I don't think I'll be doing this to my '68 442 anytime soon!!! To each his own I guess! Looks like a pretty clean car but it's got a small block chevy in it.

 

 

Recently, I was talking to the owner of the cigar shop I frequent about LS swapping classic cars. FWIW, he owns a 69 Cutlass convertible with the OE 350.

We thought that folks probably swap an LS motor or Chevy small block so often because it results in good drivability. How many people know how to rebuild a Quadrajet? I've considered it in the past.... for now both of my Oldsmobiles run fine though. Like you said, to each his own.

 

Because troubleshooting the EFI and coil-on-plug ignition of an LS is MUCH easier than rebuilding a Qjet...

 

I suppose...

Really, it probably all boils down to how shiny and cool those LS engines look in the front of the Summit catalog. :

 

I always wonder why someone uses an engine that embarrasses them so much that they need to hide them with the fake nose and glasses? The fake distributor seems like a bit much - and look closely, that's a fake DELCO point-style distributor on that "FE" motor in the third photo.

 

I swapped mine for reliability and drive ability.
Had my original 350 built with all the goodies, ported heads, custom cam etc., spun a bearing after 1500 miles, so I had it rebuilt with same pistons, cam, but was disappointed with power compared to my Chevy small blocks. So I had Cutlassefi build me a 463. That one ran for about 6 years and 30k miles than oil pressure started dropping, from 35psi hot idle to 12psi before I parked it and went LS.
Built up 6.0 with 4l80e. My whole swap was done no corners cut and it was the best thing I’ve done to the car. Out of all my cars I drive Cutlass the most. Get in, start and drive.
it runs like a champ, doesn’t skip a beat. I haven’t touched it since the swap, aside from oil changes.
my whole swap cost little more than my 463, that’s rebuilt engine and trans with upgrades, terminator to control, billet converter, FI tank and lines, etc.
power is about the same, but having 4l80e is amazing.
85mph at 2500rpm.

the only thing I regret is not doing it sooner.

 

I have lots of LS buddies, whenever they tease me about “the old cast iron lung boat anchor” in my car I share one of these.

These cars were designed to be reliable and easy to work on. They were expected to start in any weather, any conditions, by lawyers, doctor, gear heads, librarians, and everyone in between with zero fuss. Properly maintained and in good condition, there is zero reason they can’t be just as reliable today.

If a rebuilt engine destroys itself within a few thousand miles, most likely it was either sloppy machine work, sloppy assembly, most likely a combination of both.

Yes, sbc and LS parts are cheaper than Olds parts. No argument there. What most people fail to consider is all the nickel and dime crap that is needed to finish the swap.

Nice thing about the aftermarket support of the LS engine is the ability to make the swap with none of the cobbled together crap that was so common with the sbc swaps of 20 years ago. You know the kind of “craftsmanship” I’m referring to, radiators held in place with zip strips, wiring done with wire nuts and household wire, batteries held in place with rachet straps, that kind of junk.

And then the “sbc is cheaper argument” 🙄, think of all the money you will save once you buy a transmission that fits, radiator, starter, hoses, exhaust, mounting brackets, all the stuff that won’t swap from the Olds to Chevy. Cheaper indeed.

 

I don't get the whole "more reliable" argument. My 62 is the most reliable car I own. I get in, turn the key, and drive it. No drama. Heck, even after sitting all winter, it starts right up as soon as the float bowl refills. There's absolutely nothing on it to break. (Yeah, the U-joint fiasco on Power Tour was my own fault - I knew I should have replaced them before the trip.)

My suspicion is that the more reliable argument is from people who can't or won't do their own work. I have to laugh at the questions I see - sorry, but if you can't figure out that a Cutlass frame is exactly the same as a Chevelle frame, you probably lack the skills to pull off a swap. If you have to take the car to a shop, few shops have the skills or patience to deal with an older car. All they know is late model stuff. If all you have is a hammer...

And let's be serious here. The automotive media promotes the products of their (diminishing) advertisers. You aren't going to see any Olds or Buick or Pontiac builds because there's no market for the parts and so no companies are paying to advertise in magazines or on line.

 

more reliable as in I can spin it to 7k rpm and throw a turbo on it, modify it as much as want, without worrying if the block will fall apart, like one would be worried with a 455 block.
LS block architecture is superior by far.

I work on my cars, I did my own swap, I even documented it here on CO.

I did it cause my car is a plain Jane cutlass, and I wasn’t going to spend another $8-9k on another engine with weak block.

now I would never do that to my 70 chevelle with 454/m22, with all the documentation.

