72 Cutlass 350/350 Trans 40,000 miles AC equipped 4BBL Rochester #7 Heads, #410446 Intake, #395558 Block This will be my little buildup thread that i'll keep updated. Started taking it apart to see what i need to buy, the freight shippers mustve stacked something on top and crushed the distributor and coil (good excuse to upgrade to HEI ) I'm debating on whether or not getting the bottom end rebuilt and pistons/heads inspected. I'm looking to get it equipped with Edelbrock performer intake/cam combo and use my stock carb. Trying to keep it street legal but powerful. Next thing to do is paint the engine oldsmogold and throw some chrome on it. And replacement parts
Not bad it just needs alittle shimmy, now though for your debate on inspecting the Pistons and rings I would just take the heads off and see how much friction you have on the cylinders. After that just replace the head gasguts and head bolts and your compression side should be all set and all you need to worry about is fuel and spark.
How would i check the friction and know whats bad and not bad?? Spent the latter of the morning dismantling the top end and inspecting. Also lifted the engine and repaired the broken skid, so to make it a little more safe to work on. Heres the stock intake which is actually a high flow intake for this year, almost exact performance as an edlebrock intake but its not aluminum, lol With the "turkey tray" removed, alot of gunk to clean out. After careful cleaning as not to drop any crud into the oil passages to clog up the pump filter screen
I would replace the timing chain, reaseal the motor (oil pan gasket, timing cover gasket, valve cover gaskets, rear main seal), give it a tune-up (cap, rotor, plugs, wires, module), rebuild the carb, then drop the motor in. Then you wouldn't be out a lot of money and time. You could see what you have from there. If it runs decent, she'll be good for plenty of miles. If it has low compression or runs poor, you aren't out a lot of money, as most of the parts you have already purchased can be reused. ~Will Courtier~
Torx, to check the friction just take the heads off and when each piston is down feel the cylinder with your hands and if you feel alot of scratches that is friction. Now im not saying that is bad but if there is alot of scratches its most likely the last owner did not change his oil alot. While your at that you might want to inspect the head for cracks and clean it of carbon build up.
yea, imma test that compression asap. justin, cool. Will do. Hopefully i wont find anything bad because he did say he kept it maintained..
mmm crack, or it means the cylinders were honed not too long ago. id strip it down to the block, get everything hot tanked, bore the cylinders something conservative like .030 and hone it, make sure the crank is good, turn it down if neccesary, make sure the main bearings are aligned, you can port and polish the heads at home if you want...
that is my advice as well. if youa re going to rebuild, do it right the 1st time. btw here's some info here's smore and a faq http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofeng.htm#Engines
1) Cylinders don't have friction, thats like checking a tire for friction. he is talking about scoring. The cylinder walls should be smooth. Do a compression check, the actual pressure doesn't matter, but they should be within 10psi of each other (i think, check on that to be sure). What is your budget? If you have the money, I would get it completely rebuilt.
Got the headers off, got the driver side head off, bought some more tools, gaskets, still need a torque wrench. After taking the heads off i noticed the freeze plug above the starter has a small, what looks to be a rust hole. I'm hoping its just a rust hole. EDIT: alright i know what a freeze plug is, nothing major. Just gotta replace it and probably the others as well. Should I? Cleaned up and vacuumed out the cylinder holes, i rubbed my finger against the walls and they were smooth as a baby's ass. Now i dont know what the separated ring patterns are on the walls are supposed to mean, but i felt no unevening of up and down layering. Also noticed on top of the piston a little cracking of carbon, nothing major from my pov.
you can lift a block into your trunk with some extra people. if i were you id be stripping that block down, you would be wasting money putting a dirty engine back together
That is not always true. If it were me, I'd do as I stated above. If there were no ring grooves in the cylindar walls, then it appearantly hasn't been run many miles. Even running as few as 50,000 miles yields a groove your finger nail will catch on. Another thing to remember, is that if you rebuild the bottom end without rebuilding the heads, you're asking for burnt valves, valve seal leakage, or at worst head gasket problems. This is all due to the fact that all motors wear evenly between the bottom and top end. If you rebuild the bottom end, causing a small rise in compression and wear on the heads, you are bound to have head problems. Unless you have the real cash and time to rebuild the motor correctly, I wouldn't worry about it. Olds 350's are very expensive to rebuild, and parts are getting tougher to find. ~Will Courtier~
:lol: I love the misinformation. That is completely wrong. First of all you can't group all motors in the same basket. Most motors if maintained decently can have the heads rebuilt before they need to be bored. However, i don't see how good compression will burn a valve 8)
lol, look at the rust in the water jackets! and that freeze plug looks like it rusted from the inside out! I dunno torx, this engine looks like a pile of shit to me.
welp, 1250 for rebuild head to bottom it'll take me at least 3 months to have that extra money saved. And i'll STILL need to buy all the replacement parts.. damn. so now im contemplating on some backyard solution to getting the rust out of the water jackets..
