Hello,

New to the site, just registered. However im hoping to get some advice and become (If it works out) a long time member.

So... on to business,

I just moved the midwest for my PhD and plan on being here for another 5ish years and need a car, so i have been searching on craiglist and the like and i would very much like a older car, i had a 75 camero growing up with a 350 and a holly carb and worked on it all the time, however i eventually had to get a Kia Spectra for work and then had that for 20 years. So now im thinking of getting back into older cars and i found a 1984 olds toronado with a 307, its a automatic, which im not a fan of, but... it is what it is. they are asking for 6500 and the description says:

"307 motor
Clean no rust, runs great and everything works!
New tires,water pump,new thermostat, new radiator, fuel pump, rebuild carburetor, new brake booster"

has 106k on it, and the thing(s) im curious about are this
1: will it last for 5ish years as it already has 106k on it. and 2: how easily will i be able to drop a 350 in here along with a manual transmission after the 5 years when it becomes a project car?

Cheers (photos below)
Also, i feel like it just fits my style....

 

Yes you can swap an Olds 350 into the Toro, unfortunately I doubt a manual trans is in its future.

 

Thats fair, how about longevity of it in its current state?

 

Q, My Wifes car is an 84 Buick Riviera which is basically the same car. We have had it since new and it has been a wonderful vehicle. I rebuilt the engine and trans about 3 years ago at about 280K miles. Was running fine until the GM plastic camshaft gear decided it had enough

Putting the 350 in is very easy but the manual trans not so much. I am sure it might be possible somehow but would require some major modifications due to the way the front wheel drive works on those cars.

 

Wow, thats a pretty long lifespan. More than i anticipated, so it would easily work for the next 5 years at 6ish miles a day (Round trip) to and from the university then? until it can become an official project car? 6500 seems like a good deal for as clean as it is, it that about what one would expect to pay?

 

If the timing chain has been changed the engine can go a long time. The stock plastic coated gear is a ticking time bomb after 60k miles. Valve stem seals would be next be the next concern

 

cheers! im assuming you mean the camshaft gear, with that in mind would it be beneficial to just drop a rebuilt/new 350 into it? Also any idea what the cost of something like that would be? (while in school i have no garage)

 

I dont see any reason it shouldnt last you for at least that long. The one thing you might want to do is take it for a nice long ride maybe every few weeks to get the engine completely up to temperature and burn all of the moisture out of the oil.

The timing gear on my Wifes car lasted to about 289K miles but that is unusual. If you can find a shop willing to replace it that is the only thing I might do. Most shops now days do not want to work on older cars Makes no sense to replace the entire engine. That 307 will almost run forever with a little care. Other than the timing gear my Wifes was in very very good condition.

Personally I would probably just drive it

 

Also, Thank you both (all) for the help

So, drive as is then when i get some influx of cash in the future (~a yr) find a shop to replace the timing gear? Also, decent deal at 6500?

 

I had a 1979 Eldorado, the Toronados 1st cousin. Fantastic quiet plush ride. As far as mileage I cannot improve on what BillK said. And his wife's car mileage is far more than I figured as well. I've had several 307s in G-bodys all of them just over 100,000 miles, none let me down. I figured 150,000 miles before serious work. So almost double that is beyond great. If any 307s were going to see this kind of mileage the front wheel drivers make the most sense. Luxury cruisers that like to float. Particularly female owned, as they are just more sensible when it comes to getting on cars...

My gut just from what I gather in this thread, 5000 feels right... If it checks out and you love it 5500. (but I did not look into it at all)

 

Until proven otherwise, assume that the half sponge top, has rust under it around its base.

 

Not always true Mine has commented more than a few times that she wished ours had a little more power for hole shots When we bough it we were actually looking at Regals but the Riviera was about the same price and a lot nicer looking car. And we did not like the Vinyl top at all so ordered it without This pic was about 2 years ago.

 

Remember for everything to work, it needs to be an Olds 350, not the available everywhere sbc 350. That trans is a front wheel drive version of the 2004R, some have modified the available 2004R shift kits to work in it. It will have limited strength, so a replacement 350 will have to be mild. Those cars are cheap up here. A good old luxury cruiser but much above stock, not so much.

 

I will find out soon. I am doing a 427 stroker kit for a customer with a Riviera almost a twin to mine He bought some upgraded cv axles and had a bunch done to the transmission. It should be interesting He is not so much interested in drag strip performance so he should be ok.

 

Recall the 307 and matching transmission are tuned to just that. You start adding power to the mix, you likely will be seeing a transmission rebuild in your future, depending on the power level added. 106K isn't all that for an Olds engine, but before you start yanking and dropping 350s in everything before even buying the car I think you're trying to put cart before horse. Once you open that hood and see what it's going to take to either put that 350 on the computer or bypass all the computer controlled stuff and get it to run right again, THEN you can determine whether or not simply ensuring the 307 is running tip top or replacing it with a 350. It's going to be a lot more work than you think because you'll have to understand how the CCC system works to disable it properly, or to hook it back up and tune the 350 to it properly. If already familiar, than do what you feel is right.

Nothing wrong with a 307 if you're just going to drive it back and forth for school 10 miles per day. You can always put a 350 in it later if you choose.

 

I also recently found this beauty while shopping around my local area.

1983 Olds 88

• Mileage 60,429 miles
• Engine 5.0L V8
• Transmission Automatic 4-Speed
• Engine 5.0L V8
• One family owned

asking $8900 (There are many more photos and a video, its sounds good....)