chrysler, and as the market changed making cars that would make the overseas makers forget about trying to crack the American market.
On that basis the '80s Cutlass would have a smooth efficient corporate V8 with a corporate V6 economy option for the buyers who wanted a car with a degree of luxury and performance a cut above Chevrolets, Fords or Plymouths, maybe if they wanted a more performance oriented car they would visit the Pontiac dealer, or for more luxury go to the Buick dealer. They wouldn't visit the Cadillac showroom unless the Olds was the second car for the wifes' runabout or for junior to go to college.
And they wouldn't be visiting the very few importers showrooms unless they wanted a car for a special niche not covered by American makers, such as a small sporty two seater or exotic supercar, or perhaps the snob value of a Rolls Royce.
I think that's what Alfred P Sloan would have wanted.
However in the real world the Oldsmobile heads did their best with what was available, G bodies were good cars for their time, reflected in sales figures. Remember making cars is a business run by businessmen, not car enthusiasts. As gearheads it's up to us to modify our cars to our own requirements, if we own a G body it's because we like the basic platform.
Roger.
Since the 350/403 were already discontinued by the time the 83 H/O came out and the 307 was the only thing they had, I think they should've actually just packed some more power into it. You could get plenty more out of it and still easily pass the fuel/emissions standards of the time. It would just require the bean counters at GM to shut their collective buttholes and let Olds build something really special.
Keeping in mind the situation at the time, I think they could've actually designed a good cam for the 307 ( which would have more than 8:1 CR ) instead of just using some old turd smog cam they had leftover from the 70's. Installed bigger valves in the heads and finally designed some exhaust manifolds that weren't huge pieces of $hit and install a real dual exhaust. A functional ram air or cowl induction scoop would've been very appropriate too. Maybe even a dealer installed 'hot rod' package of some sort for 'off road use only' for even more power. Olds then wouldn't have to deal with all the smog legalities.
This is a realistic version Olds could have actually done if it weren't for all the GM political/bean counting crap.
P.S. Maybe the H/O's and 442's would come with all of the weight saving aluminum pieces too ( radiator support, hood, bumper inserts, brake drums ).
Keeping in mind the situation at the time, I think they could've actually designed a good cam for the 307 ( which would have more than 8:1 CR ) instead of just using some old turd smog cam they had leftover from the 70's. Installed bigger valves in the heads and finally designed some exhaust manifolds that weren't huge pieces of $hit and install a real dual exhaust. A functional ram air or cowl induction scoop would've been very appropriate too. Maybe even a dealer installed 'hot rod' package of some sort for 'off road use only' for even more power. Olds then wouldn't have to deal with all the smog legalities.
This is a realistic version Olds could have actually done if it weren't for all the GM political/bean counting crap.
P.S. Maybe the H/O's and 442's would come with all of the weight saving aluminum pieces too ( radiator support, hood, bumper inserts, brake drums ).
For what was supposedly a performance car there was not much performance. Everyone who said it hit the mark with the idea of at least a 350 offering. I nice TBI version of a Rocket 350 would have been nice. Everyone keeps telling me at shows how the 307 was the best engine GM ever made, but it certainly was not one of the best performers. Some other options would have been nice - functional ram air hood, better suspension packages, and maybe options for the rear wing on non HO cars.
The 307 was a great engine. Acceptable hp/tq and excellent fuel economy for the time. I got 450,000 km out of one. Still ran fine, the timing chain went. That motor was very well taken care of from day one, which did help. They could have used the diesel 350 block with aluminum heads and roller cam. Even if they went 9.5 to 1, decent roller cam and big bore TBI would have been night and day for the 307. I almost bought an 87 442. I was planning on building the 307 with the TBI experimental manifold, just like above. I bet I could have fooled a lot of people. Too bad they didn't add a heart shape chamber and raise the swirl ports, instead of just shrinking them. Look at the 318 swirl port heads. They flow a bit better stock but have a better chamber and can be ported for good numbers. I don't think that is even possible with 7A heads.
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