GAOldsman

Memories do get fuzzy, me thinks he has the emissions decal



confused with the Space Age Al-u-minium



cowl tag

GAOldsman

Anywho while we are re-living this subject....

I see some HP ratings go up with O.A.I. (no mention of W30) and some ratings with W30. Each has the same CR but different camshaft in the W30 case. If this is the case then wouldn't a normally 250 hp 1972 455 with O.A.I. be more like 270 - 280 hp? Not that 20 hp means a hill of beans as far as the seat of the pants is concerned, just things that make you say Hmmmmm?

johnnyjaws

go to wild about cars .com and look at what they offerd its right there 325hp olds 350 rocket 31 im not here to be a smart *** but as u read thru it u could order almost anything u wanted ive been a mechanic for a long time but im learning again since I just bought another cutlass to restore I like this forum and hope to learn a lot from every one here I can take critasisim and want to get along with everyone here.

oldsmobiledave

.


Wow. Welcome to the site. Prepare to be shredded.


And once again your posts will be taken more seriously if you proof read them before you hit the submit button. Try to make them somewhat literate.

Diego

I think his posts are literate enough.

But the W-31 was not available on the Cutlass Supreme. If "u could order almost anything" the burden of proof is on you to show an example of proof. As it stands, production records don't show this motor having been built on a Cutlass Supreme.

Charlie Jones

N
Increasing compression is the one engine modification that will improve both horsepower and economy.
But, be prepared to use ONLY Premium gas and probably pour in a bottle of octane boost every time you fill up.

GAOldsman

Deigo he only mentioned the Cutlass Supreme as an SX, that today was the 1st time he heard of one. As for the 325 horse '70, he was referencing a Cutlass S (W31)

Diego

Doh!

OK, W-31 available on Cutlass S but funny plate doesn't sound like something the factory would do.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

GAOldsman

joe_padavano

Once again, the factory HP ratings were pure fabrication in those days. I'll once again use my favorite example, the 1970 W-30 motor. With manual trans, this motor got the 328/328 cam and came rated at 370 HP. The AT version got the 285/287 cam yet was rated at the same 370 HP. Meanwhile, the Toro W-34 used this milder cam with E heads, an iron intake, and more restrictive exhaust manifolds and was rated at 400 HP.

Does this pass a sanity test to you? Think about it, if Olds had a mass-produced W-34 engine that made 400 HP without the special heads, cam, and intake, why go through all the trouble to tool up those W-30 unique parts to make 30 LESS horsepower???

GAOldsman

Not hardly.
Good point, but in my case a W25 equipped U code 455 Cutlass Supreme. The U code was "factory" rated at 250 net hp. Wouldn't the W25 OAI up the ante a bit? Cold(er) dense air, should in fact add to the mix I would be willing to bet the fort on. The car ran pretty well brand new with 1/4 ET into the mid 14's right "out of the box" so to say with no upgrades. With these #'s and a 3500 lb car on street tires, I'd be willing to bet it was actually a smidgeon over 300 hp.

johnnyjaws

fine belive what u want this car I had was back in 1978 and I was learning automechanics as a occupation at that time. we were allowed to work on our own cars for credit at that time everyone there saw it includeing my shop teacher .this car at the time had 88000 miles on it and when we did a compression check on the cyclinders they all read 200lbs to 205lbs of pressure per cyclinder and this car was stock. I don't care if u belive me .I might be 54yrs old now but I had the fastest car in my school the years I was there.

oldsmobiledave

Please put down the pipe.... you are embarrassing yourself.

1970cs

To help out the new guy! I remember this being posted on the SX455.com forum.

Foreign export from Lansing. Aluminium tag and I believe that is a fender liner it's pop riveted to!

Pat

MDchanic

We believe that you had the fastest car in your school. Heck, so did the rest of us .

What we don't believe is that your car had a factory tag on it that Oldsmobile never made.

Maybe it was put on by a subsequent owner.
Maybe your memory is bad (there're a lot of memories from those days that are a bit, ummm... smoky in my mind...), whatever.

You can't have had what Olds didn't make, though.

- Eric

MDchanic

Yes, okay, if his car was from General Motors Suisse SA.
And you will note that there is no provision there for anything that says "350ci High Output 325hp Premium Fuel Only."
A car sold in the European market would not have said 350ci or 325hp anyway. It would have said "5,7l" and "325ps."

- Eric

Nop

And manufactured there. Last Oldsmobile from GM Switzerlad was in '58 (Last Chebby '68).

The pic is a Swiss cowl tag, wrong location though. Engines were stated as just MJ, NL-222 or 66 etc.

