davoaz

not to A bodies.

Pickup up a 72 Cutlass supreme the other day. Car is decent shape but has a few nuisances. So there'll be a lot of posts coming from me in the future. I'd post a pic but haven't figured out how to access my cables webspace yet.

I'd like to wake the car up a bit. Car has a 350, 2bbl, single exhaust. Not sure why car vin no. has a K in it so it should be a 2bbl, dual exhaust.

I'd like to get it up to close to the power levels before they got detuned but from what I hear there isn't a lot of power options for these engines like the Chevy 350. My ex A body was a 71' Chevy Malibu. went from a 350 to a 496BBC. I don't want to go this route again. I want to be able to take this car out a little farther than from red light to red light to gas station, rinse repeat.

Other major mechanical is the 4wheel manual drum brakes. Sounds like there isn't much improvement for converting to disc brakes and keeping the factory 14" wheels, besides a softer pedal. Other aftermarket options would require a new wheels and such.

The car has been kept 100% original including old school points and condenser distributor. However, it's a basic supreme convertible. So I'm not thinking making these modifications is going to devalue it very much.

Davo

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site, post some pics when you get it figured out.


Although there is not the selection of bolt on power adders as it's Chevrolet counterparts, there are still a pretty good selection of intakes, carbs, headers, cams and valve train components available for an sbo. A BBO is a simple bolt in, just as it is in a Chevy.


The mods you've considered will not alter your cars value and perhaps may even increase it a bit.


Power brake and power disc conversions are available from stock setups to aftermarket, it's an A body and you can in most cases still run the 14's. Although tire selection is the limiting factor for that size wheel.


There is nothing wrong with the old style points dist and can work well even in a modified engine.

jaunty75

According to the GM VIN decoder, a K in the "engine" slot on the VIN of a 1972 Oldsmobile indicates a 350 V-8, 180 hp, 4-bbl carb, single exhaust.

https://service.gm.com/dealerworld/v.../vincard72.pdf


What is the car's full VIN? If you post a photo of the body cowl tag, we can decode that, too.

Allan R

True. But why use that link when you can use a better one? The 1972 CSM is a much better and detailed source of information.

1972 Cutlass Supreme = the standard engine was the K coded (L34) 350 4bbl. It could be upgraded or downgraded to several different engines/exhaust options. I'd double check that engine and pull the air cleaner lid. If the car is original you should see a nice 7042250 QJet staring back at you. The Air cleaner and snorkel on a 2 bbl is noticeably different than a 4bbl too.

There are several options to wake up a car. The first one is to make sure it's tuned properly.

jaunty75

Because this GM-produced document has the information needed and is much quicker to look at. How much more information does the CSM have that using the link I provided is so much more dreadful? Is the VIN card incorrect?

Fun71

Cool, a '72 convertible should be lots of fun.

Dual exhaust and 4BBL will help a lot - the factory ratings show a 40 HP increase from 2BBL single exhaust to 4BBL dual exhaust.
You can also add headers and a mild cam, don't go too big since the factory CR is about 8:1 so it's easy to overcam the engine and actually decrease performance.
Lower rear gears are one thing that will really make a noticeable difference, especially if your car has 2.56 rear gears. I went from 2.56 to 3.08, then to 3.55 and each change felt like a new engine with a bunch more horsepower.

I'm not really sure what you mean by some of this. Swapping to factory front discs is a huge improvement in stopping ability. This was the first thing I did to mine back in 1990 as the front drums were worthless in the rain (Texas Gulf Coast torrential downpours). Factory disc setup will fit with the 14" wheels, and you can move up to the '75 and later SSIII wheels like I did and most folks would never notice the difference. I don't recall any difference in pedal feel between front drum and disc.

Shouldn't be an issue. I ran my original distributor with top quality points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires, and coil up to 5800 RPM all the time, then I didn't see any difference in performance when I switched to a set up HEI distributor (only switched because I was given the distributor for free and wanted to try it).

billmerbach

Well I have you a factory 350 4 barrel manifold for cheap if you want

davoaz

Vin is 3J67K2M222576 Where do I find the body tag. Also, couldn't find No's on axle to try and figure out what rear gear I have.

Saw your post, but I' still trying to decide where I go with this.

Right now I'm thinking I'd like to get engine built up around the 1970 350 in power and torque ratings. Not sure if I can do that with my 72' or if the better route is a new motor. I'm thinking make it peppy but be able to cruise on the highway out of town with it and not have to rent a tanker to follow me around.

My malibu I took the 270hp 350 and put a 555hp 496 in there. I was king of the road between gas station stops Then there was the additional co$t$ when you swicth over that big. Don't want to go that route again.

jaunty75

VIN decodes to 1972 Cutlass Supreme convertible with a 350 4-bbl built at Lansing.

The body cowl tag is on the driver's side firewall under the hood. It's about the size of a credit card. Here's a couple of examples.







As I said earlier, post a photo of it if at all possible. People who try to copy down what is on it often make mistakes, and where the codes appear on the tag can matter, too.

davoaz

figured out how to make pic a thumbnail