Misinformation? Where have you gotten your information? I have grown up working in my father's shop until I was 19. I have done everything from rebuilding motors to diagnosing minute electronic problems. This is all based upon my experience, as well as that of my father's (ran his own shop now for 24 years). I do know what I'm talking about, and will not lie about what I'm saying. I have never steered anyone wrong (especially when speaking of engine diagnostics). ~Willl Courtier~
Hot tank is best for cleaning out those jackets along with the rest of the block. Get it right down to the block completley and take it to a mechanic that has access to a hot tank. For a fee I assume he'll let you soak it overnight and it should look much much better. Hotter areas are notorious for using pure water in the coolant system, cause it does cool better. But honestly, if your cooling system is in check it should never overheat. Using water as you can tell, leads to rust, wich leads to bad water pump blades, wich also leads to bad clogged heater cores. In some cases im sure that it can also clog some of the jackets so much that your going to have poor coolant circulation, wich will lead to more coolant problems. What im concerned with, judging from the photos, is the freeze plug that has the rust hole in it, wich like I said earlier looks like it came from the inside out. This is fucking bad, cause those freeze plugs are like really hard steel and for them to rust that bad could mean that the inner jacket walls are probable just as pitted, if not, almost rusted through. An old engine like that though, I would think is pretty cheap, or at least finding a block at a junkyard thats in better condition just as cheap if not cheaper. Then again, I don't buy those kinds of engines
Olds 350's are getting more and more rare to find. I doubt he'd be able to find another quickly that was decently priced. About the freeze plug, don't worry. They aren't made of very good steel, and are also pretty thin. Any motor that sits with water in the block for a few years will do that (especially if the freeze plugs are original). I wouldn't be worried about rust and/or pitting in the block. BrentN is right on using a hot tank. They're very fast and ensure the entire engine is clean. My dad had one, and we used it for multiple cylindar heads and 4-cyl engine blocks. His wasn't big enough to tank up anything over 4-cyl. ~Will Courtier~
well, what im going to try this weekend is blocking the front water pump openings and filling the coolant passages with clr or diluted clr. flush it out. also, after removing the heads, cleaning around and making sure nothing gets fallen into the oil passages, etc.. i noticed theres a few crumbs left in between the cylnder walls and pistons, what if those little pieces of dirt got left in there? major damage? Should i get a micro vacuum and get as much of it out as i can? im not paying for a rebuild, that shit is actually 1500, i called him back for more details..
Your water pump will produce enough pressure to flush anything loose in your motor out. I wouldn't be too worried. I have never heard of such a problem before. Like I said, Olds 350's are very expensive to rebuild. In fact, my dad has one in his shop (low miles, just needs resealed). He was going to rebuild it and drop it into a 2-door olds cutless similar to yours, but decided that the motor would be worth more than the car in the end. They're becoming more and more difficult to find. ~Will Courtier~
got the heads cleaned up, cleaned up the carbon as best as i could. I lost my wire brush attachment to my dremel so there was alot of wire brush scrubbing. I reused the stock head bolts as they arent the torque to yeild types (the ones that stretch). Bought a torque wrench, finnally learned how to use it. Still have some doubts about its accuracy considering its a Geat Neck autozone cheapie. Installed new freeze plugs. Unfortunately noone had the brass plugs, just steel and rubber. Next is to order some parts and get my hands on a hoist. Replace timing chain, water pump, fuel pump, oil pump screen, and whole lot more shit. Recieved my dual hump trans crossmember, waitng on the motor frame mounts.
Awesome, can't wait to see pics when it's done. Just be sure to reseal the motor (oil pan, timing chain cover, valve covers, intake, rear main, front main, and the cam seals). If you do that, I'd be happy with it. As for the water pump, I wouldn't worry much. It's a metal finned pump, and they don't go out often. Also, if you pull it off, you just have to make it reseal again. I would buy new hoses, though, as well as a new belt. ~Will Courtier~
Update! Been busy with other things and gathering up parts to finish. All thats left is the distributor, and cooling system parts, other than that, im almost ready. Still need an engine hoist, i been lazy on getting one. Freeze plugs were installed, like several weeks ago, lol CLR flushed the passages and vacuumed out as much as i could. Heads and gaskets on! GOD BLESS the smell that came from the bolts from untightening and tightening, smelled horrid. Anyone know what im talkin about? The friction just reeked! One problem, i have to go back and fix. I didnt put the lifters back on right, everyone said i have to turn the crank to where the rod for each set is at a low and then torque down the lifters/bridge. All i did was unbolt them and bolt them back on without any crank turning lol. I forgot how to explain it.. Intake on and test fitting my newly rebuilt number matching 4bbl new carb, tuned and jetted for my application and tweaked for future upgrades
