snylften

• I have a 1971 cutlass S with a 350 smallblock engine. I was told the engine was original when i bought the car. On paper i would have 160 horsepower (119kw). It sounds a little low for this engine i think? I wonder if there is a eazy way to get me some more juice? Maybe a new carburetor?

70 cutlass s

To be honest I would start with the gears in the rear end. If it has 2.56 in it now changing to 3.23 or 3.42 would do more for it. Than any bolt on part you can put on the engine. So the first thing would be find out what gears you have now and go from there.

cutlassefi

X2. A gear, manifold and carb change will make it feel like it's a different car. Probably 1K for everything. Manifold and carb you can get used anywhere. Another fairly cheap upgrade is true dual exhaust.

Lady72nRob71

What kind of carb is on it now? It looks strange...
My spec books indicate the following NET numbers for 1972:
160HP was for 2bbl, single exh.
180HP for 4bbl, single exh.
175HP for 2bbl dual exh.
200HP for 4bbl dual exh.

I would think the 1971 NET values would be similar, but I think they still used the GROSS numbers in that year which would be higher.

So adding a 4bbl carb and dual exhaust would get you another 40 ponies and still keep you looking factory correct..
Changing the rear gears also would certainly reduce the life of the rear tires in exchange for fun...

citcapp

My book indicates the following for the first year of smog engines with reduced compression.

350 2 barrel carb 240 hp at 4200 rpm at the flywheel
350 4 barrel carb 260 hp at 4600 rpm at the flywheel

figure a 20% loss at the rear wheels on the average

captjim

I had this exact situation with our 71 Skylark. It had a 350 SBB with a 2 bbl. I upgraded the cam, intake, and carb all at once. It already had dual exhaust. Made a huge seat-of-the-pants difference. It now has a 400 HP 355 Olds engine.
The cam in a stock 350 Olds is VERY mild, like 194 @ .050 and .400 lift. While the intake is off, change the cam and lifters to something in the .460 lift +/- and 205 @ .050 on the intake. Don't go nuts on the cam. While doing so you will also replace the 40 year old timing chain and gears. Degree the cam. Also a good time for a new water and fuel pump ( less than $100 ) Performer intake and Q-jet or Holley 670 Street Avenger carb.
I agree with the gear change that 70 Cutlass S suggested, no need for more than 3.42s and a tall-ish tire, especially if you want to keep the TH350.

jslabotsky

Can you give us an idea what tire size you have in mind?

Does anybody have real numbers on how much HP you get from switching to dual exhaust on a low-comp engine like this? Say a 180HP 4bbl 350?

Don't mean to threadjack, but these questions seemed like they would be relevant to the OP as well.

Bluevista

You need juice for a 350?

70 cutlass s

I would say P275/60 R15 would be around the tire size he was thinking of, may be a P295/50 R15 at most.

You could get around 20 hp from going to duel exhaust. Headers could add a few more.

captjim

Yep, 27"-28" tall. I ran 25.5" tall tires on my G-body wagon withg 3.42s, a little taller would have been perfect.

I am not sure about the exhaust deal, too many variables, but IMO 10-20 is about right.

Mingus

The carb looks like a Carter AFB. The Edelbrock carbs (like I have on my Cutlass) are a clone of them made by Weber. Kind of a Heinz 57 carb.