vitaleyes

I am new to this not only on the Olsdmobile site but posting on forums ingeneral. I have a 71 Olds Delta 88 Royal 2 door convertable 350 2bbl, that my inlaws gave me and it needs work. I was curious if anyone has some guidelines as to where I should start.
Also, I have the opportunity to buy teh following engine and wanted to know if it will fit in this car. Any advice is greatly appre3ciated.
BR Vitaleyes
350 Chevy V8
Complete rebuild with about 5250 miles, 1994 Corvette LT1 Police engine
10.5 / 1 compression, Aluminum heads, 4 bolt mains, Reverse flow cooling system (From radiator to headers and exhaust), Bored 0.030 over with a 0.010-0.010 reground crank shaft
Engine components balanced by Speed Specialties of San Diego
Heavy duty oil pump
Crower cam (smog legal) with roller tappets
All new valve guides
Matched intake ports and exhaust headers
Oil Cooler
Accel ball style fuel injectors
Computer controlled engine and transmission operation
The cooling system has a heavy duty radiator with dual fans and a recovery tank
The transmission is an electronically controlled automatic 700R4

jaunty75

Welcome to the site. You have a cool car.

But you should know one thing. You're talking about putting a Chevy engine in an Oldsmobile. Talk like that on this OLDSMOBILE forum will get you keel-hauled!

Don't even consider doing it. Your car is a boulevard cruiser. I know what they're like as I once had a '75 Delta 88 convertible. It's not meant to turn the quarter mile in 6 seconds. It's meant to float down the road at a steady speed and absorb all the bumps. If you want something with more pep, get a Cutlass and put an Olds 455 in it. Or put a 455 in this car. But keep it Olds!


P.S. We love pictures, too! Post some when you can.

Oldsguy

Welcome to CO. We get requests about putting chevy engines in Oldsmobile cars occasionally and the answers are don't do it. It is really not that simple, wiring harness differences, physical dimensions are different, all accessories mount differently, etc. It would be easier to get a good Olds small block or rebuild the existing engine if you have one.

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

X 2 on Don't do it.

Olds64

Welcome. We look forward to seeing pics.

x3

Please don't ruin your Olds by putting a Chevy weedeater engine in it. You will be disappointed if you do.

citcapp

Nice car, to nice for a chebby engine. But it is your car do what you want with it.

Bluevista

Welcome.
Sure sounds like a nice engine.
The police LT-1 isn't the Corvette version, it's the same 260 HP detuned version they used in the Buick Roadmaster, SS Impala and Cadillac.
I was weirded out by the Optispark distributor behind the water pump when I was looking at '94-'96 estate wagons a while back, still bugs me the way it's designed.
I'm old school and need to see a real distributor.

It is your car, anything is possible if you have the cash, proper skills and high hopes.
Better off finding an Impala or Roadmonster for that baby....
or maybe a Cutlass.


Solon9-21002s.jpg

vitaleyes

Thanks for all the "kind" words. Yeah I had already told myself that this was a bad idea.
Now the nexy question, the engine and trans are in good working order.
Where do I start on the rebuild. I know it needs a new rag top and the interior also needs lots of work, where should I start?
Or, do I start with the rebuild of the engine first?
Thanks
Vitaleyes
DSC_6593.JPG

DSC_6594.JPG

DSC_6595.JPG

jaunty75

Thanks for the photos. Your car looks very good. Back in the late '90s I had a '75 Delta 88 convertible in the same color scheme.

Let's start with a basic question. How many miles are on this car? Why do you need to rebuild the engine at all? What's wrong with it? The 455 on my Delta had 96,000 miles on it when I bought it in 1994 and about 116,000 when I sold the car seven years later. The entire time it ran like a top, and I never did a thing to it except routine tune-up type stuff.

As far as which to do first, does it really matter? It's not like taking out the front seat makes it more difficult to do something to the engine or vice versa. You can be working on both at the same time. If you take the seats to be reupholstered, figure on them being gone for a few weeks, maybe a month. That's time you can be doing something to the engine. Once you get the engine out, if it needs to go to a machine shop for something, again, it will probably be gone for a while, and you can be working on the interior.

But having said the above, I would still be hesitant to start taking apart an engine that runs OK. This is not a drag racer you're putting back together. It's a boulevard cruiser. It doesn't need to go fast, and it doesn't need to lay a patch of rubber when you take off from the traffic light.

Any time you disassemble an engine, you run the risk of problems in getting it back together again properly, whether you do it yourself or have a shop do it. I know many people do it or have it done without problems, but I also have seen threads on here where someone gets an engine back from a shop or gets it back together themselves, goes to start it, and they've got no oil pressure or they've got coolant leaks or there is some other problem. Then they have to take the engine back to the shop that did the work, possibly getting into disagreements as to who is responsible, and so forth.

Again, people rebuild engines or have them rebuilt all the time. If it's needed, of course, you do it. But I have this "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude toward them as well. If the engine runs and moves the car and doesn't smoke and doesn't make noises it shouldn't, I tune it up, but otherwise I leave it alone.

car_designer

Very nice looking Delta.

70 cutlass s

I'm with jaunty, if it runs good. I wouldn't do a unneeded rebuild to it. Wait until it needs it. Start with the front bumper, that is the only thing I can see wrong with the car with pics provided.

Check make sure the car is mechanical sound. Replace worn or cracked seals, rubber hoses, and so on. If the bottom side of the car is in good shape, clean and repaint it. Other than that looks like you have a very nice car to start with.

sicky olds

Let me tell you about that damn optispark.... i have the lt-1 engine on my 95 caprice classic 9-C1 and i have had to change that thing not once but twice lol. tried the cheap 100 dollar one and that one flooded in no time but the OEM one was about 600 bucks lol. engineering wise it was a beautiful choice, mechanically HELL NO!!! it sucks lol. beautiful engine lotta potential but like the other guys say gm belongs to there own subsets imho also.

vitaleyes

Thanks for the input!

Olds64

AWSOME car!

I agree, don't rebuild the engine if it doesn't need it.