OK...I'll try to abbreviate as much as possible.

I've got a 350 going in my '69 Cutlass "S". The engine was rebuilt about 15 years ago and taken with a '72 Cutlass to body shop to be restored...long story short...the original owner must have fallen off the face of the earth, because he was never heard from again. The body shop owner was closing his business, and not being able to contact the owner of the car and engine listed it on craigslist. A friend of mine bought the engine for $500 bucks and said, "here, put this in your car".

So this is where I'm at. The engine was, in fact, bored .030 over and rebuilt. I can only assume it was to go back as close to stock as possible from the looks of it. It has Silvolite .030" pistons PN#1633, which I've found to have 21cc dish for 8.4cr according to their website. The heads are 7a's and any work beyond a clean up and valve job is unknown so I can only assume the surfaces were just cleaned. It has the stock stamped rockers and what appears to be new springs with some visible shims under the spring seats. The cam is unknow as well (I actually asked for help identifying it, but probably a wild goose chase), I measured the base circle, the lobe and with the rocker ratio came up with .401 lift so I'm thinking this might have been built for a 2bbl. I'd like it to have a little more pep than this so I'd like to know everyone's thoughts. I will be putting a performer and a Q-jet on it. I really just want to get this car back on the road using this engine, but I want it to be able to get out of it's own way too and I don't know if I'll be happy with this "small" cam. I have a 350D block that I want to build with a stroker kit from Mark and possibly a single turbo in the future, but I want to get this car back on the road after sitting for 15 years.

The car:
1969 Cutlass S
200 4r trans (by CK Performance) 2500 stall (non lock-up)
3.08 peg leg
Hooker SC headers/Pypes 2.5" dual exhaust
275/60/15 rear tires

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Chris

 

Comp 260h . Great little cam. Just buy better lifters like the lunati micro trol lifters.

 

Those pistons not only have HUGE dishes, but they are around .015" shorter than factory pistons, so the compression ratio is likely in the high 7 range. I calculated 7.8:1 assuming heads with 68cc combustion chambers.

So with low compression, the engine would need a camshaft that will maximize cylinder pressure. It's way easy to overcam a low compression engine and end up with a dog that has no low RPM power.

The .401" cam lift sounds like the typical factory 350 auto cam that has .400" / .400" lift, 196°/208° duration @ .050", 258°/272° advertised duration, on 109° LSA. I would not go much larger than maybe 204º advertised duration.

 

Curious on why you chose no lock up, maybe because of the tall gearing? As said, short of better pistons, stay conservative on the cam. The generic 204/214 cam is cheap and will yield good manners with plenty of vacuum, mine had around 19" at idle in park. Edelbrock, Melling and Lunati offer a version of this cam. I advanced mine 2 degrees in a 7.8 to 1 350. It ran 9.9 in the 1/8 with the coil breaking up above 4000 rpm, it had shorty headers, 2.5" X pipe exhaust, 1900 stall 2004R and 3.42 gears. Not fast by any means but probably could have pulled equal to a 15 flat 1/4 in a 3750 pound car with a new coil. Good luck, either stay conservative or change pistons.

 

Sounds like with these pistons I should just go with this cam. I'm trying to do this on the cheap just to get the car on the road and direct the money towards my long term goals with the car. I'm planning on getting a degree wheel...what should I put the cam in at?

olds 307 and 403,
When I had the trans built CK recommended the non lock up converter. Ever since my first car in high school (Rallye 350) I've wanted to put a turbo on an Olds. That was in the '80's so you'd think I would have done it by now, but 4 kids kind of redirect a fella's money so this has been on hold for a while. My goals for the engine and induction at least are similar to V8TV's S71 project car that Trovato built the engine for. I think CK thought the lock up might not hold up over time if it tried to apply under boost. I know there are probably ways to limit the lock up, but I seem to remember something to that affect. I will be changing the 3.08's out for 3.73's in the future as well.

I had been working on the car at a pretty good pace 5 years ago, but a crane accident at work put me up for a few months. Then the 350D block engine that was in it spun a bearing shortly after I finally got it fired up and I've just now got my motivation back get it going again. It helped that my buddy gave me this engine and I just want it to live. If anyone has every taken a rebuilt engine apart after 15 years that has never been fired...it ain't pretty. Assembly lube dries up into waxy cosmoline residue that's hard to clean off.

 

You didn't ask but 3.73 rear will help a lot. Or maybe a 3.90 with those tires. 3.73 very good with 26 inch tall tires.

Now I see you already thought of that!

 

^^^^^^ you hit the nail on the head.
Maybe an Erson RV 5, or RV 10, both have low 200’s in duration at .050. The problem is you can only create so much cyl pressure with a low static comp ratio. Sorry.
My advice would be to leave it alone unless you’re shaving heads etc.

 

Mark what are the specs on those cams? As for rear gears, you can only either get 3.42 or 3.90 gears if it is the Type O. The good part is, if your car is a posi or even an open carrier, they are designed to replace 3.08 and 3.23 factory gears. There was a 12 bolt Type C rear used in Canadian built cars for 68 and 69, just make sure what rear it is. What rpm on the highway fo you want? With 3.90 gears, your tires and no lock up, 2200 at 60 mph and 2500 rpm at 70 mph, not too bad. If you have it apart still then why not swap the cam, the 204/214 is around $160 US, cam and lifters. This one comes with Zinc additive.https://www.ebay.com/itm/252818478617 Degreeing it is a good idea as well. Different pistons, the old school Speedpro 5.8cc dish forged pistons are now just over $500 US a set through Summit. There are much better options, just not in a .030" overbore. Your current rings should fit but there is still getting the pistons pressed on and off at a machine shop. You can build that 350 Diesel block as time and money allows and install this one as is, the 3.90's will help a lot. I hear you on money, my Daughter's are grown and almost done University, our oldest just graduated. With Covid everyone is back home and our grocery bill alone is horrendous every month. Good luck.