coppercutlass

Catchy name . But it's true. All the parts have been sourced on here . It all started with a 355 probe piston short block I got for free with a set of ceramic coated headers. Then I traded a set of wheels for a set of #8 heads and a slew of other misc. Engine parts. Then I traded an x pipe and mufflers for an edelbrock performer Intake. The plan is to mimick my first sbo in my 72 9 to 1 with the comp 260 h or maybe 268h and run high 13's on the motor and high 12's on the bottle. So far I haven spent a dime just traded parts I accumulated from a parted out car and stuff I got for free. So all I'm spending money is machining and new bearings etc. This build will take some time . The important part is I have all the big pieces. Also a big thanks to all the members who traded and gave me parts I don't wanna name drop. If anyone has any parts they wanna donate or trade or sell cheap let me know. This is what this build is all about for me proving that we can help ourselves out withi n the community of olds and keep cost down.

oldstata

Sounds like a fun build !!! Providing a list of needs or wants might help I am going big block and th400 and O 112 bolt so not sure what I will have small block to offer except the whole drive train lol

coppercutlass

I need a timing tab for the 69 350 balancer or a 350 balancer with a tab . If anything I can find true tdc with my dial Indicator and make a wire pointer and timing tape . Spare brackets I could use since I plan on building an engine runstand and having spare bracketry to have would be cool. I'm pretty set on all the big parts now comes the money part which will take some time.

coppercutlass

So I looked at my shortblock today and I'm going to new bearings, and just polish the crank . New cam bearings a cam and gaskets. The block is at zero deck so with a .040 head gasket I'm right at 9 to 1 . The heads will cleaned up light porting and the valves will be lapped and get new seals. The heads looked like good runners. The machining that will be farmed out is the heads for re surfacing , the block will be sent out to have cam bearings installed and the balance checked. I think I can keep this on a real tight budget probably under or over just 1000 . I know between the balancing and cam bearing install will run me about 250 and the heads another 120 and parts probably around 500 .

joesw31

Sounds like fun!

cutlassrichard

i would love to get a 8.5 posi rear and 200-4r for my 78 cutlass but thats like finding a unicorn on the end of a lepurchauns rainbow

coppercutlass

Craigslist can be your friend in your case.

J-(Chicago)

Just grab a housing from a full size car and have the tubes shortened and sleeved at a good welding shop. You can order any axle length you want from moser.

coppercutlass

I really started working on the heads on friday and got to finally used the craided i bought just for this job. I only plan on working on the exhaust side of these heads . here are some pics what do you gusy think am i going in the right direction. I opened up the exhaust side under the valve and smoothed out the short side radius as much as i could. I hope these pics are clear enough. I have only done one of the bowls for the exhaust. I would like some input to see if im going i the right direction.

coppercutlass

Im only cleaning these heads up a bit to improve the flow . Im running the 260h or 268h cam from comps for this set up i was also looking at a howards cam similar specs but the price is much much better.

coppercutlass

I have sourced a set of bearings from davebw31., mains and cam I believe. for 75 so I saved some coin there. Just a little progress.

Olds442redberet

Very cool build! Keep the information and photos flowing. Thanks

coppercutlass

I have not forgotten about this build thread. Now there is a twist. Since the last time I posted I got a 355 with 14cc pistons and Another set of #8 heads that are low mileage rebuilt in a trade deal with another member here along with some roller tip rockers ., that will be freshened up and just be a tame tame back up motor. Last thus. I bought a std, bore block that has studs and straps and a set of #6 heads that have been rebuilt and probably could use just a cleaning and seals all for 100. My new plan is to put the rotating assembly from the probe piston short block into the block with studs and straps after I clean it up and get it bored and deck the block to get the pistons at the desired deck height once I figure out the cc's on the heads. the game plan is to shoot for 9.25 to 9.50 compression with a mild howards cam and put it on a 120 shot of nitrous. For now I think I have all the pieces all I need is money for machining and a cam and a few other things with machining will probably around 500 to 1000 tops. Im gonna need some gaskets ( whatever i don't have in my stock bin) and rings and rod bearings .

coppercutlass

I might add the block was already align honed . I also got word from one of my local olds racer he might be selling his performer nitrous kit as he is going to turbos so im planning on snagging that.