I respect everybody’s car and whatever people do to keep them on the road. Beats having it rotting away in a yard owned by “I’m gonna fix it one day” guy.

 

How about an engine that destroys itself in 30k miles?? properly maintained, no corners cut etc.

I took out this.




and replaced it with this. In process of installing a turbo right now.

 

^^^this^^^

 

I’m curious, did you do an autopsy on the 30k 455, what happened?

I get it, if your goal is a 1000hp, big turbo, or single digit timeslips, then unless you have really deep pockets your not going to do that with a Olds engine. But for 500-600hp, that’s pretty easy for a pump gas Olds.

I’ll go so far as to say most people have no clue what 1000 hp in a car feels like. With all the tv shows and magazine articles featuring big hp numbers, people think unless you have at least 800hp your not serious.

Those same articles/tv shows/whatever also will have you believe that you can take a junkyard LS engine, slap a cheap eBay turbo on it, and make 1000hp for pocket change. That ain’t realistic either!!!

Im not anti LS, I’m anti-idiots who think that unless a car has the latest EFI, computers, etc it a unreliable, polluting, weezing turd. My argument is people did just fine for almost a 100 years without electronics under the hood.

 

Lol where was all this outrage when everyone was putting a sbc in their model A for the last 40 years!

TBH i dont mind that much i just enjoy cars 70 cutty your bbo and ls both show great attention to detail and look a cutabove most.

 

Wow shocking🤮. As said a Qjet, if properly rebuilt is a much easier fix than transplanting a modern EFI motor in an old car.

 

My Olds 350 has been running fine since its rebuild in 1982. How's that for reliability?

 

Main bearings, crankshaft walked.
I’m getting it rebuilt, more power, sending the heads for full out porting. Hoping to find a 66 cutlass convertible in next year or so so I can put it to good use.

 

thank you sir, means a lot.

 

I totally agree that a well done LS swap looks good and is most likely very reliable. The refined finishing touches of a modern EFI look sweet upon popping open the hood, I can appreciate any car loved that much to spend the time and money to make it how you want.

I also love the preserved original look even more.

Makes me wonder sometimes what a modern SBO or BBO would look like and perform with the extra 35 years of GM money poured into development.

I know I'm biased, but I've always felt the Olds 350 was a far superior engine than any equivalent era SBC. Government regs and GM Corp hubris has killed many cars/engines that were far better than most Chevrolet's.

Long live Oldsmobile!!!

 

Honestly being a life long Oldsmobile Fan (Am I supposed to say OF?) The LS swap is the last question I have about this car...


🥴🍻

 

That car is just ugly. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Supposedly the Olds 307 was far superior to the 305 as far as warranty costs. I have no documentation supporting that, just what I remember the guy who looked over the warranty returns at the Buick dealership I worked at told me. For all I know, maybe he was a Olds fanatic as well.

The Olds engine was a victim of corporate politics. You couldn’t have the corporate flagship Chevy Corvette powered by something other than a Chevy. Remember how the little bow tie boys cried when the Grand National cleaned house as the quickest production vehicle. And then again when Pontiac did it with the Turbo Trans Am.

Once it was decided the sbc would become the corporate engine, GM spent lots of time and money fixing slot of the flaws in the original design. Things like one piece rear main seal, the center bolt valve covers, all were the result of trying to fix the oil leak issues.

 

I don't view a "you can't spin a 455 to 7500 rpm" complaint as reason for calling it unreliable. That's outside the parameters of the original design.

Assuming proper maintenance, reliability is "did it run within original design duty expectations with no issues until expected end of life?" If you radically build a race 455, and it is not reliable, that's not on Oldsmobile, that's on you and the builder. I don't run into any phenomenon with my older engines other than a different start up and warm up routine, but I haven't build a racer.

 

But, you ​​​have to spin an LS to 7500 to get any torque out of it. I just don't get the sheep mentality. Even Frieburger wrote a column about how it's becoming "cool" to not have an LS. It's that played out already.

 

We have said it many times here, as long as your names on the title do what you want, I would prefer stock but that's me.
I came close to buying a beautiful 66 Pontiac Le Mans (poor mans GTO, have you seen the price of GTO"S !!!) it was stock down to the Pontiac rally wheels except the PMD overhead cam 6 had been replaced with a SBC crate motor, owner said it was going to cost him more to rebuild the OHC 6 than the crate motor cost him and he wanted a little more zip, it was a great running car.

 

OMG, did that guy ever hear that Pontiac made V-8 engines?

