yea, ive been looking into building up the 307 and its not looking too bright. might go with the 455 olds but they r kinda hard to find. havnt looked into the 350 yet. might go that route instead.
and does anyone know about the air pump that is undnethe the ac compressor? does that need to be on there to keep it from running crazy... what about the egr valve can that get removed too?
The 307 starts in the Junk Yard where it belongs. A 455 can be swapped in immediately. Ditch the junk computered Q-Jet and dizzy and plant a complete Olds 455 in the car. Put some Nitrous on the thing and have some fun. That's what you said it was for. Turbo or Blower....honestly if you had the cash you would have a different car. Just stick to cheap and fun. The car will accept a 350 Buick but the brackets and accessories would be completely different. Why gut it. It looks like it's nice inside. If you want some cash, sell it to someone on the board who is not going to destroy the thing for the sake of a 1 second difference at the strip. It looks too nice to destroy. Put a BBO in the thing and spry the crank outta it while being able to cruise. That thing would destroy unsuspecting mustangs camaros and challengers all day long with a BBO sitting in there.
if you look at the floor in the car. all that white stuff is mold.... the car got a leak somewhere and filled up with 3-4 inches of water and soaked the seats too. stinks pretty good in there. thats one of the reasons why i want to gut it... i looked in my haynes manual and found that im 99 percent sure its the 200-4r tranny. so is that a decent one to stick with? someone said that will keep the rpms low. would that be beneficial?
The car may have been in a flood. The 2004R transmission is a good transmission, but for high performance use, you will need to beef it up if you transplant an engine with a lot more power. The 2004R is a 4 speed transmission, the 4th gear being an overdrive (.67) All you need to do is look at the shifter indicator. If it says 1, 2, D, its a 200C, a 3 speed automatic. If it says, 1, 2, 3, OD, it's the 2004R. The 4th gear overdrive drops the RPM's on the highway for fuel economy. You can use steeper gears out back in the rear for snappier acceleration, and the overdrive will drop the final drive ratio for highway driving. If you did the same thing with a 3 speed, you would still get the better performance, but the RPM's on the highway would be considerably higher, and fuel economy would suffer.
I also had a 1984 Delta with a 307 years ago..I toyed with the idea of upgrading the 307. Let`s face it, as most others will attest. It`s a big car....it`s a small non performance design engine to begin with, and from a $$ perspective it would not be feasible. Don`t let my 30 years of Chev/Olds dealership experience cloud your judgement :laugh: I have seen many a 307 in the past!!! Seriously, I loved my big Olds, but it was a dog...more cubes 350++, more gear and keep the OD trans and I bet you could put together a decent ride with some kick to it!! It`s your car and just my opinion..Good Luck :TU: Later,Tony.
I think the 350/455 is your best option, figure out what you want out of the car. If you are serious about taking it to the track, then go with a big block... you can get alot out of the 350 but it will be easier in the long run with a big block, that and they won't expect it :laugh: Keep the transmission, if you go to a big block, get it built up. Its a good transmission and the overdrive will be very appreciated if you plan on doing any highway driving at all
Eric, everyone knows the 307 olds is a boat anchor. Any money spent to make it go fast is wasted money. :moonu: :laugh: :laugh: Keep the 307 till you get all the other stuff straightened out, so you can at least move it around while rebuilding the brakes/front end/other stuff. Then go to some local junkyards, find a decent used/semi low mileage 455 olds motor, and drop it in. If you can find a "Rocket" 350 or 455 (usually painted gold from the factory), buy it. The story I heard, and it may or may not be true, is that when olds was making their 'Rocket' engines, all the engine building equipment was re-calibrated every 10 units, the first being a perfectly balanced/blueprinted short block, the next nine a bit less perfect as the machines went out of calibration. Industry standard at the time was a re-cal every 100 units. I have owned a few rocket motors and they were very nice engines.
Since your thread title is "where to start with a 307?", I figured that you wanted to keep that engine. So no you have to buy a ship for that anchor :Smarty: But swapping a 455 in is always a beter option. I did that in my 1983 Caprice wagon. You also have to change the transmission, shorten the drive shaft and find a stronger rear axle. My original ten bolt rear axle lasted only for 25 seconds during a burn out
Your car has an Olds engine in it; then you would really benefit by checking out this Olds based site. Everything you'd ever want to know about Olds engines. http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/oldsfaq.htm
alright thanks. so the 455 wouldnt bolt right in? id need to get a different transmission and shorten the drive line if i wanted to put it in
The 455 Olds should bolt up to your existing tranny without modifying anything. If you swapped in a TH400 or TH700r4 you would have to move the rear cross member and shorten the drive shaft. If you have the TH200r4 & its in good shape add a cooler & shift kit & it should live behind a stock 455 if not abussed to badly.
If you're building it to race, and to screw around town on the way to the track, then just be done with it and drop in an Olds 455. You can still buy them fairly cheap, and in good shape. We picked up a complete Olds 455 with very clean bores for $50. :TU:
so i was cruising around the internet and checked out summitracing and saw this package for gears. and i found this package, seems like a good deal, even has the dummy video for me, would this gearset fit? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CMB-14-0054/ http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RMG-6901751/ ^^what about these? would that be too much gear???
