78 Cadsmobile

Hey guys! Just formally introducing myself here onto the boards of ClassicOlds. Been into cars from most of my years... at least since the early 1980's. First interest started with a physically fine non running Cutlass, 1968 I believe. (Had the what I like to call the Dot - dash-dot headlight/signal style of Morse code). Loved tinkering around in it as my father had supposedly had an accident in it. (Didn't see any damage back then) and it stopped running. He never got it to run again, but I sure wasn't beyond trying at 8/9 years old lol. Car was a coupe, lemon yellow with a black vinyl top. Black vinyl interior that would broil you out of there in the summer (car prob didn't have an a/c, don't remember it ever being cool in there the short time we rode in it) Still, I tried (mostly with imagination) to get it to run, and when I wasn't doing that, I insisted I was driving it. Loved that car, and my father wound up trading it with a neighbor for a room divider. I was disappointed, but too young to do much anyway. Only now in the future do I find out that this car was probably the most memorable version of the Cutlass... possibly the most legendary, especially for the 442. Ours was a 350 for sure, I can remember that. These cars in good shape fetch a pretty penny as collectibles, and of course I'm a bit salty at the missed opportunity to have gotten this as my first car back then. Never the less, I have now what is a "love child" car... a Nova X body platformed Cadillac with and Olds 350 power-plant to contend with. Loved the first Gen Seville because of it's classy Nova-like looks, but had no clue Oldsmobile was tasked to give it life.I'm starting restoration of this beast, and find myself coming back home to where my car love started... 46 years ago. I give details later in the appropriate section, as I will have some questions for sure..


Jon C.

joe_padavano

Welcome. So you have the Seville with the EFI Olds 350? Is the fuel injection system still there, or did it get pitched?

78 Cadsmobile

Yep, from what I could tell, it's a base model Seville, with only 78K miles. The EFI system was still intact as the previous owner wasn't that much into the car beyond basic tinkering. I've been on the Caddy boards and am pretty familiar with the pros and cons of keeping the EFI vs ditching it. When I start my thread later, I'll cover what I've done thus far and what I'm looking to do.

joe_padavano

Cool. Given the difficulty in getting parts for this antiquated analog EFI system, many people replace them with carb setups (sound familiar, Jetfire owners?). At least one person has converted the Seville EFI to digital control. You might find this interesting if you haven't seen it before.

http://grimers.com/vehicles/olds/403efi/index.html

CRUZN 66

Welcome to the group... Looking forward to seeing your progress...

JohnnyBs68S

Welcome to CO! "Dot-dash-dot", LOL, love IT! Dad got his HAM license in his retirement years and learned Morse code. He'd appreciate that one. One of Olds distinctive styling tricks.

Greg Rogers

Welcome, love that Seville, Joe-thanks for posting that. It was very interesting. I wonder how it went after that?

Olds64

Welcome. Post pics NOW!

Thanks again Joe for posting the cool link.

78 Cadsmobile

Wow, interesting solution. I've read about this with other classics in forums about updating to a GM OEM injection system from the 80's/90's. This one so far seems unique in it combines later stuff with modified earlier Seville parts. After I get everything sorted and the car well on it's way to full resto, I may revisit the idea of some kind of injection.

78 Cadsmobile

LOL, thanks! I will as soon as I have some. Right now all I got are the pics on my Facebook messenger to show the previous owner where I took the car. As soon as I get the info I need from my posting in the small block resto section, I'll make a decision, order the parts, and have my indie restorer take pics as he's working on it. Right now, I need to know if I can change the cam in that 350 with something mild to give it more punch without risking failing emissions. Also trying not to have to change the valvetrain, but I don't know how far the stock set up can go with cam lift before something has to be changed. If any swap out needs accompanying springs/lifter/rods to work, I may go that route if I can get it at a decent price. Otherwise, I'll have to leave it to the Edelbrock Performer intake and Holley 4165/75 carb with maybe a modest gear swap to give the shove I want. 0 - 60 in 12.6 (Seville 350 0 to 60mph time stock) is coincidentally right about where my 92 Mercedes 300D turbodiesel was stock (officially) before I started my rehab/performance mods on that car to bring it into the modern era. Granted, we're talking 700 lbs difference between the Seville and the Benz, plus an extra gear for the Benz auto (4 speed), but the final drives are strangely almost perfectly lined up (Benz 2.65, Seville 2.56 lol)

That turbodiesel 2.5 inline 5, with simply some fueling mods and advancing fuel injection timing, sent the stock little turbo into insta boost off the line, and with a 2400 stall, the torque that little engine made became immediately reminiscent of what that Olds 350 (and scores of other 60's early 70's American V8's) felt like to me back in the day. Even if it wasn't quite as high numerically (didn't dyno it, but you def felt the effects... greater off the line shove into your seat, lifting front end, and stall forced up to 3000 rpm. Also flare shifting auto tranny in 2nd/3rd on moderate to heavy throttle on a roll). Turbo was too small, so it fell off a cliff at 4000 rpm, but still... the point is even with a tall 2.65 final drive, the car's torque and torque curve was so improved that it easily lost about 4 to 5 seconds to 60 mph. That gives me hope something can be done to this Seville via that Olds 350... just using displacement and breathing. Even gears if need be. We'll see what I get as answers. Until then, I'll lurk around in some past threads as I'm sure I can't be the first wanting to do this..

78 Cadsmobile

I thought it would be by somebody lol. Morse code and CB's were huge back during the day I was a kid in the 70's. My parents bought me a Walkie Talkie set that had a morse code function on them so I could practice. They had the Morse Alphabet on the back to the Walkie Talkies so you could try it out too. At some point in my child brain, every time I looked at the front of that Cutlass, that's what i saw with that lighting scheme. Which btw, O - O = the letter "R".. There's other combos depending on how you "read" those lights that allow you to get E and M as well. The R version can refer to what you're gonna hear revving up that motor behind it I guess...