1976Oldswagon

sounds like we are in the same boat.

I did my build with no shop, only hand tools, and parts sourced from craigslist.

roller tip rockers+HEI dist.+pushrod guides+springs+valves+retainers+rocker covers-$125 from a jetboat guy.

cam+lifters+offy intake-$175

carb-$25 from salvage yard

two MSD blaster 2 coils out of a blown up RX7-$20

all sourced from craigslist, installed with the car parked in front of my friends house.

CRAIGSLIST IS YOUR BEST FRIEND

coppercutlass

My whole mission is to do it right but cheap. My current 355 was a swap meet and good used parts build. I do what I have to do right like machining but cutting cost like buying good used parts is where I like to save money. Still gotta get my current build to the track But I like building stuff so I have been collecting parts .

coppercutlass

Ok so I started on this last night. Tore down the 355 and everything was in great shape just a minor polish on the journals and they are good. Im sticking this rotating assembly on the 350 block I picked up with studs and straps. Im also using a set of #6 heads that have very low miles and have the heat risers filled and valves springs good to 510 lift . Im also using an edelbrock performer intake. This will be a nitrous build. I talked to my machine shop. Im looking in the area of 650 for machining It may be significantly less just one factor and it comes down to the balance wether we decide to spin everything up or neutral balance the balancer and flexplate that's what I was told. So far the block and heads where 100 plus the drive , the intake was a trade , the roller tip rockers where also a trade, the 355 was free , I got main and cam bearings for 90 , and im looking at appx 600 in parts. Not too shabby.

captjim

Just to clarify, if you "neutral balance" then you need to use a flywheel/flexplate and baancer that are neutral, which means no offset weight. Since these parts are not really readily available for Oldsmobiles, balancing with the counter-weighted balancer and flexplate/flywheel usually makes more sense. At $175-$200 a no-brainer, IMO, especially with spray.

J-(Chicago)

I have a 330 crank and balancer here if you ever need one for one of those small blocks up there.

coppercutlass

Jim I think that's why the machinist said it's a possibility. He mentioned most aftermarket stuff is pretty close to neutral. I was thinking of running the professional products balancer and the prw flexplate and seeing what they said and if push comes to shove then I will have it balanced which is no biggie. Again im not 100 percent sure on the parts I have never ran a prof. products balancer so we shall see what happens.

coppercutlass

Ok so i measured some clearanes i got .0025 on the mains and .003 on the rods . I did this with the bearings the shortblock had just to get some base numbers it had very little wear if any . Once i get the strapped block cleaned and bored i will check clearances. I think i will be removing the cam bearings just for the reason i dont want to take the block to the machine shop and have them take the bearings off just for me to pick it up and send it to my dads shop for them to hot tank it ., at that point i will check my main journal clearances with my new bearings on that block and if i need to remove material i will know at that point and since the crocus cloth will only remove so much it's money well spent if it's needed . I will pay for them to install the am bearings as i dont wanna screw install up. They loved how clean my block was last time i brought one in. I am going to have to have the piston pin bores checked as i feel they are too tight.

coppercutlass

coppercutlass

Ok so i pulled some valves out of the #6's. They need to be cleaned up but im wondering if some can chime in on this. So all the ex. valvescome out easy the seals are the steel type that just push in and have a seal up top and th guides are bronze. Now my issue is all the intake valves are coming out not so easy and bringing guide material with them. I pulled 3 sets of valves out all intakes did the same. I did notice the valves where ground on the top portined edge ( chamfered ) . At this time i think im safe to say i will need new guides on all of them while im at it. I might as well go to big vlaves I got some #8 bigger ex. valves and im going to try to find some big block valves 2 in. Any input on why this is happening with removal of my valves ., Wear ? . I have never had this issue before i also have never taken valves out that have bronze guides. Either way i will need to sink some money into these heads . I think now i have to save money for the bottom end parts and machining heads will be later.

