I have a chance to pick up a 70 350 Olds W-31 aluminum intake for my car. The guy want's a good bit of money ........but everyone tells me that they only made so many for 70. Id like to know about how many of these intakes were produced and what you guys think it is worth.??? Thanks

 

depends on what he and you think "a good bit of money" is.

condition plays a big part since they are aluminum. anything over $600-$650 and it better be perfect

 

He said that it has never been messed with (fixed) is very clean and all the holes are right. He said he has to have 700 no less.....

 

If it is real nice with no welds then $700 is not out of line at all. If it is a 69 or 70 date code helps the price also. That intake was only on the 70 W-31 but was made all the way to 1977 and sold over the counter. The 69 and 70 have a smaller water port on the back corner than the ones made after 70.

 

Thanks for getting back to me. He said that its never had any problems as far as repairs or stripped threads. He also said it was date coded to 70. Thanks for the info....I will check out the water port when I get a chance to see it.

 

A while back on this site I offered someone $500 for one that needed a real good cleaning, very black and oxidized. He got an offer from someone, I think in BC for $700. He gave me the option to counter since I was the first contact but I passed. If it was clean I would have paid him $700 but the effort to clean it wasn't worth it for me.

I actually picked up a late model one from a CO member a few months back for somewhere around $100 shipped. I didn't do the homework yet but my guess it was off an 80's 442 or H/O. If it works I'll use it on the 70' 350 I took out of the 71' Cutlass when I get to freshening that motor up.

 

Zeeke......Thanks for the info. I guess I will check it out next week at Hershey. The guy didn't have it with him at Carlisle but said he would bring it next week. He said it was VERY nice...so I guess we will see. Maybe I will post a photo next week if I get it.

 

Unless you have a real W-31, don't waste your money. The only difference between a W-31 intake and any other stock intake is the weight. Runners are exactly the same. There is no performance benefit.

 

Very interesting, I never knew there was difference between the production and later cast aluminum W31 intake manifolds.

Besides the Oldsmobile-455 and Olds-455 casting differences, are there any other differences between the 70-72 W30 intake manifolds?

 

The intake is for a 350 motor not a 455. The W-30 had a 455 which has a W-455 on the front of the intake. The W-31 is for the 350. It was on the 70' Raley 350's and and I believe the W-31's which has a W-350 on the front of the intake.

 

Only originally installed on '70 W31s.....not on Rally cars (they got the regular cast iron intakes).

 

that's the most obvious difference and of course the date stamp on the underneath of the manifold. Other than that I'm not sure if there are any differences in ports or other stampings.

 

Thanks for the info. I just talked to the man with the intake and he said it has a date code 1969 on the bottom. Thanks again.

 

 

Off hand does anyone know the correct Quadrajet carb (number)that is on the 70 W-31 350 engine.

 

7040255 and if it is not a restamp it is worth between $1000 and $2500 depending on condition and date. If it is a restamp it is near worthless.

 

I have a 7040250 on my car right now. How much difference is there from my carb to the w-31 7040255?

 

A LOT. The most fundamental difference is that the W-31 cam didn't pull enough vacuum to properly operate the power piston in the Qjet. As a result, Olds deleted the power piston and primary metering rods in the '255 and went to smaller fixed primary jets.

 

If you have a stock cam and not a W-31 then keep the 0250. The 0255 is built for low vacuum. The 0255 has no primary metering rods and the jets are smaller to work without them. If you don't have a W-31 and need original numbers then your 0250 can be built to whatever you need for the engine you have.

 

You beat me

 

Thanks again for the info.....I think I'm
going to have Sparky's redo my carb