When I bought my '86 442 brand new I remember the Service Manager saying now the HO 307 was a 'roller' motor. I understood 'roller' valvetrain was new in '86 but just read something recently that made me believe '86 was the ONLY year. Did every other year after that get the roller set up too or was it '86 only? Was it only the HO (Vin code '9') engines or all 307s? Hard to believe it would be a one year only offering.

 

The "roller" part refers to the lifters only, not the rockers. The roller cam was used on all 1985-1990 VIN Y 307s and all 1986-1987 VIN 9 307s (and presumably later VIN 9 motors as used in Caddy Fleetwoods). By the way, this was not necessarily an upgrade, as the roller cam motors also got the peanut port 7A heads and matching A5 intake.

 

Thanks Joe. I was not aware it was lifters only. Also I would assume the switch to 7A heads and 5A intake explains why the '86-'87 motors had 10 less horsepower but 10 more lb/ft of torque than the previous version. I wish I'd kept that car.

 

Olds went completely backwards for performance with swirl port. When they introduced the Vin 9 in 83 it was very similar or had more power than other 5.0 HO's. Dropping compression and shrinking ports made it an embarrassment.

 

You can thank the CAFE requirements and the decision to stick with a carb instead of moving to EFI for this.

 

Agree completely. Too bad they didn't copy the FEX prototype motor. Shows what decent exhaust and cold air induction will do,.

 

what exactly is meant by vin code 9? is this the code on the motor, or is this the Vin code on the car? and which place in the vin do we look for the number 9?

trying to dissect what my wagon is


thanks for the assist.

Bruce

 

?
I think its the eighth? digit in the Vehicle Identification Number located on the dash and on the title and probably the insurance paperwork. It refers to roller lifters instead of hydraulic lifters.

 

I just bought an 89 caprice wagon, with an Olds 307. vin 1G1BN81Y9KA----------

by this number, can I determine what trans, rear gear ratio, engine, etc? and if so, how?

thanks
Bruce

 

referrers to HO motor (9) vers. non HO motor (Y). roller lifters across both motors in 86

 

The eighth character in your car's VIN is the engine code. For 1986, Olds used two different 307 motors, the "Y" code 140 HP version and the "9" code 180 HP version. Don''t worry about this, your wagon has the VIN Y motor. Only 442s got the VIN 9 motor that year.