motley1987

Hey guys, I might be able to get a 78 Cutlass Supreme in pretty good condition. There are only some minor body issues but other than that it looks pretty good. It's being sold at auction by a former employee of mine who's father had it before passing away. I'm going to be able to check it out better the day before the auction to see the interior better and see how it runs. The person selling it said it has a 350 engine, but after checking out the forum it looks like a 350 wasn't offered as a stock engine. Is this right? I'm hoping some of you guys can clue me in on some things to look for when I check it out to avoid getting into too big of a money pit. I've been through two restorations before and although I'm not a mechanic, I'm not afraid to try to fix things and I'm hoping if I get this to try to do everything myself this time around, especially if I can get this at a really good price. Any advice on things to keep an eye out for or any other help would be great. Thanks for the help!

Ben

On a side note, the car is green with a green interior. If I get it, I'd like to eventually paint it a different color so I'm curious if anyone else changed the green exterior and kept the green interior and if so what color did you paint it? Thanks again!

redoldsman

Welcome and good luck on getting the car. Somebody will speak up on the engine. It may be a 307 or a 260 but the good news is a 350 will bolt right in.

White will go with your green interior. I am not big on green but there are some colors of green that are pretty decent. You have to post pictures if you get the car. The 78 Cutlass is a nice car.

joe_padavano

The only Oldsmobile V8 offered in the 1978 Cutlass was the 260. The 307 didn't exist in 1978. I'm not sure if the 350 diesel was an option or not. The Chevy 305 was also an option.

jaunty75

According to Setting the Pace, if I'm reading it right, the standard engine in the '78 Cutlasses was the 105-hp, 231 cubic inch V-6. Optional engines were three V-8s: 145 hp and 160 hp versions of the 305 and a 110-hp 260. The 350 was available in the Cutlass Cruiser station wagon. No diesel engines were offered for the Cutlasses.

Also, according to StP, the 307 wasn't offered until 1980.

Olds64

It sounds like a cool car. Post pictures if you can. If you change the body color a bronze or copper color might go well with a green interior; then again, white might be better.

motley1987

Is there a way to tell for sure what engine it has by looking at it? I've always liked white esp the kind of "winter white" I've seen on other cars. The bronze or copper sounds good too. I can probably post a pic when I get home. Thanks for all the input! I'd love to get it for a good price and get into messing with it. I just need to figure out how to not end up divorced after spending a lot on two cougars a hummer and camaro that all got mod crazy. This one I'd like to take my time and do more of it myself. Thanks again.

Ben

motley1987

Here's a pic of the car. As I wrote, it was a friend of mine's father who was a mechanic for years so I'm hoping the engine is in good working condition. I'm looking forward to hearing it run.

svnt442

Well the first thing I'd look for is the oil fill tube. Too many times these cars have "corporate" engines tossed in them and to me that ruins it.
Another thing is where do you live? This generation (78-88) tend to have issues with the rear frame rails rusting out in the northern tier states from road salt.

Just something to think about.

motley1987

Rust is definitely something I have to think about. I'm in Delaware which is where the car was for years. I'm pretty sure the last tag sticker was 2001 so if that's the case it hasn't been driven in years and it's been garage kept since then. I had a 69 cougar from the northeast with a lot of rust then a 67 from Arizona with no rust so I have to get a good look at it for sure.

joe_padavano

Yeah. Open the hood and check the casting numbers.

The VIN will tell you what engine was installed from the factory, but obviously that can be changed over 35 years.

motley1987

That makes sense. I'll have to check with the seller too to see if she knows if her dad ever swapped it out.

motley1987

Once I get the vin, is there a registry I can do a search for it? She said it's the original engine so the vin should tell me everything.

jaunty75

Go here:

http://www.v8cars.hu/oldsvin/decode.php

or here:

http://service.gm.com/dealerworld/vincards/

motley1987

Thanks for the site! It came up as 260 V8 2BBL. I'm used to seeing much higher HP #'s on newer cars that this seems pretty small. What is the power like? In reality, I'm not that worried about going fast as much as looking good and sounding good. I had a 351 Windsor V8 that sounded so good at idle and cruising but I don't know how a 260 V8 would sound. I'm guessing it has a stock exhaust so would an after market exhaust have that nice V8 "lope" sound to it? Thanks again for all the info.

tru-blue 442

The 260 is a commuter dog.
The good news is a 350 will bolt up in it's place.

jaunty75

I mentioned above that this engine was rated at 110 hp. It was only 5 more than the V-6. With that small a difference, I wonder why anyone bothered to pay extra for the 260. If you were going for a V-8, why not go for the 305 and get about 50% more horsepower.

Actually, I just looked it up, and apparently quite a few buyers went for the 260. According to the Autozone website, which lists the percentages of a particular model that came with a particular engine if the car is late-model enough, says that 81% of '78 Cutlasses came with the 260.

motley1987

Yeah, it seemed like it was pretty weak just from looking at the HP #'s. I don't know why anyone would pay extra for 5 HP either. She has a couple other cars for sale too so I might just go for the best deal which would give me extra cash to play around with.

lshlsh2

Where in De. are you? I'm on the Eastern Shore of Md. outside of Easton. If you are not to far away, I could look at it with you if you want another set of eyes.

Welcome

Larry

motley1987

Thanks for the offer, but I'm in north Wilmington, not far from the PA line so it's a good way from you. The other thing is since it's at auction, I can't see too much until the day before the auction, so I'm stuck until then.

redoldsman

[QUOTE=jaunty75;591453]I mentioned above that this engine was rated at 110 hp. It was only 5 more than the V-6. With that small a difference, I wonder why anyone bothered to pay extra for the 260. If you were going for a V-8, why not go for the 305 and get about 50% more horsepower.

Why would he convert to a Chevy engine when an Olds 350 will bolt in place of the 260?

svnt442

I think he was talking about when ordering it new, not now.

jaunty75

Yes, it was a rhetorical question referring to what people might have been thinking when buying one of these back in 1978. Why go for the 260, which gave you only a 5 hp increase, when a 305 would get you a nearly 50% increase.

The Olds 350 was not offered on the Cutlass in '78 except for the wagon.

I didn't say anything about Chevy engines.

redoldsman

I go back and read it now and it makes perfect sense and I agree 100%. Makes you wonder why they even offered the 260. Of course we know the 305 was a Chevy engine but a far site better than the 260. My apologies if I offended you jaunty.

joe_padavano

No, the good news is that a 455 will bolt up in it's place.

jaunty75

Perhaps the reason is that the 260 was an Olds-built engine while the 305 was Chevy-built as Joe Padavano said. The 403 was also built by Olds, but that wasn't available in the Cutlass. Maybe people who wanted V-8 power in their Cutlass wanted to stay with Olds.