J-(Chicago)

The valve tips get mushroomed out from the rocker arms pushing on them all the time. You have to mic all valve tips before you try removing them from the head.

I usually chuck an old lapping suction cup tool into my cordless drill, spin the valve, and lathe the tips down a hair with my hand file.

Sounds like the damage is already done now, unfortunately.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

So, you're measuring the crank where it spins, how can you tell the clearance/tolerane?

or are you just measuring to see if the crank is undersize or not for the bearings?

coppercutlass

yeah that's what I figured J but I only did 3 so now that I know I only need 3 done lol. Tony I measure the journals and then I torque the caps wit the bearings in them and check with the id. Micrometer I know it was undersized because of the bearings. But I wanted to see what clearances they had to begin with. Since the wear is minimal it should be pretty close still

coppercutlass

J it's not bringing material out from the tip it's from the section under the tip where it has the grove cut into it.

olds 307 and 403

I saw that filling tip on Horsepower, will save my guides on my #8 when I tear them down. Makes sense when you think about it, file anywhere it is tight.

coppercutlass

I'm starting to think it's not the tips in my case since the valves where getting caught well before the tip. Maybe stem wear from incorrect geometry ? At this point I'll just cut the valves and deburr em since j has some bbo in. Valves

67 Cutlass Freak

Copper I think you have PM'd me in the past. Jeromy is a good friend of mine. I have a set of his heads here now. I recently picked up a valve grinding machine and a pair of seat grinders. I live just past the cheddar curtain in WI. When you're ready I can help you with your valve job dirt cheap. I could even give you a lesson and let you do them yourself. I can also help you with filling the heat risers and give you some porting tips if you want to make a trip up. Elgin is not too far from me.

J-(Chicago)

Could be mushrooming around the keepers as well. But If it's on the shaft where it rides in the guide, they could have been a bit tight. At least brass/bronze is mushier than steel. You have that going for you.

coppercutlass

The heads have the heat risers filled , the combustion chambers polished and the bowls hogged out and the air bumps ground down. Im game to bring em to you when im ready. How bout the guides can we do them too I sure the 3 I f***ed with are toast just the intake valves. Fwiw here what it looks like where the vlaves are getting stuck . I will have them all cleaned up for ya too so you will have a nice set to work with.

coppercutlass

J beat me to the punch it's the keepers groove.

67 Cutlass Freak

I have a suction cup on shaft that is from a crank type lapping tool that works well in a drill with emery cloth. I could ship it to you so you can get them apart for clean up. The file works too.

coppercutlass

I'll just bring em by one day and we can look at them and dis assemble them . Pm me roughly what the cost will be for what I need done. going on vacation in dec. so funds for the car are limited but I do have some play money set aside. Im in no rush but if can get the heads done and out of the way why not.

captjim

Several strokes with a fine tooth file is all it takes and does not damage the valve.

coppercutlass

I don't plan on re using the intake valves so if I mess them up im not worried .

67 Cutlass Freak

I sent you a PM. I see from your photo you have a shim under the spring. Don't loose those, but don't worry about where they came from. We will measure installed spring height and put correct shims in after the valve job. I have a couple good sources for new valves, so if you haven't bought them yet let me know how big you want to go. You might want to get new springs to match whatever cam you're going to use. Those and new hardened keepers are pretty cheap.

coppercutlass

The springs should be good the previous owner had a 510 crane cam so they have been upgraded. But you can be the judge of that. I have never really done any cylinder head work so this will be pretty cool to be involved in the process so thanks .

380 Racer

Copper buy anything new?