Hey this is Ross. I'm a mechanic but have been rebuilding engines for the past twenty years or so.I bought a 71 cutlass s in April, my plan is to have the car painted this winter. I'm going to take the engine and transmission out and do them over too. The engine is a 350 2bbl .I put a 4bbl on it already . From what I've been reading my engine has 8.2 comp pistons and I've been thinking about using flattops which should bring it up to 10.25. I don't know a whole lot about olds engines, 90% of what I do is small block chevys, getting pretty sick of them.Any suggestions on the rebuild would be appreciated.

 

bearing clearances are crucial with Olds motors,it can make or break your motor in the long run.
if youre running 7A heads,i doubt you'll push it to 10.25 with flattops,i really dont think you need it.

go over to

www.realoldspower.com

and look in the engine build section.

there you will see detailed descriptions of what people have done to their builds.

there are mild 350 builds in there that run low 13's,to stroked out diesel block builds taking a boatload of spray.

 

He should have 7 heads in 71.

 

yes the engine does have 7 heads on it. I guess my main concern is getting the right combination to produce a respectable amount of power and run well.

 

camshaft and heads make the power.

don't make the same mistake ive seen countless people do,and think a Jeg's catalog makes their car faster.

it wont.