Yes, I know. Why am I mentioning a Chev on an Olds site. It started 3 years ago. My son had no interest in cars until I decided to scrap my 2003 Grand Am GT. His buddies were into demolition derbies and racing, so he decided to give the Grand Am a go in a derby. He won the heat and came in 2nd in the feature. He would have won, but being new, he wanted the kill. The other guy was hardly moving and on the clock. My son just had to avoid him for another 10 seconds for the win. But he wanted to hit him one more time and made wheel to wheel contact. He bent the tie rod and blew out the CV. He was done. The other guy just had to touch him and won.
Since then, he entered a Grand Caravan and a 91 Caprice. He now got hold of a 76 Pontiac Parisienne. So, to the point. We don't have a truck or trailer for transporting the derby cars. My son is always asking his buddies to help with that. So, instead of getting a truck, my son wanted an old wagon to do the hauling. He wants to do it in style. We found this 88 Caprice wagon in mint condition. It came stock with a 307, so we thought. We found emission test papers an noticed the 5.0L was crossed out and marked with 6.6L. I don't know my engines (Newbie), but I saw the 4A on the heads and found out someone swapped the 307 with a stock Olds 403. They put a 3.42 gear in the back. I don't know what transmission it has yet. We just put it in storage for the winter. It seems to run great other than a bad lifter. In the spring, we plan to pull the 403 and do a street build. I would like to get at least 300 HP out of it. So, that's why I'm here. I have many questions, being new to engine building. The biggest engine job I've done was a head gasket replacement on an 88 Pontiac Sunbird 2.0L. My son and I are excited to take on this project, but want to do it right. So, we'll be depending on the people of the forum. Looking forward to your advice. I know this is an introduction thread. You'll be hearing from me throughout the forum. Thanks

 

Sounds like an interesting project, welcome to the site.

 

Welcome to the group... There are plenty of skilled Olds engine builders here to assist you... Good luck with the project and your future Derby runs...

 

The Olds 307 was common in all the late-80s B-body wagons. I had an 86 Caprice wagon with an Olds 307. The 403 is a bolt-in swap and fixes the 140 HP 307 problem. The only problem is longevity of the 200-4R if it still has the original trans. Just be sure it really is a 403. The displacement is cast into the side of the block. Good luck with it.