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Okay, time to actually put up a build thread. I have had this car 5 years and I have done and will be doing major work over the next two years. One of my 350 blocks is waiting in line at the machine shop. Cutlassefi is picking compression and cam to run on 91. With the 3.5" stroke 330 crank, Scat rods, custom 1mm ring pack Mahle pistons, 450 hp/tq should be attainable. I am custom tuning the 83 Qjet for it. I have probably rebuilt at least 5 of these 80's Canadian odd ball carbs, sbc, Olds and Pontiac models. I doubt anyone on this site can say the same. This is the first major idle circuit mods I have done, following Cliff's book and using his high performance kit. I am also rebuilding and majorly upgrading one of the 3 TH2004R trans I have. This is 87 core, it functioned fine except delayed engagement in forward when cold and pump buzzing. Here is how it looked when I picked it up, very rough but paid $1500 for it.
I threw some bondo in all the rust holed and semi gloss black on it.
The interior was a mouse filled mess. I had to rebuilt the passenger seat cushion and remove all the mice skeletons. They got into the headliner. Putting up the bow style headliner was different than the later style of stick on headliner. PUI's online catalog was pathetic and very difficult to decipher. That is how I ended up with the right colour cover but was not the head rest model but it worked.
Took these two today at work, since this is my daily driver.
Current tired 73 350 with 70 heads and a serpentine belt set up.
All 4 quarters and door skins along with a 3.90 posi to replace the 2.78 open in the type "O" bolt in axle rear. Both planned for next year. I am adding on cruise control, hopefully an aftermarket A/C unit and paint as well. Stay tuned!
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; April 19th, 2021 at 05:33 PM.
Yeah, if you can imagine years in a garage on a farm filled with mice left some not so nice stains. I carefully used some degreasers, like hand cleaner, magic erasers, soft bristle brush and actually carefully dabbed household GE almond silicone which matches very closely to the pearl colour in abrasions. There is only so much to do with 50 year old vinyl unfortunately. One thing I would not have done is added the buttons on the seat. I had one on the driver's side, the head came off multiple and just caught me coming in and out. I actually had to remove the stem and use almond silicone, almost invisible, to cover the hole.
So, the temporary 350 is knocking, so due to the machine I picked being pathetically slow, I going with the path of least resistance for machine work and also preparing for the worst. I called he swore mine was next so I changed the machining slightly, just a clean up mill vs am pretty sure the block at the machine shop will clean up with a 4.065" hone, getting just a clean up mill on deck, new cam bearings and an align hone on the mains with the studs and 4 main, 1/2" Halo in place. I have two 330 cranks, one is stock stroke .020" mains and .010" rods. The other is a 3.5" stroke already ground but would not only need 4 Mallory slugs but 2" journal Scat rods the 403 pistons pressed off and resizing and the pins honed. I oiled the journals, wrapped it and then sprayed with white greaseThe are 3 nicks and possibly some rust, looks like a little gob in the middle of the journal. It may polish out, if that is a good idea or it may get ground to the next oversize. I am going with whatever Cutlassefi recommends for bearing clearances. I am going with his Mahle 1mm ring pack piston in either the 4.065" or 4.100", the Molnar direct replacement rods as well. Being lighter and having better bolts than the Scat rods sounds like $150 well spent. This crank was balanced for the discontinued Speedpro 18cc dish pistons on stock rods which I sold. So they should have to remove weight for them to internally balance it. Here is the other kicker, they send out the their crankshafts for balancing! Yeah, I am going to talk to a guy in Regina and pick a shop there for this other block. I am also going with roller cam to Cutlassefi's specs. I will never run a flat tappet again. Taking out a $150 motor is one thing, a $5000 motor is much different. I am getting Cutlassefi to grind it so it will work with 9.5 to 1 and iron heads on 91 or the new 68cc Edelbrock when they come out. I have 1.6" roller tips and 1.72 ratio Scorpion SBF full roller rockers. So this motor will probably be a 351"O"😁 or a 358. I am also going for broke and ordering the other custom Mahle 1mm ring pack pistons in a 4.125" bore and a compression height of 1.55 to 1.57", whatever Mark recommends. It may take longer for the custom and can't wait on potentially months of wait time. Also buying .010" main and 2" sbc standard rod bearings. That 3.5" stroke 330 crank is supposed to have .0025" clearance on the mains and rods.I am buying a 2" to 3" micrometer to check it as well. I will be sending Mark a lot of money, more to come😁.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; April 29th, 2021 at 05:52 AM.