 

I'd love to be able to buy every big Donked old musclecar I see, and rip it all out and return it to a vintage musclecar look.
I cringe every time I see one.

 

You and me both. Maybe this is a business opportunity.

 

You would probably need a stockpile of frames because these things have probably been cut beyond repair. Just my guess.

 

Perfectly good way to totally ruin a 68 whether it be a Cutlass or a 442.

 

I’m pretty old school when it comes to how I like these old cars to be set up. But, I get the idea that people are using an LS to keep the old car experience on the road. At least when the LS-equipped cars roll down the road, little kids see it and learn or see some history.

I’m satisfied with carbureted 455’s & TH-400’s which are close enough to factory to emulate the ‘60’s experience, but it’s fine by me if someone else wants more HP & torque. I added HEI and disk brakes which might be sacrilege to some, but that’s my point on the modification curve. If someone else has a different point on the curve out to 4 wheel discs, LS, tubs, whatever… who am I to judge?

Lambo doors on a cutlass feel out of place to me. So do 22” wheels, but hey, set it up how you want & enjoy. The reality is some of these later modifications fight the design of long ago. Not my cup of tea, but go for it. Then live with it — good & bad. I’ve been unhappy with many aftermarket mods and usually go back to GM parts.

Oldsmobile, despite this wonderful site, has joined Frazier, Nash, Hudson, Pontiac, and a host of other historical (well, o.k, dead - except to us) brands. It’s fun to keep the 40’s,50’s,60’s experience alive, but if that’s not to someone’s taste, peace be with them.

If, in whatever form, we manage to pass on a bit of history to the next generation, maybe they’ll appreciate what we liked about these machines along the way. Some of the most fun drives are when little kids look at their parents and ask “What’s that?” Lots of times the parents smile, remember the cars they grew up with, & explain. Even in Prius-proud NorCal, either nobody cares or they smile.

And hey, it’s pretty fun driving an analog antidiluvian machine 55 years later…

cheers
cf

PS: On the hunt for a 65-66 98 gas tank, if anyone has a line…

 

That's not true. I can tell you have never driven a LS swapped car that's been built properly. Just like with any other build it's all in the combo. Most of the LS swaps have a cam that's way too big and a stock converter.

My 6.0 has plenty of torque, dynoed at 463WHP and 444ft-lb, measured at the wheels not crankshaft. it's all in the combo.

 

How is it ruined if it's being driven more than ever before???

 

Has anyone ever done an Olds 455 transplant into a Chevy?

 

With all due respect guys, I'm not here arguing that LS is better and it's the only way to go. I'm not trying to sound like one of the LS fanboys.
I have 5 classic cars, only Cutlass is LS swapped. The rest are all carburated old school engines. I've tried to keep it Olds powered and spent over $20k on Olds engines in the span of about 10 years. I've even had one of the best in business build my 463. I've never spent that much money on any of my Chevy powered cars and they get abused much more than my Olds. I babied it the whole time I've had the big block and it still spun the bearings.
So I wanted to try something new. It works for me, I enjoy driving it much more than when I had the big block. I do miss that torque at low rpm, but 6.0 is no slouch. I don't baby it anymore, car is much more fun to drive when I don't have to worry about my expensive engine every time I step on the gas.

I am planning on buying another Olds, most likely it will be a 66 Cutlass preferably convertible. And I will put my 463 to good use.

 

Where in the hell is it decided to run any motor at 7500 rpm's? Nascar in third gear maybe. 455 is not built/designed to run like that. Even an LS. 7500 rpm's is running. If you are pushing your motor like that you better be on it. People and their bullshit about how much dyno horsepower blah blah blah. Build a reliable car that you enjoy driving. That's the goal isn't it? I don't hate an LS car. I don't hate a 2 barrel car. Build your car to fit you.

Trailer Queens blow hard. I respect a Joe Blow with mods way more than some putz who overpaid for something they couldn't fix if they had to.

 

A mild 455 is over 500 ft/lbs at 4000 rpm.
I have a 6.0 in my truck.

 

I wasn't comparing it to a big block. I was just saying that they do have torque, and not at 7500rpm.
Apples to apples at 3850 rpm my 6.0 put out 418ft-lb to the wheels, that's about 500 to the crank.
364cu.in. engine so 91cu.in. less, and my 6.0 is very mild.

And it sounds decent too.

 

It's still just another "Cutty" with an LS. There are more built every day. It may as well be a 69 Camaro.

 

and I’m ok with that. I’m having a blast driving it, and in the end that’s all it matters.