Ed:

Looked it up, exports to Switzerland after '58 carried the same cowl tag but were mfg'd in the USA.

johnnyjaws

its all past history and not worth crap anymore but I remember and I may not spell all words right . im not a pc guy im a 54 yr old dude that loved his olds and a retired teamster I finally have another one now and will restore it since all I have is time on my hands I only got a pc around 3yrs ago and a text phone last year it took me forever to type this and I have no idea what my kids are texting me with all this slang . What I did learn training to be a mechanic is a clean mechanic is a good mechanic and your never to old to learn something new and if u think u know it all u probley don't know enough.

455man

Welcome to the site Johnny. There is a lot of good information on here.

MDchanic

Nobody's trying to bust your chops, Johnny - it's just that this board is very strongly oriented toward accuracy, so we tend to correct inaccurate information very vigorously, to prevent it from spreading and gaining a life of its own on the Web.

As far as the typing - just think of how confused you are trying to read your kids' texts. That's how we feel trying to read massive blocks of text without punctuation or capitalization.

- Eric

GAOldsman

I guess this answers my question somewhat...

johnnyjaws

1970 and 1972 were not the same all compression was lost after 1970

oldsmobiledave

Those 1971 & 1972 engines sure run good for having NO compression since ALL compression was lost after 1970.

MDchanic

I was keeping my big mouth shut.

- Eric

johnnyjaws

say it like Arnold says it ILL BE BACK !! LOL!!

johnnyjaws

johnnyjaws

stock replacement cam for 350 sbo 325 hp

oldsmobiledave

Thanks for the great picture of a camshaft. Another brilliant post.

Diego

Gosh, folks, can you drop it?

bkeese

Sorry guys but I have to agree with Johnny on this one. The only 1971 I have ever owned was an LT1 Vette and it was down 40 hp over the 1970 due to lost compression. It was all down hill from 1970!

Johnny, Oldsmibile DID make a 350/325 hp engine. It was called the W31, not the Rocket 31 as you stated and you can get replacement cams for it, probably because it is the same cam as a W30. I'm pretty sure cam grinders wouldn't grind a cam for the few W31 left out there. The issue is it did NOT come in the Supreme, it did come in the Cutlass "S" and F85. I suspect that you may have own one of the rare W31 cars, but I have no idea about the tag. Back in 1978 I don't think anyone was counterfeiting W31s like they are today. If it was a W31, then it was likely the fastest car in school.

Now I'll wind up some folks and say the W31 was quite likely faster than the coveted W30 and way faster than the 1971-2 Oldsmobiles that "lost compression".

johnnyjaws

its a cutlass s not supreme cutlass s means sport holiday coupe

11971four4two

factory said 340 horse power
the torque made it seem like mo

Diego

Was already pointed out:

FWIW, I don't think Oldsmobile officially called the "S" in Cutlass S "Sport."

hottrod

hottrod

I would get a timing light and check your ignition timing. Be sure to disconnect your vacuum advance line and plug the vacuum leak with tape or vacuum plug etc. Also check the condition of your ignition points. Improperly adjusted points also affect ignition timing. On one of the humps on the distributor cam (when the point rubbing block is on a distributor cam hump) set the points to .016 - - you can use a matchbook cover for that as they mic out at .016. After that is done, check your timing with the timing light - - rotate the distributor a little until you get approximately 8 degrees to 10 degrees before top dead center. Then plug your vacuum advance line back in and you should be all set. If timing is less advanced by 4 to 5 degrees than it should be, it will be a real dog. Timing is critical.

hottrod

hottrod

I remember reading years ago that the W31 cam was a 292 degree duration; I had just installed a 292 degree Iskenderien cam in a 1966 Olds Starfire 425 engine, so that stuck with me. Usually won't idle below 1000 rpm, the W31's had a real lopey, racy idle. I had an 800 cfm double-pumper mechanical secondary carb on that Starfire, and when it got to 120 mph it was only turning 4400 rpm; I backed out of it, I have no doubt it would have hit 140 mph easily.

hottrod

hottrod

Johnnylaws - - When I had my heads milled .030 on my 1965 Olds 425 and had it bored .030 over (resulting in 431 cubic inches), my compression was running 195 - 198 in the cylinders. With just a little carbon build up on the heads of your pistons in that car you mentioned, that could have easily pushed it to 200 - 205 psi compression in the cylinders assuming someone had possibly earlier bored it .030 and milled the heads .030 as I had. NOTICE: If you try to mill the heads any more than .030, you will end up having to have the intake manifold milled as well or it will no longer fit!

BangScreech4-4-2

Hotrod, we thought this thread had finally died a well-deserved death, but you proved us wrong.