carmine615

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum. I've had my 1967 for around 4 years now. My uncle bought it new right in town at a local Buick / Pontiac / Olds dealership and had it garaged for it's entire life. Washed every two days religiously, he was an **** quirky italian man and loved his oldsmobiles.

It was my aunts, in the middle 70's she had a stroke and became paralized. The car was my aunts grocery-getter, and being that it was too painful for my uncle to drive on a daily basis, he garaged it and drove it every other sunday up until around 4 years ago when he passed. It was always garaged, always. It has 61,xxx miles on it all original. Every part is there, including the metal stamp in the owners manual with his information... The tires are original, the belts are original (not exactly a good thing!), everything and absolutely EVERYTHING on the car is totally original. I have all service records at the local service station in town and he changed the oil no fail every 4 months with mobile-1.

It has a 330 V8, front bench, 4 door, no A/C. Very basic car... Here are some shots. They're the only ones I have on my computer at the moment- they don't do the car justice, just some "cool" shots I messed around with a little.. But you get the jist.


What kind of performance can I make out of my 330? I've looked and haven't seen or heard much about people modding them. I'd like to have it sound nice, maybe a little lope at idle.. cam perhaps? Nothing I'd have to screw around with my trans, just something a little meaner sounding for those shows

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Olds64

WOW! Sweet and stupdendous specimien of an Oldsmobile! Welcome to the forum. You could put a cam in your engine; however, you might want to think twice about messing with the originality of your car. I don't usually promote complete restorations and such but if you car is already in pristine condition I bet someone would gladly give their first born child for a ride in your car.

carmine615

I guess thats true, I never really looked at it that way. With as original as the car is, it's probably best I leave it alone. I didn't plan on really ripping into the car at all or doing anything to it aside from a little engine work and a dual exhaust exiting through two oval tips in the rear, kind of like chargers? Something subtle but still good looking in my opinion. After thinking about it, I really dont think I'm going to touch the engine aside from a repaint and rebuild perhaps. Instead of finding that lopey idle that I love so much, maybe I'll just get an aftermarket exhaust. I like the way chambered exhausts sound. Either that or a set of edelbrock SDT's perhaps..

My girlfriend has a beautiful show shape 1965 AMC Rambler Marlin (Mmmmm..). It's no performance car but with the AMC 330 in it, she got a chambered exhaust from SLP (the SLP loudmouth II's) on there and it really sounds good and I think it goes pretty well with the car. I didn't think I'd like it on a car like that but once she did it, boy does it go perfect


On another note, not that I have any intention of getting rid of the 'Ol Gal, but how much would something like this car be worth? I don't see many of these around AT ALL and I don't hear much about classic oldsmobiles, aside from W30's and 442's... Everyone wants a Camaro, Mustang, or a Chevelle these days :P

ozoneblue

Yeah just carry a boom box stereo in the backseat for your tunes & Cruise in style. My Opinion.

marcar1993

That's a beutiful car. Do as everyone else has sad, don't touch it. maybe a cap, rotor, set of wires, and plugs. Oil changes, a trans flush. Belts and hoses. Normal maintnence, otherwise, leave it original. I wanted to play around with my 72 Plymouth Wagon that my grandpa bought new, my dad said no, "It's only original once, and there's nothing wrong with it." So I am VERY happy to have heeded that advice. And if I didn't, I would never have gotten into the olds world. (Whole other story...)

carmine615

I appreciate everyone's response. I don't want to be misunderstood here, I wasn't going to "pimp" it out or anything. I'm not looking to race it or go nuts... Only thing I wanted to do was give her a little more grunt but you're right, I probably shouldn't even touch the engine. I'll settle for something that can go back to stock easily, a custom exhaust maybe. Something subtle...

Ozoneblue, I might just have to get a boombox and some computer speakers and use that as a radio because I sure as hell know I'm not going to fumble around with the radio in the car or yank it out. It still works perfectly and lights up.

How is it that these cars seem to be so rare... Yet their value doesn't reflect that? I think they're beautiful cars and don't see why the demand isn't there.

Oldsguy

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, too bad all of us are at this site.

Actually, we are a minority and for some reasons the Oldsmobiles just don't make other people foam at the mouth like they do us.

arocars

My first car was a '66 Cutlass. Although the 330 is rated at 320 hp (gross), the car did not perform well. Dual exhaust was not available for the 66 and 330 at that time (I dont know if its available now or not).

I swapped out the two speed jetaway for a 3 speed t350, put a Holly 4 barrel on it, and I changed the rear end to get a better performance gear ratio. Those changes definitely made the car a better driver. It still wasn't a performance giant, but better than it was. If I was to do it again, I would have simply rebuilt the Rochester 4 barrel that was on it.

Headers and dual exhaust is good for 10-20 horsepower. A cam change can easily add 20 hp without changing power accessories. If your car has a 2 barrel, switching to a 4 barrel will add 10 horsepower +/-. You could probably easily add a 200 4R four speed overdrive transmission. Those transmissions have deeper first gears for better acceleration and .6:1 overdrive for better gas mileage. The 330 had 10:1 compression (or 10.25:1, I forget), so use premium gas.

If your concerned about originality, put all your old parts in a box and store them until/if you sell the car or decide to change it back again. None of the changes I've suggested are irreversible.

Good luck.

Pfiffle

Yeah, I'd leave it factory too. Or just stick to "Bolt ons" that can be easily removed and won't need and modifications to install. Very nice car! Love those 67's. There was a six cylinder 4 door 67 Cutlass on E-Bay a couple of weeks ago that didn't even get the $3000 reserve. I could have bought it but, well I have 5 cars and two projects going on. It's a sickness. LOL. I always tell people that there are still plenty of G Bodies like plain Cutlass Supremes around for decent prices and these make great cars to "Muck around with". Parts are availible. Anyway, you have a very nice, seldom seen on the road car. It's good to be different.

Run to Rund

I agree, keep it stock or close to stock. You could build a wild 330 or more streetable and better performing, a 455. Such things are not consistent with the 4 door theme. Sure, you could do a few "stealth" things, if you can do them well and not disturb the "stock" feel of the car, like a small Comp Cam around 206-212 deg. at .050 lift, roller timing chain for durability, etc. Instead, I suggest getting something else to modify and keep that 4 door pristine. It is so rare and most of us appreciate it that way. You will get peer pressure to modify it, and after you do, the same so-called "peers" wil sneer because it is a 4 door, then because it isn't a Chevy. Ignore them and enjoy your Oldsmobile. If you have to have high performance, find a light weight 2 door roach and modify the h--- out of it. It is kind of like having jeans and a tuxedo for different purposes