Hi all, I'm Johnny from the greater Cleveland Ohio area.
I have loved the A/G body GM since I was a kid. My first car was a 78 Olds Cutlass Salon that was literally my Grandma's car. It had a 260ci V8. I made the sleeper of the decade out of it running two 403's, a 350 rocket, and a 455 respectively as they tanked the next went in. I was young and beat the living pi$$ out of all of the engines of course. I loved the fact that most guys couldn't tell the difference betheen small block and big block olds engines (or std and tall deck, however they are refered to) so all of them lived under olds silvery green paint, big air cleaner housings (even made a dual snorkle that looked factory for the 455), etc. headers were the only obvious tell but the circle of guys I hung out with and street raced with we'd open the hoods about 4" and give "peeks" (don't touch my car and no in depth 5 minute looks with maglights). Just a look. ya want to know more ya gotta pony up $$$. If ya win, ya get to look under the hood and get my $$$... if ya loose... no look, see ya next time, bring another hundred bucks! (minimum) That was the late 80s.
My best pal had a 81 Malibu 2 door with a 267ci. nothing special. We always talked about dropping in a 454 but it never happened. We both just loved those cars.
I didn't know then about things like internal and external ballencing of engines and on the fourth olds engine swap and a whole bunch of parts floating around,,,, can ya see where this was heading? Well I didn't until the crank broke in front of the #1 main but behind the cam drive sprocket!
I had zero (extra) cash and already had another daily driver so a very generous offer from a guy was on my dart team took the ' Salon off my hands. 🙁 The new oner had a Gbodied Pontiac that had rotted to pieces around a decent 301 (if ever there was such a thing) so the swap was made and the olds went back to daily duty and eventually succomed to the north coast winters and salt. If only I hadn't known everything at 19 or 20 or whatever the heck I was at the time. I'd give a pretty penny to have that car back now.
I have loved the A/G body GM since I was a kid. My first car was a 78 Olds Cutlass Salon that was literally my Grandma's car. It had a 260ci V8. I made the sleeper of the decade out of it running two 403's, a 350 rocket, and a 455 respectively as they tanked the next went in. I was young and beat the living pi$$ out of all of the engines of course. I loved the fact that most guys couldn't tell the difference betheen small block and big block olds engines (or std and tall deck, however they are refered to) so all of them lived under olds silvery green paint, big air cleaner housings (even made a dual snorkle that looked factory for the 455), etc. headers were the only obvious tell but the circle of guys I hung out with and street raced with we'd open the hoods about 4" and give "peeks" (don't touch my car and no in depth 5 minute looks with maglights). Just a look. ya want to know more ya gotta pony up $$$. If ya win, ya get to look under the hood and get my $$$... if ya loose... no look, see ya next time, bring another hundred bucks! (minimum) That was the late 80s.
My best pal had a 81 Malibu 2 door with a 267ci. nothing special. We always talked about dropping in a 454 but it never happened. We both just loved those cars.
I didn't know then about things like internal and external ballencing of engines and on the fourth olds engine swap and a whole bunch of parts floating around,,,, can ya see where this was heading? Well I didn't until the crank broke in front of the #1 main but behind the cam drive sprocket!
I had zero (extra) cash and already had another daily driver so a very generous offer from a guy was on my dart team took the ' Salon off my hands. 🙁 The new oner had a Gbodied Pontiac that had rotted to pieces around a decent 301 (if ever there was such a thing) so the swap was made and the olds went back to daily duty and eventually succomed to the north coast winters and salt. If only I hadn't known everything at 19 or 20 or whatever the heck I was at the time. I'd give a pretty penny to have that car back now.
(a "Truckers" fan, 2 speed!)
