Hello everyone, I have a 1968 cutlass four door post sedan. I have everything all original. Bone stock. Its only got 60,000 miles on it. Got all of power, so it seems. Runs like a champ. Sitting at a stop sign, if i punch it, theres no bark. What should i do? Looks pretty but go no bark!

 

What gears and what rear end are you running , trans and motor plans do you have budget thoughts ?

 

no i have no idea what the rear end is. I beleive it came stock with a 3.08..I dont want to change the motor...transmission is a two speed jetaway..

 

I think you'll find that most of the sedans had tall gears like 2.56. Easiest way to give it more launch power is change the ring and pinion to something like 2.93 or 3.08? That still gives you some economy but better power off the stop line. If you change the gears though, you'll also have to change the speedo gear. If you plan on keeping the original carrier (likely an open) stick with 2.93 gears. IIRC anything shorter will need the carrier to be upgraded.

 

If memory serves me you have a 330 small block not sure if it has a 2 or 4 barrel carb
This car is most likely set up for High way
If you put lower gears in you will get more bark but less fuel
But then again depends what you really want here sky's are the limit here tons of potential

 

I have a 350 small block, 2 bbl og roch..I was thinking about the 2711 edl and a 600 cfm edl....so how can i actually tell what my gears are?

 

I wouldn't do this until you have identified the rear gears. Then I would dump the Jetaway and get a TH 350 in there for starters. The two speed trans it just geared too tall in first unless you have GOBS of torque.

You can try advancing the timing a few degrees and see what happens, but don't go too far with it so as to cause pinging.

I have seen people install a 4bbl in place of a 2bbl carb and slow down. It's not always about the size of the carb as much how well it's tuned.

 

so once i identify the rear gears then what? 350? what about the 400, and the 3.08...and what is the relationship betwwen the carb and the gears?

 

Th400 takes more hp then the th350

I like 3:23 gears nice middle ground not sure about the carb thing

 

With a 350 you can use a TH400, but honestly it's overkill and the TH400 has more parasitic loss than the TH350. Not to mention you'll need a new yoke for the trans with a TH400.

Not too much from the get go, it's just that tossing a larger carb on doesn't necessarily make more power.
When I was a wee lad I had a 76 Cutlass Salon...350 4bbl and my friend had a 75 Monte Carlo with a 350 2bbl. No clue what the rear ends were. We raced and I beat him...about a half a car or so. He was mad and went out and found a factory intake a 4bbl and installed them. We went at it again...I got him by a full car length this time.

Just an example YMMV.

Your biggest bang for your buck will be the trans and rear end gears. If you jump up to something over 3.08 I would suggest you would want to go the whole route and do intake, carb, headers (or at the very least a dual exhaust) and possibly a cam swap. The factory didn't just throw a different intake and carb on, they changed everything...even the distributor...to make the combo work properly.

 

I don't know that you'll see much over 5000 RPM with that engine. Using the formula RPM x CID / 3456 will tell you how big of a carb the engine needs to breathe properly. The exhaust plays a role in this as well because you can't take in what you can't get out.

EDIT:
Link to explanation of the formula and how to use it.
http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/Car...eselection.htm

 

ok everyone thx for the info. I currently have dual exhaust....really i just wanted to pretty up underneath the hood, but if it is not neccessary, then i wont do it at all. So what im getting here, is beef up the gears in the rear and get a 350 ht, and have the timing bumped up a bit? if i want to keep the motor original?

 

That would be they way I'd do it...unless you really want to shock people. Then there's always a 455.

 

Jack the car up rotate the drive shaft as often as it takes to complete 1 revolution of the tire. GEAR RATIO pending you have stock factory wheel size.

gil