I am also ordering a dial bore gauge. It will probably at least another month, I will be starting 6 days a week, 12+ hour days shortly. There will be shipping time as well, nothing comes quickly in the Pandemic. I will be using a week of holidays to get this done.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; April 29th, 2021 at 06:34 AM.
I sent Mark $1500 today and will send another $1500 tomorrow. Probably more on top of that. I will also be the first to get a new product from him but I will let him make the announcement first😁.
I did a couple of measurements with my digital caliper on the standard stroke 330 crank. The numbers may not be super accurate, which is why I ordered a 2" to 3" micrometer to measure the final product when it comes back. Same goes for the dial bore gauge to measure the machined cylinders. I got 2.100" on a couple of rod journals, it looks like the rods are .020", was told they were .010". The mains were 2.4975" to 2.480" which would actually be a standard journal with .0030" to .0035" clearance. Mark suggests .0022" to .0025" rods and .0025" to .0028" mains for clearances. My other stroker crank is SUPPOSED to have .0025" rods and mains clearance with the mains .010" and standard 2" sbc rod journals, it will get measured as well. Especially since it was from Smitty who went off the deep end pretty much right after.
So I have the TH2004R all stripped and soaked with degreaser. I will need about $1200 US in parts to build it to last. I am cleaning up my RPM intake today, blasting it and high temp clear coat. I also have a Billet RobMc thermostat housing and a Robert Shaw 180 high flow thermostat. I always double gasket the housing and will use Optimum Grey which is the best RTV I have ever used. I am also thinking about notching the divider more than the current 1/2".
The machine shop just called, my block is decked and bored👍. He said a couple of cylinders would not clean up at 4.065", so 4.100" it is, 358 ci. They have it in the align hone machine, says the caps need cut, skipping the Halo on this motor so I am dropping off regular studs with the crank for this motor on Wednesday.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 3rd, 2021 at 03:44 PM.
I cleaned up these, I have the 3/8" to 5/16" studs but they won't cut it for roller cam springs. If I don't mill the #6 head rocker pads for new Edelbrock head Harland Sharp roller rockers, I will put these on.
I also have these Comp roller tip rocker arms. I may run them. I can get 7/16" ball pivots and poly locks. The 3/8" to 5/16" studs are super short with a 1.25" effective length. They are not strong enough for a roller cam. The closest I can find in either 3/8" or 7/16" is about a 1.75" effective length. I want to be prepared in case I can't get the pads machined for the new Harland sharp rockers, I may just wait to use them on the new Edelbrock heads.
I believe that throttle return brack was made by Larry Lorton(Extreme Supreme) and offered it for sale on here a few years back. He does a bunch of neat pieces for our Olds V8. I blasted the bottom of it and now has a slightly pebbled finish.
Mark put in an order for my pistons. He said Mahle is two weeks out on their next batch. Not a big deal, I won't have time till mid June anyways. I can slide my week off to do this build till July.
Crank, balancer and flex plate along with regular length studs dropped off. I talked to the machinists in the back. They do everything but balancing, told them the .0022 to .0025 rods and .0025 to .0028" mains. I told them, will let them know once Mark gets back with me for the balance weight.
Here is a list of the parts and costs for my build:
76 Oldsmobile 350 $100 US
330 forged crank came balanced with Speedpro 18cc dish forged pistons and stock rods, bought 10 years ago, sold the pistons and rods $300 US
Rusty 330 flex plate $35 US
Good stock balancer $0
Rebuilt Qjet, either this Everday Performance or the one built with Cliff Ruggles parts= $350 US
NIB Performer RPM, a steal now at $100 US
Rebuilt #6 heads with 2.07"/1.56" valves, bowls opened, new guides, basic valve job and machined for positive seals a steal at $325 USD
Bought used Comp Roller tip rocker arms with the necessary 7/16" rocker stud conversion $150 US
Optional Scorpion 1.72 SBF rocker arms $200 US
HS rocker which require rocker pad milling $400 US
Used Johnson Hy Lift Hydraulic roller lifters $100 US
Roller cam, springs, push rods, thrust bumper and Cloyes 9 way Billet timing set $1125 US
Mahle 4032 forged 4.100" pistons, pins and rings $625 US
Molnar DR forged with ARP 2000 bolts $615 US
ARP main studs $65 US
Cloyes cam bearings, Amazon clear out $8 US!
Rod and main bearings TBD
Canton Oil pan and pick up around $450 US
Flowkooler reverse flow water pump $100 US
Mahle gasket set $185 US
Felpro shim intake gaskets, composite won't fit without cutting the intake or heads $25 US
Engine paint $100 US
Accel 8.8 25 ohm race wires, no longer made $25 US
HEI Ignitor 3 module $100 US
Accel cap and rotor $20 US
Accel Brute Thunder coil $100 US
Adjustable vacuum advance and springs $30 US
AEM wideband $180
Davies Craig adjustable fan controller $110 US
Autocity 2 core 1 1/8" cores aluminum rad $300 US
Oldsmobile super compact mini starter $175 US
Sanderson headers still need finish work and coating $400 US
Good 2004R came with a 73 350 $325 USD
CK .550" boost valves and spool valve $105 US
CK improved GN Billet Servo $130 US
Good used TH2004R deep aluminum pan $140 US
Bore and hone the block to 4.100" TBD
Clean up mill on the deck TBD
Install Cam bearings TBD
Align hone the mains TBD
Grind the crank to .0022" to .0025" rods and .0025" to .0028" mains TBD
Balance the rotating assembly, weight should have to be removed for the TBD lighter bob weight TBD
Add another $100 in antifreeze and oil.
This doesn't include my time to assemble the motor, degree the cam and rebuild the carb.
Not for the faint of heart or light of wallet😳
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 9th, 2021 at 09:40 AM.
Thornton doesn't ship paint across the border, VHT Gold Flake engine enamel is going on. So I am converting this car to cruise control. I bought a 1978 cruise control system with the dash button. I used it for years on the 88. I stole the bracket of it for the dual vacuum and brake light switch. The bracket is big and cumbersome. The factory bracket is small and has a bend at a right angle. I modified this 88 bracket, this one does as well but needed the big sides cut off. I ordered the nearly unobtainable vacuum dump switch and the readily available 4 prong cruise brake switch. A pic of the factory cruise bracket. Unmodified 88 bracket Unmodified 88 bracket Sides cut off With some flat black paint
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 10th, 2021 at 06:04 PM.
Of course some how I lost the green solid tin core, 40 ohm wire for the Cruise Control. I see one on EBay for 79 Buick with the hard to find vacuum switch. I may have to go this route, very frustrating, more money out the door.
I bought one of last set of Accel 8.8 25 ohm race wires. Holley would not ship them to Canada, Cutlassefi got them from Holley for me, they were under $20 a set! I bought a set of these in the 150 degree? angle boots about 10 years back after the MSD 8.5 Superconductor plug wires cracked on the #1 plug wire. I do like the MSD crimper better than the Accel one. Geeh, I sure miss that hot running 403🙄. They have held up really well but it is time for new set for the new motor. These being straight boots, I made them a bit longer. They range from just under 50 ohms to 125 ohms per wire, extremely low resistance. The wire markers I bought separately, they work great.
I talked to the machine shop. Of course more work they had sitting that they had forgotten to do, have become priority🤔. Either way, pretty sure the block is done, was hoping to hear back this week that the crank was ground, I did not hear back. They gave a heads up on the Mahle pistons I have ordered, which hopefully is wrong. They have been waiting for parts from Mahle that keep getting the delivery date pushed back, we will see when they get done. The bad part, like every machine shop, the shop they use to balance cranks is two months behind. When I talk to them next week, I will try and glean what will be the quickest way to get my crank balanced. I will hopefully have bearing size known and order from them from Cutlassefi. I will contact him with the undersize and see if he knows where Mahle is at with their piston run. I am hoping to have the short block together before the end of August, otherwise Harvest could start and could go to November, it means possibly 6 days a week at work and no time to do this. No if I can find a way to have the kids pay for their cell phones and hopefully my oldest gets a good paying job, I could buy a second Challenger GT. Unlike trucks, which almost don't exist and even used are ridiculous, there is a nice White one sitting on the lot optioned how we want for 50 grand.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 29th, 2021 at 07:35 AM.
I finally got my properly sized, free replacement, dual terminal battery and noticed it had a green eye, haven't seen those in years. It looks so much neater without everything on the top terminals. The air cleaner grommet is different but works.
April 19th, 2021, 05:14 PM
